Suzanne12

We arrive in Rome on Saturday 5/23. Plane lands at 11:45AM. Staying at Hotel Cosmopolita. This will be my first trip to Italy, and my fiance's first trip to Europe. I have planned the following:
Day 1 (Sat) - On our own, check out Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, Piazza Navona. Early dinner.
Day 2 (Sun) - 9:00 AM tour of Galleria Borghese, 4PM Ancient Rome Tour - Colosseum, ect. (not booked - considering Icon Tours)
Day 3 (Mon) - Open (Any suggestions?)
Day 4 (Tues) - 9:00 AM Scavi tour (reservation confirmed) 1:00PM Vatican tour with Context Rome (reservation confirmed)

Any thoughts, or suggestions? Thanks for your feedback!

Dayle

Hi Suzanne,

No problem to fill day #3! So much to see and do. Just a couple of suggestions, check out some of the churches and maybe see the Capitoline Museums, or Trastevere, or Castello Sant'Angelo. Don't forget the Pantheon. It would be easy to see during your first day of wandering, then see Santa Maria Sopra Minerva next to it.

There was an old thread here, something like "Favorite Churches in Rome" that is a great starting point!

Buon viaggio!

hausfrau

What Dayle said.

But also, there's no way you can see all of Ancient Rome after 4 pm on Day 2, even on a tour. At the very least that includes the Colosseum, Roman Forum, and Palatine Hill. Those three sites can easily take up a full day, so some of that could spill over to Day 3.

SusanP

Icon's Ancient Rome tour does take you to all those (Colosseum, Forum, Palantine Hill), plus the Mamertine Prison. It's 4 hours+. They start at 4:00 to avoid the hottest part of the day.

peppermintpatti

Hi Suzanne, I agree with Dayle, check out the favorite churches in Rome Thread. I personally really enjoyed seeing St. Clemente.--3 layers of history. Have fun on your trip! pp

dorkforcemom

Looks pretty good to me. I hope you enjoy the ContextRome tour at the Vatican Museums as much as we did...it was very thorough. We enjoyed it so much, in fact, that last week in Paris I had a ContextParis Louvre Italian masters tour...

LoveItaly

Hi Suzanne, personally I would not want a reservation at the Borghese Galleria at 9:00am the morning I woke up after a long flight to Rome (assuming you are flying from the US) but maybe you are flying from the east coast of the US? I have to fly from SFO and the first morning I wake up in Italy is the morning I do not want to have to wake up early or feel rushed for an appointment. Personally I would make the reservation for the Borghese Gallery for Monday. Just my two cents worth but your situation may be different. Do enjoy bella Roma!!!

hausfrau

SusanP, I stand corrected. However I am still of the opinion that even 4 hours is not enough time to take in those sites. I guess it depends on how much you like tours vs. how much you like ancient ruins.

Suzanne, your schedule looks quite tour-heavy, so you COULD alternatively do your own self-guided tour of ancient Rome and spread it over a couple days. We enjoyed using the DK Eyewitness Rome guidebook and going around at our own pace.

mauitammy

I think your itinerary sounds great. I suggest you take the tour of Ancient Rome. Last summer we toured it on our own and this summer when we return we are taking the Icon tour that begins at 4 pm. I think it will be much better than trying to figure it out on our own.

We enjoyed our scavi tour last summer and we took the official Vatican tour which was wonderful.


There is so much to see and do. There is no way you will see it all in 4 days, but that just means you have an excuse to return! Sometimes you will just be walking around and see something amazing that wasn't even on your list! Have a great trip!

SusanP

hausfrau, I didn't mean to say that you couldn't spend a lot more time on those places, just that Icon's tour did hit them all, and the guide I had was excellent. I actually had to skip the Colosseum portion because my arthritic knee was in bad shape (I had walked too much earlier that day considering I had a 4-hour tour to do!), but I think you cover much more with an excellent guide than what you cover if you're trying to follow your own "tour." Especially for the forum, it's hard to "see" what it was like without some background and explanation.

motor_city_girl

We really enjoyed our Icon Forum, etc. tour as well.

annhig

hi, suzanne -

I think your itinerary looks great - if you are tired after the borghese tour, you can go back to bed! and the 4pm tour of teh colosseum etc appeals to me - you'l lahve had a rest and it'll be cooler as others have said. 4 hours should be fine to take it all in for the 1st time.

for your missing day, I'd go to Tivoli and see the vliia d'este and hadrian's villa. they would be fabulous in May.
or trastevere, mosaic churches, san clemente, jewish Rome, capitoline museums, wandering around, etc.etc.

have a great time,

regards, ann

Suzanne12

Thank you for your replies - I haven't been online for a few days. Loveitaly - I would love to tour the Borghese Gallery on Monday, but they are closed. I had hoped to do that on Tuesday, but my Scavi Tour reservation was confirmed for Tuesday - so I'm working around that. We are coming from Boston, so I hope that the jet leg won't keep us from making that Sunday morning tour (I expect we will be in bed early Saturday night).

A post gallery nap does sound like a great idea!

Thanks, Suzanne

hausfrau

SusanP, I understand your perspective. It is definitely a lot to take in all at once and an overview tour might be best for a first-time visit. I am not the tour type but am considering one on my next trip to Rome for the very reason that it IS hard to piece everything together and imagine what it all must have looked like. I think it is a shame that they don't do a better job of interpreting the Forum and Palatine Hill. I would certainly pay money to visit the Forum if there were some exhibits or displays that showed what the temples and basilicas looked like.

Anyway, Suzanne, you have a good plan and I hope you have a fabulous time in Rome!

carlyshells

Hi Suzanne - I just returned from my first trip to Italy which included (sadly) only 2 and 1/2 full days in Roma. We also flew in from Boston (via Milan) and ended up getting to our hotel around 2pm our first day. We had Borghese reservations for 11am the next day, which was totally fine. You'll be too excited to be in Rome to waste time sleeping in! The Borghese is absolutely amazing and you will love it. The things artists can do with marble really is mind-blowing. If you are not too tired after the Borghese, I would just start to wander and make your way down to where your Ancient Rome tour starts. Be sure to stop for lunch, coffee, gelato, and/or a glass of wine on the way! Also please don't miss the Pantheon. There is so much to see between the Borghese and down near the ancient area. The thing that struck me about Rome, is that although it is quite a walkable city (and we did walk everywhere, as well as took the Metro a few times), it takes longer than you might think to walk places. There is so much to see in Rome and you come upon something neat, whether it's a fountain, church, or whatever, you just want to stop and take the time to enjoy and appreciate it. Rome is an incredible city and my only advice is not to try and cram too much in over the short amount of time you have. Whatever you see and do is going to be great! Just taking part of the hustle and bustle of Rome is an experience in itself.

Vttraveler

Hi Suzanne
My husband, teen age son and I spent a week in Rome at the end of February. We concentrated more on ancient ruins and outdoor sights than the churches because of my son's interests, but I agree with others who have said that you should definitely try to visit some of the churches other than St. Peter's. Keep in mind that many of them are closed during the middle of the day. Since you are planning to be walking to the Piazza Navona, you should consider San Luigi dei Francesi with its three spectacular Caravaggios in addition to Santa Maria sopra Minerva and the Bernini elephant obelisk in the piazza outside. Do not miss the Pantheon!

I would encourage you to spend some time in unstructured (non-tour) walks on Day 3 and other times you don't have scheduled. We used the Eyewitness guide to Rome as a good source for walking tour ideas. I also picked up a booklet called The Streets of Rome at one of the tourist offices. The tone is pretty dry and scholarly but it has lots of good information about interesting streets to explore.

We stayed in an apartment in the Ghetto right near Piazza Mattei (tortoise fountain), and loved the neighborhood. You could easily combine a walk through the Ghetto with Santa Maria in Cosmedin/Piazza della Bocca della Verita and/or with a walk across the Isola Tiberina into Trastevere.

We also really enjoyed going up (by bus) the Janiculum to Piazelle Garibaldi with its great views of the city and walking down via Fontana dell'Acqua Paola and San Pietro in Montorio with Bramante's Tempietto, then into Trastevere. You could do this after your Vatican tour.

We also took the Archeobus, an open tram bus which starts in the central city (with a stop in Piazza Venezia) and goes out via Porto San Sebastian to the catacombs and the Appian Way and to the impressive acqueducts on viale appio Claudia. You can get off and on at various stops en route. The city also runs a similar open tram bus to major sights which we did not take. Might be good for one of the first days if you are feeling jet lagged.

Have a great trip.