Colosseum & the Roman Forum
ModerateAncient Rome · Combined ticket
First slot of the day, Forum first, Colosseum after. The reverse order costs you an hour of queue.
CelioBook aheadHalf day
Rome, Italy
Ideal: 3–4 daysBest: Apr–May, Sep–OctPrice: Expensive
In 60 seconds
Rome in 60 seconds
Rome is not a city you finish. The classical set pieces are unavoidable and genuinely worth the queue, but the version people fall for is smaller: a neighbourhood square at eight in the evening, a bar with four things on the menu, a church nobody photographs. Stay in Monti, Trastevere or near the Pantheon, where most sights are a walk apart — the buses are slow and the Metro misses the historic centre. Do the Vatican and the Colosseum in the morning, before the heat and the coaches, and give the late afternoon to the Aventine or the Gianicolo. Book the big sites weeks ahead, then leave half of every day unplanned. Four days makes a first visit; three is a compromise you will feel.
Best for
- History
- Food
- Architecture
- Museums
Known for
- Ancient Rome
- Roman cuisine
- Baroque churches
Skip if
You want a calm, cool, walkable holiday in high summer. Rome in July and August is hot, crowded and unapologetic about both.
Your match
Choose a few travel interests and we will show how well Rome fits them. Choose interests
See
Must experience
The things that would make the trip incomplete without them.
The Pantheon
InexpensiveRoman temple · 126 AD
Nineteen centuries old and still the most convincing room in Europe. Go twice — once in rain.
Centro StoricoShort visit
Galleria Borghese
ModerateBernini & Caravaggio · Timed entry
Two hours, capped numbers, and the best sculpture room on the continent. Book the week you plan the trip.
Pinciano2 h slotBook ahead
Eat
Where to eat
A short list, kept short on purpose. Each entry answers one question: when is this the right choice?
Local
Where to eat the food this city is actually known for.
Armando al Pantheon
ModerateRoman · Since 1961
Roman classics twenty metres from the Pantheon, and somehow not a tourist restaurant.
Centro StoricoBook ahead
La Pentolaccia
ModerateHistorical restaurant · Roman meat & fresh fish
Typical Roman cooking, meat and fresh fish in a classic room on Via Flavia, a short walk from Piazza Barberini.
Via Veneto & BarberiniBook aheadTraditional
Felice a Testaccio
ModerateRoman trattoria · Since 1936
The tonnarelli cacio e pepe is tossed at the table. A Testaccio institution; book well ahead.
TestaccioBook aheadCacio e pepe
Casual
No booking, no ceremony, reliably good.
Da Enzo al 29
ModerateTrattoria · Trastevere
Cacio e pepe worth standing in line for. Put your name down and have a drink nearby.
TrastevereNo bookingQueue
Pizzarium Bonci
InexpensivePizza al taglio by weight
Gabriele Bonci's slices, cut and weighed at the counter, near the Vatican Museums. The toppings change through the day.
PratiQuickStanding
Supplizio
InexpensiveSupplì & Roman fried things
Chef Arcangelo Dandini's shop for supplì, the fried rice balls of Roman street food, in the classic and the pasta-sauce versions.
Centro StoricoQuickStreet food
Special occasion
Worth planning the evening around.
Roscioli
ExpensiveSalumeria · Wine
Part deli, part wine cellar, part dining room. Sit at the counter and let them choose.
RegolaBook aheadWine
La Pergola
Very expensiveHeinz Beck · Three Michelin stars
Rome's three-star dining room, at the top of the Rome Cavalieri hotel on Monte Mario, with the city spread below.
Monte MarioBook aheadView
Glass Hostaria
Very expensiveCreative Italian · Michelin star
Cristina Bowerman's modern kitchen in a contemporary room behind an old Trastevere façade.
TrastevereBook aheadModern
Coffee & fika
Mornings, and the slow hour between things.
Sant'Eustachio Il Caffè
InexpensiveEspresso bar · Since 1938
Order 'senza zucchero' if you don't want it pre-sweetened. Drink it standing, like everyone else.
Centro StoricoStanding
Tazza d'Oro
InexpensiveRoaster & coffee bar · Since 1946
A roaster by the Pantheon serving espresso at the bar, and granita di caffè with cream in summer.
Centro StoricoGranitaStanding
Faro
InexpensiveSpecialty coffee
Rome's pioneering specialty coffee bar, with a rotating list of single origins as espresso or filter.
SalarioBrunchFilter
Beyond the obvious
Hidden gems
Less obvious, rarely queued for, and usually the part people remember.
The Aventine keyhole & orange garden
Viewpoint · Free
One keyhole, three countries in the sightline. Come at opening or after six — the queue is real.
AventinoFreeSunset
Quartiere Coppedè
Fantasy architecture · 1920s
Two blocks of art nouveau invention that look nothing like the rest of Rome.
TriesteArchitectureFree
San Clemente
InexpensiveThree churches stacked in time
A 12th-century basilica on top of a 4th-century church, on top of a Roman house and a Mithraic temple.
CelioHistoryUnderground
After dark
Bars & nightlife
Il Goccetto
ModerateWine bar · Natural & classic
A wall of bottles and no pretension. The most Roman way to start an evening.
RegolaSmallWine
Freni e Frizioni
ModerateCocktails · Aperitivo
A former mechanic's garage. Go at seven for the buffet and the piazza outside.
TrastevereAperitivoTerrace
Jerry Thomas Speakeasy
ExpensiveSpeakeasy cocktails
A reservation-only speakeasy near Campo de' Fiori that has appeared repeatedly on the World's 50 Best Bars list.
RegolaBook aheadCocktails
Orientation
Neighbourhoods
How the city is actually divided, and what each part is for.
Trastevere
Ivy, cobbles, night life
Beautiful and busy. Best before nine in the morning and after ten at night.
Monti
Vintage shops, wine bars, small squares
Central without being touristic. Where to base a first visit.
Testaccio
Market, trattorias, working Rome
The old slaughterhouse district, where Roman offal cooking was born and the covered market still feeds the neighbourhood.
Stay
Where to stay
Areas rather than hotels — pick the right one and the rest follows.
Monti
ExpensiveCentral · Characterful
Ten minutes from the Forum, and a neighbourhood rather than a set.
Walkable
Prati
ModerateResidential · Good value
Elegant, calm and better value across the river. Metro to everything.
MetroQuiet
Trastevere
ExpensiveAcross the river
Cobbles, ivy and trattorias across the Tiber. Lively at night, so choose a room off the main squares.
AtmosphereNoise
Practical
Know before you go
- Getting in
- Leonardo Express runs Fiumicino to Termini in 32 minutes; Ciampino is bus-only.
- Getting around
- Walk the centre — the metro barely serves it. Buses are useful, trams less so.
- Money
- Euro. Cards are accepted almost everywhere; a coperto charge per person is normal, not a scam.
- When to go
- April, May, September and October. August empties of Romans and fills with everyone else.
- Dress code
- Churches require covered shoulders and knees — St Peter's enforces it strictly.
Plan this trip — useful links
Context
History in 5 minutes
Enough to make what you are looking at legible.
- 753 BC–476 AD
Kingdom, Republic and Empire. Almost every stone in the centre is either from this period or built out of it.
- 1506–1626
The rebuilding of St Peter's pulls Bramante, Michelangelo and Bernini into the city and produces the Baroque Rome visitors picture.
- 1871
Rome becomes capital of a unified Italy; the papal city is rebuilt around ministries, boulevards and the Tiber embankments.
Further out
Nearby escapes
Worth a day if you have one to spare.
Ostia Antica
Rome's ancient port city
Pompeii's scale without Pompeii's crowds, on a suburban train ticket.
40 min by trainHalf dayRuins
Tivoli
Villa d'Este & Hadrian's Villa
Two UNESCO villas in one valley. Hadrian's in the morning, the fountains after lunch.
1 h by trainGardensUNESCO
Orvieto
Hill town on a volcanic cliff
A Gothic cathedral with Signorelli's Last Judgement, on a rock above the Umbrian plain.
By regional train and funicularCathedralFull day