kat4kat

We (dh, dc 18, 15, 12 and 10) arrive in Civitavecchia at 7am via cruise. We plan to take the train to Rome (S. pietro station). Walk to St Peter's square, then on to Piazza Navona, The Partheon, Trevi Fountain then to Colosseum for a 1pm tour of the Colosseum, the underground, the forum and Palatine Hill. Train back to ship at 5;15.
Is this doable?

Friend78

Dear friend i think it is not possible to visit all these places .i can suggest you this itinerary:
In the morning: San Peter' s Church and Tombs of the popes

In the afternoon piazza navona ,pantheon ,fontana di trevi ,piazza di spagna,trinita' dei monti

The Colosseum is not in the same area of the other places you want visit and I don't suggest you.

Best regards
Friend78

kat4kat

I have already booked tickets for the Colosseum underground so we must visit that at 1pm. What else can we fit in without making us crazy.

jamikins

I would recommend the walk and skip the Vatican. You just cant fit everything into 8 hours unfortunately.

ellenem

If you arrive in Rome by 10 AM, sure, you can do this walk from the train station to St Peter's Square, past Piazza Navona, the Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, and reach the Colosseum by 1 PM. This assumes that you do NOT go inside St Peter's or go inside much of anything, that you are merely walking past places and looking. The route is about 3.25 miles.

How long is your tour? I might be more concerned about getting back to the ship after the tour.

Elyse_Dorm

Are you not going to enter the Vatican and Basilica? If you don't dwaddle and skip areas that you aren't very interested in and don't go up to the top of the church then you can fit it in, in about 3 hours. Trevi Fountain and Vatican are my favorites...

If your in a hurry and have long distances to cover use the metro instead of walking... there's a metro stop right in front of the Coleseum.

Elyse_Dorm

Actually scratch what I said... just take your time pick the things you personally are interested in and enjoy what you can. Rome is huge and it would take several long visits to see and do everything. So its best to enjoy a little, then to be all angry and tired and yelling to try to see a lot.

You can also look up Rome metro lines online and a map to help you guesstimate how long it would take to get places.

ellenem

The metro line will not help this itinerary much since it does not travel near most of the places mentioned.

jscarbary

You may not get to see much of the Forum and Palatine after your Colosseum tour, our tour was at least an hour and then we hung out and walked around the first level. In fact I would skip the Forum and Palatine Hill, without a guide it was just a lot of crumbled stones. Next time if we do the Forum again I will definitely pay for a guide. This way, too, you will have time to maybe walk back to any one of your previous stops to have a gelato and just sit for a few minutes and enjoy Rome passing you by.

Apres_Londee

If it were me I would skip the Vatican and spend my time in the historic centre.

kybourbon

Buy some bus tickets and take advantage of the little electric bus that runs through the center.
http://www.atac.roma.it/files/doc.asp?r=9

kat4kat

Thanks for the input. I realize with the short time we have there I had to focus on one area, that being the colosseum. I thought it would interest the range of ages I have. Questions, jscarbary: did you not think the audio tour was sufficient for the colosseum and forum? Is the Vatican and Basilica worth viewing from just the outside? Or should I leave that for another time? Our tour of the underground is 90min. So that leaves us 2 hrs to tour the colosseum and forum..enough time?

kat4kat

kybourbon, thx I printed off te map link you sent.
This is the first time we are traveling like this , cruising. Not sure I'll do it again. I hate being rushed through cities. Live and learn.

StCirq

I would skip the Vatican, too. Obviously you don't have time to go through it all, and it's just a church, after all, and Rome has far more interesting churches just plonked around on random streets. The Roman ruins are FAR more interesting, IMHO.

basingstoke2

I agree with StCirq - Since you are going to the Colosseum, the Palatine and Forum are right there. And I do not agree that you need a guide. A map of the site and some homework before you go will suffice. Assign the homework to one of the kids and let the kid be the guide. Do the Forum and Palatine before the Colosseum. Taxis can be your friend for Trevi and the Pantheon - you will need two. When at the Pantheon it is a short walk to Piazza Navona. Go back to the ship from there.

azzure

Bus #571 may help you. Here are its stops:

Porta Maggiore / San Giovanni / Colosseo / Piazza Venezia / Largo Argentina / Corso Vittorio Emanuele / Via Gregorio VII (south wall of Vatican City)(and reverse)

The Largo Argentina stop will put you within easy walking distance of Piazza Navona, the Pantheon and the Trevi. The Via Gregorio stop is just outside the columns of Piazza San Pietro.

kat4kat

Thanks everyone for you thoughts. The plan is to tour the Forum and the Palatine before our 90 min. underground tour. That leaves us a little over 2 hours to wander around, or more if we decide to taxi back to Civitavecchia as our ship doesn't leave until 9pm.

PatriciaOne

Have you checked the Hop-On-Off Bus tours. I think it stops outside of St. Peter's. You could get on and it could take you across the Tiber to the other attactions. It is a long walk from St. Peter's Square. If you don't take the bus, take a taxi.

ParadiseLost

"or more if we decide to taxi back to Civitavecchia as our ship doesn't leave until 9pm."

There are 6 persons on this trip isn't there?

I don't know how many passengers those small minivan-type taxis hold but if they do hold that many that is the type of taxi you would need.

I believe once a Rome taxi goes outside a certain boundary circle around the city the meter gets switched to #2 so you are also paying for the empty taxi's return trip?

As a truckdriver sometimes a road can be closed for hours due to a multi-vehicle crash or a truck roll-over.

Of course the odds are against it happening are high *but* missing a ship isn't like missing a flight, it's not like another one will be coming along later.

I would take the train back to the ship just to be on the safe side if it were me esp with a large family in tow.

Also seeing that you will be centering yourself in the Colosseum/Forum/Palatine area, I assume you know you will want to take the train to the Termini Train Station and then the Metro to the Colosseum (2 stops away). Regards, Walter

kybourbon

You can rent audio guides of the forum or d/l Rick Steves' audio guide from ITunes (free). He has a map to go with it.
http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/i...rs/id272230438