Rome, Italy: The Complete Travel Guide
best things to do in rome
The Top Things to See and Do in Rome
☼
where to stay in rome
Our favorite Airbnbs and Hotels in Rome
☼
things to know before visiting rome
How to Get Around Rome, What Payment Methods to Use in Rome and the Public Drinking Water in Rome
☼
All roads lead to rome
Where to Travel to from Rome
☼
Ciao
If this is your first time on The Weithouse - welcome! My name is Taylor and I’m the girl behind the screen and camera bringing you resources to help you plan the trip of your dreams.
We’ve now traveled to Rome three times, the first time in 2018 for two and a half days, the second in 2022 for 24 hours and the third in 2023 for 24 hours.
The great thing about Rome is that it can easily be planned for all on your own. Rome is walkable, speaking English is accepted, there is public transit available if needed, the cost of food is affordable, and there’s a very clear and concise list of “must-sees.”
This Rome Travel Guide will highlight all of the things you need to do and see during your time in Rome as well as where to stay in Rome and a few other tips to make the most of your travels.
best things to do in rome
When figuring out what to do in Rome, you have a pretty straight forward list of itinerary items to check off. In order to build your Rome itinerary, start by picking a few of the best things to do in Rome items below, and see how much time/how many days you’ll need in the city based on the number of things you want to do.
Roman Colosseum, Forum and Palatine Hill
A trip to Rome wouldn’t be complete without a visit to the Roman Colosseum. It’s an iconic piece of architecture with a rich and extensive history, originally commissioned in AD 72 as a home to 55,000 seats for spectators, both rich and poor, to watch the combats of gladiators.
You can buy tickets to the Roman Colosseum here. I’d recommend getting one with a guide in order to enrich your visit with live commentary of the history and architecture, and to benefit from skip the line access. You can book bundle tickets to the Roman Colosseum, Roman Forum and Palantine Hill.
If you have time, head back to the Colosseum at night to see the beautiful architecture illuminated with a golden glow.
Book your colosseum tour as your first rome itinerary item. I always recommend seeing the “big thing” first (i.e. seeing the eiffel tower first thing in paris), because it makes the first day feel so exciting and you get to kick your trip off by seeing your most dreamt of landmark.
Trevi fountain
Equally famous to the Roman Colosseum is the Trevi Fountain. Legend says that if you throw a coin over your left shoulder into the fountain, you’ll return to Rome at some point. Personally, we’ve tested this legend by throwing in a coin each time we’re in Rome, and we always find ourselves back in the Eternal City.
Other than throwing in your coin, there’s not much to do once you’ve arrived at the fountain, so you don’t need to set aside too much time for your visit.
A word of caution, the area and steps around the fountain can get really crowded with tourists. In order to get some alone time with the fountain (or get those shots for Instagram), wake up early one morning and you’ll have the fountain mostly to yourself.
If you're looking for lunch near the Trevi Fountain, grab a casual bite to eat at Pane e Salame and order a meat and cheese board or a salami sandwich, or sit curbside with pasta and wine at Ristorante Trattoria al Moro.
TIP: whether you’re a photographer, looking for photos without crowds, or just enjoy experiencing a city without all Those “other” tourists, wake up early one morning in rome and stroll past all of the famous landmarks.
Pantheon
A short 10-minute walk from the Trevi Fountain, and you’ll arrive at the Pantheon, a former Roman temple and since 609 AD, a Catholic church. If you’re visiting on the weekend (Saturday or Sunday) or a public holiday, you’ll need a reservation, at least one day in advance to enter (make your reservation here), or you can book a guided tour here.
Admission is free to enter Monday through Friday, so try to plan your visit on one of those days in order to avoid waiting in a long line at the entrance.
In the square surrounding the Pantheon you’ll find restaurants where you can eat pasta or drink an aperitif with a view of the famous landmark. And if you plan to visit in the morning, don’t forget to stop at the famous espresso bar, Sant’ Eustachio Il Caffè, just around the corner.
TIP: if you want to visit the pantheon without the crowds, head to the trevi fountain around 8:30 AM, then walk from the trevi fountain to the pantheon and enter at the opening at 9:00 am.
PIAZZA navona
A short 5-minute walk from the Pantheon and you’ll arrive at Piazza Navona, one of the most beautiful squares in Rome. Within the square, you’ll again find restaurants scattered around the edge, with views of the beautiful baroque fountains in the center. On one side of the square you can enter the stunning Church of Sant’Agnese, which is open to visitors.
After you’ve enjoyed taking in the architecture of the square, take the short 3-minute walk and you’ll find Rome’s best Tiramisu at Two Sizes. They have over 4,000 well deserved five-star reviews, and are most famous for their pistachio flavored tiramisu. I prefer the strawberry, but at only €2.50 a piece for the small size, why not just order every flavor!
THE SPANISH STEPS
Take a 7-minute walk north of the Trevi Fountain and you’ll arrive at The Spanish Steps, a 135 step staircase completed in 1725 A.D. As the steps are a UNESCO site and are continuously abused and damaged by tourists, you can no longer sit on the steps. However, you can still stroll up and down them as you wish.
The Spanish Steps are another quick itinerary item, which you can tack on to your visit to the Trevi Fountain.
vatican city
Home to the Pope and Europe’s smallest state, the Vatican City is another Rome travel itinerary must.
Within the Vatican City, you’ll find St. Peter’s Square (Piazza San Pietro), St. Peter’s Basilica and the Vatican Museums, where the Sistine chapel is located. I highly recommend booking an early access guided tour (like this one), as the aforementioned locations can become very crowded.
If you want to see the Pope, visit on a Sunday morning and arrive to St. Peter’s Square just around 11:30 AM to see him at noon. However, the Pope isn’t always in Rome, so if you want to make sure you see him during your visit, you can find more detailed information here.
TIP: you’ll want to give yourself around half a day to visit the vatican city, so be sure to build this into the number of days you have in rome if you plan to visit.
Trastevere neighborhood
For picturesque streets covered in jasmine and ivy and some of Rome’s best restaurants, head to Rome’s Trastevere neighborhood.
On the same side of the river as Vatican City, you can take the thirty-minute walk to Trastevere after your morning at the Vatican. If you take this route, and have time, make a pit stop at The Botanical Garden of Rome, which we found by accident on our first trip to Rome and fell in love with the beautiful plants, birds and fountains.
You could also easily access Trastevere after your stroll through Piazza Navona, by taking a 17-minute walk across the river.
Head to Trastevere an hour before sunset to get magical lighting for your photos, and then pick a spot for a dinner in the charming neighborhood. We discovered Nannarella by accident (when checking the reviews of a different restaurant) and decided we had to try after seeing they had over 13,000 five-star reviews! It’s worth the wait for a table, and once you’re seated be sure to order the delicious focaccia, meatballs (the best I’ve ever eaten in my life) and pasta, of course.
WHERE TO STAY in rome
If it’s your first visit to the city, you should stay somewhere either in Central Rome or in Trastevere to have the most accessibility to the landmarks and to easily hop back inside for a break or nap to beat the heat.
If you want to experience Rome more like a local, you can find our favorite Rome Airbnb rentals in this post.
If you’ve been to the city before and don’t mind being slightly outside of the more central areas, I highly recommend The Hoxton Rome, which is a 30-minute walk through the Villa Borghese gardens into central Rome or an easy 10-minute taxi ride.
Pictured below: an inside look of the “Cosy Up” room at The Hoxton Rome
things to know before visiting rome
Before visiting Rome, there are a few things you should keep in mind and be prepared for in order to make the most of your travels. Here are a few things to know when traveling to Rome:
Rome is in the Mediterranean, meaning in the summer it can be very warm! Be sure to pack appropriate clothing, wear comfortable shoes and bring a water bottle.
On that note, the water in Rome is drinkable and throughout the city you’ll find water fountains where you can refill your bottle throughout the day.
As is true in most places, the airport is outside of Rome and takes a good 30-40 minutes to get to and get from. From the airport, you can either take a taxi into the city, or take the public transit, which will both get you to central Rome.
Credit cards are accepted most places, but if your taxi ride is short, they might want you to pay in cash.
You do not need to rent a car. Take a vespa tour if that’s up your alley, but you should walk, use public transit or taxi around if needed. The roads are not driver friendly.
ALL ROADS LEAD TO ROME
From Rome, you can easily access most all of Italy by train. Florence is only an hour and a half by train, Venice four hours by train, Salerno (access point to the Amalfi Coast) approximately two hours by train from Rome, and Bari (the access point to Puglia) is four hours by train from Rome.
In 2018 when we did our full tour of Italy, here’s the route we took:
Rome -> Salerno (to Positano)
Positano -> Naples (we ordered a driver to drive us directly from Positano to Naples to catch the train) -> Florence
Florence -> Venice
Venice -> Rome
You can book all of your train tickets here.
We have full travel guides to all of these Italian cities (excluding Salerno and Naples), which you can find by clicking on the links below:
STICK AROUND FOR A WHILE
Need help planning the rest of your trip to Italy?
If you’re exploring more of Italy, be sure to check out our guides to Florence, Venice and Positano, see our roundup of the best Airbnbs in Florence, or the most beautiful hotels in Puglia.
FOLLOW ALONG
For all of our live travel content and BTS, be sure to follow us on social media. You’ll get to see what our life looks like as expats in Paris and get to virtually come along with us whenever we are exploring somewhere new.
In this Airbnb roundup, we’re sharing our curated list of the best Airbnb rentals to book during your next travels to Rome, Italy. Our list features beautiful Rome Airbnb rentals in Central Rome, including Airbnbs in the Trastevere neighborhood of Rome, the Prati Neighborhood of Rome and the Monti neighborhood of Rome, all perfect for exploring the Eternal City.