Quick question - it appears the maps we have of Rome are a bit deceiving and things look further apart than they are. My question is how long does it take to get between Circo Massimo area (near where will be staying) and the Vatican? Via taxi? Via public transportation? (is walking an option? or too far?)
(We have to go to the Vatican 3 days in a row, so trying to figure out schedule for other things in Rome)

Thanks.

I'd say it's too far to walk, unless you have lots of time and stamina. But it's a very easy ride on the bus, which costs 1 euro a ride.

It's probably about a 20 minute ride, but for planning purposes I'd allow an hour to get there from when you leave your hotel just to be on the safe side, to factor in time spent waiting for the bus, traffic, and getting to the entrance of the Vatican.

I found the Rick Steves Rome guidebook handy for practical information about the buses.

slven--

go to googlemaps.com or mappy.com and they have a pedestrian/walking directions with estimated time/kms.

Most of central Rome is walkable, but I wouldn't walk from Circo Massimo to the Vatican, particularly not if I knew I was then going to be walking miles in the Vatican Museums.

The easiest, cheapest and fastest would be to take Metro B at Circo Massimo to Termini, change to Metro A and take it to Ottaviano for St. Peter's and Cipro for the Vatican Museums.

Here's a site that might help:

http://www.enjoyrome.com/tourist/cit...portation.html

Also, I agree about an hour if you use public transportation. Half that if you take a taxi but of course more expensive.

The 40 bus is an express from Termini to Vatican. What street is your hotel on and are you going to St. Peters or the Museum?DH just bought a bus map for Rome-if you give me that info, I'll see what I can find. I think, as with metro you'd need to make a change.

I've walked from the Colosseum to the Vatican once and took several hours but naturally I was stopping a lot sightseeing Rome. All other times I've been in Rome, I've always either taken a bus or cab to the Vatican.

Google maps says that it's 2.1 miles and should take around 42 minutes by foot and 10 minutes by car. The straightest route is very easy since you go up Via del Circo Massimo up to the bank of the Tiber River by the Ponte Palatino and just follow the river until you get to the Ponte Vittorio Emmanuale where you cross the river and head right into Piazza San Pietro. I wouldn't mind doing this one day but 3-days in a row would be another thing.

If you decide to go by bus the easiest thing is to walk from the Circo Massimo up to the bank of the Tiber River by the Ponte Palatino and take the 23 bus which goes up by the bank of the river the same way you'd walk and crosses the river at Ponte Vittorio Emmanuale and leaves you a very short walk away from Piazza San Pietro. You can take the same bus back down to Circo Massimo which comes down the Trastevere side of the river. If you decide to go with the buses you can just buy a day pass in case you need to hop on and off a bus to backtrack any mistakes you make using the Rome bus system.

The metro option recommened by Zerlina is by far the easiest way to get there but you would not get to see anything of Rome while getting there. During my first four trips to Rome I never used the metro because of this, but on my last trip I was based at the Spanish Steps and used the metro several times and found it to be a real time saver when getting to distant areas.

You can take the 81 bus heading up the hill, towards Venezia. At Venezia, you can either stay on the 81 or at Venezia, switch to the 492. With either get off when you are next to the Vatican walls, at Risorgimento. You are about a block from the entrance to the museums. Either of those routes take about 20-30 minutes.

Thank you. This is very helpful. The first day we literally just need to get there and back to pick up tickets for mass on Sunday, so quickest/easiest is our priority. The next 2 visits will have plenty of time for site-seeing.
Thanks!

Get a Roma Pass (23 Euros) which should give you free entrance to two (2) out of 40 listed museums (includes Colosseum, Roman Forum, Palatine Hill, etc...) AND free bus and metro A & B Lines for three days. You get it at Termini or any Tabbaci (sp?) stand.

That's a good tip Viajero2. I wonder when they started selling the Roma Pass ? I don't recall hearing about it during my first trips to Rome in the late 90's. It seems like a good deal and I'll need to keep it in mind for my next trip to Rome.

Thanks,
gatorbill
http://www.gatortravels.com/

If you decide to use public transit, there are multi-day passes you can get separately as well as the option mentioned in conjunction with the Roma Pass. You can also buy individual tickets at tabacchi stores

I would take the #23 bus along the Tiber as described by gatorbill

If you have time one of the days you are at the Vatican and the weather is good, you could think about taking the #870 bus south of the Vatican area to the Piazzale Garribaldi on top of the Gianicolo (Janiculum). There is an amazing view of the city, and you can walk downhill past the Tempietto/San Pietro in Monte into Trastevere, then on back across the Tiber.

Since you will be staying near the Circus Maximus, I will also put in a plug for visiting the nearby Baths of Caracalla. They are very impressive

Vttraveler that's a great tip about going up to Piazza Garribaldi for a view of Rome. In all my trips there I've not done this, but now it's on my list of to-dos for my next Rome visit. Thanks for sharing, that's what makes this forum great.

gatorbill
http://www.gatortravels.com/

We walked from the colosseum to the vatican and it took 45 minutes at the very most, and that was with two young kids (one walking one in the stroller). Walk everywhere and soak it up!

<<< The 40 bus is an express from Termini to Vatican. >>>

Still full of pickpockets?

gatorbill--I hope you get back to Rome soon. We also have a long list of things "to do" next time we visit that wonderful city.
We really enjoyed taking time outdoors for the trip up the Gianicolo after spending the morning in the Vatican museums. There were far fewer tourists there than at other places we visited, even viewing Bramante's Tempietto. At the Piazzale Garibaldi you are also at the edge of the Botanical gardens which have more than 7000 plant species from all over the world.