Already have a Vatican/Sistene Chapel Tour for half day and another half day seeing typical coliseum, fountains, etc and a day trip to Florence. Any suggestions to spend a couple half days - including for teenagers?

Probably still touristy but Frigidarium is the best gelato in Rome. There are plenty of tourists and Italians there alike.

My wife and I loved Ostia antica. 30 minute metro ride from Rome proper.

Look it up on rick Steve's. It was great.

Day trip to Orvieto or Naples. I did a day trip to Naples when I was there in June. It was fun day with great food.

We did a private small group pasta making class that was amazing. We used a company called Walks (used to be called Walks of Italy), but I'm sure there are others.

You could get out of Rome and go to Pompeii and Herculaneum.

The ruins from the volcano are really cool.

Random add on: what's the best way to fly to Rome from Texas? I did a cursory search earlier and it didn't look like why direct flights exist.

I did lol that one of the suggestions was on Emirates via Qatar - just a 44 hr trip. GFY!

We did a direct flight in July from Rome to DFW on AA. it was about 11 hours.

Vernada said:

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Random add on: what's the best way to fly to Rome from Texas? I did a cursory search earlier and it didn't look like why direct flights exist.

I did lol that one of the suggestions was on Emirates via Qatar - just a 44 hr trip. GFY!

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Get yourself somewhere in Europe, and then connect to Rome. Don't try to have a layover in NYC or Chicago or DC. We did IAH to Amsterdam to Rome on KLM.

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My wife and I loved Ostia antica. 30 minute metro ride from Rome proper.

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Ditto. Awesome place, cool ancient buildings and not a huge crowd. This is probably 5 times better than Pompeii. Also, near Naples is Herculaneum.

Vernada said:

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Random add on: what's the best way to fly to Rome from Texas? I did a cursory search earlier and it didn't look like why direct flights exist.

I did lol that one of the suggestions was on Emirates via Qatar - just a 44 hr trip. GFY!

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I've connected through Franfurt and Munich with United and was happy with both.

TXTransplant said:

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We did a private small group pasta making class that was amazing. We used a company called Walks (used to be called Walks of Italy), but I'm sure there are others.

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We did a walks of Italy cooking class in Florence and a food tour in Rome. Would highly recommend both. We actually do a cooking class and/or food tour at every place we travel to.

I've done IAH to CDG (Paris) to Rome twice on Air France.

htxag09 said:

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TXTransplant said:

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We did a private small group pasta making class that was amazing. We used a company called Walks (used to be called Walks of Italy), but I'm sure there are others.

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We did a walks of Italy cooking class in Florence and a food tour in Rome. Would highly recommend both. We actually do a cooking class and/or food tour at every place we travel to.

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We used them for the Colosseum, the Sistine Chapel, and a walking tour of Rome (the Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, etc.), and all were very good. We also used them in NYC and had a great experience. I would recommend any of their tours/experiences.

Vernada said:

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Random add on: what's the best way to fly to Rome from Texas? I did a cursory search earlier and it didn't look like why direct flights exist.

I did lol that one of the suggestions was on Emirates via Qatar - just a 44 hr trip. GFY!

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https://www.flightsfrom.com/ shows all nonstop flights from which ever city you pick, along with which airlines and the schedule.


Very useful site for trip planning.

My family just returned from a week long trip to Rome over the Thanksgiving break. Others have already mentioned it, but I'd strongly suggest taking a trip to Naples/Pompeii. It'll take a full day if you go by bus, or you can shave a couple hours off of that by taking the fast train. We booked our trip there with "City Wonders" and went by bus. We departed Rome about 8am and returned back about 7:30pm. We spent about 2-3 hours in Pompeii, they fed us lunch in Naples, and gave us a couple hours in Naples to explore on our own. The tour guide was fantastic and shared a lot of history about the area on the bus ride so it helped to pass the time.

The Borghese Gallery (and the park/gardens surrounding it) is also highly recommended. It is relatively small, but contains some of the best sculptures you'll ever see. You purchase tickets to the gallery based on the time you want to visit. They allow a limited number of people inside at any one time for a 2-hour timeframe. It keeps it from becoming too crowded. They were selling tickets for the 9am, 11am, 1pm, 3pm, 5pm times. I was surprised how close you are able to get to the artwork. You can literally reach out and touch everything in the gallery, but obviously don't do it!! Oh, and they are pretty strict about no photography in the gallery.

One thing that surprised us is that the sun sets about 4:30 this time of year, so be prepared for that if you are going soon.

What were your flights and what carrier?

schmendeler said:

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A lot of people aren't familiar with the Borghese gallery. It's a strong recommendation from me.

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The Borghese is amazing. We were the only english speakers in the museum when we went, so we literally got a private tour from a local college kid studying art. Easily one of the top 3 or 4 experiences of our 2 weeks in Italy.

Keep in mind I believe you have to have an appointment to go there though.

It has a lot of famous sculptures that you will recognize by Bernini, that hardly anyone ever sees because it is a little off the beaten path.

Agree with everyone who said Ostia Antica. I really liked the Basilica di San Clemente a couple blocks east of the Colosseum. It's a layered structure, so you can underground and see the 1st century villa with pagan temple, underneath the 4th century Christian basilica, underneath the 12th century basilica.

Rent bikes and go to the Jewish Ghetto.

I second (or third) the Borghese Gallery and also recommend a food tour. We did the Testaccio Supper Stroll based on a recommendation on here and it was great.

Another (somewhat) off the beaten path option is riding bikes down the Appian Way. The bike itself is a little bumpy because it's literally a 2000+ year old road made of big stones, but there are interesting catacombs, ruins, buildings, and history along the way. The ride itself is not super long or particularly taxing, but assuming you do it very leisurely and stop along the way, it's probably good for a half day affair. Perhaps the most interesting part to me was imagining the history that occurred along the road (e.g., apostle Paul walking into Rome as a prisoner down this road).

Make sure you go to Trajan's Market. I think a lot of people miss it,but it was one of my favorite places. There is also this 3-D recreation. It is right next to Trajan's Column . We took a food tour of Trastevere. Nero's Golden Palace too.

You could take a day trip to Florence via the train. We saw everything in a day.