I will be going with some friends to Rome for 6 days after Christmas. Any places outside of the obvious we need to check out?

Book a tour of the crypts below the Vatican soonish, it fills up fast. Pompeii was great, especially if you get some knowledge before you go. My favorite part of Rome was just getting lost in the backstreets on the walk from the Vatican to the Coliseum. It's quite a hike, but there is tons to see and do.

Caracalla baths are pretty

Tour the catacombs south of town

make sure you give yourself a full day to wonder around the small streets. Discovering things is the best part. We stopped in a church to rest our feet, turns out it was the oldest church in christendom

[This message has been edited by Ragnar Danneskjold (edited 8/16/2010 10:34p).]

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Book a tour of the crypts below the Vatican

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This. Wonderful tour.

http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/institutions_connected/uffscavi/documents/rc_ic_uffscavi_doc_gen-information_20040112_en.html

If I could recommend one restaurant it would be Ristorante Pietro (outside the NE corner of Piazza Navona). It's run by 2 sisters and their brother(the chef). It was AWESOME.

You'll see a TON of churches, but my favorite of all was Santa Maria in Trastevere. The mosaic along the back of the altar/apse was unbelievable.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:AbsideSantaMariaTrastevereRoma.jpg

[This message has been edited by Green Fairy (edited 8/17/2010 1:42p).]

[This message has been edited by Green Fairy (edited 8/17/2010 1:42p).]

Rent a car. Drive and eat your way through Tuscany and Umbria

This is all great! Thanks for the tips. Going to try to convince the girls I am going with to take a day trip to another city. I think we are going to Pompei, Vatican and catacombs are on the list as well.

I think there will be lots of wandering around the city which will be fun.

I caught the train and went to Ostia Antica . . . wasn't that far maybe 45 minutes? Great ruins and still time to get back to Rome to explore.

I dont know how religious you are but the Mamertinum is an interesting spot. It is believed to be where St. Peter was imprisoned by Nero. It is near the Forum.

be careful of gypsies especially right outside the forum area and the vatican. The bus between the two is especially bad.

The Colisseum is standard tourist material, of course. My only suggestion is just take one of the guided tours. It will cost you more, but you skip the entrance lines and you'll actually learn something. If you don't, it's a bunch of old stones.

We went a couple years ago and our favorites were the ruins of Pompeii and the Vatican.

I know these are obvious and touristy things to do but they were great.

We took a tour bus out to Pompeii, didn't want to risk getting into any trouble coming through Naples with all the crime we heard about. You can walk around that place for hours, its great.

The Vatican was a big deal to me as someone who is completely non religious I was blown away. Seeing the Sistine Chapel is ridiculous but even more than that was St Peters Bacilica, its indescribable. I'm glad we saved that for the last day, that was my favorite thing of the entire trip. We took a guided tour which is the way to go, learned way more than we would have otherwise.

Pompei was the favorite part of my trip (we took a tour so we didn't have to drive)
Guided tours of the coliseum and pantheon were worth the money also.
Buy the Rick Steves Book, well worth the money if you read it before you go. Take comfy shoes because we walked a lot so we could see all of the city.
Be careful of the taxis at the airport...walk outside and go to the taxi stand to save $$$.

4thGen,

We'll be there around the same time (22-29). Any idea where you are staying? I'm still looking into it...but feel a little overwhelmed at times!!!

I agree with the above poster about purchasing the Rick Steves' book. I always use Rick Steves' in Europe. Orvieto would make a nice day trip from Rome. It is about an hour by train.

If you like the macabre, visit the Capuchin monastery/graveyard. Look up "Capuchin Crypt" on wikipedia for more info. Well worth spending an hour there, if you are in the area.

Married - We are staying at the Sonya. My friends found the place and booked it. Not the Four Seasons but priced reasonably and has what we need. I have heard. It is right in the middle of everything and lots of Americans stay there.

If you're flying into the Fiumicino airport ( there are 2 airports that serve Rome), you're probably better off taking the train into the Rome Termini station which connects with the subway sysem. It's a very good system.

If you're considering a day trip to another city, I have 3 suggestions; Florence, a beautiful city; Monte Cassino if you're a WW2 buff, but the most beautiful tour you could probably go on is going down to the Sorrento area and taking a tour along the Amalfi coast. You wont regret it. Absolutely beautiful scenery. I wouldn't advise renting a car for this part of the trip. Roads are narrow and you have to know which ones to take. You are probably better off doing this on a week day.

I'd recommend Venice, but it's just too far away.

They also have trips to the top of Mount Vesuvius, but they stop about a mile from the top, leaving you with a long walk and "occassionaly" they have a ice form near the top in which case forget about it, so that time of year, you're probably better off skipping it.

I was in Rome back in december and again in febuary. If you'd like more advice from me, just let me know.

Just one more tip on restaurants; if you like to have a few beers or a glass of wine, some restaurants charge up to $10.00 U.S. dollars for each, so you're better off asking first.

Just one more tip I promise. A lot of banks here charge a foreign transaction fee, each time you make a withdrawal (atm) or charge something. So you are better off making a larger withdrawal than several small ones.

Keep your wallet and your passport in your front pocket.

Be wary, especially in places like Naples. If someone makes you some kind of offer that seems to be too good to be true, then it isn't.

Have a good trip.

I'm still sorting through our options. We'll have a car, so I'm kinda leaning towards staying outside the city a little. There will be 5 of us (classes of '03 and 2024). I can't wait. I'm really excited. We are actually flying into Milan, and driving down to Rome, seeing a few sites along the way.

Ideas/suggestions as to airfare to Italy. I'm considering a cruise that is a roundtrip out of Rome, but will have 5 days prior to sightsee, so will consider flying into another Port of Entry and driving to Rome; perhaps Venice, as Florence and Nice is a cruise port/ stop. TIA.

We drove from Milan down to the Florence area, stayed for a few days, then took a train from Florence to Rome. Good luck getting out of Milan, that place is a mess. The good thing is that the further you get from Milan, the bigger your smile will get...I hated that place. Driving inside the cities is pretty crazy, an experience in itself. But, if you ask me, having your own car is definitely worth it.

We stayed near the Colosseum and flew out of FCO with a 930 flight. Allow PLENTY of time if you're driving to the airport...I thought Houston traffic was bad. (We took a shuttle, for 2 of us it was 35 Euro, and worth every cent.)

Boerne, from what I found, Rome was actually the cheapest airport to fly in and out of, but the other major Italian cities weren't too far off, price wise. We flew into Munich and out of Rome. If we go back, I'd love to check out Venice. I might spend a couple nights there then take a few nights to get to Rome, spending those nights somewhere in Tuscany (which was amazing).

There is no reason to take a taxi to/from Fiumicino Airport. It will be expensive and time consuming. Take the Leonardo Express that runs from the airport to Termini in central Rome.

Also, if you can fit it in, I would make time for Siena. It's about an hour from Florence. You can do it as a day trip, but spending the night there would be my advice. Siena is amazing in the evening after all the day trippers go back to Florence.

I think the Express from Termini to FCO was 12 Euro per person, plus whatever cost it would have been to get from our hotel to Termini. Hiring a private shuttle MAY have been 10 Euro more expensive, but it cut the headaches out entirely...definitely worth it.

All set with a flite into Rome on 3 Oct. Will have four days and three nights to look around. Think we wanna see Tuscany, fo sho. Rent a car?

Most would say you shouldn't rent a car, but I would HIGHLY recommend it. Get a map and go explore. We drove through Germany, Austria, and Italy with nothing more than maps and Google directions, no GPS. No, it's not as easy as driving here, but it adds to the experience and gives you tons more flexibility.

Plan to rent one for the three days before we board ship. Any suggestions where to rent? No idea of the logistics between the airport and seaport. I suppose it'd be best to get one closer to the port. Plan to run up to Tuscany before going aboard ship. Then will have another two days after the boat ride to prowl around Rome.

www.sixt.com

we had good luck with these guys

Why is it soooo much more to rent an automatic???

nm

[This message has been edited by Married2AnAggie (edited 9/17/2010 12:06p).]

Make sure you take the ride up to the dome in the Vatican, then walk up to the top level.

Also, Colloseum on our left, Titus Arch up the hill on your right, go up that hill, past the arch and buy tickets for the Colusium/Forum there...NO LINE. Serious, wife and I did this, toured Forum/Palentine Hill area, then walked back to the Colosseum and walked past 200+ people standing in line and walked right in.

i actually just got confirmation for my vatican scavi tour while i'm in rome over christmas...

schmendeler,
Just got mine this morning. We are scheduled on the 28th. Can't wait!

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Why is it soooo much more to rent an automatic???

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I think it's pretty rare to find them in Europe. When I was in Spain, everything was a manual.