Im going to ROME for the weekend, any tips?

Fizog

Get the train to the airport. They do the equivalent of the gatwick express nice and cheap too. The metro or feet is the easy way to get around or the bus. You can get a travel card for the bus and the metro is a small system.
Buy lunch in the markets the bread and ham, cheese and fruit taste amazing and are so cheap. Don't bank on getting pizza though we were looking forward to a Roma pizza in a wood oven pizza restaurant to find the ovens were only used at the weekends!
Colliseum and Roman forum is worth seeing- go for the bus travel card and you can see the sights and get on and off all over Rome.
Enjoy

faded_flowers

Nicest ice-cream in the world!

Warning about transport: the metro is great and very cheap (1 euro for any trip I think) but you can't buy bus tickets on the buses, only from shops. As we found out late one evening after they'd all closed :rolleyes:

balsingh

Watch your pockets .... I almost got pickpocketed on a busy metro train.

freebird65

There's a lot to see in Rome....my two must-see's would be St Peter's Basilica & the Vatican Museum (Colosseum was closed for a public holiday when I went) and, if you're a bit of a culture vulture then an absolute must-do is the Villa Borghese. Surrounded by beautiful parkland and very close to those step thingies, the place is crammed full of the most stunning and famous paintings and sculptures. Have a look at it online. And have a fab time!!

WiseOldBird_2

We just returned from a 2 and a half day visiti last month (our first). Our hotel was quite central and I used the itinerary suggested by the Rome tourist board for a 2-day stay. Out hotel was central in Piazza Barberine. First day we took the tube from over the road from our hotel the first day straight to the stop for St. Peters. Visited there, and the museum with the Sistine chapel. Walked to Castel San Angelo, then to the Pantheon and Trevi Fountain then on to Piazza Navona. Most of the day gone by then so walked the short distance back to our hotel.

Second day we took the tube south to the Colleseum and visisted there, took in the Forum up to the Capitoline Museum, Viktor Emmanuel Building? then back to hotel.

Third morning we walked to Spanish Steps, then up the Via Condotti (where all the posh shops are), then back to Piazza Navona? then it was time to head back.

The nearest we got to the Olympic Stadium was seeing it at a distance from the top of Castel San Angelo!

Also, we used the Terravision coach from the airport and it all worked well. They were well organised. We booked before we left, but you can still just book when you arrive. I think they leave every 30 minutes from the airport, and every 30 minutes from Terminia Station for the return back.

Beautiful city, I loved it. Enjoy.;

randomtask_2

Paul7331, speak to the driver assigned to you - I'm sure they can arrange travel to the airport. They speak great English and are very polite and helpful.

Fudgem - you pay the agreed fare to the driver. Of course you can tip at your own discretion.

Hope that helps.

poe.tuesday

if you are going to the vatican, make sure it's open as it was closed both times I went to visit, great little icecream shop right there too but you can't take the icecream into the vatican

the tube only has two lines that intersect at termini - very busy cross point so watch out for those pick pockets

get on the tube and go the the colusium stop, when you get there just go across the road - have a look at the colusium and then walk up to the right, lookint at the sites on route, this is the best way to see the city

for me the must sees are:

st peters - it's vastness is something else
trevi fountain - go at night - it's wonderful when it's lit up in the warm evening air

don't bother with the spanish steps - they are just steps that you are told that you can't hang about on :rolleyes: but if you go to the tube stop at the spanish steps there is a great little pizza take away window litterally just outside the tueb stop

just walk about, eat the food and enjoy the italian way, it really is magical

SandLake

You can contact Romecabs at romecabs@yahoo.com, it is run by a guy called Stefano Costantini, just tell him what you want (from and to the airport, with flight details) and he will make the arrangements and yes you just pay the driver. They need your flight number as they will reschedule the pickup if it runs late. I'm told that tips are not necessary but I still did anyway! The driver will give a bit of a commentary on the journey, although there were 6 of us in a Mercedes Minibus and we could hardly hear him.

djl

hi

we went to Rome in 2005. the Colosseum was the best thing i remmember. you can get a english guilded tour for a little extra which was worth it.

matchfacts

Just a general warning about the use of cabs in Rome.

We needed two taxis which we flagged down. They followed the same route, but one cost 8 euros, the other 24 euros. Something to do with one being a standard taxi you can flag down and the other not being.

The 24 euro one said we had booked him and the meter started as soon as he was on his way after the phone call. Thankfully our hotel staff were very helpful and forceful in sorting this out and we only paid 10 euros.

I'd check out how to identify between the cab types.