Cost in Rome
 

Would $100 a day per person be reasonable for Rome to cover meals and price of tickets to attractions? We want to see the Colosseum, the Vatican, the Forum - the main attractions. We will be staying in an apartment so we don't have to eat all the meals out. I don't drink and my children are young adults that like pizza and that type of food. If they want to go out at night they are paying for that themselves.

You shouldn't have a problem with $100 per day for food and sightseeing. It's about 68 Euro. You should start thinking about costs in Euro that way you can budget your money throughout the day rather than constantly converting to dollars.

The Vatican Museums admission is 14 Euro and I imagine the Colosseum is about the same.

You'll have to be careful to avoid the very touristy areas where even a pizza can be big bucks. Don't eat in Piazza Navonna or the Pantheon area or other similiar very touristy areas. Go a few blocks away and the prices will be cheaper. Check the posted menus before going into a restaurant to see the prices.

Often take out pizzas are less expensive than pizza you eat in the restaurant so search for pizzarias and grocery stores near your apartment. Buy your soda and pizza and take it back to the apt. Save your money for gelato!

For lunch you can buy take out food in small shops - sandwiches, pizza slices and things like that. Don't buy the bottled water but carry your own bottles that you refill at the apartment. Also avoid buying soft drinks like coke, fanta, iced teas that can cost a lot of money. You don't get free refills on sodas in Europe like you do in the US.

Do some searching here and you will find a list of moderate restaurants for Rome.

Did you find your apartments?

While you can't do Michelin-type restaurants (and probably don't want to anyway), that budget per person is generous enough to be able to have nice sit-down dinners in the Piazza Navona/Pantheon area. 35€ for dinner and 10€ for breakfast & lunch (do have inexpensive sandwiches and pizza for lunch and maybe buy stuff at the supermercato or market for breakfast) still leaves 22€ for entrance fees.

>> Don't eat in Piazza Navonna or the Pantheon area or other similiar very touristy areas.<<

One of the best and cheapest meals you can have in Roma is Lo Zozzone, right off the Piazza Navona, at Teatro Pace 32. For pizza and sandwich lovers, the area is actually quite good, with lots of fresh offering, because volume is so high. It would be a shame to pass up a coffee granita with whipped cream from Tazza d'Oro just because it's opposite the Pantheon.

The internet is a good source of budget meals in central Roma. There are good bargains in some of the most touristy places if you know where to go.

I think so yes. In fact we'll be there in 3 weeks and I don't plan on quite that much per person.

Depending on where your apartment is you may be able to walk most places and the buses are reasonable and direct.

I agree to be careful whare you have your treats. We had a gelato at a tiny cafe in front of the Pantheon and spent $10 each for it. Granted it was worth the price for the experience (same goes for coffee at a cafe), but we most likely will be a bit more frugal on this next trip - LOL.

Oh and the 2 best meals we had in Rome was - Pizza and fresh green salad at a small local place on the edge of Rome and the cheese, olives & bread we bought at a little deli!

Will do that again just for the taste!

In May, we purchased the Roma Pass, and found it was a good value for us.

We have been to Rome several times, and we were very happy with the Roma Pass this time. It saved money and we liked using the buses and trams.

Hey Tuscanlifeedit,

Where did you purchase the Roma Pass? I've heard of it but what did you get for the money?

Lily

There is now a combined ticket for the Forum, Colosseum and Palatine, good for two days

You should definitely be able to budget that amount per person per day if you aren't planning to eat in really expensive restaurants. WE also rented an apartment last year. WE bought bottled water and groceries for breakfast and snacks. WE ate out for most other meals --had panini or pizza for lunch, gelato and dinners at good trattoria and stayed well within that limit without feeling we were skimping at all. We could have spent less if we ate more meals at the apartment
We had the house wine at restaurants and bought a few bottles to drink at the apartment

Public transit is very affordable. WE bought individual tickets because we only took one or two bus rides a day but there are also day and multi day passes available either separately or in combination with the Roma pass

The Pantheon and other churches and the wonderful piazzas and fountains are all free

This thread from earlier in the summer gives some ideas on how to keep costs down in Italy
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=35112143

If you like art, you can save money by going to churches instead of museums.
For sculpture, there's Michelangelo's Moses in San Pietro in Vincoli and Bernini's St. Teresa in
Santa Maria della Vittoria, and for paintings there are works by Caravaggio in churches all over Rome. I also recommend St. Ignazio for the Pazza ceiling. Look for Rome churches in this forum to find out more.

In reference to the question about where to buy the Roma Pass, there are two answers. YOu can buy them at any of the venues that accept them. We wanted to use the bus pass before we went to the venues (Trevi Fountain area, etc.), so the best place is in the train station. The office is hard to find, though, unless you know where to look. When you are in the main lobby (trains in front of you, shopping behind you), walk down the corridor on the far right. Follow the signs to the Post Office and Rental Car agencies. The office is right next to these offices.

The Roma Pass is 20 euros each, and it allow unlimited access to the city busses and subways, free admission to your first two venues (museums, etc.), and halfprice to all other venues. The best part is that you don't need to stand in the ticket lines...go right to the turnstyle.

I think that is a reasonable daily budget, yes.