penguinpursuit

Hi all,

So I am a college student who is currently studying in Valencia, Spain for the semester. I'm going to be taking a weekend trip to Rome from Nov. 30th - Dec. 2nd. I'll be landing around 11:00 on the 30th and leaving around 14:30 on the 2nd. I want to make the most of my time in Rome, so if anyone has any suggestions on what to see, what not to see, how to save time anywhere, that would be wonderful. Also if anyone has suggestions for restaurants that are within a college student's budget those would be appreciated too.

Generally the type of things I like to see are:
- cultural monuments
- ancient ruins
- historical museums
- art museums
- anywhere where handmade objects are sold (ie. in Spain I love hand painted fans and handmade ceramics)

Thank you!

adrienne

Borghese Gallery - must pre-book tickets. They are timed and you are allowed in for 2 hours. Arrive 30 minutes early to check all belongings.

Visit as many churches as you can as most of them are wonderfully beautiful.

bilboburgler

way in from the airport Fimuncino is by train. The train to Terminali is obvious one to take but costs more and is faster than the train into the rest of Rome. If you don't need to go to Terminali save the money.

LowCountryIslander

Not a true "sit down" restaurant, but may be within your budget is:

Rosticcerì
Corso Rinascimento 83/85 - Roma
http://www.rosticceri.com/

This is a take-away place, but there are a few stools at a counter area running along a portion of the side of the place. The food there is fantastic, we found the place while on a Rome Street Food Tour, and had the arancini (fried rice balls, may sound odd to you, but they were delicious!) but all the food on offer looked (and smelled) really, really good.

Also in the Campo dei Fiori area you may like to try Forno Roscioli at Via dei Chiavari 34. This is the Roscioli "bakery" not to be confused with Roscioli the alimentarie/wine shop, which is just down the street. At the bakery you can get great tasting pizza al taglio ("by the slice), not much seating, but there are some barrels with table tops in front of the shop where you can stand & eat.

neckervd

So you will have Saturday afternoon and Sunday for visits. Monday you may have to leave Termini, Tiburtina or Ostiense around noon. If your hotel isn't extremely close to these railway stations, the whole Monday will be lost (many places are closed on Mondays anyway).
As you have only 1 1/2 days, it's up to you to pick the places you are must interested in. You can never visit all the so called must sees nor all the places people in this forum may recommend to visit.

kovsie

Start early! When we have been to Rome in July, we were walking the streets by 6 am. Few people around, sharing the Trevi with five other people, seeing the sun rising over the Forum - priceless! I know this depends on your personality, and I know the days are shorter now, but for me this really made a difference. One morning I was on the bridge over the Tiber when the sun came up, turning Bernini's angels to the colour of honey. I will never forget it. You can sleep again later!

dfourh

How to save time: rent a bike (or Vespa). I got one at Bici & Baci not far from Termini and all of a sudden Rome became very small. You zip past hordes of tourists in the blink of an eye, and see more than you ever would walking because the distances to more out-of-the-way places will wear holes in your shoes.

stanbr

Central Rome really is quite compact and everything is within walking distance. In two days you can just wander and see major sites like the Colosseum Trevi fountain Spanish steps Piazza Navona Campio Dei Fiori, the Pantheon and walk over a bridge on the Tiber.
There is just so much to see you can easily get drawn into some church or site or building that you never intended to visit and will have a memorable visit. It will be hectic but you should be able to see all that in the time you have.
Here are images of Rome
Rome http://www.flickr.com/photos/stanbr5...7634677664021/