Sites to See in Rome When You Visit!

Florence was beautiful but it was time for our next stop, Rome, the largest city in Italy and its capital! If you’ve been reading my previous posts on Italy, you can probably guess how we got from Firenze to Roma, we took the train. This trip takes about 2.5 hours and costs anywhere between 9-29 euros (2014). As it was the largest city we were visiting, we decided to stay here for 4 days and 3 nights at Vittoria B&B. Continue reading to see what sites to see in Rome!

While in Roma, we visited the classic tourist spots like the Spanish Steps, Coliseum, Trevi Fountain, and the Pantheon. Armed with my Samsung Galaxy S5, these are the photos I managed to capture on the trip:

Rome is beautiful, especially from the rooftops where you can spot all the different brightly colored buildings.

While in Rome, you can visit the Vatican City, which is pretty cool because you’re visiting a COUNTRY inside a CITY. Inside the Vatican City, you will find the Vatican Museum. The museum houses a ton of exhibits, including Egyptian artifacts and lots of naked statues. You can also find the world famous Sistine Chapel in Vatican City.

Doing my best impression of this bold, confident statue.

View of Vatican City

Enjoying some gelato from Pompi on the Spanish Steps

Visiting the Coliseum early in the morning to avoid long lines was definitely worth it! When we left around 11am, the line was 5x as long. If you don’t have a guide, don’t worry, they are easy to find outside of the entrance.

The inside of the Coliseum was breathtaking.

Right next to the Coliseum is the Roman Forum. Many guided tours will offer the option to see both of these venues, which Gloria and I gladly accepted. In this context, forum means plaza and houses several important ancient government buildings.

It used to be the center of ancient Rome and was the site for important events such as elections and public speeches.

Right next to the Forum is the Farnese Garden, which was one of the first botanical gardens to be created in Europe.

This is La Carbonara, home to some of the best carbonara pasta I’ve had in my life. I still have dreams and drool about it.

We took a break from the typical tourist destinations by visiting the Trastevere district. It is south of the Vatican and west of the Tiber river. I liked this district as it’s home to many of Rome’s artists and is filled with narrow, cobbled streets, which makes it feel more “authentic” and cultural.

Nightlife in Rome is crazy and there are plenty of things to do, from clubs to bars to shows. Unfortunately, none of my pictures survived but a tip I have for you is to make sure that the club/bar that you’re going to is open! One of my friends who studied abroad in Rome recommended a popular club named Gilda and we traveled all the way there, only to discover that it was closed. The nice thing about Rome though is that we were easily able to find another club. This might seem like an obvious tip, but it can be easy to forget in the moment!

After Rome, our final stop on our 2 week Italy tour was Naples!

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Side note: As a planner, something that kept me sane throughout this Asia/Europe trip was creating an itinerary and packing list. The itinerary helped me keep track of all the dates, cities, flight times, housing, and relevant transportation information and the packing list ensured that I would have everything (like bug spray in Cinque Terre) so I wouldn’t be caught off guard. If you also like being prepared, making these lists could be useful! Planning ahead can also help you travel cheaper and fly cheaper.