We'll be in Rome from early Friday morning to Monday afternoon. What will be available/open to see?

We want to visit the Colosseum and the Vatican, if possible. Thanks!

Vatican museums are closed Sunday, except last Sunday of the month (which is worse than closed because they are free). Most museums are closed Monday. Everything else will be open for you to see that weekend.

Both popular sights, the will both be more crowded on the weekends.

If you could manage it, I would head to the Vatican on Friday. I think it is closed or has limited hours on Sunday.

A Colosseum ticket is a combined ticket with the Palatine Hill, just across the street. The Forum is right there as well and has free entry. All these sights are outdoors, so crowding is less of an issue. The only crowds are the lines at the Colosseum for tickets, which are easily avoided if you buy your combined ticket at an entrance to the Palatine Hill.

I always think of the Colosseum and Forum as good Sunday activities when many of the churches you might want to visit are closed.

Hi

I think Rome attraction are always busy But Rome is still worth a visit and it is wonderful to walk around in the forum, checking out Pantheon, enjoying a coffee etc. Check out my trip report and pictures on my homepage http://gardkarlsen.com/rome_italy.htm . Maybe you can find some useful information there.

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

Great summary (and pictures), thanks! I'll make sure my husband sees it, too.

Definitely check the hours for the Vatican Museums. We planned on visiting the Vatican Museums in the afternoon on a Saturday on our first trip to Rome and were told that the museum closed at 1:00 and was closed all the next day. We were there in March, so that probably makes a difference, but its worth your while to double check the opening hours.

Tracy