Itinerary help to include the Borghese

[jeanne_boston]

Our ship will be docking from 7am to 7pm. on Nov. 3. With the typical itinerary, which places would need to be cut to be able to do the Borghese

A - Ostiense train station

B – Coliseum

C - Forum

D - Piazza Navona

E - Pantheon

F - Trevi Fountain

G - Spanish Steps

H - Vatican Museums/Sistine Chapel ** Would Wednesday morning be a better time to visit the museums, as the crowds will be in St. Peter's Square for the pope's public audience

Take the "shortcut" door to

I - St. Peter's Basilica

J - San Pietro train station to return to Civitavecchia 4:59

 

Thanks

[GREENVIEW1]

Our ship will be docking from 7am to 7pm. on Nov. 3. With the typical itinerary, which places would need to be cut to be able to do the Borghese

A - Ostiense train station

B – Coliseum

C - Forum

D - Piazza Navona

E - Pantheon

F - Trevi Fountain

G - Spanish Steps

H - Vatican Museums/Sistine Chapel ** Would Wednesday morning be a better time to visit the museums, as the crowds will be in St. Peter's Square for the pope's public audience

Take the "shortcut" door to

I - St. Peter's Basilica

J - San Pietro train station to return to Civitavecchia 4:59

 

Thanks

 

If policies at the Borghese have not changed...you need to buy your admission tickets online (asap) and ask for a day and time to visit.

The admission is only a two-hour window and they strictly adhere to this policy. So I guess I'm trying to say if you plan to visit the Borghese (which in my opinion) is one of the best sites to visit in Rome...plan ahead quickly and see what time you can reserve on the day you will be in Rome and plan your time/visit in Rome around the Borghese. In regard to the Vatican/Sistine Chapel, if you can arrange to get on a tour, your chances of getting into the Vatican at all that day would be much improved. The daily lines are tremendous for the Vatican and some people never get in after standing in line for hours.

[Susan-M]

Our ship will be docking from 7am to 7pm. on Nov. 3. With the typical itinerary, which places would need to be cut to be able to do the Borghese

A - Ostiense train station

B – Coliseum

C - Forum

D - Piazza Navona

E - Pantheon

F - Trevi Fountain

G - Spanish Steps

H - Vatican Museums/Sistine Chapel ** Would Wednesday morning be a better time to visit the museums, as the crowds will be in St. Peter's Square for the pope's public audience

Take the "shortcut" door to

I - St. Peter's Basilica

J - San Pietro train station to return to Civitavecchia 4:59

 

Thanks

 

To fit the Borghese in, I think you'll need to cut out one of the following combinations:

 

Colosseum & Forum

or

Piazza Navona, Trevi Fountain, Pantheon

or

The Vatican and St. Peter's.

[cruisemom42]

I agree with both posters above -- you have to reserve a time in advance, and it would be rushing to see it all in an hour -- more like 90 minutes as a minimum. Susan gives good info on what you'd need to drop.

 

FWIW, I think the Borghese is grand, but unless it is your passion to go there, I wouldn't necessarily put it on the list of "must see" sites in Rome when you only have one day....

[hkto]

Good map with marked attractions is here; gives you an idea where places are in relation to each other. http://mappery.com/map-of/Rome-Tourist-Map

 

If taking a train you can be at Ostiense as early as 9 am (but more likely between 9 and 10). Buy BIRG pass (that includes Rome metro and bus)

 

Get off at Ostiense and take 2 metro stops to Coliseum. See Coliseum/Forum/Piazza Venezia, walk to Pantenon, P.Navona, then Trevi, Spanish Steps and then Borgese. When done you walk thru Villa Borgese park to Piazza Del Popolo to Vatican or take public transit.

 

Borgese tickets are for specific time slot and need to be bought in advance

http://www.ticketeria.it/ticketeria/borghese-regolamento-eng.asp#

[Susan-M]

 

Get off at Ostiense and take 2 metro stops to Coliseum. See Coliseum/Forum/Piazza Venezia, walk to Pantenon, P.Navona, then Trevi, Spanish Steps and then Borgese. When done you walk thru Villa Borgese park to Piazza Del Popolo to Vatican or take public transit.

 

 

Do you feel that they can fit everything on the list plus the Borghese? The Colosseum & Forum would be ~ 1.5 hrs.(minimum); the Pantheon, P. Navona, Trevi and Spanish Steps, ~ 2 hours (including walking time), the Borghese, another 2 - 2.5 hours including time to get there and pick up tickets. The Vatican tour, including the Museums, Sistine and St. Peters...another 3 hours.

 

With a 7-7 port time, you can squeeze a maximum of 7 hours in for actual sightseeing time in Rome...but even that is optimistic. Perhaps if they made use of taxis and rushed each site it could be done ... but I think the OP is on the right track in asking what has to go in order to fit the Borghese in.:)

[KirkNC]

Wow that is a lot to see in one day :eek:. We covered that but it took us two days. My advice would be to decide what is most important and spend more quality time at those locations. Doing the Vatican in less than 3-4 hours would be a shame.

 

If you are going via train, the earliest you will get to Rome is 8:30 and the latest you should leave is 4:28 (save the 4:59 as your backup in case you miss the 4:28). That leaves you with eight hours. It takes about 20 minutes to walk to the Vatican museum and lets say 3.5 hours to tour it, the Sistine Chapel and the Basilica. Add a quick snack from somewhere and you are down to four hours. The Colosseum/forum take around 1.5 hours minimum, add 30 minutes for travel to them and you are down to two hours. I guess you could walk to and see the Pantheon, Trevi fountain and Spanish steps and get back to a train station in two hours but man you are going to be one tired person. Of course all of this assumes no lines which you are most certain to have to wait in. If it was me, I would do the Colosseum/Forum and than the Vatican and leave the rest for another visit.

 

On the Borghese, we found it to be a great museum but it is not near anything you are visiting (closest to the Spanish Steps) and would take 2 hours easy counting transportation.

 

Kirk

[sammiedawg]

We finally did Borghese gallery on our third trip to Rome, it was lovely but unless you are an art curator or something, bypass it on this trip. We had ordered our tickets on line for the day we departed on a cruise ship. We had the earliest entry, I think 9ish, you are in the museum for a 2 hour window of time. People are lined up 20 minutes or more before the doors open, then even if you have a pre purchased ticket you stand in line to get in.

I agree with most of the previous comments.

One more thing, If you hire a private guide you can see ancient Rome in the morning and Papal rome in the afternoon, you would be picked up and dropped off at the port. Rome Cabs does a nice job. You will see more faster with a private guide but you cannot squeeze in Boghese on top of everything else.

[jeanne_boston]

Thank you all for your input. We are going to save the Borghese for another trip when we can give it the time it deserves.

 

Jeanne

[teacherman]

We have been fortunate enought to visit Rome several times on both cruise ships and land trips. It is our favorite city with so much to ENJOY. My personal view is that sometimes we all try to rush and see everything, thereby really seeing very little. I would advise to pick a few things that are really YOUR idea of what Rome is, and spend a little time enjoying those. One of my biggest disappointments was the Vatican Museums. It is great if you have a LOT of time and enjoy museums, but otherwise I would skip it. It is a LOT of time and effort just to get 10 minutes in the small Sistine Chapel with wall-to-wall people. Trevi Fountain, Piazza Navona, and Pantheon are all relatively close to each other. Coloseum is a must see. Take time to sit somewhere for 30 minutes and have a glass of wine and enjoy the surroundings. And always leave a reason to return. Just my ideas.

[jeanne_boston]

We have been fortunate enought to visit Rome several times on both cruise ships and land trips. It is our favorite city with so much to ENJOY. My personal view is that sometimes we all try to rush and see everything, thereby really seeing very little. I would advise to pick a few things that are really YOUR idea of what Rome is, and spend a little time enjoying those. One of my biggest disappointments was the Vatican Museums. It is great if you have a LOT of time and enjoy museums, but otherwise I would skip it. It is a LOT of time and effort just to get 10 minutes in the small Sistine Chapel with wall-to-wall people. Trevi Fountain, Piazza Navona, and Pantheon are all relatively close to each other. Coloseum is a must see. Take time to sit somewhere for 30 minutes and have a glass of wine and enjoy the surroundings. And always leave a reason to return. Just my ideas.

 

I totally agree. I'm sorry to hear the Vatican Museum was such a disappointment. Would a private guide help us have a better experience?

[sammiedawg]

We LOVED the entire Vatican including the museums. We had a guide both times which helped. It is a huge complex, I would not know where to start without one. Both times we had about 2 hours in the museum including Sistine chapel, then another half hour in St Peters. Once we did the Scavi tour which is by reservation and guided. Rome cabs arranged for our first Vatican guide.