Rome has been on my bucket list for years so I was so excited to finally go last September.
If you’ve been reading my blog for a while you’ll know we love a mini break. It’s the perfect opportunity to see a new city with food, culture, and things to do. I’ve wanted to go to Rome since I first watched the Lizzie McGuire movie when I was young. It just looked like one of those places where there seemed plenty to do. Plus you’re guaranteed good food too!
This post has been sitting in my drafts for too long. Here is finally a blog post on what we got up to. If you’re interested in visiting Rome and seeing what the city has to offer, read on.
Where we stayed
We stayed at?Penta Luxury?House which was just a five-minute walk away from the nearest Metro station. You can book this through Booking.com like we did or directly. It seemed to be in a residential area and the place itself was a mixture of Airbnb’s and homes. As the name suggests, the room was spacious with super high ceilings. I mean just look at the size of the entrance door! It was lovely and modern. We couldn’t fault it at all. If we were to go to Rome again I think we would go closer to the attractions and pay more.
Getting around Rome
We ended up getting a few late-night Ubers so it probably would have made sense to pay more to have a hotel room closer and save on transport. To get around Rome be prepared to do a lot of walking!
We easily walked a few miles a day! I think I counted we did about 30 miles in four days. As mentioned we relied on Uber on a night after too much wine. And we also got a 72-hour Metro pass which worked out about 18 euros each which wasn’t bad. But most of the time we just walked and took in all the views. A pitstop for an ice cream or a drink is the way to do it anyway, isn’t it! Plus you may just happen to stumble across an attraction anyway like we did.
If you want to do Rome properly I’d recommend at least 2-3 days to explore. It is a HUGE city! Everything is spaced out and not as close as you think. I’d recommend making an itinerary before you go so you can plan which areas you will go to each day.
Here’s what we did and what I’d personally recommend.
What we did in Rome
We got an early flight into Rome so we put our bags down and headed straight to our first attraction which obviously had to be the Colosseum. We booked an English guide who did a full tour of the Colosseum and also the Roman Forum which is next door. It is a little pricey but 100% worth it. I think if we had just done it ourselves we would have just skimmed past all of it and not taken it in.
We learned so many facts about the day-to-day operations of the Colosseum back in the day. The guide we had was really funny and interesting which always helped. In the background of the photo above you can see which was the basement of the theatre.
Keep reading to see my food and drink recommendations!
After about an hour’s tour of the Colosseum, we walked over to the Roman Forum which is essentially the Roman ruins and ancient city of Rome. You can walk up to Palestine Hill which is where I am in this photo. This shows you a great view of the ruins and the city itself! We learnt even more facts such as it’s where Queen Cleopatra herself walked through all those centuries ago. You’ll see all the buildings where the Romans lived and I found this very interesting!
After our tour was over we then went for food and drink and just took in all of Rome’s beauty.
Day two
Day two we decided to go visit Vatican City. This included seeing Saint Peter’s Square and also the Basilica. The Pope was actually visiting the day we went so we ended up queuing for over two hours to get in. We unfortunately didn’t see him but the Basilica was just out of this world. The most impressive building I’ve ever seen!
We paid extra I think they were 8 euros each to go right to the top of Saint Peter’s Basilica to see the city views. Pre-warning there are a LOT of stairs! You think you’re nearly there but nope there are more steps. It’s quite narrow too but worth it once you get to the top. Here are the views below!
After the basilica, we headed back to our hotel to freshen up for the evening. We decided to go over to Trastevere. This is a local area that has plenty of bars and restaurants. We’d seen on TikTok that it isn’t as touristy and more local. We did go on a Saturday night so the area was really busy. We found a lovely restaurant and had plenty of pasta and wine!
Day three
I’d heard online that the queues for the Trevi Fountain were insane throughout the day. So we decided to get up early on day three and visit the fountains about 7am. You may think we’re mad but so many had the same idea. It was really busy even at that time. You can google the live camera for Trevi Fountain so you can see how busy it was. We walked past later on that day about 1pm and you just couldn’t move. So if you do want to go see it. I recommend going really early or probably from 10pm onwards.
After the fountain, we walked to the Pantheon and close by the Spanish Steps. These two attractions are fairly close together and nice to see. Once you’re at the steps you are within the shopping quarter so it’s filled with all the designer shops. I’d recommend visiting the Zara! It’s such a gorgeous shop and I can see why it’s gone viral on TikTok.
As we were up SO early we decided to have an afternoon nap ready for our last evening in Rome.
For our last night we went to the Royal Art Cafe which is opposite the Colleseum. As you can see the views were amazing. We opted for a pre-paid 6-course meal which was just insane. I’d highly recommend this if you fancy a splurge.
