I leave this Saturday for Rome and I have, up until now, been completely slacking on planning for this trip. However, I think I now have an itinerary in mind, as follows:

Sunday: Trevi Fountain, Pantheon, San Luigi dei Francesi, Piazza Navonna, Campo Di Fiori, Trastevere. (I'm sure we'll be jet lagged and, according to weather, this may be our only day of nice weather, so we're basically just going to wander around).

Monday: Colleseum, Forum, Palantine Hill, maybe stop by St. Peter in Chains, maybe Capitoline Museum, walk around Jewish Ghetto

Tuesday: Galleria Borghese, Spanish Steps, maybe Piazza Poppolo and Santa Maria del Poppolo, Santa Maria della Concezione dei Cappuccini, stop by Santa Susanna to pick up tickets for papal audience.

Wednesday: Papal Audience, Vatican

How does this look? Too much? Too little? Am I missing anything important? Any thoughts on whether I should hit or skip my "maybe"s?

For the Vatican, I am undecided on whether I should book a tour. I'm not usually a big tour person and I understand that you can skip the line by booking tickets online anyway, but my travelmate wants to do a tour. If we do, any suggestions on a good tour company? Not too pricey?

Thanks!

your itinerary is good and complete! I suggest you to move with underground because bus service is a little slow and on the bus there are always a lot of people so this tour could become a "tour de force"!!!
For Vatican area I suggest you to buy tickets online on the official website and go without a guide because inside the museum there are little mini-guide (English-French-Germany-Japanese and Chinese)cheap and very practice complete. If will there is time, why don't you try the Tour of Rome on the 110 bus open?? it's very funny and comfortable, on this kind of busses there are also a mini-guide (like the miniguide you'll find in the Vatican museum). If you want to visit vatican surrounding area you can choose another tour bus: christian rome tour.
If you need any advise shall you have a check http://www.italyrents.com/Default.asp?cat=4 here there are advise for tour in Vatican area (with price) and Rome in general. Bye

Good itinerary, yes. Be sure to walk up Capitoline Hill even if you don't feel like going into the museum - the square in front of the museum is one of Rome's major sights.

Thanks guys! I have been reading fodors forums, and it seems like alot of people recommend San Clemente, so I may try to fit that in as well on Monday. However, I want this to be a relaxing trip with lots of cafe breaks and things, and I'm worried about trying to cram too much into a day. What do you think? Worth it?

The first day sounds exhausting! I'd recommend sticking with the Pantheon/Navona area (lots of little streets to explore) and Trevi (maybe Spanish Steps, too), or Campo di Fiori, Trastevere and Jewish quarter (ditto). That would take some pressure off the next day as well and allow time to go inside the Capitoline.

But that's just my style, which, after years of being frantic, has slowed down.

You should buy a Roma Pass at the first opportunity to save money and avoid lines.

You book a tour with the Vatican or just entrance tickets and rent an audio guide.
http://biglietteriamusei.vatican.va/...?weblang=en&do

http://mv.vatican.va/3_EN/pages/z-In...i_audio01.html

I would add a quick visit to Castel Sant Angelo before your stop at the Vatican.

Euro Centric - Does it? I wasn't planning to dwell any of those places, just walk from Trevi to Trastevere, hitting those stops along the way, and hopefully ending up in Trastevere for dinner. I could try to just concentrate in one area or the other, but then I think I'll end up having to skip something.

Definitely Trastevere for dinner!! Lots of nice places up and behind on the street on your right as you face Santa Maria de Trastevere.

I'm quite a walking but day one does seem like a lot to me. Do you know you can get reservations on line for Galleria Borghese?

There is nothing wrong with your Day 1. If you are accustomed to and enjoy walking, you can do it all easily.

You not only can, you must get reservations for a timed entry to the Galleria Borghese. The official Web site has a "Call Me Back" button; they call you back with no telephone charge to you.

Would it helped if I skipped Campo Di Fiori? I was just including it because it was kind of on the way, but I'm not pressed about it. From what I understand, the big draw is the market and there's no market on Sunday anyway.

There's nothing else on Sunday that I want to skip, and if I move Sunday things to another day, then I'm afraid those days will become too busy.

Historically, I am a try-to-fit-as-much-as-possible kind of traveler, but my boyfriend wants a more relaxed trip, and I'm starting to come around to that view as well, so I'm trying to quell those urges, but it's difficult when there's so much I want to do, so little time.

I do know you need reservations for Galleria Borghese, but I was planning to get a Roma pass, so I think I'm going to have to wait and call to reserve when I get there. Any chance it'd be sold out by the time I arrive?

For heaven's sake, total walking time on Sunday is 36 minutes according to Viamichelin! Even if you spend half an hour in each place, it's only a program of 3.5 hours, leaving you oodles of time to sit in cafes along the way.

Eurocentric is much, much too conservative, in my opinion. Certainly, you could spend hours in every tiny area if you walked up and down every street, but all those streets start to look much the same after a while. One that's worth a bit of an extra stroll up a ways is Via Giulia, turning right as you come from Piazza Farnese. Heck, walking from the Campo through the Ghetto to the Fontana delle Tartarughe before crossing to Trastevere would only add about half an hour!

You don't have to have the Roma Pass before you call the Galleria Borghese; just tell them you will be using it. Be aware that the first two places you use the pass are free; you get a discount on the others.

Thanks Zerlina! I had originally mapped it out on google and it looked like a reasonable amount to cover to me.

I also wasn't aware of viamichelin until you just mentioned it. This could be a useful tool.

I affirm that your Sunday (Day 1) is totally reasonable. Most of the sights you list do not require lengthy contemplation. You can make as much or as little time as you need. My only concern for that first day: the San Luigi dei Francesi church may be closed to tourists for worship services at more times of the day, so you'll have to plan around that.

If you're going to stop by Santa Susanna to pick up papal audience tickets on Tuesday, you might as well cross the street and visit Santa Maria della Vittoria and see Bernini's Ecstacy of St. Teresa.

bookmarking for future reference --- good information!

Thanks for the heads up on San Luigi dei Francesi. I hadn't considered that. I checked and the hours are listed as Fri-Wed 8am-12:30pm and 3:30-7pm. There's no indication of closing for services on Sunday. Does anyone have experience with this?

San Luigi dei Francesi has one Mass on Sunday; it's at 10:30 am. According to the most reliable Rome tourism Web site, the hours are from 10 am to 12:30 pm and from 4 to 7 pm.

Amicita,

I agree your first day looks ok. Be sure to also stop in to see Santa Maria Sopra Minerva, just next to the Pantheon. Very beautiful church, incredible ceiling and a Michelangelo you can walk right up to. Only takes a few minutes. Look for the elephant oblisque in front.

Be sure to get your Borghese res!

Buon viaggio

I think your first day sounds fine - just the kind of thing we'd do on a first day, mostly walking around, with some indoor time.

We spent a long time at a cafe in Campo de' Fiori on a Sunday on our most recent visit to Rome. While we also enjoy people-watching at Piazza Navona and by the Pantheon, we felt that Campo de' Fiori on a Sunday was less tourist-filled.

Go to San Clemente if you're in the area and feel like visiting - it's very interesting, and will be mostly different eras than you'll be focusing for the other places to see in that area.

In Trastevere, make sure you visit St. Cecilia's - I loved the sculpture of St. Cecilia; it looks like it was sculpted in this century.

Different churches have different practices with how they allow visitors to roam while a service is in progress. Also, if I recall correctly, the Caravaggio's there (which I assume are the reason for your visit) are in a chapel on the front left, which may make your visit more intrusive.