Hi All,
looking for suggestions on grouping together sightseeing activities in Rome please.

We are staying near the Spanish Steps, and don't mind walking and/or public transportation.

We want to be efficient in our travels, so grouping things together that are near eachother.

We have 4 full days and 1 half day to explore Rome. they are a Thurs, Fri, Sat and Sun plus a Wed evening.

For the Saturday I have a 9:15 am (1.5 hours) Scavi Tour booked and was hoping to book in to the Vatican Tour at 11:30 am (2 hours). we were also hoping to climb St. Peter's Dome during that visit.

we are not planning on going to the borghese gallery or any other museums other than the Vatican.

we are interested in visiting all the other major sights (which from what I can tell mostly are free) as we are on a budget. also would like to visit the cappucian crypt and maybe one of the catacombs. as well as the free churches to see the artwork. we love walking around and taking in the culture more than walking around a museum.

any ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!! thanks

You probably won't have time to climb the dome of St. Peter's between the Scavi tour and the Vatican museum tour at 11:30 as it takes about 20 minutes to walk over to the museum entrance from St. Peter's and there can be a long line to climb the dome. Not sure if you can climb the dome before the Scavi Tour but that may be a possibility, otherwise do it after the museum if you aren't too tired.

The Forum is no longer free although admission is on a combined Colosseum/Palatine Hill ticket. You can do Ancient Rome on Friday morning, have lunch, maybe see the Ghetto, or the Campo di Fiore/Piazza Navona/Pantheon area or shop around the Spanish Steps in the afternoon.

The Via Appia Antica is closed to traffic on Sundays. The catacombs are open though and you can visit one on Sunday morning. There is an admission fee for that. On Sunday afternoon, visit Trastevere, including the churches of Santa Maria in Trastevere and Santa Cecilia.

On Wednesday evening, you can easily walk by the Trevi Fountain and around the centro storico, stopping into some churches that are usually open sometime between 4 and 7 pm.

LizaMarie,
In Oct 2006, my sister and I were able to accomplish more than I would have thought possible in our 5 nights in Rome, Here's a link to my trip report:
http://fodors.com/forums/threadselec...etlb&fid=2

thanks Margaretlb I'm gonna read through your trip report!

thanks Grinisa for your advice!

Margaret - could you post a link to the report itself or post the title?

Thanks!

Hi LizaMarie - The Rome Tourist Office website has itineraries which group sights together conveniently:

www.romaturismo.it

Hope this helps ...

Steve

Try this from the Fodor's site!!! http://www.fodors.com/world/europe/i...ure_30002.html If the link doesn't work (it looks a bit clumsy) then go to the DESTINATIONS tab, choose Rome and you will see a section called "Rome in 5 days".

It will guide you through Rome in 5 days. I always go straight to the Fodor's 3 or 5 day guides to get a feel for what can be accomplished in our time frame.

Hi

Maybe you can find some useful information in my trip report with pictures and links: http://gardkarlsen.com/rome_italy.htm . Check this Google map that I have made http://gardkarlsen.com/rome_italy_map.htm . I have marked some of the main attractions and you can click on the markers for more info. Hope this helps

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

some churches you may want to include for both architecture and art:
Santa Maria del Popolo (many art treasures--at Piazza del popolo)
Santa Maria Sopra Minerva (near Pantheon; Michaelangelo's Risen Christ)
San Luigi dei Francesci (near Piazza Navonna--3 Carravagios
San pietro in Vicoli (Michelangelo's Moses)--near Colosseum
Santa Maria della Vittorao --Bernini's Santa Theresa in Ecstasy

There are other churches with impressive mosaics including Santa Maria in Trastevere and Santa Prassede

We used the DK Eyewitness guide to Rome which has sights arranged by area and some specialized suggested walking tours (Bernini's Rome, Via Giulia, etc, etc). If you have access to a good bookstore you should check out different guidebook options to see which appeals to you most. I also like to go to the library and copy sections from books there.

What time of year will you be traveling?

lifofmytime, I'm adding the link to my report at Slow Travel. I think SlowTrav accomodates trip reports better than Fodors.

http://www.slowtrav.com/tr/tripreport.asp?tripid=1158

I think you should reconsider visiting the Borghese Gallery. It is a fantastic museum, and I am not a museum type person. It is a unique experience because you have the chance to view great pieces with a small group instead of tons of tourists. I also enjoyed San Pietro in Vicoli (Michelangelo's Moses does not get the attention it deserves). If you are by the Spanish Steps, I would recommend buying a Roma Pass. It gets you admission into your first two sites and unlimited use of the Metro for 3 or 4 days. We used it for Colloseum(bypassed all the lines) and the Borghese Gallery. We were two blocks from the Metro so we used it everyday we were there. There is a metro stop at the Spanish Steps. You can buy the Metro Pass at the Termini Station.

Margaret - what a great trip report!! The funny thing is, my sister and I are doing the exact trip (just opposite - Florence first then Rome) to celebrate both my 50th birthday and her 45th birthday!! You have such detailed info - thanks so much for sharing!

Thanks Margaret! I'm going to go read it right now.

Margaret and Gard - your trips reports are great. Thanks for sharing!

Climbing the dome is a great experience. There is a small fee to gain entry to the dome. Our time at the dome was about 2 hours taking in the city vistas and the mosaics.

thanks for the great advice everyone! I love reading through trip reports and all the other links are great too. I am going in September to Rome.

Here's my trip report from Rome, which includes some relatively inexpensive and good restaurants:

Rome:
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34813272


Be sure to visit the Pantheon. It is truly amazing, and it's free.
>-

Thanks for posting your report Mambo_ - great stuff

And LizaMarie - I'm heading to Rome in September as well. Perhaps we will cross paths lol.