Okay, we ( family of 4 inc. teens ) arrive Rome October late on a Thursday night and have 6 full days - Friday to Wednesday inclusive, not counting travel days.

I want to include:

Vatican City,
Trastevere,
Pompeii,
Ancient Rome tour ( possibly Angel or Icon tours)
Ostia Antica ( maybe)
shopping ( flea markets ) and strolling!


I'm trying to figure out the best order to do things taking into account the pros and cons of doing things on certain days of the week.

Friday, our first day we may be jet lagged after a very long flight from Australia ;weekends are busy at museums ; Is Monday a bad day for Pompeii because museums are closed and tourists hit Pompeii? Don't want to travel to Pompeii on the Wednesday because the next day is our travel day to Florence. Is a Wednesday good or bad for a Vatican visit if that is when there is a papal audience?

Your input will be gratefully received!

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I think you'll have to forgo the strolling. With what you are trying to plan, it looks like it will be more like power-walking.

Relax, it's supposed to be a vacation, not a high-stress business trip.

Hopefully I will relax once I get my itinerary sorted !

This is our first trip to Europe and it is a heck of a long way from Australia so it may well be our only trip and I guess we just want to make the most of it!

I think you will have plenty of time for strolling. You have six full days, and with the exception of Pompeii, none of the six things you list will take a whole day.

I have not been to Rome in October, but my guess is that it won't be as crowded as it is in the summer. I have been to Pompeii in February and in March, and it has been very uncrowded in the off season. If October is even close to those levels, I don't think I'd worry which day of the week I went.

I would consider adding San Clemente, the Domus Aurea, and the Borghese Gallery. I assume that in your strolls (if they aren't included in the ancient Rome tour) you are planning to include the Pantheon and the Trevi Fountain.

I'll be there at the same time. Look for me and my wife... we'll be camped out at a sidewalk cafe, watching the harried tourists rushing by.

Hi lavender,

If you're arriving on a Thursday night then Friday can still be a day to visit several sites and wander in Rome, but if anyone is tired, you can take your time. 6 days in Rome will certainly allow you to do all you want.

I'd suggest a fairly flexible itinerary on Friday visiting Piazza Navona, the Pantheon and Hadrian's Tomb. The Spanish Steps and Trevi Fountain are great places in the evening so you don't have to fit them in during the day, but that might work as well depending on the location of your hotel.

If you want to tour ancient Rome on your own, it's not difficult, but taking a tour of the Colosseum with one of the guides there will give you a great perspective on the history.

Otherwise I'd recommend Frommer's Rome Past & Present, with overlays of the original buildings to help identify what you're viewing. The Forum, Colosseum and Palatine Hill can take a good part of a day if you want to take your time. Palatine Hill is wonderful for photos in the late afternoon.

I do think a guided tour of Pompeii (check travelocity.com for full days tours on Tues.)
might be worthwhile, and that timing would work out with your schedule too.

We booked a tour of the Vatican through that website and found it helpful for knowledge, as well as pacing, since there is so much to see. They pick you up from your hotel and our guide was very good. From the Vatican they drop you at St. Peter's which you can see yourselves. Do the walk up to the Dome as the view are breathtaking.

Make sure to leave yourselves some time to sit at a cafe, and take in the sights, sounds and feel of the City though. Some of the most memorable experiences are those not on an itinerary!

Hope that helps.

I think you have plenty of time. We spent 6 days in Rome and even took one whole day "off", meaning - we did absolutely nothing touristy. We slept late and spent pretty much the rest of the day food seeking, people watching and eating. The only thing we didn't do on the trip was Pompeii (but we probably should have).

I don't have my trip notebook handy, but as I recall, we did ancient Rome (Forum, Coloseum) Tour with Context Rome (fabulous) the first day we got there (but only flew in from Paris).
The next day we did Pantheon, all the churches near that, Piazza Novana. Another day we did Capitol Hill, another church (the one with Moses in it) and some gardens (sorry, I've forgotten...). Another day was Vatican Tour with Context Rome (really fabulous) and another was Borghese, Spanish Steps and Jewish Ghetto. In between all that we saw Trevi Fountain numerous times, as well as Campo De Fiori (we were staying near that)and Trastevere (we ate there a lot). We did Ostia the last day.

Rome is small and you'll have long, wonderful days and nights. You'll have time to return to areas that you like for dinner or drinks or whatever. ENJOY!

Thanks for such wonderfully detailed and informed responses.