Travelling in Rome

When via Nomentana 55 is entered on Google, it's beyond the metro service and not close to Policlinico metro. Are you sure you have your address right? What is the name of your hotel?

You can use ATAC and enter your itinerary to get bus/metro/tram options. If Policlinico is your closest metro, you would need to change at Termini to go to Ottaviano. I would also check out the electric bus lines that run through the tourist area.
http://www.atac.roma.it/index.asp?lingua=ENG

Map of electric bus lines.
http://www.atac.roma.it/files/doc.asp?r=389

Some general public transportation advice and restaurant recommendations near Piazza Navona in my trip report:

http://www.fodors.com/community/europe/rome-with-kids-blog-photos.cfm

Hi!

I will be staying at Cesar Palace. That's the address I got from their site....hope it's not too far out! Thanks for all the links . I will check it out....

The Cesar Palace B&B website has these instructions to their locale from the Tiburtina station:

"From Tiburtina Station, get the Metro B direction Laurentina- One Stop to BOLOGNA, now take the '62' bus and drop at the Stop PORTA PIA."

Note, you have to get on a bus from the Metro stop. Not sure where you got your directions, but the website has pretty clear instructions from Termini as well as Tiburtina.

Hi angel,

I'm not sure what you are doing - are you flying into Rome on your day 1? if so, you are reckoning on packing a lot in, even if you don't suffer from jetlag.

just suppose you manage to get to your hotel by noon, you won't be at st. Peter's before 1pm, by which time the queues to get in, even in December, may be long. I would suggest rather spending your first day strolling round the other places you mention - campo dei fiori, piazza navona, trevi, the pantheon; the wonderful galleria doria pamphilli is in that area if you want a bit of culture while you are there.

the next day, go straight to St. Peter's so as to avoid the queues, do go up the Dome, if only to roof level, then cross the river and catch the no 40 or no 64 bus to the capitoline hill, walk down to the forum and buy your ticket [which will get you into the colosseum as well thus avoiding the queue there] and tour the colosseum and the forum and palatine if you have time.

IMHO if you have climbed the dome of St. Peter's you do not need to bother with Castel San angelo - the views are more or less the same.

hi Ann,

Thanks for your advice. I think I will change my itinerary to what you suggested. But would the colosseum be packed in the afternoon?

You could also take either the Terravision bus or Sitbusshuttle from the airport to Termini and catch the bus to the hotel from there.

http://www.terravision.eu/rome_fiumicino.html

http://www.sitbusshuttle.it/

I was at the top of St. Peter's and Castel San Angelo. Maybe the views are the same but there's lots to see in Castel San Angelo inside. I wouldn't miss it inside or out especially since not everyone wants to climb all those stairs at St. Peter's.

But would the colosseum be packed in the afternoon?>>

possibly - but once you are inside it's pretty big! [in fact, our DS said that it redefined the word "BIG" for him!]

and if you go up onto the first floor [stairs or a lift that's pretty well hidden in a corner] you'll find that you've left most people behind.

Taltul - I'll have to disagree about the Castel San angelo. we got in for 1/2 price [no idea why] and even then i thought it was a rip-off. if you have limited time like the OP, the dome of St. Peter's is a much better idea, even if you get no further than the top of the lift. you can explore the roof of St. Peter's and enjoy the view, as well as a very close look at the mosaics on the inside of the cupola, which i could easily have spent the whole day inspecting.

angel 86 - by all means include the Castel san angelo in your trip - but don't make it a priority. IMHO it's a definite "may be" after St. Peter's [and the Dome] and the colosseum.

ll_angel86, lot's of great suggestions so far. Because of the location of your B&B, and the fact you're there only two days, I'd suggest you get an all-day bus ticket each day. The Biglietto giornaliero or B.I.G. (one-day ticket) only costs €4 and you'll at minimum need it to go back and forth from the B&B. It's good on the buses, metro, and trams inside Rome, but unfortunately NOT in from the airport. For info on bus tickets, you might read this article: http://tinyurl.com/rome-tickets

I'd certainly converse with the B&B folks about "best" buses to ride. I'm sure, based on the location, they habdle this question every day. With your B.I.G. ticket, you can jump on and off the buses and use them to cut down on some of your walking. There are specific "bus maps" sold at many newstands and Tabacchi shops. For help on riding the buses in Rome, this post may assist you: http://tinyurl.com/rome-bus

We used to drive out to Nomentana weekly on our motorino as it's on the way to the Porta di Roma mall. (Our weekly grocery trip to Auchan's!). It's a wondeful area, very "local" and fewer tourists. But you will ride 15-20 minutes to centro Rome from this location. We used to jump the #60 and #90 express buses when we were in this area. Also the #84 will get you to the Forum and Piazza Venezia and the #62 bus ends at the passetto near St. Peter's Square. (**Too many days on buses in Rome!**). Since the Vatican is on your list, see this post which has a map of the nearby bus stops: http://tinyurl.com/vatican-tips

With only a day and a half in Rome, you'll be hard-presed to see everything you want. We've lived there for 3+ years and still had 100+ things on our "list to see." So enjoy the ones you do see and plan on going back!

Thanks so much for the tips. I'm definitely thinking of getting the BIG! =) Can't wait till the day I reach Rome ....

Hi ll_angel86 , forget about the tourist busses or public transport.>>

i have respectfully to disagree with this statement. Even the first time we were in Rome, at Easter, we used the buses to get around and were glad of them; the metro isn't much use in the centro storico as there aren't many stops due to the prevalence of ancient Rome which stops them digging!

rather than get a bus/metro pass, it might be more economical just to buy a lot of tickets at once - as there were 3 of us in our group, we got 12 tickets- enough for 2 return journeys each. but if you are near a metro stop and think you are going to use it a lot, but all means buy a ticket for your main day - then you won't feel bad about hopping on another bus!

Thanks..I will think about it. By the way, are there news of any transport strikes in Rome, Venice, Florence or Pisa?

I'd consider finding a more central hotel/B&B. You're going to waste a lot of your very short time on buses. If you stay centrally, you can walk to almost all tourist destinations and see a lot en route. It's worth paying extra.

RE -- strikes in Italy >>>
http://www.summerinitaly.com/planning/strike.asp


And if you run a search on this forum, (Italy strike), you can read discussions about how transportation is impacted.

I have been in Rome for about a month--certainly not Annhig's experience but beyond the quick run-through, and traveled with locals at various points.

Castel Sant'Angelo is not a must-see but neither does it take that long to go through. Sometimes the armory is closed even when the websites and guidebook say it is open--hey, it's Italy. The view is lovely of both St. Peter's Dome and the river, and the roof is the final scene of the opera Tosca.

See if you can take an English-language tour at San Clemente. It will help you appreciate it.

I would not shy from the buses, but please get a money belt that you wear UNDER your clothing and coat, and use it for your passport and the bulk of your money. Or consider a hotel safe. For my remaining money to use that day and a single card, my purse had a double zipper--so the outside zipper had to be opened, and then find the inside one as well. Once a thief once stole my kleenex and map from the outside compartment of my purse; hope they used them well.

The #64 bus is the most popular tourist bus, and is therefore particularly notorious for pickpockets. Colosseum Metro Station and Termini also are well known for this reason. Again, we used the buses and trains both regularly, just have to take precautions.

hello...
this is great and useful information...thank you..

also wanted to ask if someone would know the where to is the

La Stazione di Siena, situata in piazza Carlo Rosselli

i hear that the bus departing ROMA is arriving in siena at that station...

i was hoping that its the PIAZZA GRAMSCI but its not the case..ugh..

any info will be useful..thanks you again...lg

I looked up Piazza Carlo Roselli on Google Maps. It's by the train station in Siena, which is indeed outside the walls and not so convenient.

The Sena bus leaves from the Tiburtina bus station and makes several stops in Siena including Piazza Gramsci: www.sena.it

Just returned from Rome where we stayed very near St. Peter's...the 64 bus was our lifeline; it runs very frequently and goes to almost all the major sites. Another bus (571) stops nearby and will deposit you at the Forum or Colosseum.

Personally, I would stay away from the Metro...we rode it once from Colosseo to Termini and it was NOT a pleasant experience. Crowded, smelly, dirty etc. Buses are much nicer.