Roman Weekend

DonegalMan

My wife and I are going to Rome the last weekend in May, arriving Saturday about noon, leaving Tuesday morning. As it's our first time in Rome, I'd appreciate any tips on how to get the best out of our weekend.

Being Catholics, the Vatican is obviously high on our list and I'm also a Michelangelo fan so I was thinking of Saturday afternoon shopping, all day Sunday at the Vatican and Monday other sightseeing but I was wondering if Sunday is a bad day for the Vatican crowd-wise and maybe we'd we better off swapping things around a bit.

I would particularly like any tips on particular times to visit the Sistine Chapel and La Pieta to minimise queuing, e.g. early morning, if that's possible and any other 'must see' sights in our short time there.

We're staying in the Crowne Plaza Hotel which seems to be about a 10 min taxi ride from both the Vatican and the centre of Rome.

mikedragon32

Vatican on Monday might be a better idea in terms of crowds, and Roman tourist attractions, like any other city's, are best enjoyed early in the morning. If you get to the Vatican early enough, you could comfortably do St. Peter's before walking around to the Vatican Museum & the Sistine Chapel. The main shopping is along two streets, one which runs straight down from the Spanish steps and leads to the next shopping street, which runs straight up to the Vittorio Emmanuel II monument.

Try to squeeze in a walk around the forum & Palatine Hill for some great sights. From Palatine Hill, you can see the whole of Rome and it's a lovely walk too. Even if you don't want to go to the Colloseum, try take a walk around it at night. It's lit up and looks spectacular. Some of my best pics of Rome were taken at night when everything was lit up.

Things to watch out for include pickpockets. Every city has them, but Rome is notorious, but of course, taking the usual precautions will see you right. The guys dressed as Gladiators/centurions around the forum and Colloseum: you need to be careful around them too... Basically they will pose with you for pictures for a fee. They are supposed to be regulated by the city council, but there are still plenty of scammers too. The official ones will have ID.

If you want to do something a little different, right next to the Spanish Steps is the Keats Shelly museum. It's interesting in that you get to see inside a typical Roman house, but you also get an insight into the lives of two great English writers and how they lived and died.

gary the great

I would go to the Vatican on Sunday, the pope says mass in the vatican on the last Sunday of every month and its a great experience (and im not even religious), but it will be a little more crowded.

Your choice.

I would also recommend the tour buses, mabe you could do this on the Saturday, it lets you see the whole city in an hour or so. it was really cool.

daiixi

Enjoy Rome does walking tours (although I think they go into a bit too much detail about things and can be quite long) as does Eternal City Tours.
I'd recommend doing a guided tour through the Vatican otherwise you'll find yourself overwhelmed and not quite sure what you're seeing. I've done a guided tour and an audio guide tour and the guided tour was way better.
Shopping doesn't interest me that much but make sure you grab yourself lots of gelati. There's a place near the Pantheon which usually has huge queues. The queues are there for a reason - their stuff is fabulous!

Carrigman

My advice re the Vatican Museums (which include the Sistine Chapel) is, regardless of the day, to get there early - we started queuing around 7.30am for an 8.45am (or it might have been 9am) opening. And there was already a good queue in front of us. Leave it until later in the day and you'll find yourself at the end of a *very* long queue. Despite all the people, once you get in the place is so vast that it doesn't seem crowded at all and you can wander around at ease without feeling hurried. There is much more to see in the Museums than the Sistine Chapel so please read a good guide book beforehand.

Getting in early to The Vatican is also advised. Be sure to go up on the roof
(assuming you have the stamina to climb up the steps). There are wonderful views of the city from the Dome. The Vatican is a wonderful, majestic place - you cannot fail to be in awe of it.

The Roman Forum (the Rome of the Caesars) is another must see. Wandering amongst the ruins of the ancient temples and buildings where the Caesars trod is an amazing experience. Check out the site of the Circus Maximus as well. It's just a green area now but walking across it you can almost hear the thunder of the chariots as they raced around it. If you saw "Ben Hur" it's worth the visit.

I have yet to meet anyone who has been to Rome who doesn't intend going back again. You cannot fail to enjoy it. Guaranteed!

There are some photos I took of Rome on my Flickr site if you're interested. Just click on the picture below.

Regards,

John

LostinBlanch

Watch out for a scam that goes on at the Collisseum (Sp?) There is always a huge queue and you can find people pretending to be tour guides who go to the end saying that there is priority for groups. He or she will say that if about a dozen people get together they can go in as a group. he'll collect the money and send the group up to the top of the queue. Of course there's no priority for groups and he will have done a runner with the entrance fee for everyone.