24 hours in Rome
 

I'm going to europe in november, while most of my time will be in the German Rhineland staying with a friend. I wanted to spend the last four days of my trip on the move, two days in London followed by 24 hours in
Rome 12pm to 12pm then back to germany. My concern is what to do in that time frame in Rome. I realize that isn't enough time to do much of anything and I'm figuring the Vatican is out of the question. Any suggestions.

I just wouldn't do it.

Does your time include traveling time? If you want to do London and Paris, I would leave our Rome. You can take the train to paris, then take the train to London, which is quite easy. Including rome would be too much. Alhtough if you chose to do this, I would suggest prebooking a private tour with a guide. I have the name of an excellent guide. He can arrange for you a tour of the vatican with a historical guide. It is not cheap....but to see as much as you can. We saw an amazing amount of Rome in one day. He drove us everywhere. We saw an entire view of the city from a location above the city, he walked us through the forum telling us about everything, saw trevi fountains, toured the catacombs, pantheum, collosium, walls of the city, the baths, etc. The most amazing day we have every had.....email me if you want more details. [email protected] Have also taken the train from London to Paris.....it was easy. Not sure if they have a night trip, but that is another option, so you could sleep and make the most of each day. I would also take a day tour of Paris....it is a large city. You don't want to spend time finding places, so a short tour will give you a nice view of the city.then you can spend your time going where you want afer that. Had dinner reservations in the eiffel tower..first level....make it ahead of time. Amazing to see the sun set on paris. Wasn't that expensive.

Hi

Well, one thing that is to your advantage is that Rome is really not that big. I have made this interactive Google map of Rome http://gardkarlsen.com/rome_italy_map.htm and you can see some of the attractions marked on the map. Click on the makers to get some more info. I would go for the usual...Colosseum, Forum, Trevi fountain, Pantheon, Vatican etc. Have a hectic and fun trip :d

Regards
Gard
http://gardkarlsen.com - trip reports and pictures

I got my Paris Fix earlier this year and loved it but I have to see Rome.
I'll be staying at this little hotel called the King. I'm sure some of you have heard of it. I have heard reviews such as Fantastic to someone should report these people to the authorities. It is right by the Spanish Steps and about a mile from the Vatican. I have always wanted to take the Train through europe but the only ride I'll be taking on the train is from Frankfort to Amsterdam, then flying from AMS to London, then to Rome then back to Frankfort the evening before my flight home. I'm sure many of you are saying that I should pick a place and stay there.
I feel like this year is my greatest hits tour. I will focus on one place at a time from then on. When I went to Germany and France in Feb. The weather was great and the whole trip was about $2000. And that is with me spending money hand over fist in Paris.
This time I've got 1500 invested in my flight from USA, Flights in Europe, and my hotels in London and Rome. I thought Europe was expensive.

dsj

My way (of course others would do it differently) would be to try to get a feel for Rome rather than see "too much" and be left with the confusion of it. And Rome is a confusing place: the historic layers - ancient, medieval, renaissance, baroque, fascist - defy fast comprehension. Rome wants to be taken attentively and with all the senses.

That said, my first trip to Italy I had 4 hrs in Rome on arrival - being shown around quickly by a friend - and another 6 or so later in the week. (I was staying north of the city and saw more of the country towns of Lazio.)

I fyou prefer not to do a tour, here's one (of many) ways you could spend your time.

If you want both ancient and renaissance Rome, do one the first afternoon and the other the next morning. That would be taking in the Colosseum and Forum in the afternoon, maybe winding up on the Capitoline hill. This also gets more beautiful as the day dwindles and light changes.

An alternative for the first Afternoon would be simply to wander the area around the Spanish Steps, up past Villa Medici and into the park of the Villa Borghese. If you're up for it, book the museum tour there, it's an unforgettable collection. When you've had enough, make your way down to Piazza del Popolo and visit Santa Maria del Popolo (closed noon-4:00 PM) to see two famed Caravaggio paintings and two often overlooked but brilliant Bernini sculptures. RElax on the Piazza with a coffe, gelato or lunch. THEN take a cab to the Capitoline, see it end of day and view the Forum from above.

Next morning, make your way to the Vatican on foot. To get there from the Steps area you could do a very direct walking route: down Via Condotti and Via di Clementino to the Tiber, continuing alongside until you reach the Ponte Sant'Angelo. Go across there, see the Castel Sant'Angelo (not going in) and then head directly to the Vatican. In your time frame you could pass on the museums. Just taking in the St. Peter's Sq and Basillica is mind-boggling.

OR if you want to try to do the Vatican museums, take a cab straight there and go in as early as possible. Recently they started letting only tours in first, but I heard here in the Forums recently that singles can go in very early. If so, I recommend it.)

Thanks everyone, I'm so glad I've joined this forum. All of you are so
helpful and the interactive map of rome is fantastic. Just to go on a different tangent, My rapid trip is going to be done solo. I had a bad experience with some friends when I went to Paris. They wouldn't get out of bed, refused to walk anywhere and to make things worse they actually preferred McDonalds. We stayed at a little Hotel near Franz Liszt Place, which had a Mickey D's across the street. Fortunatly there was a wonderful pasty place across the street. Skipping McD's to go there, I got on cue and begain talking to some locals about what they recommend. I told them where my friends were eating and one loudly exclaim why not eat S--t! It was hillarious. Because of their laziness I wasn't able to see Notre Dame Cathedral not was I able to see Versille. I drove from Kieserslautern to Paris and had no problem until it took me nearly 3hours to find our hotel. One last complaint about my friends was when we took an open bus tour of Paris on a 60 degree sunny day in Feb, they fell asleep.
Thanks again.

By the way, November may be a nice time to be in Rome: in certainly won't be hot, nor especially overcrowded.

It's never quite enough to have 24 hrs or even 48 in a great city, but it can be better than nothing. I have on a couple occasions been able to tack two days onto the end of business travel and layover in the city where my plane stops ... had a lovely two days in Vienna that way, also Amsterdam.

For my money, it's good not to overdo in a short time, not to run from place to place - it can leave a bad feeling about a place, make it feel just a string of attractions with no soul. (I confess Rome left me feeling that way a bit on my first visit - and I later came to really love this wonderful and wonder-filled place.)