Book this weekNothing is booked yet: the Colosseum, Vatican Museums and Galleria Borghese are timed entry, and the Borghese often sells out days ahead.
Hours, prices and fares are from general knowledge, not checked live; re-check them on the official sites the week before, especially the Colosseum's winter hours and the Borghese slot times.
Rome's yearly festival of contemporary dance, theatre and music, with performances across the city only during its autumn season.
🔗 official page romaeuropa.net
Dates from general knowledge — check the official site
Four days, one main sight each: San Clemente, ancient Rome, the Vatican, the Borghese.
Land at 10:00; check-in is from 15:00, so the bags go to storage in Monti first. Lunch nearby, San Clemente's underground layers, then the Pantheon before it closes.
🗺 The whole day in Google Maps →€14 each32 min, every 15 min
The airport station is 10 minutes on foot from arrivals, signposted 'Treni'; the non-stop train to Termini runs every 15 minutes and takes 32 minutes.
about €5–7 a bagbook online
From Termini it is 15 minutes on foot to Monti, about 1 500 steps, or one stop on metro line B to Cavour. Book a shop near Cavour on Bounce or Radical Storage the day before so the bags are off your hands until the flat is ready.
€45–60 for twoThursday: gnocchi
A small square with a fountain and a few middle-range trattorias with outside tables; heaters are usually out in November. Thursday is gnocchi day in many Roman trattorias, so look for it on the board.
San Clemente reopens at 15:00 after its midday break, so there is no need to hurry; the walk there passes the outside of the Colosseum.
A working 12th-century church built on top of a 4th-century church and a Roman house with a temple of Mithras; you walk down through all three levels.
day's highlightunderground €10 eachclosed 12:30–15:00
From the flat it is 10–12 minutes on foot, about 1 300 steps. The upper church is free; the levels below cost about €10 each, bought at the desk in the shop on the right of the nave, where the stairs down start.
Allow an hour. Below ground it is damp and cool, with steep stone stairs and running water you can hear at the bottom; photos are not allowed underground, by the reviews. Hours are usually 10:00–12:30 and 15:00–18:00, last entry about 17:30 — worth re-checking.
check-in from 15:00
Check-in from 15:00 is the usual hour for a flat in Rome, assumed here; confirm it with the host. The city tax for flats, about €6–8 per person per night, is often collected by the host in cash.
A Roman temple from around AD 125, now a church, still roofed by its original concrete dome with an open hole at the top.
€5 eachlast entry 18:30
From Monti it is 25 minutes on foot, about 2 500 steps; it is dark by about 17:00 in mid-November and the inside is lit. Open daily 09:00–19:00 with last entry at 18:30; the €5 ticket is sold at the machines and desk under the portico, and the queue in the evening is usually short. Half an hour is enough.
Rome's best-known baroque square, oval because it follows the ancient Stadium of Domitian, with Bernini's Fountain of the Four Rivers in the middle.
dinner €60–90 for two
Five minutes on foot from the Pantheon. Restaurants on the square itself charge more for the view; the trattorias along Via del Governo Vecchio and the lanes off it range from plain places with paper tablecloths to proper restaurants, and most start serving dinner at 19:00–19:30.
Back to Monti is 30 minutes on foot or a taxi of about €12–15.
The Colosseum is ten minutes' walk from the flat, entry on a timed ticket. The Forum and Palatine take the morning, the Capitoline Museums the afternoon.
🗺 The whole day in Google Maps →The largest amphitheatre of ancient Rome, finished in AD 80, where gladiator fights and animal hunts were staged for up to 50 000 people.
day's highlightabout €18 + €2 feetimed ticket, book now
From the flat it is 10 minutes on foot, about 1 000 steps. In November it opens at 08:30 and closes at 16:30, last entry 15:30.
The standard ticket, about €18 plus a €2 booking fee, gives a timed entry to the Colosseum and one entry to the Forum and Palatine within 24 hours. The Full Experience ticket adds the arena floor and the underground passages for a few euros more and sells out first; it is the one to get if the underground matters to you.
Even with a ticket there is a security line, so be at the gate 15 minutes before your slot. Allow 1 to 1½ hours inside.
The square of temples and law courts that was the centre of ancient Rome's public life, below the Palatine, the hill where the emperors built their palaces.
same ticketuneven ground, little shade
Enter at the gate on Via Sacra by the Arch of Titus, five minutes from the Colosseum. The paths are old paving stones and gravel with climbs up the Palatine; allow about three hours for both, with drinking fountains inside and few toilets.
Leave by the Palatine exit on Via di San Gregorio, which puts you on the way to lunch on the Celio.
€45–60 for two
Seven minutes on foot from the Palatine exit, on a quiet residential hill above the Colosseum. Plain family trattorias with paper tablecloths and Roman pastas; kitchens usually stop taking lunch orders around 14:45.
The world's oldest public museum, on the Capitoline Hill, holding the bronze Marcus Aurelius on horseback and the she-wolf feeding Romulus and Remus, the city's emblem.
about €16 eachlast entry 18:30
From the Celio it is 25 minutes on foot, about 2 500 steps, past the Colosseum and along Via dei Fori Imperiali. Open daily 09:30–19:30, last entry 18:30; about €16 each, more when a temporary exhibition is on, and tickets are sold at the door.
The two palaces are joined by an underground passage through the Tabularium, whose windows look straight down on the Forum you walked that morning; follow the signs for it from the Palazzo dei Conservatori. The café on the top floor of Palazzo Caffarelli has a terrace over the rooftops. Allow 2½ hours.
€55–80 for two
15 minutes on foot from the Capitoline, about 1 500 steps, and three minutes from the flat. A street of small trattorias and wine bars, most of them middle-range with tables close together; Friday evening is busy, so call ahead or arrive by 19:30.
The Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel run on timed tickets and are busiest on Saturdays. St Peter's after lunch in Prati, dinner in Trastevere.
🗺 The whole day in Google Maps →The popes' art collections, ending in the Sistine Chapel, where Michelangelo painted the ceiling and the Last Judgement.
day's highlight€20 + €5 onlinetimed ticket, book now
From Monti take metro B to Termini, change to line A and ride to Ottaviano, then walk 10 minutes; allow 40 minutes door to door, or a taxi of about €15–20.
Open Monday to Saturday 08:00–19:00, last entry 17:00, closed on Sundays; the ticket is €20 plus €5 for booking online. Allow three hours: the route to the Sistine Chapel is one way and long, and the Raphael Rooms come just before it.
In the chapel itself there are no photos and guards ask for silence. The 08:00 slot is the quietest hour in the Sistine Chapel on a Saturday, if you are willing to start an hour earlier.
€45–65 for two
The museum exit is on Viale Vaticano; from there it is 12 minutes on foot, about 1 300 steps. Prati is a residential quarter with middle-range trattorias that serve office workers on weekdays and families on Saturdays; the places right outside the museum walls have tourist menus and higher prices.
The main church of the Catholic world, under Michelangelo's dome, with his Pietà inside on the right.
freedome €10–15security queue
15 minutes on foot from Prati. Entry is free through the security check under the colonnade on the right of the square; on a Saturday afternoon the queue can run 30–60 minutes, by the reviews. Open until about 18:30 in winter.
The Pietà is just inside on the right, behind glass. The dome entrance is on the right side of the portico: about €10 on foot (551 steps) or about €15 with the lift to the roof and 320 steps from there, with narrow, leaning stairs at the top; last climb around 17:00. Allow 1½ hours, 2½ with the dome.
One of Rome's oldest churches, known for the gold 12th-century mosaics in its apse; the square in front is the middle of Trastevere.
free
From St Peter's it is 30 minutes on foot along Via della Lungara, about 3 000 steps. Free and usually open until about 21:00, worth re-checking; a Saturday evening Mass may be on, when visitors stay quietly at the back. Fifteen minutes is enough to see the mosaics.
€60–90 for twobook Saturday
Saturday night is the busiest of the week here, so book a table a few days ahead. The lanes south and west of the square have everything from loud plain trattorias to proper restaurants with tablecloths; places with a man outside and a photo menu are the ones to walk past.
Home is a taxi of about €15, or tram 8 to Piazza Venezia and 15 minutes on foot.
Check-out by 10:00 and a 19:00 flight: bags go into left luggage at Termini. The Borghese by timed slot, lunch near Piazza del Popolo, train at 16:00.
🗺 The whole day in Google Maps →card, tap in
Check-out by 10:00 is the usual hour, assumed here; from Cavour it is one stop on metro line B to Termini.
about €8 a bag
The left-luggage office is by platform 24; for about six hours expect roughly €8 a bag, card accepted. From here bus 910 from Piazza dei Cinquecento runs to the Borghese in about 15 minutes, or a taxi costs about €10–12.
A cardinal's 17th-century villa in the Villa Borghese park, holding Bernini's best-known marble sculptures and six paintings by Caravaggio.
day's highlightabout €15 + €2 feetimed ticket, book nowarrive 10:30
Entry is only by timed slot, about €15 plus a €2 booking fee; the gallery asks you to arrive 30 minutes early to collect tickets and leave bags and coats at the cloakroom, which is compulsory. Open Tuesday to Sunday 09:00–19:00, closed Mondays.
Bernini's Apollo and Daphne and the Rape of Proserpina are on the ground floor with the Caravaggios; the picture gallery is upstairs. You have up to two hours inside, which is enough for both floors.
A terrace on the edge of the Villa Borghese park above Piazza del Popolo, looking across the rooftops to St Peter's dome.
freeflat paths
20 minutes on foot along the park's flat paths, about 2 000 steps, signposted 'Pincio'. From the terrace a ramp and steps lead down to Piazza del Popolo.
€50–80 for twobook Sunday lunch
Ten minutes on foot from the Pincio, about 1 000 steps. Sunday lunch is when Roman families eat out, so book; the street has middle-range trattorias and a few proper restaurants with tablecloths.
Leave by 15:20: metro A from Spagna, three stops to Termini, about 10 minutes.
€14 eachtrain about 16:05
Trains leave every 15 minutes from platforms 23–24 and take 32 minutes; the 16:05 has you at the airport about 16:40 for the 19:00 flight, and passport control adds time on flights outside the Schengen area.
A contactless bank card or a phone works at every metro gate and on buses and trams; no ticket needed.
Tap a contactless Visa, Mastercard or Amex, or Apple Pay or Google Pay, on the yellow reader at the metro gate or the validator on a bus or tram. Foreign cards work. Each tap is a single ticket (BIT) of €1.50, valid 100 minutes, with one metro ride inside that time.
Each person needs their own card or phone: one card pays for one person. Taps are capped per day at about the price of a day ticket, worth re-checking on the ATAC site.
Use the same card every time and tap again on each bus; inspectors check the card itself with a reader. Riding without a valid tap is a fine of €50 and up.
Take taxis from ranks or call one; most now take cards, but say 'carta' before getting in. The FreeNow and itTaxi apps take a card in the app.
Non-stop Fiumicino ↔ Termini, every 15 minutes, 32 minutes, €14 each.
Buy it on the Trenitalia app or website, or at the machines in the airport station and at Termini. A ticket bought on the app is tied to a date and needs no stamping; show the QR code if asked.
A paper ticket from a machine must be stamped in the small validator on the platform before you board; an unstamped ticket earns a fine on the spot.
Italian rail and transport strikes are announced in advance; check the ministry's strike calendar the week before you fly. On a strike day the taxi fixed fare, about €55 to the centre, is the fallback.
Bag-storage shops through Bounce or Radical Storage keep cases in cafés and shops near Cavour for about €5–7 a bag for the day, booked and paid in the app.
The left-luggage office by platform 24 is open from early morning until late evening. Expect about €6 a bag for the first four hours and about €1 an hour after that; card accepted. Keep passports and anything valuable with you.
Most of the centre is paved with small black basalt stones that are uneven and slippery when wet; the Forum and Palatine add gravel and worn Roman paving. Wear trainers or walking shoes with a grippy sole that are already broken in; days 2 and 3 run to 10 000–13 000 steps.
St Peter's and the Sistine Chapel turn people away at the door for bare shoulders or knees, and the same applies in San Clemente and Santa Maria in Trastevere. In November that is easy; carry a scarf if you wear a sleeveless top under a coat. Hats off inside.
Most trattorias add a coperto, a cover charge of €1.50–3 per person for bread and the table; it is legal and is printed on the menu. A 'servizio' line, if there is one, means service is already included.
Tipping is not expected. Rounding up or leaving €1–2 each after a good meal is plenty. Coffee drunk standing at the bar costs less than coffee at a table.
Three places need a booked slot; book all three this week.
Book only on the official sites; resellers charge more and have different refund rules. Tickets are name-bound at the Colosseum, so bring passports. Have the tickets on your phone and in a screenshot in case the signal is weak at the gate.
The Pantheon, Capitoline Museums and San Clemente sell tickets at the door; in November there is no need to book them.
Daytime around 15–18°C, evenings near 10°C, and November is one of Rome's wetter months: pack a light rain jacket or umbrella. Sunset is about 16:55, so the Pantheon and the evening walks are after dark.
For two people, excluding flights and the flat. Prices are from general knowledge; re-check tickets on the official sites.
| Item | Economy | Comfort | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Airport trains (Leonardo Express, both ways) | €56 | €110 | Comfort: fixed-fare taxi each way |
| Metro, buses, taxis in town | €15 | €80 | |
| Bag storage (day 1) and left luggage (day 4) | €28 | €28 | |
| Day 1: San Clemente underground, Pantheon | €30 | €30 | |
| Day 2: Colosseum, Forum, Palatine, Capitoline | €72 | €108 | Comfort: Full Experience ticket and Capitoline exhibition |
| Day 3: Vatican Museums, St Peter's dome | €70 | €98 | Comfort: audio guide and the dome lift |
| Day 4: Galleria Borghese | €34 | €44 | Comfort: with audio guide |
| Food: four lunches, three dinners, coffees | €440 | €810 | |
| Gelato, wine, water, small things | €60 | €120 | |
| City tax for the flat (3 nights) | €36 | €48 | About €6–8 per person per night, often paid to the host |
| Total | about €840 | about €1 480 |
Realistic figure: €1 050–1 200 for two
Cards and phones are accepted almost everywhere, including metro gates and most taxis; carry €60–80 in cash for coffee bars, small trattorias that prefer it, and the city tax if the host asks for cash.
All of them: the WayFriend guide library.
