Rome Recommendations

GAAman

Hi folks, I haven't had a proper holiday since 1999 and this fact annoys me no end. I have always wanted to go to Rome and have decided cash strappedness be damned.

I will be staying roughly ten minutes walk from the Colosseum (This confirmed by the trip advisor reviews) and am looking for suggestions. I want as much info and details as possible to make the most of the three days I will be there.

Definite desires are seeing Sistine Chapel, Trevi Fountain and Vatican. So where have you been/would you recommend? I am initially looking at either end of August into start of September or end of September into October.

Also when you book flights on Ryanair at what point do you need to enter passport details? Is it still at the confirmation page when getting boarding passes coming up to flight date or when you pay for the flight?

Thanks all

Jimmy Iovine

The Trevi is being renovated. Hopefully it'll be finished for you.

Definitely go to Villa Borghese, two minutes up from the top of the Spanish steps. An amazing place.

Give yourself time to wander into the various churches and basillicas that line each street.

The Trevi and the Spanish steps are great but they are over-run with tourists. You can really only spend a few minutes there before they bug you. Buy advance tickets for the Colliseum. They will save you ages queuing.

The Vatican Museums is stunning. The artwork on the walls is mind-blowing. Enjoy walking into the Sistine Chapel. It's one of those moments that will stick with me forever.

househero

You add your passport info when you book on ryanairs site. Not the sane with other carriers.

Are you still waiting for your passport to come back?

GAAman

Jimmy Iovine wrote: »

The Trevi is being renovated. Hopefully it'll be finished for you.

Definitely go to Villa Borghese, two minutes up from the top of the Spanish steps. An amazing place.

Give yourself time to wander into the various churches and basillicas that line each street.

The Trevi and the Spanish steps are great but they are over-run with tourists. You can really only spend a few minutes there before they bug you. Buy advance tickets for the Colliseum. They will save you ages queuing.

The Vatican Museums is stunning. The artwork on the walls is mind-blowing. Enjoy walking into the Sistine Chapel. It's one of those moments that will stick with me forever.

Meant to say the Spanish Steps in op, I saw Trevi is under repair for a year from June 2014 so hopefully is done by the time I'm there (wont be knowing my luck!) Will definitely add Villa Borghese to plans too

GAAman

househero wrote: »

You add your passport info when you book on ryanairs site. Not the sane with other carriers.

Are you still waiting for your passport to come back?

Yes my passport expired a few years ago so was hoping to pay for flights in the mean time and get replacement passport in next few months.

Jimmy Two Times

There is a free walking tour which kicks off at approx 5 PM from outside a pharmacy immediately to the right of the Spanish Steps as you look at them. Takes about 2 hours and the guides are knowledgable and funny.Doesn't go too far but you do get to see some stuff you otherwise wouldn't. Well worth doing.

Campo Di Fiori, Piazza Navona and the narrow streets of Trastevere are all gorgeous, the Castel sant'Angelo is also worth a visit.

Suggest you take the red bus tour to get your bearings. There are only 8/9 stops as Rome is so small but lets you know where everything is. Other than that you can walk everywhere and see everything in three days no problem.

Love Rome and can't wait to go back.

Jimmy Two Times

http://www.newromefreetour.com/

GAAman

Quality stuff Jimmy, thanks!

coylemj

As advised above, there's a lot of walking to be done in Rome so wear your best old walking shoes.

There isn't much to the Trevi Fountain so don't be disappointed if it's closed. I'd give it max. 10 minutes, then you need to GTF out or your pocket will be dipped.

When visiting the Colosseum, stay well away from the guys dressed up as centurions, they are self-employed hustlers intent on getting into your photographs for which they will aggressively demand an appearance fee.

Beware of variable dress rules (depends on who's enforcing) when visiting certain religious places - no miniskirts and you'll usually need to have some class of a short sleeve on your top.

Subacio

Jimmy Iovine wrote: »

Give yourself time to wander into the various churches and basillicas that line each street.

+1 on this.

We were making our way from the Trevi Fountain to the Colosseum, down a street parallel to the Via del Corso. Mrs Sub took a look inside the front door of a church and insisted we go in to look at the art; which was amazing, to be fair. We got to the altar and there was a folder with type written pages explaining that 2 of the apostles were buried in the crypt below. So we took ourselves down to see the tombs of St Philip and St James the younger. This place wasn't even marked on the tourist map. That's how much history they have in Rome; they don't even bother with 2 of the apostles.

househero

GAAman wrote: »

Yes my passport expired a few years ago so was hoping to pay for flights in the mean time and get replacement passport in next few months.

Yes you will need your passport number with Ryanair when you book your flight. So dont delay applying for your new passport, it doesnt take too long using the post office service. Having your passport is the important thing. If it helps, the cheapest time to book your flight with ryanair is usually around 6 weeks before you fly so you are probably not in any kind of rush there and you can find a cheap hotel using discount codes on flyertalk... http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/hotel-deals/934858-general-list-codes-promos-orbitz-hotels-com-expedia-travelzoo-etc-258.html

A lot has changed with booking holidays in the last 15 years, but the Ryanair website is still exactly the same hahaha. Book your flight and hotel on separate websites you never get the best deal booking on one site. Expedia is good, Venere is the Italian site owned by Expedia and often has the best rates for Italian hotels just like Agoda does for Asia.

Its great you have decided to get away again, m sure you will have a great time GAAman

I went to milan venice and paris for 130 euro in very nice 4 star hotels, if you look hard, you can get some bargain holidays.

catbear

Three days must see.

Pantheon, the oldest intact structure from Roman times. Free entry.

Coliseum and Roman Forum. I think one ticket covers both sites.

The Vatican, the home of bling!! Free entry but to see the cisteen chapel you have to pay into the vatican museum. Go early to avoid queues.

Medieval Trastevere for evening meals and drinks, cheaper than near all the main attractions.

After just walk. I've been twice and I could easily spend another week just walking around the city. Last time I was there I walked the Via Appia Rustica, flipping fan for those who know Rome but want to venture out a bit.

GAAman

Thanks for the replies folks really getting excited about it now!

How much spending money would I need? How much did you guys get through while you were there?

Jimmy Iovine

GAAman wrote: »

Thanks for the replies folks really getting excited about it now!

How much spending money would I need? How much did you guys get through while you were there?

I ended up eating two dinners with starters each day. Add in a few bits of pastry picked up along the way (and an absolutely amazing tuna salad sandwich) I spent most on food.

Avoid the tourist spots. You'll pay through the nose for an ice cream in the Villa Borghese, for example. It was about €4 for a small cone.

Don't bother with bus tickets. No one seems to. That'll cut down on prices.

Do beware of an Irish pub near to the Pantheon. They conveniently forgot to hand me back €20.

Watch your pockets.

Can't remember how much I spent but I reckon about €200 or so did me for 4/5 days.

The Niece

The Roma Pass will cover your metro travel for the 3 days and will get you free entry into two exhibitions like the Colosseum

If you're going to see the Sistine Chapel, I recommend buying an online ticket...long queues otherwise http://biglietteriamusei.vatican.va/musei/tickets/do

Nothing more to add to what everyone says really....love Rome, and always enjoy strolling thru the city

househero

GAAman wrote: »

Hi folks, I haven't had a proper holiday since 1999 and this fact annoys me no end. I have always wanted to go to Rome and have decided cash strappedness be damned.

Thanks all

Sorry lad, you dont need your passport to book your flight, i was wrong. You just need it when you check in online, (make sure you do that).

tmq

househero wrote: »

Sorry lad, you dont need your passport to book your flight, i was wrong. You just need it when you check in online, (make sure you do that).

Yes, I was about to say... you only need your passport to check in on Ryanair (I just booked an italian holiday).

Wandering the streets and stumbling across things (e.g. the Pantheon) is my favorite thing in Rome. Definitely check food prices before you buy... you can pay a fortune for a coffee, and then find it half the price around the corner.

Its a long time since I've been to the Vatican, but the crowds/queues were huge when I did, so its worth planning this - maybe go early in the morning. Climbing to the top of St Peters dome was worthwhile too.

Enjoy! Its one of the most unique cities to visit.

I was there last weekend for the first time, took my mom. There's a lot of walking in Rome, probably too much for her, in her 60s, but we saw everything we wanted to see.
It's such a great laid back city. Its beautiful to look at & I think if you're only there for a few days then you tend to run around seeing everything you want to.
I will go back, but I will take it nice and handy. If you are thinking about getting the Roma pass, then get it, you will skip queues which can be VERY long, and we were there when it was quiet! There are long queues for all tourist sites.
Trevi fountain will be back to normal in June 2015 I believe, hopefully I will see it some day......!!
Its a beautiful city, just chill out there.
My recommendation is for the Trastevere area, just south of the Vatican, fab spot, little laneways, arty studios and shops, lots of little restaurants and a little bit cool!

Also, close to Roma termini, nice little restaurant called Last Forchetta d'Oro, good food.

johnire

Snap!
We stumbled across this church too totally by accident.
As far as I remember it's close to Piazza Venezia.

Subacio wrote: »

+1 on this.

We were making our way from the Trevi Fountain to the Colosseum, down a street parallel to the Via del Corso. Mrs Sub took a look inside the front door of a church and insisted we go in to look at the art; which was amazing, to be fair. We got to the altar and there was a folder with type written pages explaining that 2 of the apostles were buried in the crypt below. So we took ourselves down to see the tombs of St Philip and St James the younger. This place wasn't even marked on the tourist map. That's how much history they have in Rome; they don't even bother with 2 of the apostles.

johnire

Try and get a place on the guided tour that takes you on the underground ruins and the Necropolis under the Vatican.
It's absolutely amazing.
The bones of St. Peter are here...directly under the Basilica.

GAAman

Apologies folks, real life got in the way for a bit. Flights booked for end of September

Trying to make sense of the metro lines is like trying to read Ikea instructions!

coylemj

GAAman wrote: »

Trying to make sense of the metro lines is like trying to read Ikea instructions!

IKEA instructions for what? A three-legged stool?

Sorry - are we still talking about Rome - where there are two Metro lines called A and B and which intersect at Termini? Madrid, Barcelona and Milan have Metros that are infinitely more complicated than Rome and they get fewer tourists every year.

God help you if you ever go to London or NYC!

Jimmy Iovine

GAAman wrote:

Trying to make sense of the metro lines is like trying to read Ikea instructions!

Stick with the bus. You'll get every where on it. Learn the routes off by heart and you'll be sorted.

GAAman

coylemj wrote: »

IKEA instructions for what? A three-legged stool?

Sorry - are we still talking about Rome - where there are two Metro lines called A and B and which intersect at Termini? Madrid, Barcelona and Milan have Metros that are infinitely more complicated than Rome and they get fewer tourists every year.

God help you if you ever go to London or NYC!

That's helpful....
I was going by google maps or something similar where there were just metro symbols blotted around the city with no rhyme or reason, and all the same colour nothing to differentiate A or B.

Agricola

Yeah the Rome Metro is a doddle. While it's obviously not as expansive as other major city's undergrounds, it's nice not to have to decipher bloody metro maps everywhere you're going. You really can't go wrong.

GAAman

This thread is being bumped as it is happening tomorrow!! Can't believe it is finally here.

So any last minute advice for me? I board at the back of the plane apparently do I also disembark from back when leaving? Do I have to take off belt and shoes at security?

Sorry but as I said it has been a long time now.

catbear

New regulations mean rear boarders must exit from the front and vice versa, failure to disembark within five minutes means you must remain on board until the airport opens the next morning.

Seriously though usually you disembark the same way you board. Have you bought Italian Euros?

roundymac

If you are flying with FR then you are unlikely to be using an airbridge so yes it probably be easier to exit via the rear steps. Just look at how busy the flight is and then decide yourself. You will have to remove your belt and shoes at security, make sure your pockets are compleatly empty, I forget a packet of gum in my pocket, your swear it was a shooting offence, (Cork BTW).
Enjoy your trip. I found that eating in little cafes off the main streets were the best both in price and quality.

GAAman

catbear wrote: »

New regulations mean rear boarders must exit from the front and vice versa, failure to disembark within five minutes means you must remain on board until the airport opens the next morning.

Seriously though usually you disembark the same way you board. Have you bought Italian Euros?

You wouldn't believe the deal I got on Italian euro, fifty euro Irish for one euro seventy cent in Italian...... BARGAIN!!

catbear

I am jealous GAAman, am planning a return visit to Rome next year.
Have a great time.

coylemj

roundymac wrote: »

You will have to remove your belt and shoes at security...

You have to remove your belt, they select people at random for the removal of shoes so don't start whipping them off unless asked to do so. I usually stand by the conveyor, catch the eye of the security officer who's doing the body scanner and point to my shoes, most of the time he will shake his head and motion me to come forward through the scanner without removing my shoes.

There have been stories on forums of security people getting upset (i.e. stroppy) with people who start fumbling with their laces even though they have not been asked to remove their shoes so don't take them off unless asked to do so.

BailMeOut

get a Roma Pass! http://www.romapass.it/?l=en and book tickets for the vatican http://mv.vatican.va/3_EN/pages/MV_Home.html. WIll save you a lot of queuing.

GAAman

Enjoyed it so much I'm going back in February :pac:

Unreal place, amazing

kerry4sam

GAAman wrote: »

Enjoyed it so much I'm going back in February :pac:

Unreal place, amazing

Visiting Rome was like an addiction for me for years, quite some years back now, as an Independent Traveller. There was this little shop on the corner almost opposite Termini that I would go in, each morning, and buy a filled roll, pack choco oreos and a mineral and pop them in my backpack for when I'd sit at the columns in St. Peters Square watching life pass me by.
It reached the point where I would just appear at the door and the owner would instinctively just go get the above items for me before I'd have reached the counter Predictable on my part, but don't know how, with everyone who would've walked in daily, how he would've remembered my little order. Hope he is still there doing well!
Been years now since I was in Rome, be another while yet before I'll get chance to return.

Hope you enjoy your return,
Sensational Surroundings in Rome.
kerry4sam

MajorMax

GAAman wrote: »

Enjoyed it so much I'm going back in February :pac:

Unreal place, amazing

That's Rome, no-one ever just visits once, if you go once you'll be back. I've been 8 times now
Glad you enjoyed yourself

Thinkingaboutit

I hope to see the baths. I saw great hulking structures there last time, but would like to look at them up close, even if now they are just great masses of brick.

catbear

Here's a good list of Archeaological highlights of Rome.
http://archeoroma.beniculturali.it/en/archaeological-sites/rome

And then consider the empire it spawned!
http://brilliantmaps.com/roman-empire-211/

I'd love to cycle to Rome on Eurovelo 5.

magicmushroom

GAAman - you need to tell us more!

I'm strongly thinking of doing exactly what you done and booking a flight to Rome by myself for this August/September.

I've never travelled alone before.

You went in September - how was the weather?
What was your accommodation like and would you recommend it?
How much money did you need?
Where would you absolutely recommend I see?

So many questions...

I know this is an old enough thread now so apologies for reviving it, I hope no one minds