We didn’t have a little taste of Rome.. We ate the whole pizza, the pasta and the gelati, then washed it all down with a couple of Aperol Spritz. But, in a touristic sense, we only had a little taste of Rome’s history and attractions. There is so much to do and see in Rome and it’s hard to fit it all into one trip! Here’s a breakdown of how our week looked.
tours/activities
Vatican City
Going to Vatican City was at the top of our Rome bucket list. Aside from it’s obvious beauty and history, you get to see a whole country in one day! If you plan on going into the Vatican Museum to see the Sistine Chapel, we definitely recommend pre-booking a skip-the-line ticket, because we got there early and the line was already ridiculously long. A normal ticket price to enter Vatican Museum is €16 and a skip the line ticket is about €30, so you just have to decide if it's worth waiting in line for 2-3hrs or paying extra to get straight in. We didn’t end up going in because it was really hot and we got told the wait for tickets was about 3-hours - and we're budget travellers! Instead we went to St. Peter’s Basilica, where the line was much smaller and moving a lot quicker. It is free to enter St. Peter’s Basilica and it is well worth it. We looked around the inside for about an hour. Doing a bit of research beforehand can make you appreciate what you’re looking at a little more, otherwise there are audio guides available at the door. We then decided to pay €8 each to climb the stairs to the “cupola” (the dome of the cathedral). This was really cool because you get to look down on the inside of the cathedral, from above, then continue climbing to the top to see the view from outside, which is absolutely breathtaking. Despite the unbearable heat, it was worth the climb and it was one of our favourite views in Rome. We only spent one day in Vatican City, but if you go to the museum, we recommend two days as it is a lot to take in and you want to get the most out of it.
Rome
Trevi Fountain Trevi Fountain is an amazing monument that everyone should see when they go to Rome! It's featured in so many movies and it is a really incredible fountain to see. Our biggest hint about seeing Trevi Fountain is to go nice and early to beat the heat and the crowds. In summer, it is so crowded during the day that its difficult to even see it let alone enjoy it. We went at around 7:30am. They had closed the fountain for cleaning and although there were still lots of people, we were able to see it, admire it and take a couple of pics without any pushing and shoving. And we got to throw our coins in!
The Colosseum
The first activity that most people want to do when they go to Rome is to see the Colosseum! There is a lot of skip-the-line tickets that you can buy online, but they are about double the price of a normal ticket. Being budget travellers we opted to buy regular tickets, and this is where our really handy hint comes into play! Don't buy your ticket from the Colosseum as the line is extremely long! Buy your ticket from the ticket office at the Roman Forum, which is just down the road from the Colosseum. We made sure we got there early - at around 8:30am. There were only about 15 people in the line and we got our tickets quite quickly. The tickets cost €12 each and includes entrance to the Roman Forum and the Colosseum. When you buy your tickets, they allocate you a time slot that you are allowed inside the Colosseum. Ours was for 10:30am, so we had a bit of time to kill before we made our way to the line. We walked toward the Colosseum and found a really nice view of the it by going up some stairs right near the metro station. At about 10:10am we made our way down to the line, and had to wait about half an hour in line before we could get in (this was much better than the line that was waiting to buy tickets).
Other amazing places we went that we would recommend seeing are:
- Piazza Venezia to see the Monument to Vittorio Emanuele II (below image)
accommodation
We stayed in Rome for a week as we found some relatively cheap accommodation at Camping Village Roma. It happened to fall right in the middle of our Europe trip, so we thought this would be a good opportunity to unwind and relax by the pool. It was a good way to break up seeing Rome as well. We went into the City three days out of the seven. The camping village was located about 20km out of the city and was a perfect little retreat. The pool is amazing (we spent most of our time there soaking up the sun) and they have a restaurant onsite that was reasonably priced. We chose this accommodation because there were apparently cooking facilities available (BBQ Area) and a supermarket right across the road, however when we arrived they told us there are no barbecues in the BBQ Area, just a coal pit that you have to buy your own coals for... This was a bit of a let down, but we got by. We could have upgraded to a cabin with cooking facilities, but we chose not to so that we could save money. We ate plenty of cold meals that week and treated ourselves to eating out a few times.
Our cabin was a deluxe bungalow and it was very modern, with a really good air conditioner, private bathroom and the beds were okay for a caravan park. This cost us about $70 per night.
Comfort: 7/10
Restaurant: 7/10
Staff: 6/10
Vibe: 7/10
Overall: 7/10
transport
We arrived at Rome Fuimincino Airport at around 11pm and we only just made the last train leaving the station.. We literally ran and jumped on the train without a ticket (a bit naughty; luckily no one checked that time). The plan was to go to Roma Termini, then catch a train back out to Roma Aurelia, which was just down the road from our accommodation. We found out whilst on the train that all trains had stopped because it was so late, so we got off at Roma Trastevere Station and caught an Uber the rest of the way. This was a little expensive, but we didn’t have much of a choice, and it was good that we got as close as possible by train. However, if you were arriving in Rome at a normal time, there are a lot of trains going from the airport, and the city has as underground metro as well which is pretty easy to navigate your way around. We definitely do not recommend catching a taxi from Roma Fuimicino (or any) Airport. Public transport is much cheaper. If you’re unsure you can always find the information desk in the airport and they’ll be more than happy to point you in the right direction.
Trenitalia is the main train line in Italy and it is really simple to use as all the ticket machines are in English and they are quite cheap.
Roma Aurelia train station being so close to our accommodation (only a 10-15 minute walk) was really handy as it made going into the city really easy and cheap. A one-way ticket to Roma Termini was €1.10 per person. From there we caught the metro to wherever it was we were going that day or just walked.
When we left Rome, we caught a Trenitalia train from Roma Termini to Naples. It only cost us €12 each and took about 3-hours. Our train had no air conditioning which wasn't ideal, (it's hit and miss with air conditioning on public transport in Rome and Naples) but it did the job.
other tips/hints
- You can only pay with cash to climb St. Peter’s Basilica, so if you do not have cash on you, you can withdraw money from the souvenir shop next door for a small fee. This saves you running out to use the ATM and having to line up again.
- In Vatican City a lot of blogs say that you have to wear long pants, long sleeves and covered in shoes to enter the Basilica or the museum, however this is not true at all. Most of the tourists there were in shorts, t-shirts and thongs. It is respectful to wear appropriate clothing, however you do not need to get your nun outfit out of the closet. Take a shawl to cover your shoulders and just dont wear a crop top and mini skirt.
- Go early! Wherever you plan to go or whatever you plan to see, start early to make the most of it. You want to beat the heat and the crowds whenever you can if you’re going in summer.
- If you've read or watched Dan Brown's Angels and Demons it's fun to try to find a few places and things they talk about in the book/movie! They also offer some Angels and Demons walking tours around Rome.
Show us some love and ask any questions or leave a comment below!
jorgiandkate
Comments