Trip to Rome
 

We are spending 4 days in May in Central Rome and I am overwhelmed with the various offers for express entrance to the Coliseum, the Vatican and add ons. We also want to take a day trip to Pompeii. Walking tours are no problem for us. Anyone use any of these and would be comfortable recommending them? Thanks.

Hi Sandy:

Firstly, with only 4 days in Rome, are you sure you want to do a whole day trip to Pompeii. Yes, it is wonderful, but there is certainly enough to see in Rome for four weeks, never mind four days. Just think about it.

Re the Vatican: Click on my name and see my Trip Report from October 2016. In it, you will see one option for the Vatican: An early opening and breakfast, which I thoroughly enjoyed and thought worth the money, as I got to see the very best bit, the Sistine Chapel) almost empty.

I also took a Borghese Gallery tour with Dark Rome and highly recommend it.

regards Ger

Consider Ostia Antica instead of Pompeii:
http://www.ostia-antica.org

Very similar, but close to Rome, and much more pleasant (shade!)I spent most of a day there last month during a short visit to Rome, and recommend it.

The best way to get express entrance to either of these places is on the official website. For the Vatican Museums, that is:

http://www.museivaticani.va/content/...ticani/en.html

All of the options are shown on this page:

http://www.museivaticani.va/content/...i-singoli.html

All of these options allow you to skip the ticket line. The cheapest is the "open tour" of the Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel, which costs €16 plus a €4 reservation fee. You print your ticket at home and bring it with you.

The early entry option mentioned by OReilly is called "Early entry and breakfast". This doesn't include a tour guide, but they'll give you an audio guide if you like. The only early entry option that includes a guide is intended for groups. (All of the options with "exclusive guide" have a fixed price for the guide, which is shared among the members of the group. You could get this for an individual, but it would be expensive.)

Since you're traveling in May, another uncrowded option is one of the "Night openings" options. These are not offered in low season, nor in August.

For the Colosseum, the official ticket seller is

http://www.coopculture.it/en/colosseo-e-shop.cfm

They have their own inexpensive guided tours; scroll down to see them. The ticket also gives you access to the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill archaeological site, which you can visit either on the same day or the next.

elberko, I would probably have to disagree about Ostia Antico being similar to Pompeii. Its great, and I spent a very pleasant day there some years ago, but Pompeii and Herculaneum are entirely unique. I spent 8 hours in Pompeii and 4 hours in Herculaneum in January/February months, so it the temperature was perfect. Agreed, it might be a bit of a struggle in May :)

Wow, thanks for the official websites. I've been looking on Travelocity and the options are beyond numerous! I'll have to investigate Ostia Antico, but we were urged to see the Amalfi Coast. I know that trip to Pompeii is a full day tho.

I second elberko's suggestion about Ostia. It isn't nearly as famous as Pompeii, but let's face it -- it's more dramatic to have your city wiped out by a huge volcanic eruption than it is to have it die because of the silting of the adjoining river and the proliferation of malaria-carrying mosquitos in the days before they learned about spraying. On the other hand, if your city dies the latter way, it may actually wind up being better preserved.

I've been to both Ostia and Pompeii twice. The benefits of Ostia are: you can get there by train in 30 minutes from downtown Rome; the state of preservation of many of the buildings is quite remarkable; the umbrella pine trees shading the site are incredibly picturesque; and it often isn't all that crowded.

I was not as enthusiastic about Pompeii. It is largely barren of vegetation, is dusty, and is often mobbed with tour groups. Many of the best houses are kept locked, and at least the last time I was there, it was really hit or miss as to whether you could find a custodian to let you in. Because a lot of roofs were collapsed by the weight of the ash, some of it reminded me of a bombed-out European city after the Second World War.

The Villa of the Mysteries, though, is spectacular. And I actually preferred Herculaneum to Pompeii. It's smaller, but the mud flow preserved it better.

I love the Amalfi Coast -- I spent the first week of my honeymoon there! But it would be impossible to do it justice, or to zip it off in a day trip from Rome, especially if you're planning on visiting Pompeii and Herculaneum on the same day. The highway is about 45 miles long, and because it's two lanes and has many sharp hairpin curves and mammoth tour buses trying to negotiate it, a reasonable assumption about your average speed is 15 mph. And you shouldn't go to the Amalfi coast and miss Ravello, up at the top of the cliffs. That would add another couple of hours.

Two Rome recommendations: (1) the Church of San Clemente, not far from the Vatican: a 12th century church, a 5th century church, and a 1st century AD Roman street level with alleys, apartment blocks, and a sanctuary to Mithras, all stacked atop each other. (2) The tour of the excavations under the floor of the Vatican's crypt, where St. Peter is believed to have been buried. This is your chance to walk the streets of a 1st century Roman necropolis. Here's a link with more information:

http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/in...090216_en.html

>>>I'll have to investigate Ostia Antico, but we were urged to see the Amalfi Coast<<<

Pompeii isn't on the Amalfi coast. A day trip from Rome to Pompeii wouldn't likely include the coast.

I had so many people tell me they loved Ostia Antica and liked it better than Pompeii, even.
I did not visit Ostia when I was in Rome, but after hearing people talk, I wish I would have.

If I were only going to the Rome area, and not staying near Pompeii or Naples, I would also go to Ostia Antica instead.
Pompei is huge, it's over an hour from Rome on the high-epeed train, longer on the regular, and it will be a very, very long day.
We were at Pompeii earlier this month (April) and it felt very hot although it was only in the mid-60s Fahrenheit. There is no shade.
I really enjoyed Pompeii, but again, after hearing fellow travelers rave about Ostia, I wish I'd had time to go there, too, and in your situation, I'd go to Ostia instead.
Going to Ostia instead will likely allow you to be back in rome by early evening so you can explore Rome some more, too.

Tip for the Colosseum: If you don't want a guide or tour, and just to buy tickets:
Go to the Forum/Palatine Hill first, morning or afternoon. You can buy a combo ticket that includes Colosseum, and it's good for two days.
I personally found the Forum and Palatine Hill more fascinating, too, they're very much worth a visit.

We also booked early morning tickets to the Vatican Museums and the sistine Chapel, for 7:30 am. I hate getting up early, but it was worth it. My husband and I, along with about 50 other people, went in before it opened to the general public at 9 am. (After you see the Sistine Chapel, you can go back to some of the Vatican museum rooms that were roped off before 9. )

If you take BumbleB6's route, buy your tickets at the Palatine entrance. Very few people go there so the line will be shorter.

I think you should go to Pompeii even with the short amount of time you have.

Ostia Antica and Pompeii are very different types of city. Anyone who is interested in ancient Rome would probably want to see both, but probably not on the same trip. Both are about the same size, at least the parts that can be visited; the Ostia Antica site is a little larger than Pompeii. Herculaneum is another ancient city you might want to visit at some time.

Ostia Antica was a busy port city, which flourished for over 500 years. Like most ports, it was a very cosmopolitan city, with residents and visitors from all over the Roman Empire. You can see multiple layers of history there. Pompeii was mostly a residential and mercantile city. Its history is a moment frozen in time. It had been destroyed by an earthquake only about 15 years before its final destruction by the eruption of Vesuvius, and reconstruction was still ongoing.

I haven't been to Pompeii or Herculaneum, but Ostia Antica is a <em>very</em> easy train ride (1/2 hour?), so for a four-day visit to Rome, it's probably a better choice. There is plenty to see there.

I want to put in a recommendation to visit the basilica of Santa Prassede. The mosaics there are phenomenal. IMHO it's the best church in Rome after St Peter's.

ssander

We've been to Ostia Antica, Herculaneum and Pompeii (twice) and, while all are very interesting, still believe Pompeii is a must. Any of these will take a day--it's easy to get to Ostia, but there is a lot to see, so if you're interesting in archaeology and/or classical Rome, you'll spend a lot of time there.

Pompeii is one of the top archaeological sites in the world.