Top Five Tips for Traveling to Rome, Italy
Planning a trip to Rome, Italy? Well, I’ve got some tips for you, based on my weekend trip to the Eternal City.
Trevi Fountain, Rome, ItalyRome, Italy is one of the most popular tourist destinations for travelers interested in visiting incredible historical and architectural sites. And from my experience, Rome is definitely worth the hype!
To make your trip to Rome as smooth as possible, you might be interested in reading about my top five best tips for traveling to this major Italian city.
I spent a weekend in Rome in February of 2023—not much time, I know! But believe me, I packed that weekend with as much sightseeing as possible.
Based on what I got right and what I got wrong during my trip, I’ve got a list of travel tips for Rome. Hopefully, these tips for traveling to Rome will allow you to learn from my mistakes and my successes during my weekend trip there.
Here are my top five best travel tips for Rome, Italy.
1. Make a travel plan before you arrive.
Rome is a massive city, and there are countless incredible sites to visit. So, before your travels, I suggest you make a plan of the sites you want to be sure to see in the Eternal City.
Whether you’re the type of person who likes to create a complete travel itinerary or the type of person who likes to play their travels by ear, a general list of the sites you want to visit will be useful to you. Making a travel plan doesn’t mean you have to have everything planned out to the hour (or to the minute). It will just help you narrow down the sites you feel are the most important to see during your trip to Rome.
Some historical, architectural, and archeological sites you might want to list in your travel plan include (but are certainly not limited to):
Above are some of the most popular places for sightseeing in Rome. But Rome also boasts over nine hundred churches. In addition, the city contains other historical places of worship, such as synagogues and mosques. And then there are plenty of museums, too!
Perhaps now you can see why it might be helpful to create a list of the places you want to visit during your trip to Rome, Italy. There’s just simply so much to see—it’s a good idea to have a place to start!
2. Make reservations ahead of time for Rome’s popular sites.
As I mentioned before, Rome is a super popular tourist destination. As a result, travelers should make reservations ahead of time for the common places tourists visit, like the Vatican, the Colosseum, and the Pantheon.
If you want to be sure to see a certain site in Rome, you ought to reserve a ticket and time slot before beginning your travels. Because by the time you arrive in Rome, it may be too late to book these reservations.
Naively, I walked up to the Pantheon one day in Rome, thinking I’d be allowed to enter. But when I arrived, a sign stood at the entrance announcing that the Pantheon had been entirely booked for that day. No more tickets were to be sold. To avoid this mistake, be sure to purchase your tickets for the Pantheon and other major Roman sites ahead of time.
Even if tickets do remain available, tourists who fail to purchase their tickets ahead of time typically have to wait in insanely long lines. This is yet another reason to plan ahead and purchase these tickets before you travel to Rome.
3. Consider booking tours of the Vatican and the Colosseum.
My favorite parts of my weekend trip to Rome were the tours I took of the Vatican and the Colosseum. Since these sites are so huge, and since they have such rich, complex histories, I’d highly recommended visiting them through tours if you have the chance.
Tours offer the opportunity to gain a more in-depth understanding of the places you visit, and I found that learning in this way to be both useful and fun when visiting the Vatican and the Colosseum. If you take a tour, you can also typically ask your tour guide any burning questions you have about the places you’re visiting.
Booking a tour can also be a great way to skip long lines at major historical sites in Rome. So if you’re on a time-crunch, scheduling a tour would allow you to fit a visit into your tight sightseeing schedule.
4. Wake up early to sightsee in Rome with less of a crowd.
When I visited the Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps in Rome one afternoon, these areas teemed with people taking pictures and enjoying the sites. In fact, the Trevi Fountain was so crowded, I could barely walk by.
To see these tourist destinations with fewer people around, you might want to wake up early and beat the crowd. That said, others will likely be doing the same, so even early in the morning it’s likely that other tourists will be present. But if you’re looking to take a picture without tons and tons of people photobombing, waking up early is your best bet.
5. Visit Rome’s Trastevere and Campo de’ Fiori neighborhoods.
If you’re planning a trip to Rome, you’ve probably already got major historical and architectural sites like the Vatican, the Colosseum, and the Pantheon on your sightseeing list. But I’d also recommend checking out some of Rome’s unique neighborhoods, such as Trastevere and Campo de’ Fiori.
Trastevere includes lots of boutiques, small shops, cafes, and restaurants. The streets are pretty, and the area is very walkable.
Campo de’ Fiori is another beautiful area of Rome with plenty to do. The neighborhood centers around a main plaza surrounded with lots of restaurants and cafes. On weekends, the square holds a fruit, vegetable, and crafts market.
Why not explore a bit more of Rome with through these lovely neighborhoods?
Rome has tons to offer to travelers and tourists. I thoroughly enjoyed my trip to the Eternal City. I hope my top five travel tips for Rome help you make the most of you trip!
