When in Rome, how does one budget?
- Thread starter willhub
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Soldato
I'd agree and disagree with this.
We went in September last year for 4 days. I'd read a lot about the big queues at places like the Colosseum beforehand so I knew what to expect. We got there early in the morning, about 8:30, and there was no queue outside. People still tried to sell us queue-jump tickets, claiming there were massive queues inside, but we decided to wait in the normal queue. Once we got inside the ticket office, there was literally 10 people in front of us - but a lot more people waiting in the 'queue-jump' queue!
Having said that, I do wish I'd paid for a guided tour rather than just walking around ourselves. There's so much to see that i'm sure we must have missed at least 50% of it.
It might be a bit busier when you go in summer. If you can, it might be worth going to the Colosseum the day before you plan on going in and checking what the queue is like, how fast it moves and if it's worth paying for a tour/queue-jump.
Here's a couple of tips:
-Your entry ticket covers Colosseum, Roman Forum and Palatine Hill. That means you can buy your ticket at a ticket office at any of these places and use it to get into the others - look for the smallest queues.
-Take a bottle of water with you when visiting these places. There's drinking fountains around but it's much better if you have a bottle you can refill at them.
-The open-top tour busses are quite a good way to travel around. They go to all the places you'll want to visit and you get a day ticket and can get on and off as much as you want.
I didn't find it particularly expensive to eat out. In fact, my favourite place was this one. More of a takeaway with a few tables and you get your pasta on a paper plate with plastic forks but it's made fresh in front of you and tastes amazing! It was something like 4 euros for a plate of pasta.
Here's a list of reasonably priced mid-range places set slightly away, but easily accessible, from many of the tourist locations in Rome where we ate last year. Wouldn't hesitate to go to any of them again and all frequented by Romans which is normally a good sign:
Caporegime
Just do what the Greeks do: throw it all on the national credit card, and force the EU to pay it off.
Soldato
Absolutely this. Just buy one bottle of water and refill at the many public water fountains.
Soldato
We did "Rome by Segway" when we went last year and it was an absolute blast! Sure it meant spending money but it was great fun and got to see a lot of the spread out places that are far to walk to in a matter of a few minutes.
One other VERY important thing to note:
If you are travelling by train from the airport, you MUST get your train ticket stamped BEFORE you get on the train. So you buy the ticket at the machine, then there is a stamping machine near the platforms. Stamp your ticket then get on the train. If you don't you may be fined for not stamping your ticket.
I wouldn't pay for tours if I wanted to save money. But a segway tour sounds great! So much walking!
Absolutely on the stamping thing! If you don' r a guide before you go it could easily catch you out!
I went to Rome last year and I didn't find it to be particularly expensive at all. If anything I was surprised at how cheap most places were because people always bang on about how expensive it is. I didn't go in anywhere that was very close to the tourist traps though eg. Trevi Fountain, but I didn't particularly want to either, they looked far too busy and generic. All of the places I went out to for evening meals seemed reasonably priced. We usually just went to somewhere a stone's throw away from the hotel we were staying in, but there were plenty to choose from. I did notice that there were some actual Italians in the restaurants we went to, so perhaps we just chose well?
I didn't pay for any tours because I always have far more fun going at my own pace and just buying a pocket guide or book. You can also hear what the tour guides are saying whilst you are walking around places anyway, and it's usually not very interesting.
We used the metro a couple of times as well to get to places like the Colosseum and it was fine. They have machines to buy tickets that are easy to use, and it's cheap.
I didn't pay for any tours because I always have far more fun going at my own pace and just buying a pocket guide or book. You can also hear what the tour guides are saying whilst you are walking around places anyway, and it's usually not very interesting.
We used the metro a couple of times as well to get to places like the Colosseum and it was fine. They have machines to buy tickets that are easy to use, and it's cheap.
Soldato
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how much time do you need for the Colosseum?
and vatican city?
trying to get a rough 3 day itinerary put together
and vatican city?
trying to get a rough 3 day itinerary put together
Soldato
I didn't spend long in the Colosseum, maybe 2-2.5 hours. The Forum+Palatine hill took up the rest of the day though, 4-6hours.
At Vatican city, you can go to St Peter's or Sistine Chapel+Museums and there are separate queues for both.
I only went into St Peters and it took 3-4 hours.
If you go in the middle of the day, expect a couple of hours queuing to get into each place.
We arrived about 8:30am on the days we went to St Peters and the Colosseum and had only 10-15mins queue at each but by the time we came out there were significant lines.
To make the most of it, I'd aim for:
Day1: Colosseum at 8:30am for 3 hours, Forum+Palatine hill after that (right next to it) for the rest of the day. Take lunch with you so you dont have to go looking for a restaurant - you'll do a huge amount of walking around these places so the less effort looking for food the better.
Day2: St Peter's at 8:30am for 4-5 hours. Pay to go up to the dome on the roof, the views are worth it - both outside to the surrounding town and inside down to the church below. Go into centre for lunch and wander around Pantheon, Trevi fountain, etc in the afternoon. (pick up a tourist map with all this stuff marked on it)
Day3: Sistine Chapel at 8:30am. Spend as long as required and eat/relax for the rest of the day.
*this is all based on my extremely limited experience of a single 4day visit.
Caporegime
Coliseum is a few hours visit, if you don't do the audio guided tour or any tour it can feel rather empty and dull so I suggest doing at least the audio tour.
The Vatican is at least half a day to full day, depends how slow you walk. We paid for a guided tour when I went, was well worth it, it also skipped the queue too.
Don
Ad Hoc's lovely, had a lovely meal there. A bit expensive, but I did go a little bit crazy with their amazing wine choices
Don
Also worth mentioning, I did a Segway tour, which was great fun. A real whistle stop tour of places, learning about a few of them also. Then you can pick the ones you like and spend more time there - I did that with the Colosseum especially.
Soldato
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like the sound of the segway tour but i would like to see a bit of the places not just zoom past
i take it you park outside the colosseum?
Associate
To be honest I would recommend the tours. I have been to Rome quite a few times and have done many of the tours, amazing place and you can learn so much on a tour, far better than walking around and missing everything! (Which you will do as there is so much hiding in plain sight).
A few of the typical things to see whilst there:-
Vist the Piazza Verona, Pantheon, Trevi Fountain (all three are close to each other).
Collosseum (Roman Forum and Palatine), you do have the Circus Maximus next to the Palatine also and not to far from San Pietro in Vincoli (St Peter in Chains which houses Michelangelos Moses Statue which is amazing and worth a visit), Spanish Steps, take a tour of the catacombs, vist the Vatican etc . . .
There is so much to do there. My favourite City by far.
Have fun!
A few of the typical things to see whilst there:-
Vist the Piazza Verona, Pantheon, Trevi Fountain (all three are close to each other).
Collosseum (Roman Forum and Palatine), you do have the Circus Maximus next to the Palatine also and not to far from San Pietro in Vincoli (St Peter in Chains which houses Michelangelos Moses Statue which is amazing and worth a visit), Spanish Steps, take a tour of the catacombs, vist the Vatican etc . . .
There is so much to do there. My favourite City by far.
Have fun!