Rome travel guide
Where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Things to do in Rome, planned over three days
Best time to visit Rome
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Best months: warm walking weather, long evenings, everything open. May and September are now heavily booked.
Spring: artichoke season at its peak and wisteria, then Easter week, the hardest and priciest week of the year.
Summer heat at 32 to 37 degrees with no shade at ancient sites: first entry or after 17:00, museums at midday, siesta rhythm.
Ferragosto on 15 August: Romans leave, many independent restaurants and shops close for two weeks, state museums stay open.
Autumn: September warm but strike prone, October prime with harvest menus, November wet, quiet and cheapest of the season.
Winter bargain: 5 to 12 degrees and rain, but no queues, cheapest hotels and January and February the least crowded months.
What's on
- Natale di Roma 21 April
The city's birthday: historical reenactments and a costumed parade at the Circus Maximus and Via dei Fori Imperiali.
- Concertone del Primo Maggio 1 May
Free 1 May concert at San Giovanni, one of the biggest live music days in Italy.
- Notte dei Musei May
A night of late museum openings across the city.
- Feast of Saints Peter and Paul 29 June
The city's patronal feast, with the Girandola fireworks.
- Rock in Roma June to July
Big name summer concerts across the season.
- Opera at the Baths of Caracalla early July to early August
Open air opera at the Baths of Caracalla as part of Estate Romana.
- Festa de' Noantri two weeks after 16 July
Trastevere's own street festival in the two weeks after 16 July.
- RomaEuropa Festival September to mid November
Contemporary theatre, dance and music across some 20 venues, running September to mid November.
Worth the trip for
Best things to do in Rome
Colosseum
Start here at the first slot, then read it properly with the Forum and Palatine on the same combined ticket.
Roman Forum
The more rewarding half of ancient Rome: temples, basilicas and the streets the empire actually ran on.
Palatine Hill
Imperial palaces and the best Forum overlooks, with almost no shade, so walk it before the heat builds.
Vatican Museums
Nine miles of galleries ending in the Sistine Chapel. Take the earliest timed entry you can book.
Sistine Chapel
The finale of the Vatican Museums route, worth going early for before the rooms fill shoulder to shoulder.
St Peter's Basilica
Free and vast, with the dome climb giving the best panorama in Rome if your knees allow it.
Pantheon
The best preserved ancient building in Rome, with an unreinforced concrete dome and oculus after 2000 years.
Galleria Borghese
Bernini and Caravaggio in a villa with capped numbers and two hour slots, so it never feels like a warehouse.
Where to stay in Rome
Monti
first trip, all-round base
Seven minutes to the Colosseum and ten to Termini without sleeping in Termini, lively at night without the roar.
Centro Storico
first trip, on foot
Walk out into postcard Rome near the Pantheon, Navona and Campo de' Fiori, but expect crowds, noise and top prices.
Trastevere
evenings, food and nightlife
Medieval lanes and the densest bar and trattoria scene, but no Metro and loud on Friday and Saturday nights.
Prati
families, older travellers, calm base
Wide orderly streets north of the Vatican with Metro A, great shopping and Mercato Trionfale, Rome's largest food market.
Testaccio and Aventine
food lovers and repeat visitors
Working class turned foodie Testaccio and quiet green Aventine above it, with fewer hotels and more apartments.
Via Veneto, Villa Borghese, Parioli and Salario
quiet luxury and park access
Leafy residential embassy Rome near the park, less in the middle of it at night, and that is the point.
Think twice about
- Immediate Termini and Esquilino station perimeter
Visible street homelessness, patchy lighting, pickpocketing and luggage snatching around Via Giolitti and Via Marsala. Use Termini for trains, sleep in Monti.
- Far outside the Aurelian Walls and EUR suburbs
Listings sold as Rome that leave you commuting, with no neighbourhood life and infrequent evening transport. Only choose one on a Metro line.
- Piazza Navona and Trevi Fountain frontage
Not a safety issue but a value and noise issue: the highest rates in the city above crowds and piazza priced restaurants. Two streets back is half the pain.
Best restaurants in Rome
Trattoria Da Cesare al Casaletto
The best trattoria meal in Rome: fritti, gnocchi on cacio e pepe sauce, Roman classics and affordable natural wine.
Da Enzo al 29
Tiny no reservations Trastevere institution. Queue before opening for carbonara, cacio e pepe and tiramisu.
Armando al Pantheon
Family run since 1961 steps from the Pantheon and not a trap: gricia, amatriciana, coda and carciofi.
Roscioli Salumeria con Cucina
Part deli, part restaurant: burrata, mortadella, butter and anchovies, then reference carbonara and gricia.
Rimessa Roscioli
The Roscioli sibling with the same pastas and more room, the fix when the flagship is full.
Antico Forno Roscioli
Pizza bianca by weight in the morning from the Roscioli bakery, the classic Roman breakfast stop.
SantoPalato
Sarah Cicolini's neo trattoria: fried oxtail meatball, a daring carbonara and market driven specials at local prices.
Flavio al Velavevodetto
Built into Monte Testaccio, the ancient potsherd hill, for carbonara and cacio e pepe in a lively room.
Outdoor things to do in Rome
Parco degli Acquedotti
Walk or cycle directly under the aqueduct arches across open fields, a free park Romans use and tourists miss.
Via Appia Antica
The guided e-bike version of the Appian Way, linking a catacomb visit and the Aqueduct Park in half a day.
Villa Adriana
Hadrian's vast 120 hectare villa grounds, the morning half of the classic Tivoli day out.
Villa d'Este
A Renaissance garden of terraced fountains fed by diverted river water, walked top to bottom, with many stairs.
Parco Villa Gregoriana
A gorge hike dropping 90 metres past grottoes to the Great Waterfall, then the climb back out. Wear trekking shoes.
Lago Albano
Kayak a volcanic crater lake under the Pope's summer residence, with a swim stop reachable only by kayak.
Frascati
The Romans' own escape hills: Frascati wine, Castel Gandolfo, Ariccia porchetta and Nemi strawberries by train.
Marco Simone Golf & Country Club
The 2023 Ryder Cup course north east of Rome, where serious golfers play once, with St Peter's dome in view.
Best hotels in Rome
Nerva Boutique Hotel
Small luxury boutique by the Imperial Forums, minutes from the Colosseum on foot.
The Fifteen Keys Hotel
A 15 room design hotel on Monti's pretty streets, the cool design pick for the neighbourhood.
FH55 Grand Hotel Palatino
Solid mid upper range Monti hotel, a dependable full service base between Colosseum and Termini.
Hotel Raffaello
Solid mid upper range Monti option, quiet streets with the Colosseum a short walk away.
Ostello Bello Roma Colosseo
Well run hostel with private rooms as well as dorms, a short walk from the Colosseum. The Monti budget pick.
JO&JOE Roma
Monti hostel alternative to Ostello Bello, with the same walkable Colosseum base on a budget.
Hotel de' Ricci
Splurge base in the Centro Storico, where you walk out into postcard Rome and reach almost everything on foot.
Singer Palace Hotel Roma
Art Nouveau palace hotel off Via del Corso with a rooftop restaurant, central enough to walk everywhere on a first trip.
Is Rome expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | €80 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | €200 a person |
| Splurge | €450 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Colosseum: weeks ahead
- Roman Forum: weeks ahead
- Palatine Hill: weeks ahead
- Vatican Museums: weeks ahead
- Sistine Chapel: weeks ahead
- Pantheon: a few days ahead
- Galleria Borghese: weeks ahead
- Via Appia Antica: a few days ahead
- Book Colosseum, Vatican Museums, Borghese Gallery and Domus Aurea tickets weeks ahead, months in season for Borghese and Colosseum Underground. The Pantheon only needs a few days.
- Book Armando about a month ahead, and book Cesare, Roscioli, Retrobottega and SantoPalato too.
- Da Enzo al 29 takes no bookings: arrive at 18:15 for the 18:30 dinner opening or expect an hour's wait.
- Use official ticketing sites before resellers. Reseller markups are the city's biggest legal scam.
Is Rome safe?
- Pickpockets work Termini, Metro crush points and bus 64 and 40. Wear a bag in front and keep phones off cafe table edges.
- Watch for distraction scams: spills, fake petition clipboards, bracelet tricks and unsolicited help at ticket machines.
- Shoulders and knees must be covered in churches including St Peter's, with no exceptions. Go at 07:00 opening or late afternoon.
- Emergency number is 112.
Rome travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- Restaurants facing Trevi, Piazza Navona or the Pantheon with touts and photo menus: have a drink there if you must, eat two streets away.
- Costumed gladiators at the Colosseum demand 20 to 50 euros after a photo and can turn aggressive. Never pose.
- Neon gelato mounds by monuments are the tourist version. Real gelato sits in covered metal tins in muted natural colours.
- Skip the line tickets sold on the street and Colosseum tickets from non official sellers at multiples of face value.
- Trevi Fountain now has a €2 ticketed, managed queue for the area by the basin during the day: go early in the morning or late at night to see it free and calm.
Getting around Rome: public transport and more
- Walk the centre: Centro Storico, Colosseum, Trastevere and Vatican are all 20 to 35 minute walks apart.
- Metro A and B serve Vatican, Termini and Colosseum hops. Tram 8 runs Largo Argentina to Trastevere and Monteverde.
- Use official white taxis from ranks or the it Taxi and FreeNow apps. From Fiumicino take the Leonardo Express or the cheaper FL1 train.
- Do not drive in the historic centre: ZTL camera zones are enforced and fines arrive months later.
- Refill a bottle at the nasoni drinking fountains, which run cold and safe across the city.
Who Rome suits
| Solo travellers | Good |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Great |
| Couples | Great |
| Bachelor parties | Good |
| Families | Good |
| Bachelorette parties | Good |
Make Rome your trip
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