Bella Roma

[DaveB]

Looking at heading to Rome for a week with the family, kids are over 18, and wondering if anyone has any gotchas or tips.

Doing the usual tourist thing. Colossium, Vatican, Trevi fountain etc.

Any experiences?

[cailin maith]

I love Rome - it's such a beautiful city! Yummy food and tonnes to see.

It's a few years since I have been. If it's yer first time, just do the touristy things - you will be overwhelmed by it all.

Only tip I would have would be to head to the vatican city in the later afternoon - I found that was the best time, a few less tourists.

[Bagpuss]

Watch out for the pick pockets.

Service is not included in most restaurants.

CM has a good point but ..If you go late afternoon to the Vatican you can't get into the Sistine chapel IIRC it closes to the public at midday

[sweetandsour]

When you visit the Colosseum, there will be a great long queue to get in.

You can:

1. Queue for an hour to buy your ticket and get in.

2. Accept the offer from people hanging around the entrance to pay extra for a "guided tour" and they will take you through the shorter, pre-paid ticket queue.

3. Walk around the corner to the entrance to the Palatine grounds where you can also buy tickets, and the queue there will be astonishingly shorter. You can now join the pre-paid ticket queue when you go round to the Colosseum.

The single ticket admits you to both the Colosseum and the Palatine.



Oh yes, the people dressed in Roman outfits outside will pose in photos with you, and then demand €10. Don't make eye-contact.

Have a great time!

[cailin maith]

Watch out for the pick pockets.

Service is not included in most restaurants.

CM has a good point but ..If you go late afternoon to the Vatican you can't get into the Sistine chapel IIRC it closes to the public at midday

I might be wrong here - worth checking Dave, but I think it only closes at 12/12.30 on the free days. Other days it's 4 - but it's been a few years since I was there so Baggy may well be right.

[TykeMerc]

Looking at heading to Rome for a week with the family, kids are over 18, and wondering if anyone has any gotchas or tips.

Doing the usual tourist thing. Colossium, Vatican, Trevi fountain etc.

Any experiences?

Went there last year.

Use the underground trains, you can buy a weekly pass, unlimited rides ticket for not a huge amount per person at the ticket machines and all of the stuff you want to see is within comfortable walking distance of one station or another. The underground has essentially got two lines in roughly a cross shape you can't get lost.

There are heaps of decent places to eat in the evening and as you'd expect the food is great, it would be a shame if you eat in the hotel every night.

The queues for the Vatican are gigantic, I paid about 40 Euro for a guided tour (entry ticket if you queue is about 16) the tours bypass the queues and the guide was very well informed. It was money well spent, the place is huge, but totally worth visiting and ended up at the Sistine Chapel and St Peters, expect to spend a minimum of 3-4 hours there and you will barely scratch the surface.

Be prepared to carry a water bottle each, if the weather is as hot as last year you will need it, there are plenty of places that sell chilled water, but it adds up, the tap water is quite drinkable.

I loved the place, but I'm very interested in the monuments and museums. There is quite a lot of spray paint graffiti which is a shame and loads of people on the streets selling fake Rolex watches and other crap, just ignore them.

Edit: Be prepared to walk a lot I walked miles as there was so much to see, places like the Palatine are quite rough ground and Rome is quite hilly.

[Francko]

Looking at heading to Rome for a week with the family, kids are over 18, and wondering if anyone has any gotchas or tips.

Doing the usual tourist thing. Colossium, Vatican, Trevi fountain etc.

Any experiences?

Check out this site and the page for June events.

http://www.romace.it/site/pdf/evento/eventogiugno.pdf

http://www.romace.it/site/index.php

If you are up to anything specific let me know...

[Bagpuss]

I might be wrong here - worth checking Dave, but I think it only closes at 12/12.30 on the free days. Other days it's 4 - but it's been a few years since I was there so Baggy may well be right.

You are probably right, jsut remember it being closed when I got there!

[cailin maith]

You are probably right, jsut remember it being closed when I got there!

Getting in and out was a bit of a nightmare anyway - those guards are sooooo obnoxious. I reckon if they decided it was closing time at 11 - they'd just shut up shop.

[gingerjedi]

I love Rome - it's such a beautiful city! Yummy food and tonnes to see.

It's a few years since I have been. If it's yer first time, just do the touristy things - you will be overwhelmed by it all.

Only tip I would have would be to head to the vatican city in the later afternoon - I found that was the best time, a few less tourists.

But be aware they stop entry to the Sistine Chapel at about 16:00 which would be fine if it wasn't our last day. Good excuse to go back mind.