Lisa Karin

I will be there for 4 days this June. I don't want to spend all my time at tourist attractions but know that there must be a few that shouldn't be missed. Thanks!!

elaine

Lisa
Any good guidebook can give you the basics and you can choose for yourself.
People can list their favorites here for you, but without knowing your interests: museums? history? gardens? it's hard to know what to recommend, especially since you don't want to spend all your time at tourist attractions, as you say. Does that include the Sistine Chapel, St Peters, the Forum, the Coliseum, etc?

Paulo

The following, are sites marked with 3 stars (maximum rating) in the Michelin Guide:

Capitol
Caracalla's Baths
Catacombs
Coliseum
The Forums
Gesł Church
Palatine
Pantheon
Piazza di Spagna
Piazza Navona
San Giovanni in laterano Basilica
San Paulo Fuori le Mura Basilica
Santa Maria Maggiore Basilica
Trevi Fountain

St. Peter's Square
St. Peter's Basilica
Vatican Museums
Vatican Gardens

Borghese Gallery
National Roman Museum
Villa Giulia National Museum

Take your pick

Paulo

kal

If I could refine one item on Paulo's list, while you're at St Peter's Basilica, take the tour up to the Cupola. 360 degree view of all of Rome and it's surrounding hills.

One suggestion, I'd suggest seeing some of these sights at night. We never made it to the Forum or Coliseum to see it lit up at night and we still regret it.
Caio

Judy

Kal: Loved the Cupola too! Plus, we were very fortunate to be able to see the Forum at night with my cousin and her Roman husband! Truly an inspiring sight....Lisa, if you are able, try to see Rome at night! It is remarkable. Judy

Larry

Lisa - answer some of Elaine's questions and you probably will get a lot more valuable feedback.....

Rex

In addition to Elaine's questions, it will be much easier to advise you with any additional context about your trip.

How did you come to decide to go to Rome? Are you from North America? or some other continent? Are you going all the way to Rome for four days, and none of the rest of Italy? or Europe?

If you "don't want to spend all [my] time at tourist attractions", then what other objectives do you have for going to Rome? Will you be there on business? Seeing family? Hoping to shop?

And last of all, you're not opposed to buying a book and actually reading something about Rome, are you? You will get much better quality answers here, the more focused your questions are.

Two other good (free) online resources are:

1. the info provided right here on Fodors - - http://www.fodors.com/miniguides/mgr...ur_section=ove

and

2. the wonderful website - - www.twenj.com - - of Ed and Julie Gehrlein. And you will almost surely hear directly from Ed right here on this forum.

Best wishes,

Rex

Paige

Lisa, I think I can understand where you're coming from. I'm going to Rome in a few weeks and just yesterday got all my plans firmed up so I haven't had a chance to reread all my books on Rome. I've been a few times a long time ago so I know the basics, but there's SOOOO much to see there! Depending on which book you have, it can be a bit overwhelming. You just want to know what people think are THE places not to miss, right? My list includes the Colosseum, Roman Forum, St. Peters, Vatican Museum, Pantheon, the church where Michelangelo's Moses is, Spanish steps (just so you'll know what everyone's talking about) and the Trevi Fountain. I interpreted your comment about 'tourist attractions' to mean that you don't want to spend your whole trip surrounded by tourists. In which case, I would advise you to walk around a lot, away from the big sites and eat in places filled with locals that don't have English menus.

Geraldine

I was in Rome with my husband in October last year. Like yourself we didn't want to miss any of the major sights.One word of warning! We didn't realize the Vatican Museums closed for admission on a Saturday at 12.45pm. We quequed for 2 hours (in the pouring rain) and eventually reached admission at 12.40. Although we got in,the Museum closed at 2pm and everyone had to leave. It took us until 1.55pm to reach the Sistine Chapel even though we went directly to it,there were so many tourists. It was very disappointing as we would have liked to spend more than 5 minutes! As this is one of the major attractions,make sure you find out the current timetable before you go. The travel book that we had did NOT tell us this vital information. Hope this is of some help and enjoy Rome. The Colosseum is a must as for the Spanish Steps I honestly don't know what all the fuss is about?
Geraldine.

BeeJay

We had to see all the "touristy" stuff, and you will too, no doubt. We enjoyed every minute of it. But I hope you are able to be at the Spanish steps on a Saturday night. This was one of the highlights of our few days in Rome. I can't really explain it, but very alive, very local, and the gelato tasted better than any other time or place. Caio!