[Travel] Rome (again)

[Cotton Socks]

I should look on the other threads but I'm too excited & I need to be specific.

I've booked a flight to Rome with my sons. We're arriving on a Thur morn & coming back Fri eve. After the flights & a cab to Stansted we have £600 to spend on an overnight stay, transport around Rome & food & hopefully enter one of the main tourist attractions like the Colosseum

Were arriving at Ciampino airport at 9,50am Thur & departing 9.30pm Fri. This is all very specific, as it's all very spontaneous & I have no idea where to start!
Is it best to get a hotel nearer to the airport so we don't have to carry our stuff? How do we get around cheaply? Where do we eat cheaply. It's £600 between all 3 of us.

Spontaneous & impulsive are not used in any description of my personality, so after doing something spontaneous & impulsive & booking the flights I'm having a mass panic because I have no idea what I'm doing!

 

[dazzer6666]

There’s a shuttle bus from Ciampino to the city centre, very regular and very cheap
I found Rome a great ‘walking’ city - loads of the sights can be reached on foot from the centre
A small rucksack should be enough for a one-night stay if you can’t leave it in your hotel ?
The Vatican has long queues, book in advance if you want to go in. The Colosseum is well worth a visit and is only about £15 to enter
There are thousands of restaurants, and not at rip-off prices, same with hotels
Fabulous place for a short beak, just don’t get stabbed up the ‘arris

 

[Bozza]

I'd stay in town because it means you can hit the sights and be able to easily pop back to your hotel for a brief respite/get changed/pick up something you've forgotten.

If you stay out by the airport, doing that becomes a lot more time-consuming.

£600 should be ample money - you can pick up excellent pizzas etc for relatively little money.

It goes against what I'd normally do, but based on our experience ahead of the Roma game, I'd advocate a walking tour - I really enjoyed the one the NSC/Albion fans group took which was with https://citylightstours.com/.

 

[dazzer6666]

I'd stay in town because it means you can hit the sights and be able to easily pop back to your hotel for a brief respite/get changed/pick up something you've forgotten.

If you stay out by the airport, doing that becomes a lot more time-consuming.

£600 should be ample money - you can pick up excellent pizzas etc for relatively little money.

It goes against what I'd normally do, but based on our experience ahead of the Roma game, I'd advocate a walking tour - I really enjoyed the one the NSC/Albion fans group took which was with https://citylightstours.com/.

Agree - I did a walking tour when there for the EL game……basically an all-day thing, got to see tons more than I would have alone and learned so much

 

[Justice]

Try not to get shanked in the arse

 

[HangletonGull]

@jackalbion he will be able to tell you where to go

 

[Deadly Danson]

Just try to stay in the game and come back home no worse than 2-0 down.

 

[GingerBeerMan]

@jackalbion he will be able to tell you where to go

He offers excellent insights into the Roman healthcare system.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Ask your hotel where to go for a good aperativo. It's an early evening buffet type thing. You buy a beer and that gets you access to free snacks that can be anything from a plates of ham and cheese to a full-on buffet. Oh and if you're planning on walking around the city take along a refillable water bottle. Rome has literally thousands of water fountains (nasoni) with continuous free drinking water. It's the same water that feeds directly from the aqueducts into Roman homes and is perfectly safe to drink

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Try not to get shanked in the arse

In the subject of arses, if you need any offal restaurant tips DM me.

 

[Albion my Albion]

Happy "Roamin" around!!!!

 

[Bakero]

£600 for 2 days is loads of money. You'll have no issues on that front

 

[Cotton Socks]

There’s a shuttle bus from Ciampino to the city centre, very regular and very cheap
I found Rome a great ‘walking’ city - loads of the sights can be reached on foot from the centre
A small rucksack should be enough for a one-night stay if you can’t leave it in your hotel ?
The Vatican has long queues, book in advance if you want to go in. The Colosseum is well worth a visit and is only about £15 to enter
There are thousands of restaurants, and not at rip-off prices, same with hotels
Fabulous place for a short beak, just don’t get stabbed up the ‘arris

Yes, we were only planning on taking a rucksack. My son has found the 'travelcard' that's about 7 euros.

 

[Cotton Socks]

I'd stay in town because it means you can hit the sights and be able to easily pop back to your hotel for a brief respite/get changed/pick up something you've forgotten.

If you stay out by the airport, doing that becomes a lot more time-consuming.

£600 should be ample money - you can pick up excellent pizzas etc for relatively little money.

It goes against what I'd normally do, but based on our experience ahead of the Roma game, I'd advocate a walking tour - I really enjoyed the one the NSC/Albion fans group took which was with https://citylightstours.com/.

What one did you do? I'll book in town then.

 

[ROSM]

As others have said you can do so much in Rome without spending a lot of money as most of the sites are buildings and monuments. A walking tour (even on your own route) will see you do Spanish steps, trevi fountain, colosseum, the forum, monument vittoria emanuelle, Vatican, campo fiori, piazza navona, largo torre argentina and then pantheon easily in a day

If you want to pay to go in somewhere then colosseum would be my choice of these and maybe pantheon.

A slightly further walk down the river on the Vatican side will take you to trastevere which is old Rome. There is a lovely square with great restaurants too

Food wise ranges from madly expensive near the colosseum, pantheon and trevi fountain to more sensible out near Vatican or largo torre argentina. L'inslata ricca in largo dei chiavari was one such example. If you stay near trevi fountain the down the backstreets is spaghettaria l'archetto di trevi which is where Romans eat and better value. The world's best ice cream shop is near the trevi too (san crispino)

Hotel wise is difficult to recommend somewhere but agree with others its easy to get the bus from airport and stay in the city. I've stayed in hotel annexes which are usually cheaper and you can then do a deal for breakfast at the sister hotel. One example is the relais trevi which has a cheaper annexe building but guests had breakfast in a roof terrace overlooking the fountain. You can get a deal at some for 250 euros for one night inclusive breakfast depending on dates

Apologies @Cotton Socks that this is a long post. It's a city I've know reasonably well and would go back again in a heartbeat

 

[Cotton Socks]

Ask your hotel where to go for a good aperativo. It's an early evening buffet type thing. You buy a beer and that gets you access to free snacks that can be anything from a plates of ham and cheese to a full-on buffet. Oh and if you're planning on walking around the city take along a refillable water bottle. Rome has literally thousands of water fountains (nasoni) with continuous free drinking water. It's the same water that feeds directly from the aqueducts into Roman homes and is perfectly safe to drink

That sounds good don't suppose you know how early in the eve? We'll now take water bottles.

 

[Bozza]

What one did you do? I'll book in town then.

I think the guy (Sean) put on a bespoke tour for us that fitted in with the bus service he was running for us to the game.

As @dazzer6666 said though - the structure of the route and all the information shared via the wireless earpieces was far beyond what I'd have learned on a general solo mooch about.

I'd drop them a line via their website and just say you're looking for a walking tour of the main sites.

Maybe do that one day - maybe the afternoon when you arrive - and then do your own thing on day 2 - selecting anything from day 1 you want a closer look at and/or do the paid entry for the Colosseum.

 

[Cotton Socks]

In the subject of arses, if you need any offal restaurant tips DM me.

Errr, seeing what food you had, I'll stick to pizza!!!

 

[Cotton Socks]

I think the guy (Sean) put on a bespoke tour for us that fitted in with the bus service he was running for us to the game.

As @dazzer6666 said though - the structure of the route and all the information shared via the wireless earpieces was far beyond what I'd have learned on a general solo mooch about.

I'd drop them a line via their website and just say you're looking for a walking tour of the main sites.

Maybe do that one day - maybe the afternoon when you arrive - and then do your own thing on day 2 - selecting anything from day 1 you want a closer look at and/or do the paid entry for the Colosseum.

Ok, I'll send a message. I knew I could rely on NSC.

 

[ROSM]

I think the guy (Sean) put on a bespoke tour for us that fitted in with the bus service he was running for us to the game.

As @dazzer6666 said though - the structure of the route and all the information shared via the wireless earpieces was far beyond what I'd have learned on a general solo mooch about.

I'd drop them a line via their website and just say you're looking for a walking tour of the main sites.

Maybe do that one day - maybe the afternoon when you arrive - and then do your own thing on day 2 - selecting anything from day 1 you want a closer look at and/or do the paid entry for the Colosseum.

I didn't do the tour with you all (Rome is a city I've been to 5 times now) but everybody i know who did has raved about it.

He sorted a great restaurant too!