Begin the morning with breakfast at your hotel or accommodation to save time. Reserve an early morning time spot for the Colosseum 🏛️. Arrive about 30 minutes before your time slot.
It takes about 1 hour to go through the Roman Forum and less than 2 hours to go through the Colosseum. The Colosseum and Roman Forum have special rooms which can be accessed only by an all-access ticket. Include extra time if your ticket includes the all-access areas. Additionally, the bottom level of the arena requires a special access ticket and some extra time as well. The times indicated are how long we spent at this monument in our self-paced, self-guided tour. Climb up to Palatine hill and the Orangerie hill to get a spectacular view of ancient Rome.
View from Palatine hill.
Climbing up Orangerie hill.
The second level of the colosseum is set up like an exhibit about the history and construction of the arena. After the exhibits, a balcony view from the second level of the entire Colosseum awaits. The path leads on about three quarters of the way around the entire arena. The view from some of the later balcony openings are much less crowded for better photo ops.
View of Colosseum’s basement.
Colosseum is colossal!
After exploring the Colosseum, its a good idea to get some lunch in the Monti neighborhood, before the next part of sightseeing. Many restaurants are in route to some of the next destinations as well.
Next head to Victor Emmanuel II National Monument (the typewriter building) almost straight down the road from the Colosseum (about a 15-minute walk). This monument is fun to walk around on the various levels and take some pictures form the high vantage point.
Piazza del Campidoglio is about a 4-minute walk from the Victor Emmanuel II National Monument. This grand piazza boasts some stunning buildings including the city hall. It is a great place to people watch or rest your legs briefly.
Victor Emmanuel II National Monument (the typewriter building)
From here we suggest walking about 15-minutes to Piazza Navona. Rome is best explored on foot. Finding quaint alleyways with historic architecture and interesting facades is part of Rome’s charm. We had an unpleasant bystander experience with pick-pocketing (not to us personally) in the Metro. Hence we preferred to avoid the Metro. When we visited in early January, Piazza Navona had a fair setup with stalls for shopping, arcade games and food. We enjoyed the Bernini’s fountain of the Four rivers and just being in the midst of ancient Rome.
Obelisk at Piazza Navona
The Pantheon is about 4 minutes up the road. We only saw this magnificent monument from the outside as the line for tickets was incredibly long and we had been inside on a previous visit. If you have time in your day we recommend checking it out from the inside as well.
The Pantheon
Walking around this much may have worked up an appetite at this point. We recommend trying Gunther’s Gelato a couple minutes away from the Pantheon. The gelato here is perfectly smooth and creamy.
Local-approved Gunther Gelato
The Trevi Fountain is about a 9 minute walk from the Pantheon. Along the way you may pass several gorgeous buildings, and piazza’s with their own stories to tell. We have visited the Trevi fountain twice now. It is always crowded. It is challenging to get a good picture minus the crowds here. The best course of action is to wait for a good spot right at the bottom of the fountain, while trying to get a little space on either side before taking a quick picture. The architecture of this fountain is a masterpiece to be admired with or without the crowds.
Waiting to get closer to the Trevi Fountain.
The last stop is Spanish Steps and the Piazza di Spagna. Here you will see the Fountain of the longboat at the base of the Spanish steps as well as the Obelisk at the top of the steps. The Church or Santissima TrinitĂ dei Monti sits at the top of the steps. Recommend visiting it, if time allows.
Crowds at the Spanish Steps in early January.
From here you can make your way to a cozy restaurant in the back alleys for dinner or back to your accommodation by Metro or Uber.
This route can be followed in reverse if you have an afternoon spot at the Colosseum. It can be split up into two half days as well (what we did).
Bonus spots
- Villa Borghese Gardens - beautiful villa in the middle of a tranquil lake in the gardens.
- Castel San Angelo - rooftop for spectacular views of the city from across the river. We have not visited these locations yet, but they are on our list for next time.
To note for kids
If you have kids that do not appreciate crowds like our son, it is beneficial to visit some of the more popular spots at off-times. This is of course, challenging. The very early morning may be the only time the Trevi Fountain has low crowds. Most of the piazzas have some quiet corners to get away from the crowds. In the Colosseum, we used the small corners in the walking paths to get away from crowds.
Waiting in a corner for the crowds to pass at the Coloseum.