It’s always exciting when something happens to you for the first time, and … it happened to me, there was finally a destination that first brought me abroad. Not any destination, but Rome and .. all roads lead to Rome, I honestly doubt, but certainly all the Rome roads are wonderful. Have you been to Rome already? Are you planning to visit it? Below I’m going to share some experiences and travel tips for a seamless journey to the capital of Italy.

As a person who likes to plan and predict, I wanted to predict everything that can happen, see, shoot and experience. As you have guessed it was not a very reasonable nd realistic thought, but the enthusiasm for the upcoming 4-day trip in this romantic European city swirled my senses and wanted everything to be perfect. The search for airline tickets left to my partner in crime and traveling, but that was not the hard thing … finding a nice place to stay was the difficult task.

Finding a place to stay

I would say that in Rome, people obviously like shared baths and yes, you have to pay extra for a room with a private bath even when staying at a hotel. Anyway, after a long search, for a normal budget, fortunately we found the perfect place to stay, which hosts were amazing Italians hosts. Suprising for me that the apartment was an airbnb place, but in the end I loved it. My pleasure to share this accommodation, as I can confirm the truth of the pictures, shared in their website – the rooms were clean and the common places always filled with fresh food and drinks(including a homemade cake). Very cozy place to stay.

After discovering the perfect place to relax among the city’s tiring tours, next important step was to organize the sightseeing. Keep in mind that Rome has many sights that you can visit only on foot, but they are too much and you have to organize your time well and choose what you will actually visit. We decided to make a research among friends who had already traveled to Rome. Everyone shared something good, something bad, but as a whole all with different points of view.

Should I use Roma Pass?

Tips and tricks are always welcome, as we were planning a trip like this for the first time, gathered the opinions and decided for ourselves. For a trip like ours, which I could call a budget one, we chose to use the Roma Pass card (the cards offer transport, free museums, discounts and reduced price ticketing for events, exhibitions and tourist services). If you plan to travel for at least 2 days and visit the main attractions of Rome, namely the Colosseum and the Capitol Museum (the Vatican city is not included in this pass), take the 72 hours card. Keep in mind that owning Roma pass really saves you hours of waiting – especially when talking about the Colosseum – you just really skip the line. The only place where the Roma Pass did not fit us and we had to wait on a mile long queue was the Roman Forum.

Hot Tip: If a person at the crowded entrance tells you that this is the only entrance, don’t trust him. Just keep in mind that the Roman Forum has at least 3 entrances, and all you have to do is go around the walls and look for the other ones. It would not take you more than 15 minutes to walk. For that, we found another entrance, which had 10 people in front, who turned out to be a tourist group and we walked in the Forum in less than 30 seconds.

Another great advantage of having Roma Pass is that the transport is absolutely free and you have nothing to think about traveling around Rome. Just keep in mind that this does not include transportation to and from the airport. Tickets for these trips are available on a pavilion where sell tickets or simply use ticket vending machines.

As I mentioned above, the Vatican Museum & Sistine Chapel are not included in Roma Pass. Let me shed some light on purchasing tickets for them. There is an official website where you can specify the date and time of your visit and following the steps easy to buy a ticket. I strongly recommend it because the queues in front of the entrance are at least two blocks … and if you have an online ticket with the exact time you just pass those queues and enter directly.

Let’s summarize what is needed for a seamless, budget 4-day visit to Rome:

Airplane tickets
A good place to stay
Roma Pass for sightseeing tours
Purchased Vatican tickets

Additional travel recommendations:

Do health insurance, or if you are a European, take your European health card with you;
Choose the time of your stay in Rome wisely, as you are not the only one who has planned an amazing trip to one of the most desirable tourist destinations.Iin the strong season (mainly summer) Rome is abounding by people and crowds. This may obscure otherwise your well-planned vacation.

For example: We took advantage of the wonderful and not very hot weather on May, when there were not too many tourists and the season hadn’t begun yet. Meanwhile, weather conditions were great for long walks under the open sky(12-24C)

Тhe most important things for your next trip are already in place … the only thing that remains is preparing your luggage. Do not forget the comfortable shoes, raincoat, sunscreen and sunglasses. Oh, of course, and planning the best routes along the streets of Rome to experience the best out of the city.

Stay tuned for more information on worth visiting known and unknown places in Rome.