If you only visit one city in Italy, it has to be Rome. Hands down. Hopefully you are able to see more (pairing these 3 Days in Rome with my itinerary for 2 Days in Venice is a great option), but if not, you’ll find all of the major highlights here to give you a great Italian experience! The history, the food, the beauty of the monuments, and the food (yes, I said that twice)…splendido! Before planning your European trip, be sure to check out my 32 Tips for Traveling Overseas with Ease as well.
I’ve visited Rome several times, mostly for work, but we did take the kids as part of their first European adventure when they were 15 and 12. On that trip we fit in London, Paris, Venice, and then ended in Rome. It was summer, and it was very hot and very busy, but it was a blast…so let’s head to Rome!
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Here is a sample itinerary for 3 days in Rome any time of year, and good for anyone!
DAY 1: TRAVEL DAY, SPANISH STEPS, TREVI FOUNTAIN, AND MORE
Since we were coming from Venice, we were traveling the first half of the day and arrived in the mid-afternoon. If you’re doing the same, you can either take a 1-hour flight or a 4-hour train ride from Venice. We decided to take the train for two reasons….1) it takes you to the city center of Rome versus the airport which is at least a 40 minute drive to the city, and 2) it takes about the same time, if not longer, to fly with the Uber rides, getting to the airport early, flight time, and waiting for bags.
As far as where to stay, definitely stay in the city center as it is very walkable. There’s not much of an underground system in Rome (just a few lines), so we did end up taking a couple of Ubers when we needed to travel further distances. We stayed at The Tribune Hotel by Hyatt, which is pretty much in the city center, just on the North side near the Spanish Steps. It’s a great option for families needing more space, and has air conditioning and all of the usual amenities that we are used to.
Once we settled in to our hotel, we walked just a few blocks to Osteria Quarantaquattro for dinner. This is a great place for a traditional Italian meal. From there, we walked to the Spanish Steps, through Piazza Mignanelli past the Column of the Immaculate Conception, and then made a pit stop at Il new Gelato di San Crispino for a sweet treat!
Right around the corner from di San Crispino is Trevi Fountain. Be sure to stop here to admire the fountain (if you can get close enough…it can be really crowded), throw in a coin for a wish, and get some photos. It really is an amazing work of art, and is worth a stop. Hard to believe it’s over 250 years old and still looks so pristine.
From here, we walked to Piazza della Rotonda to check out the outside of the Pantheon (we will come back to tour the inside later) and then made the 30 minute walk back to our hotel, stopping to do some souvenir shopping along the way.
DAY 2: BORGHESE GALLERY AND VATICAN TOUR
The agenda for Day 2 requires some planning in advance. Both of these tours need to be booked in advance, and the sooner you can do it, the better. I’d start with booking your Vatican tickets first. For the least expensive option, you can buy tickets directly through their website and do a self-guided tour at any time of the day (be prepared for an extremely long line…late afternoon will be the best time to go for the shortest waits), or they have options to skip the line as well. These options are currently running 30-40 Euros. These do not include access to St. Peter’s Basilica, though (Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel only), so be sure to read the fine print.
With that said, if it fits your budget, for around 80 Euros you can book a guided tour through a third party like Viator or Trip Advisor. This includes a set time for your tour, skip the line, the Vatican Museum, the SistIne Chapel, and St. Peter’s Basilica. In our case, I had bought skip-the-line, self-guided tickets in advance, but bought them for the day before when we were still in Venice (whoops!), so we ended up having to buy last-minute tour tickets too. In the end, I’m really glad we ended up with the guided tour. I think we got a lot more out of it by having someone explain everything to us.
Again, be prepared for crowds if you are there during busy season, and they will push you through Sistine Chapel pretty quickly…no phones or photos allowed in there either, but The Last Judgement, painted by Michelangelo on the ceiling, is one of the most amazing pieces of art I’ve ever seen.
In total, once you enter the Vatican, you probably won’t be there more than 2-3 hours. For the other half of your day, I highly recommend booking a tour of the Borghese Gallery. This is my favorite art gallery that I’ve been to thus far. It’s the collection of Cardinal Scipione Borghese, nephew of Pope John Paul V from the 1600s, which is housed in the Borghese Villa, located very near to the Hotel Tribune. There are also beautiful gardens outside the villa that you can tour for free at your leisure.
There are two main reasons why this is my favorite art gallery: 1) You can only visit by reservation, and they only allow 360 people inside the villa at any given time. You are assigned a 2-hour time slot for your visit, starting at 9, 11, 1, 3, or 5 o’clock. It sounds like a lot of people, but it’s a big villa and it’s not always at capacity. You actually feel like you have room to move throughout the space. 2) Borghese’s sculpture collection…he has an extensive collection of Bernini sculptures that are just amazing. The majority of the rooms in the villa feature one (or a few) of the sculptures, with the rest of the room decor matching the theme, from the wallpaper to the artwork. Definitely do the audio tour that leads you throughout the villa at a pace to see everything in your 2-hour slot.
Grab a snack at the food stand outside the villa, and take some time to walk the gardens as well. These two tours make for a pretty full day, but I consider both to be must-do’s when visiting Rome.
DAY 3: COLOSSEUM, THE FORUM, THE PANTHEON, AND MORE
After grabbing breakfast at our hotel, we decided to take an Uber to the Colosseum, as it was about a 30 minute walk from the hotel. The Colosseum is another must-do on a visit to Rome. It’s a magnificent structure, and paired with the audio tour to give you all of the history behind the construction of the Colosseum, and the events that took place here, it’s really a great tour. Like all of the tours, there are a lot of options to choose from through sites like Get Your Guide, and I would recommend booking in advance to save time when you arrive. Most of the tickets are skip-the-line, and include the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill. There are options that include a guided tour or you can self-guide.
For our visit, we purchased the self-guided tour for around 30-40 Euros each and chose to use the audio guide (I can’t remember if it was included or if we paid extra, but definitely pay the extra if you are not using a guide). While I think it would’ve been nice to have a guided tour in the Colosseum, I’m glad we didn’t have one for the Forum because we found that it got boring really quickly. There just wasn’t a ton to see, and the audio guide seemed to go on and on with too much detail for us, so we took a walk through and then left. Maybe a real-live guide would’ve been more engaging though? At the end of the day, there’s so much history in this area and we really enjoyed our visit.
After several hours at the Colosseum, we found a restaurant nearby for lunch, and then started walking back toward the Pantheon, stopping after about 15 minutes to see the Altare della Patria (Alter of the Fatherland) along the way. It is hard to miss…it is huge, and somewhat ornate, but a pretty neat spot to stop and explore or just have a seat along the staircase. It houses the tomb of an unknown soldier as well. The great thing about Rome is that there’s always something to see along the way…fountains, monuments, sculptures, and epic buildings everywhere1
After walking about another 15 minutes, we finally arrived back at Piazza della Rotonda where the Pantheon is. The Pantheon is an Italian temple built nearly 2,000 years ago. It is famous because it contains the largest, unsupported concrete dome in the world. Even in this time, no one else has built a concrete dome of this size. It costs just 5 Euros to enter and tour on your own.
This was the last thing we did before heading home the next morning, after a very full adventure, and my kids’ first trip to Europe. Rome paired with Venice, Paris, and London is a great itinerary for a first-timer to Europe, covering several of the most popular cities and sites. Check out my itineraries for each of those cities to bolt on to your visit to Rome as well!