Rome - any handy hints or tips welcomed!

wizk1

...And.... lol... venture into the side-streets during the evening for restaurants and bars. These are often much cheaper than the tourist, honey-trap restaurants in the Piazzas and main streets. The quality of the food is often much better too.

Most of all, enjoy yourself. Rome is a fantastic city, and I can't wait to return there.

ali_at_achnamara

With St Peter's and the Vatican Museum, remember that they are closed on some days and if you don't go first thing in the morning, then you can be looking at queuing for an hour or two.

Watch out for illegal taxis at the railway station and pick up point for airport buses. We evidently escaped lightly by getting charged 45 euros for what should have been a 12 euro trip. It sours your view of a city.

We liked the Roman ruins on the Palatine. The metro is cheap and easy, but just be aware of what's going on around you. The best thing was just wandering round fairly randomly. In a street past the Trevi fountain, for example, we found a shop selling ecclesiastical robes, that was great. One side had nun's clothing - plain cotton vests, sensible skirts, white cotton shirts - all very severe and unbecoming. The other side looked like a dressing up box for religious drag queens - so much satin and embroidery and such colours.

cannyscot_2

Tour of colleseum as above is really good we had one that had an extra bit where you walk to the burial ground it was really interesting -one of the highlights of our trip. we took it to avoid the long line.

juliescot

Colosseum and the forum - if you like that sort of thing, which I must confess I do.

The Vatican museum can get incredibly busy in the mornings however if you leave it till after lunch you might find, as we did, that you can walk straight in.

Open top tour bus was good and let us see a lot.

hollydays

Taxi drivers are scumbags.They try to overcharge you AND do the note switch trick-Make sure the meter is running-any problems threaten to call the Police.

Take an empty water bottle and fill it up from the many (drinkable ) fountains.

SuperMum2008

Thanks everyone - really helpful stuff!! Water bottle suggestion is great. Did anyone buy the 3 day city ticket? Would I need it or can I walk it?

hollydays

Never used any transport ,always walked/taxi,although if you are near the station its a little bit longer than more central areas.Use the terravision bus from the airport.

hollydays

Drinking or eating standing at the bar in a cafe is much cheaper than sitting inside,and sitting outside is dearer still.eg 1,50 for a coffee at bar,5 euros outside.Watch what the locals do.If you have to sit down, in a cafe,for a rest,just buy a bottle of water and get two glasses.
Or sit on the Spanish Steps for free! Rome can be very pricey.

Altarf

Rosie1978 wrote: »

- Colleseum is beautiful but the queue was huge when we were there. We heard people asking who wanted to join the guided tour and it was only a few euros more but we were whisked to the front of the queue - result!

A cheaper alternative is to make use of the fact that the entrance ticket to the Colosseum also gives you entrance to the Palatine Hill, which is a few hundred yards away from the Colosseum. The Palatine Hill has its own ticket office (and no queue), so go there and buy your ticket. Now go back to the Colosseum and ignore the big queue on the right hand side of the entrance and walk past everyone on the left to the turnstiles. Put your ticket in, and voila, a lot of time saved.

Rosie1978 wrote: »

- Vatican is also amazing but... its a blooming long walk - it must be two miles

You can now buy tickets online for the Vatican museums directly from the Vatican (so no additional cost) and avoid the longest queues outside that I have ever seen.
http://biglietteriamusei.vatican.va/musei/tickets/do?weblang=en&do

If you are not on a guided tour, do hire the audio guide, it makes the visit more interesting. You need to leave a driving licence, passport, etc when hiring one (or more).

tara747

Rome can be dear but not if you know where to go. You can get the most amazing meals in almost any trattoria anywhere and they are so cheap and tasty. Follow the locals.

Also, head to Trastevere, my absolute favourite neighbourhood in Rome. Very cheap (and good) restaurants, a few gems of bars with cheap vino and great locations for people watching, lots of street performers, musicians and buskers, and - best of all - Santa Maria in Trastevere church. It is gorgeous, and the square outside is heavenly on a lazy Sunday afternoon. Just sit beside the fountain and watch the world go with a gelato from the nearby shop. Ahhhhhhhhhhh....