Rome: Absolute Must Do List?

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One other thing - If you are planning a trip and are pretty confident in your ability figure things out in a foreign country where many people speak English don’t go with a tour group. Many will say it’s the only way to go, but I disagree.
  1. A tour is expensive. It seems you get a lot for your money but in doing the math you may pay a lot more with a tour. When I finally decided I was not going to wait any longer for “someday” I looked at tours and none of them had everything I wanted to do. I opened Expedia and booked my trip. I made a list of all the things I wanted to do, made a calendar of the days those things were available to do, realized two weeks wasn’t enough time so I added a week.
I was able to book my round trip flight from the western US, my hotel, a five day bus tour to Venice stopping in Florence for a night, a roundtrip flight from Rome to Paris, hotel in Paris, and a one day train from Paris to London trip, as well as all my activities in Rome, Paris, and London for about $5500. This was 3 years ago, so fairly recent.
  1. The biggest advantage was I was able to take the trip I wanted to take, not a trip that sorta was the trip I wanted to take. I built in a ton of free time to just do whatever I wanted. Other than the tour to Venice my time was my own. But even that trip allowed me to see places I would not have been able to organize on my own. We stopped in Assisi, Siena, Montipulciano, ( which a winery that is over 1000 years old) Florence, Padua, Bologna, Pisa, and two days in Venice.
I also took a wine tasting lunch tour in Tuscany which was wonderful, and expensive since I had to buy several bottles of wine and had to have them shipped home.

I went all by myself, a 50 something single woman who has never traveled to Europe before. My friends and family thought I was crazy but I was done waiting for someday and I had the money & time to go. I found everyone to be very gracious and kind, very helpful and so willing to serve tourists. I followed some safety precautions such as not walking around later at night. If I was out at night I would take a taxi back to my hotel rather than public transportation. While I enjoyed the wines I never drank more than a couple of glasses. Except the one time in Paris at a small place that had the best Mussels I’ve ever had but my hotel was directly across the street. My hotel there was on a large square that came to life in the evening. It was fun to watch the people and listen to the music and trying to not let my head explode with the idea that I was sitting in a Paris café, eating mussels, drinking good wine, and watch lively people.
 
Thank you all so much for your insights! You all are awesome and very helpful. Unfortunately, we’re going to miss going to the Wednesday General Audience, as we’ll be at the airport during that time and Assisi isn’t possible considering our trip schedule (we’re only in Rome for the beginning and the end). However, I’ve taken your suggestions and have gone ahead and e-mailed regarding tickets for the Scavi tour, so we’ll see if that happens. At the very least I think we’ll try to visit the four Basilicas, the Vatican Museums, the Forum, and the Colosseum. We’re fans of walking, so as long as we have a decent map, I doubt we’ll pay a tour guide to take us around (but we’ll see). Our last day there is a Sunday- is there any particular church you all would recommend visiting on a Sunday morning?
 
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Any of the majors are good. I felt a special pull to Santa Maria Maggiore so I went there for Mass most often.
CoffeeFanatic said:
We’re fans of walking, so as long as we have a decent map, I doubt we’ll pay a tour guide to take us around (but we’ll see)
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As long as you have internet you can find your way around. I used a guide infrequently. At most of the major attractions you can use a self guide head-set that will tell you about what you are seeing. Just walk to the places and enjoy being in Rome. If you plan to see the Colosseum book a tour. The regular line to get in is very long, with a tour you get to the front of the line.
 
There is an “urban myth” that law requires a licensed tour guide in Rome.
 
If you’re going to travel around to all three of the basilicas in one day, or even in two days if you include the Vatican as the fourth one, you will need to use some public transportation, or a taxi. They’re pretty far apart (except that St. Mary Major and St. John Lateran may be walkable between the two of them) and St. Paul Outside the Walls is actually outside the city, so it’s not really walkable. Also the Vatican and the other three are at pretty much opposite ends of the city.

The alternative is to take some kind of bus tour that would stop briefly at each basilica, which may be your best bet if you’re pressed for time.
 
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Thanks for the heads-up. My husband was talking about a taxi, possibly. I also just got an e-mail back, and it looks like the Scavi Tour is out. They’re booked on the days we’ll be there.
 
The underground metro stops at or near all the major basilicas and sites. Get a day pass and it’s super cheap. You buy tickets when you enter any station and the machine is in English.

Too bad about the Scavi tour. A good reason to return to Rome. Make sure to visit the floor in St. Peter’s where many popes are buried.
 
St John Lateran and St Maria Maggorie are well within walking distance of each other, about a 20 minute walk. Next to Basilica di San Giovanni in Laterano (St John Lateran) is the Scala Santa which has the stairs Jesus climbed to go before Pilate. There is wood covering the marble steps and if you want to climb them you must climb them on your knees.

I’ve walked from St Maria Maggori and the Vatican but it is a distance, just less than 4 miles. I had a couple of days when that was all did was walk. I took the metro in, close to the Vatican and just started walking around, stopping for espresso, finding the places that aren’t normally found, finding the small café for lunch where you can have a light sandwich and a glass of Prosecco for 3euro, stopping at churches, little shops.

One more tip. They drive like they are insane in Italy, especially Rome. They will scare you to death. Close your eyes and hang on, for some reason it works for them. It’s another reason to hire a car from the airport and back. If your hotel is somewhere near Termini Station where you can easily walk to your hotel with your luggage you can take the train into Rome. Do not take the bus, you’ll die 😱 Ok - maybe not die but it will scare you. Taking a taxi is ok but a private is about the same price and is much nicer.

All this discussion makes me want to book another trip tomorrow. Have the best of time and take lots of pictures.
 
High Mass on Sundays is the only time the 13th century mosaic in the apse in Santa Maria Maggiore is lit according to the staff I asked at the basilica. It is very large and on my next trip to Rome I will go there for Sunday Mass. It is not the same thing seeing the mosaic when there is no light pointing to it.

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