【Travel】Rome + Vatican .::The Essentials::.

Almost everyone tells me how Rome is too touristy for their liking, and the Colosseum is just a pile of rubble. Well, yes it’s touristy and yes it’s mainly ruins inside the Colosseum now, but that’s part of the beauty of Rome! It’s lively and traveler-friendly and almost everything you see is full of history.

I suspect part of the reason why some tourists complain about Rome being “full of  tourists” (I always find this comment ironic) is that they spent too much time waiting in line. But this can so easily be prevented! Read on to find out how we legitimately “jumped the queue” for both the Vatican Museum and the Colosseum.

Video Highlight

Here’s our 30-sec video highlight of our lovely Roman holiday.

• Click [here] to see my review on Rome’s most popular sites (Colosseum, Pantheon, Roman Forum, and more!).
• Click [here] to see my Rome food notes.

 

Itinerary

• Day 1: Vatican Museum + St Peter’s Basilica + Pizzarium (lunch) + Spanish Steps.
• Day 2: Piazza Navona + Pantheon + Colosseum + Roman Forum + Palatine Hill.
• Day 3: Traverste foodie tour.

 

Getting around

Metro

The metro in Rome was easy enough to follow as there were only two lines when we visited (although more are set to come, better check before you travel).

• One way: 1.5 €
• All day (unlimited metro, bus, tram): 6.00€
• 3 days (unlimited metro, bus, tram): 16.50€
• one week (unlimited metro, bus, tram): 24.00€

Bus + Tram

We are no newbies to self-organised trips, and we consider ourselves sensible tourists with plenty experience in catching public transport in foreign cities/countries. But boy, buses in Rome really tested us. In our short 3 days here, the buses that we wanted to catch either got cancelled altogether, didn’t come, or somehow went on a different route than we had expected after reading the route map…

Trains/ High Speed Trains (Leonardo Express to the airport)

The Rome Termini Station is the central station that gets you to places all around Italy.

The easiest and quickest public transport that will get you to and from the airport is the Leonardo Express. The Leonardo Express departs every 30 minutes and costs 14€ each person each way. Taxi is an option too, but the traffic in Rome is pretty bad so timing it could be tricky.

* Remember to validate your tickets every time you board a bus, tram, metro and train. It’s an honest system, but expect to pay a fine if you get caught cheating.

How to “jump the queue”?

There are only two legitimate ways to skip the  queue for the Vatican Museum and the Colosseum:

1. Join a guided tour.
2. Pre-book your ticket online.

As we prefer to do tours at our own pace, I got us our priority entry using option 2 – and it’s so easy! All you have to do is to pre-order your tickets from one of the authorised ticket offices online and you’re all set.

Colosseum Tickets

I bought our Colosseum tickets from Coop Culture. You basically just fill out the order form, pay, and the e-ticket will be emailed to you for you to print and bring with you. There is an English version of the site (click on the top right hand corner to switch), however, the payment page was in Italian when I booked – I just used google translate and got it all sorted. You do not need to specify a date or time when you book. Walk in any time with your e-ticket (the ticket is valid for 2 consecutive days, single entry for each site).

Reservation fees = 2€/pp. Time saved = priceless.

Vatican Museum Tickets

We reserved our tickets from the Vatican Museum’s official website. Once you have paid, you will receive an e-voucher in your email. Bring the e-voucher, walk straight through the priority queue, get through x-ray security, and exchange the e-voucher for your ticket at the ticket office to your left. The only catch is that you need to specify a time slot when you book and enter the Museum at that time.

Reservation fees = 4€/pp. Time saved (potentially 2+ hours of your valuable time in Rome) = priceless.

The possible 3rd option is to try your luck at the door, and if the queue turns out to be ridiculous, succumb to paying the ‘tour guides’ (flocks of them nagging you non-stop while you wait) extra for them to bring you to the front of the line – never tested this, don’t know if this is legit or just a complete rip-off. Gamble at your own risks!

I highly recommend everyone to book your Vatican Museum and Colosseum tickets in advance. You’ve made your trip all the way to Rome, and you know these are the two places that you definitely want to visit, so you’ve got to make time for them! There’s really no point wasting your time in queues to save a couple euros – again, you’re in Rome!

 

Language

Everyone that we met in Rome spoke excellent English. From our hostel host, the street vendors, waiters, and even the ladies that rescued us from the Roman Forum when we got trapped (click [here] to see the full story), they were all very friendly, easy to communicate with and willing to help.

 

What to see

   

Click [here] to see my review on Rome’s most popular sites (Colosseum, Pantheon, Roman Forum, and more).

 

What to eat

Click [here] to see my Rome food notes.

HER{curio}MAJESTY – I was here. April 2014.