A walkable city full of art, history, entertainment and good food. Even though the traffic is crazy and the metros are a bit dirty, we loved our time in Rome and will not hesitate to come back.

Where To Stay

We stayed in the Prati neighborhood. Because of the proximity to Vatican, it’s a very safe area. There are a lot of restaurants and stores nearby. You can access the area with a few buses and the Orange metro line. Prati is only a 15′ walk from the city center, so that’s also a healthy and cheap option to move around and get to know the city.

In my opinion, choosing where to stay in Rome is a balancing act that depends on your preference. If you want to stay close to popular sights like Pantheon or Trevi Fountain, beware that there are several downsides. First, there is no metro line close to that area. Either you will have to take a taxi/Uber/bus or you will have to walk there with luggage. Then, it’s a 15′ walk to Vatican and St Peter Basilica. Also, you will have to figure out how to get to the Leonardo Da Vinci airport, if you are flying out of Rome.

Prati is accessible upon arrival for us. We only needed to Ottaviano metro station. The shuttle bus stop to Fiumicino Airport is right behind Castle Saint’ Angelo. However, it took us some time every day to go to the city center and back. We didn’t mind the walk as we wanted to burn calorie, but some may find it inconvenient.

What To Do/See

Vatican & Sistine Chapel

Absolutely wonderful. It’s important to book a tour or ticket in advance. The line outside Vatican was ridiculously long and I don’t think it’s a good use of your limited time in Rome to stay in line.

Pantheon

There are two lines in Pantheon: the entrance line and the line to get audio guide. You’ll need to give them an ID to get a headset and they’ll return such ID upon your return of the device. There is only one room in Patheon and about 17 items to look at. It’s not as expansive as Vatican, yet it’s still impressive to see in person, both on the inside and outside.

Castel Saint’ Angelo

This place is more interesting than I imagined. It used to be a fortress and was later converted to some sort of royal residence. There are a few art exhibitions inside the castle. On the top, you can relax, have coffee and enjoy a magnificent view of the city.

Barberini Palace

We were recommended to visit this place by our Vatican tour guide. It is one of our two free destinations courtesy of our Roma Pass. They recently made available an exhibition that had not been accessible before. If you are looking for a place to hide from the heat and avoid the crowd, it’s a good option.

Colosseum/Roman Forum

Colosseum was great to see, but Roman Forum might not live up to the hype, in my opinion. We got a historian as a tour guide, but I don’t think he offered special value. I n fact, I think you can just read up on Roman Forum and Colosseum in advance and do your own tour. I was really frustrated that we spent little time in Roman Forum. Again, book tickets in advance!

Churches

My wife and I loved going to churches in Rome. Some of them look magnificent! Here are a few we visited and loved

Where To Eat

• L’Archetto: recommended by our AirBnb host. Very good food. We particularly loved the Ham and Melon dish. Their melon is very sweet and refreshing
• Bistrot Giudice: a small and lovely place near Castel Saint’ Angelo. The food is good and reasonably priced. The owner, who doesn’t speak English, is very friendly. She offered us free croissant stuffed with ham and goat cheese and espresso. I wanted to give them a shoutout because they are a small business and they are great, not because they gave us free stuff 😀
• Two Sizes Tiramisu: totally deserving of the hype. Arguably the best tiramisu we had!
• Pompi: another great tiramisu place. We don’t think it uses lady fingers, but it was tasty nonetheless
• Ponte e Parione: excellent restaurant near Two Sizes Tiramisu
• Gelateria del Monte: a good gelato shop near St Peter Basilica. We spoke to the owner a bit about the history of the place and he was a friendly guy. The original owners started it all in 1941 before retiring in 2011. The current owner’s parents are friends with the founders and he took over the business in 2013. That’s why they have the tagline: traditionally since 1941!
• Flor Gelato Italiano: the best gelato we had in Rome
• Er Baretto: great coffee
• Sciascia Cafe: great coffee
• Origano Trevi: we had a great pizza there for dinner

Tips

• I personally think if you are short on time and have other plans, you can skip Pantheon and Roman Forum. Pantheon looks great on the outside, but the inside is not that great to wait in line or sacrifice other items on your itinerary. Roman Forum is much less interesting than Colosseum in my opinion and can also be skipped.
• Vatican is a must and you should book in advance. Perhaps, don’t stack these sights as there will be a lot of standing and walking
• If you don’t plan to use metro or buses, you don’t need Roma Pass.
• We talked to a gelato owner. He confirmed our theory that gelato was best kept in stainless steel pots. Any shop that doesn’t have those pots is likely selling something else other than real gelato.
• We planned to visit St Peter Basilica on our last morning in Rome. We didn’t want to pay a lot for a tour. So we got there around 7:30AM. To our surprise, there was already a long line to get pass security. We could have bought a tour for an 8:30AM slot, but even guided tours have to be in the same line. What is interesting is that our bus to Fiumicino Airport the next day passed by St Peter Basilica at 7AM and there was no line. Hence, I think that if you stand in line around 7AM for St Peter Basilica, it should be ok…
• If you fly out of Rome from Fiumicino Airport, you may want to look into sitbusshuttle. It’s cheap and it goes straight to Terminal 3. It’s not easy though to know where the stops are. This is our bus stop near Vatican