What to do before Vatican Tour? What else to do in Rome?

[misery1001]

Hi,

 

First, I want to thank everyone on CC that helped me on my planning. I am planning to take the train from Civitavecchia to Roma S. Pietro at 7:35 (arrive at 8:25) or 8:02 (arrive at 8:57). I am also planning to do the Vatican guided tour ( http://mv.vatican.va/3_EN/pages/z-Info/MV_Info_Servizi_Visite.html), which starts at 10:30am, 12pm, and 2pm. What should I do before the guided tour? After the guided tour, I am planning to go to St. Peter's through the back door that everyone is talking about.

 

 

In Rome, I also want to go to the Colosseo station to look at the

Coliseum, Roman Forum, and Palatine Hills.

 

 

 

If I have time, I want to go to Trevi Fountain. Which metro staion should I get off? Barberini? How long is the walk to Trevi Fountain?

 

 

Am I trying to go to too many places? What are the "must see" in Rome? Also, where can I go to a supermarket in Rome (I don't know why, but I like going to supermarkets in other places)?

 

 

 

Thanks

[misery1001]

Sorry, change of plan... I am so uncertain about these trip planning.... How does the following plan sounds? Can you please answer some of my questions?

 

Take the 8am train to Roma S. Pietro (arrive at 8:57).

 

Go to Castel Sant' Angelo (just to look at the outside, not planning to go inside) (Plan to spend 0.5 hour here or till the first bus come by)

 

1. If the first bus depart from the Termini at 8:40am, when would the first bus be arriving at San Pietro?

 

Take Bus 110 to Trevi Fountain and walk to Spanish Steps. (Plan to step 1 hour here)

 

2. Is one hour enough for both the Spanish Steps and Trevi Fountain? How long is the walk from the fountain to the steps?

 

Take the bus to the Colosseum. (Should be arrive at 10:30am). Go to Colosseum and the Palatine Hill. Also, look at the outside of the Roman Forum.

 

3. Planning to spend ~2.5 hours here, is it enough?

 

Hop on the bus at around 1pm and hope to be back at the Vatican before 2 pm to take the guided tour of the Museums. After which, I will go to St. Peter's through the back door of the Museums.

 

4. Should I stay at St. Peter's for .5 hour or 1 hour?

 

5. Should I go to the Vatican Museum, seems too be too time consuming (2 hours)? Can I just go to the Chapel? Is the line loong to go to the Chapel? Is the line long for St. Peter's? How long is the time for both?

 

6. If I use the guided tour, can I don't follow them and just walk around the museum myself?? I am mostly interested in the Chapel.

 

Take the 5:30pm train back to Civitavecchia (arrive at 6:15).

 

7. Our ship deart at 7pm, is 6:15 too late? Should I take 4:58pm train and arrive at 5:56? When is usually the last shuttle?

 

Thanks for answering all my questions... you guys are so helpful~

[Welshlady]

Sounds like you've planned too much in 1 day. We spent 3 days in Rome in March and saw not that much more than you're trying in 1 day!! It all depends what you're interests are I suppose. If you're priority is the Vatican/Sistine Chapel then why not get off the train at St Peters and go straight there? We went there in the afternoon and the queues were horrendous and we were tired so went back the following morning first thing, approx 9am, and got tickets straight away. You walk miles just to get to the Sistine Chapel so don't want to be tired, the lines were quite busy in the chapel with large groups pushing their way through. We looked around from where we stood for a few minutes and then went - it was too busy to really appreciate it, but then I'm not an art lover. If you like history then the Colosseum and the Forum are very good. We had a guided tour in the Colosseum but the guide spoilt it by her language skills being poor. She spoke nearly perfect English but stuttered and paused so much over her words that we went off on our own in the end. There are loads of info boards around so you can read about what you're looking at. The Palatine Hill was very interesting and a little quieter but again it's quite a long walk-probably about an hour up and around the buildings too. I remember queueing at the Colosseum to buy tickets for about 15 minutes earlyish and then again at the Palatine turnstiles - so not sure if you can buy a combined ticket. Then we went down to the Forum which is free and just wandered through to the far end and around to the huge monument, can't remember what it's called, and had a look there-quite nice and worth seeing. By this time we were really tired, or our feet were!! I still remember the blisters on my toes even with comfy shoes. The paths and streets in Rome are pretty dirtyand dusty, not easy walking.

So really we spent most of one day 'doing' the Colosseum/Forum area, 6 hours or so walking and then the Vatican and St Pauls area the following day, another 4 hours or so. The Spanish steps and the Pantheon and the squares we did in a morning and the Trevi fountain as an evening bus tour. Rome is a pretty big place and even using the metro which is pretty easy to use it still takes time walking from the station entrances to the underground trains, getting tickets, etc. I think the other consideration is geting back to the ship approx 1 hr before sailing and allowing plenty of time for train delays etc. You don;'t want to miss the boat!! It could spoil the day if you are having to watch the time all day and then rushing around not really seeing anything properly. I would prioritise what you want to see and do that first then if you've got time do the next thing and so on. Hope this helps!

[Welshlady]

Something else I just thought of - there were so many groups in the Vatican museum everywhere and in St Pauls that you could quite often just stop close by and listen to what the guide was saying if you were interested in something!! I went to Rome in March and it was very hot and very very busy so I can imagine how busy it will be in May - unbearable! Just be prepared for all the crowds and queueing but enjoy it. We also went in the San Angelo castle - really good. Probably much quieter and we enjoyed having a look around but again that took about an hour walking around there - not much point if you're just looking at it from outside. We did that place when we went to the Vatican -it's pretty close by.

[Ashlea13vb]

While I cannot answer your specific questions about timing, I can give you a sense of what we did, since it seems to include many of the sights you are looking to hit.

 

We took the first train into Rome.

1. Got off at the Colosseum stop. Waited in line and bought tickets - probably spent about an hour or so there.

2. Wandered around the Roman Forum for about 1.5-2 hours... took a side trip to the Circus Maximus (although this wasn't very exciting).

3. Took a cab to the Trevi Fountain - threw in our coins, had some pizza and gelatto, and took some great pictures!

4. Walked to the Spanish Steps... not too far from Trevi. Enjoyed this - lots of people, but very pretty. Went to the top of the steps. Saw signs for the Subway and headed there.

5. Took the Subway to Vatican City. Had reserved a 2:00 tour of the Museums. Went through the museums and saw the Sistene Chapel.

6. Went into St. Peter's Basilica and then spent some time in St. Peter's Square (very cool, especially since we've seen it on television so often lately).

7. Walked to the train station and headed back to port.

 

Now, this is a lot to do in one day - we walked very fast most of the time and didn't spend as much time at each place as we would have liked. But, hey, we wanted to see as much as possible, and I'd say we did pretty good! We were a little nervous on the train, because it got delayed on the way back to port... there were many other cruisers on with us, so we were all in the same "boat" :) Made it in time, but with not much time to spare! Hope this helps some!

[Susan-M]

Ashlea - great planning! We did a similar itinerary, but I had booked the 12 p.m. Vatican tour, so it cut into our time at the Colosseum/Forum. We had time afterwards to walk to the Trevi Fountain and Pantheon.

 

Like most of our days on our Med cruise, it was a 'marathon' - we are fast walkers too...I'm not a runner, but I had to resort to it at times on that trip :)

 

What time did you arrive in Rome at, and were you able to catch a train from San Pietro station to return to Civitavecchia? I'm keeping notes for my next trip. Thx.

[misery1001]

Ashlea, Thx for the info. I guess it can be done then... I might skip the Sistine Chapel since there is ALOT of people there, I think... but we will see if time allow me to do that or now.... I got one more question...

 

Is it easy to find your way from St. Peters's to the Train Station?

[Ashlea13vb]

Hmmm... let's see - let me dust off those old cobwebs from six months ago! :)

 

I think we docked at 7:00 AM, and tried to get right off the ship. My guess is we got on a train by 7:30/8:00 AM and were in Rome by 8:30/9:00ish AM. Cannot remember exactly!

 

Yes, we walked a little ways from St. Peter's to the train station (if you're looking at the Basilica, we walked towards 10 o'clock). This particular station had several train options, one traveling to Civitavecchia. We weren't really sure how we were going to get back once we got to St. Peter's, but just looked at a map, found a train station... and off we were!

[Ashlea13vb]

Misery1001 - yes, you can catch a train from the Roma San Pietro station back to Civitavecchia. Check out www.viamichelin.com. Choose Italy for the country, and type in Roma San Pietro in Rome. This should pull up the best map I've seen... shows you exactly where the station is, and you can move the map around to see Vatican City (it is north of the station). If I remember correctly, it took about 10-15 minutes to walk (but we were walking fast, because we knew we were cutting it close!!).

 

Hope this helps!

[Snorkeler]

Hello misery1001.

Thought I should give you my 2 cents worth. I bleieve that if you are going to be in Rome, the Sistine Chapel is not to be missed. Go to : http://www.goporta.com. You'll be able to get tickets beforehand and not have to wait in line.

 

Good luck.

[Wotan758]

I suggest a ride in the "Trambus Open" (http://www.trambusopen.com/index.cfm?ID=110). "

The 110 Open tourist line takes you to all the major historical and artistic sights of the city and it gives passengers a unique, spectacular view of the city

as it passes close by the main archaeological sites and monuments. Managed with open double-deckers, this line runs every day, holidays included, with a 10-minute-frequency during high season.

Departure from the terminus in Piazza dei Cinquecento (Termini Station) from 08:40 a.m. to 07:40 p.m.. The whole tour usually lasts about two hours and the tickets are valid all day long."

We did it and enjoy!