Things to Do in Rome: Tours, Tickets & Day Trips

Ranked by traveller reviews: 1) the Vatican Museums, Sistine Chapel and St. Peter’s Basilica, 2) the Colosseum, Roman Forum and Palatine Hill, 3) the Pantheon, Trevi Fountain and Piazza Navona on a guided walk, 4) a Vespa sidecar or golf-cart tour of the seven hills, 5) a food tour in Trastevere, Testaccio or by the Vatican, 6) the night walk of ghosts, legends and haunted Rome, 7) the Borghese Gallery, 8) the Pompeii and Amalfi Coast day trip, 9) the Tuscany wine and Montepulciano day trip and 10) the catacombs and the Appian Way.

Plan three to four days. Day one: the Colosseum at opening with a guided tour that includes the Forum and Palatine (arena-floor access is worth the upgrade), lunch in Monti, the Capitoline Museums, sunset from the Pincio, dinner in Trastevere. Day two: the Vatican Museums with an early-entry tour, the Sistine Chapel, St. Peter’s and the dome climb, Castel Sant’Angelo and the Ponte Sant’Angelo at dusk. Day three: the Pantheon, Piazza Navona, Campo de’ Fiori, the Trevi Fountain at 7am before the crowds, the Spanish Steps, the Borghese Gallery in the afternoon (timed, reserve). Day four: the Appian Way by bike with the catacombs, Testaccio market and the Aventine, or a day trip.

St. Peter’s Basilica, the Trevi Fountain, the Spanish Steps and the Pincio terrace, Piazza Navona, Campo de’ Fiori, the Capitoline Hill’s view over the Forum from behind the Palazzo Senatorio, the Aventine keyhole and orange garden, the Caravaggios in San Luigi dei Francesi and Sant’Agostino, Santa Maria Maggiore and Santa Maria in Trastevere, the Villa Borghese park, the Jewish Ghetto and the Portico of Octavia, the Protestant Cemetery (donation), the Baths of Caracalla’s exterior and the Circus Maximus, the Sunday-morning Appian Way, the Vatican Museums on the last Sunday of the month (free but crowded) and the state sites on the first Sunday.

Pompeii, Sorrento and the Amalfi Coast (a 13-hour day; about €79–199), Tuscany with Montepulciano and a winery lunch (€99–140), Tivoli’s Villa d’Este and Hadrian’s Villa (€95, or an hour by bus), Florence by high-speed train (90 minutes; €139–207 with a guide), Orvieto and Civita di Bagnoregio, Ostia Antica (30 minutes by local train, a Pompeii without the crowds), Assisi (two hours), the Castelli Romani and Lake Bracciano (€93) and Naples for pizza and the archaeological museum (70 minutes by train).

The ghosts, legends and haunted Rome walk, the Ancient Rome at twilight tour, the Trevi Fountain, Pantheon and Piazza Navona lit up after dinner, aperitivo in Monti or Trastevere, the Friday-night openings of the Vatican Museums (spring to autumn), the Colosseum by night tour with the underground, the bars of Campo de’ Fiori and Testaccio, the Terrazza del Pincio and the Gianicolo terrace, opera at the Teatro dell’Opera or the summer Baths of Caracalla, the ‘Drunken History’ walk with drinks and pizza and gelato on the Piazza Navona.

Winter is Rome without the queues: the Vatican and the Colosseum in a fraction of the summer wait, mild days around 12°C, the Christmas market on Piazza Navona and the nativity scenes in every church, the Pope’s Christmas and Epiphany appearances in St. Peter’s Square, La Befana on 6 January, Carnival in February, the January sales on Via del Corso, the museums — Borghese, Capitoline, Palazzo Massimo — in peace, and hearty Roman cooking in Testaccio. Hotel prices are at their lowest between January and early March.

The Colosseum with an arena-floor or gladiator-school tour, the Vespa sidecar and golf-cart tours, a pizza- or gelato-making class, the Bocca della Verità, the Capuchin Crypt and the catacombs for older children, the Explora children’s museum, the Bioparco zoo in the Villa Borghese and the park’s rowing boats and bikes, Castel Sant’Angelo’s ramparts, the Time Elevator show, the cats of Largo di Torre Argentina, the Trevi coin toss and the Villa Borghese carousel. Ostia Antica lets children run through a whole Roman town.

April to early June and mid-September to October — warm, sunny and every site open late; Easter and late April holidays are the busiest weeks. July and August are hot (35°C) and crowded, though August evenings are lively and many Romans leave. November to March is cool, cheap and queue-free, with rain most likely in November. Book the Colosseum and Vatican weeks ahead in any month.

Yes — with a guide you skip the ticket line, walk the Raphael Rooms and the Gallery of Maps with context, and understand the Sistine Chapel before you stand under it; the guided tour with St. Peter’s access (about €60–69) is the most-reviewed experience in Italy. Choose an early-morning or Friday-evening slot for the smallest crowds, wear covered shoulders and knees, and allow three hours plus the dome climb.