Ultimate Guide To Rome Italy: 3-day Itinerary For First-time Visitors!

Are you wondering how to see Rome in three days, what to do and how to fit it all in? In this video, I'll be sharing with you my tips for putting together the perfect three-day itinerary in Rome so you can see the most possible with the least amount of stress. With three days in Rome, you can easily break up the days so that each day has some heavy duty things to see, but also some room for some downtime if you want it. As I share this itinerary with you, I'll also be adding options for those of you who might be traveling with kids, traveling solo, or on a romantic break, and those of you who are turbo sightseers and want to add in more stuff. My perfect three-day itinerary for Rome goes something like this. On day one, we'll do a little recon in the historic center, visiting the Spanish Steps, the Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon, and Piazza Navona, among other sites. On day two, we'll visit the Vatican, and on day three, ancient Rome, which includes the Colosseum. Certainly, you can interchange those days if you like. But the reason that I like to start with a reconnaissance is so that in case you miss some things on the first day, then on the second or third days, you can add them in after visiting one of those heavy duty sites like the Vatican or the Colosseum. Also, depending on what you want to see at the Vatican, you might need to move that day because the Vatican museums are closed on Sundays, except for the last Sunday of the month when they're free, and I wouldn't recommend you go that day. And also, on Wednesdays when the Pope is in town, he gives the papal audience, which means that St. Peter's Basilica is closed on those mornings. Before we begin, I just want to tell you a couple of resources you can use that relate to this video and the itinerary I'm sharing here. First of all, in the description below, I'm linking to a Google map that shows the walking itinerary for each of these three days. I've also got links to some of the tours that I recommend. Finally, on the RomeWise website, you can purchase my e-books for visiting Rome each month and they come with this itinerary. Alright, without further ado, let's get into my perfect itinerary for spending three days in Rome. For some of you, day one may not be a full day. If you're coming here from overseas, or getting off of a cruise ship, or even arriving here from someplace else in Europe, you may not have the morning available on that first day. But that's okay, because this itinerary that I'm about to share with you can be done over the course of a whole day, or even just a half a day. Okay, now we are really going to get started on this itinerary for day one. Let's go. We'll start our walk from the top of the Spanish Steps. This is called Trinita dei Monti, which means the Trinity of the Mount, and it's named for the church that's there. I truly believe that the way you see Rome on the first day will affect your opinion of Rome. This is why I want to start at the top of the Spanish Steps. You have these beautiful sweeping views out in front of you. You can see the city lying at your feet below you, and the day seems full of promise. I've done a full video about visiting Rome's historic center, where you can see this walk in more detail. But for this video, I'm just going to take you quickly through it. From the top of the Spanish Steps, we have two options. You can walk straight down the steps to the bottom and go from there, or we can take a nice little detour, which is going to take us through some quieter spaces in Rome. The detour takes about half an hour, but I suggest you try to fit it in. First of all, there are some wonderful things to see on this little walk. Second of all, it's going to be the quietest part of your three days in Rome. Take a right at the top of the Spanish Steps and walk along the Pincio, which offers us some more beautiful views of Rome. In fact, as you walk, the views will just keep getting better and better. When the road forks, go up to the right. At this point, you'll be on the edge of the Villa Borghese Park. If you're traveling with kids, you could head into the park for some bike rides or some carousel rides, if you like. After walking about 10 minutes along the Pincion Hill, you'll come to the overlook above Piazza del Popolo. You can walk down to Piazza del Popolo from the Pincion Hill. The Egyptian obelisk in the middle, with its original hieroglyphs, is one of the oldest and largest in the Eternal City. It was originally made in Heliopolis, Egypt around the 13th century BCE. Rome's first emperor Augustus brought it back from Egypt in 10 BCE as a sort of war trophy. If you're an art lover and you want to see more stuff, don't miss the beautiful Santa Maria del Popolo Church right here in Piazza del Popolo. This Renaissance church is a treasure trove of art, with works from the likes of Bernini, Pinturicchio, and of course, Caravaggio. If you're traveling with kids, you may be interested in visiting the Museum of Leonardo da Vinci. This museum dedicated to Leonardo da Vinci is for everyone, not just kids, and I think it's really well done. As you make your way to Via Margutta for the last piece of this little detour, you're going to pass Hotel de' Russi on your left-hand side. If you walk in past the lobby, you'll see they have a beautiful garden in the back with a cafe. If you're on a romantic visit to Rome, or you just feel like splurging, this is a lovely spot for an aperitivo or coffee break. The last part of this detour walk before you get back to the bottom of the Spanish Steps is Via Margutta. I just love this sweet, quiet street that is really a local neighborhood in Rome, even if it is a posh one. It's mostly an artist's street, filled with art galleries, antique shops, one-off artisan shops, and lots of local ambiance. It also happens to be where Gregory Peck's character lived in the 1953 classic movie Roman Holiday. Once you leave Via Margutta and make a left, you'll find yourself at the bottom of the Spanish Steps. As I mentioned, if you have limited time and energy, you could have just walked from the top of the Spanish Steps down to the bottom and skipped that detour of the Pincio, Piazza del Popolo, and Via Margutta. From the bottom of the Spanish Steps, you can of course take beautiful photos of the steps themselves. Also at this point, you can see these streets that lead off from the bottom of the Spanish Steps, and this is considered by many to be Rome's most famous shopping zone. The street that leads right off from the bottom of the Spanish Steps where the fountain is, is called Via Condotti, and it has the poshest shops. I prefer to walk down Via Fratina, two streets over to the left. For me, Via Fratina is a little bit more charming, a little bit less crowded, and has a better mix of shops. Once you reach the end of Via Fratina and cross over the Via del Corso, you'll come to Piazza San Lorenzo in Lucina. This little piazza is considered by many Romans as a place to see and be seen, and many of us meet here for a coffee or aperitivo, and you can of course do the same. Probably Roman's favorite bar on this piazza is Ciampini, an old school cafe with arguably some of the best gelato in Rome. From here, you'll head straight over to the Pantheon. The Pantheon is my favorite monument in Rome, and a must-see, at the very least from the outside. There is a small fee to enter the Pantheon, and I've done a whole video for you about this, so you can watch that if you want more details about how to get tickets either in advance or right on the spot. The bottom line is, I really do suggest you go inside, and probably the easiest way to do this is to stand in the cash line, which is the line on the left-hand side as you face the monument. The Pantheon is the most intact building we have from ancient Rome in Rome, and it is a wonder of engineering. The version of the Pantheon that we see today was built under Hadrian in the early part of the 2nd century. We're not entirely sure of its original use, but it was turned into a church in the 7th century, which is one of the reasons that it's so intact today. Besides being an ancient Roman monument and a church, it's also a mausoleum where some of Italy's kings and queens are buried. The artist Raphael is buried here as well. If you're a turbo sightseer and you're looking for more things to do, right here near the Pantheon are some of Rome's most amazing churches. Three churches you can visit right here near the Pantheon include St. Ignatius with its stunning ceiling and optical illusion in the dome, Santa Maria Sopra Minerva, the only Gothic church in Rome with a statue of Christ the Redeemer by Michelangelo, and San Luigi dei Francesi, a beautiful French church with a chapel containing three Caravaggio paintings depicting the life of St. Matthew. If you're traveling with kids, or you're just looking for something fun and different to do near the Pantheon, check out Icono, an immersive experience that's fun for people of all ages. The walk from the Pantheon to Piazza Navona only takes about 3 minutes, but in between you have Piazza Sant'Eustachio, which is one of my favorite places to stop for a coffee, a slice of pizza, or a gelato. Piazza Navona is arguably one of the most beautiful piazzas in Rome. The piazza was built on top of what was originally a stadium in ancient Rome. It was in use at the same time as the Colosseum. Today, Piazza Navona is home to stunning Baroque architecture, in particular the Church of and the Three Fountains, two of which were designed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini. Whether you're traveling with kids, or you're just looking for some more things to do, a couple of really cool things you can do right here at Piazza Navona include a visit to the Gladiator Museum, which you can access right from the square, or a visit to the underground of the Stadio Domiziano, that was the name of the stadium, Domitian Stadium. Whether you're visiting Rome for a romantic getaway, or as a solo traveler, you may be interested in visiting one of the rooftop bars nearby. Even if you're traveling to Rome as a solo traveler, this applies to you as well. There is nothing wrong with heading to a rooftop bar, getting yourself an appetitivo, and engaging in a little people watching. Some of my favorite rooftop bars in the area include the Singer Palace Hotel, and the Six Senses just across the way from the Singer Palace. You can see one from the other. Just be aware that in high season, it may not be possible to just pop into one of these rooftop bars without a reservation. Once you've reached Piazza Navona on this walk, you may be done for the day. This is going to depend on how much of a day you have on your first day, whether you arrive jet lagged, and your pace. However, if you have more time and energy, you may want to visit nearby Campo di Fiori and the Jewish Ghetto. Also right nearby is the wonderful site of Largo di Torre Argentina. This site is famous for being where Julius Caesar was assassinated, and it's also famous for being Rome's biggest cat sanctuary. This site is only a 5-10 minute walk from Piazza Navona, and I think it's worth visiting at the very least from above. But you can also go inside, there's really never a line to buy tickets, and a visit will only take you about a half an hour. Whether you walk directly from Piazza Navona, or you go to Largo Argentina, the last stop of the day is going to be the Trevi Fountain. Be prepared because the Trevi Fountain is in a very small space, so it's pretty much almost always crowded, even late at night and early in the morning. But just be patient and make your way down to the front, and you'll be able to get those pictures that you want. If you're traveling solo, you could ask somebody to take a picture of you, or of course you could just get a selfie. If you're thinking that there is some wonderful magical time to go to the Trevi Fountain and get photos without a lot of people around, you might be looking at 2-3 or 4 in the morning, but even in summer, these times are busy there as well. That whole walk that I just shared with you, including all the detours, including Campo di Fiori, would take about 2 hours if you just walked it without stopping. But as you can see, there are many variations to consider, and there's also your pace and how tired you are. Just remember, you have two other days, so anything you missed on this day, you can fit in on the other days. I've given you a few suggestions for places to eat along the way, but I also have pages on the RomeWise website for where to eat near the Spanish Steps, where to eat near the Trevi Fountain, where to eat near the Pantheon, and where to eat near Piazza Navona. And that's a wrap for Day 1, so let's get ready for Day 2, the Vatican. On Day 2, I suggest you visit the Vatican, and this is going to entail visiting the Vatican Museums where the Sistine Chapel is, St. Peter's Basilica, perhaps climbing the dome if that's something you want to do, and visiting St. Peter's Square. This visit will take you a full morning. Yes, you can visit the Vatican later in the day, you could also visit it in the middle of the day. I'm just suggesting you do it in the morning so that you can have the second half of the day either for taking some downtime or doing some shopping, or perhaps visiting some of the sites that you may have missed on the first day. If you're not staying right near the Vatican, one of the easiest ways to get there is by taking the metro and coming out at the Ottaviano Metro Stop. As luck would have it, my favorite place for getting a coffee near the Vatican is right near the Ottaviano Metro Stop. It's Chacha Café. They make some of the best coffee in Rome, and their pastries are delicious as well. Yes, you can eat breakfast in the Vatican Museums, but it's not really that amazing, and there are cafes across from the entrance to the Vatican Museums, but they're pretty average and kind of expensive. So Chacha is a local spot, the coffee is delicious, I would head there. A typical visit to the Vatican includes a visit to the Vatican Museums where the Sistine Chapel is, and a visit to St. Peter's Basilica. If you don't want to do this, you could just visit St. Peter's Square and see St. Peter's Basilica from the front. If you do indeed want to visit the Vatican Museums and see the Sistine Chapel and also visit St. Peter's Basilica, my suggestion is to book a tour that includes the shortcut from the Sistine Chapel into St. Peter's Basilica. This will save you a huge amount of time waiting in line to get into the Basilica from St. Peter's Square. The only way to take that shortcut is by booking a tour that includes it, and none of the tours that you can book through the Vatican Museums website include this shortcut. So the tour has to be through an outside tour company. I've got links to some of my favorite tours like this in the description below. If you're not a tour person, or you just don't want to book a tour, you can of course visit these on your own. If you decide to visit the Vatican Museums on your own, you can check out some of my videos where I tell you how to do it. Don't forget that to visit the Vatican, you need to be properly dressed, and this means having covered shoulders and covered knees. As for the Vatican Museums, the only place that this dress rule applies is inside the Sistine Chapel. However, they will not let you into the museums unless they can see that you will have the proper attire when it comes time to enter the Sistine Chapel. This is why, sometimes during summer, you may see that some people are not properly dressed for visiting a holy site while they're visiting the museums themselves. However, when it comes time to enter the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's Basilica, they are quite strict about the dress code, and this applies to men, women, and children of all ages. I get questions a lot about whether men and boys can wear long shorts that come just above the knee. This is, of course, up to you, but some of the guards can be really strict, and if it were me, I would not risk being turned away. And I would suggest that you consider some long linen pants or those hiking pants where you can unzip the bottoms. Either way, as I said, I suggest you start in the morning. So the first thing you're going to do is visit the Vatican Museums, which includes the Sistine Chapel at the end. A visit to the Vatican Museums normally takes around two hours. If you're visiting the Vatican Museums as part of a tour that also includes St. Peter's Basilica, you can count on spending around three to three and a half hours on this tour. If you're not visiting St. Peter's Basilica as part of a tour, then after your Vatican Museums visit, you'll need to go back to the exit, which is also the entrance, and then walk all the way around the walls, go to St. Peter's Square, and stand in the security line so you can enter St. Peter's Basilica from there. Yes, you can visit St. Peter's Basilica before you visit the Vatican Museums. This is entirely up to you. The bottom line is that if you don't take a tour that includes the shortcut from the Sistine Chapel into St. Peter's Basilica, then you'll have to take the 15 to 20 minute walk between these two sites and go through the entrance procedures at each site separately. As for seeing St. Peter's Basilica, whether you visit it as part of a tour of the Vatican Museums or on its own, either way, you can expect to spend anywhere from half an hour to a couple of hours inside. It can take half an hour just to wander around inside and take it all in. But there are some things you can see and do inside of St. Peter's Basilica that can cause you to spend a lot longer in there. Besides visiting or even attending service in some of the many side chapels, you could decide to visit the Museum of the Treasury, go down into the Vatican Grottoes where many popes are buried, and you could decide to climb the dome. If you don't book a tour of St. Peter's Basilica, you can also get the audio guide right when you enter. As for climbing the dome, this is of course up to you, but it's something you can only do once you've entered the Basilica, and there's no way to skip the line. To purchase tickets, go up to both levels of the dome and come back down, you'll need at least an hour. I have a dedicated video all about climbing the dome of St. Peter's Basilica, so you can watch that if you want more tips and to see what it's like. I do think it's worth the price of admission and climbing to the top of the lantern to have these amazing views of St. Peter's Square below. But this climb may not be for everyone. If you're extremely claustrophobic or if you have walking or knee issues, you may not want to do this climb. One option for climbing to the first level of the roof is to take the elevator, and somebody in a wheelchair could do this part of the climb if they wanted to. And finally, there's St. Peter's Square. If you take a tour of the Vatican Museums with the shortcut to St. Peter's Basilica, then St. Peter's Square is the last thing you'll visit, as you'll exit the Basilica onto the square. Otherwise, you might be visiting St. Peter's Square early in the morning if you decide to visit St. Peter's Basilica first. Either way, St. Peter's Square is part of the Vatican, and it's a site you can visit in and of itself. I have a dedicated page on the Romewise website all about St. Peter's Square. There, you can read about the history and find out some of the things to look for when you're visiting the square. To learn more about the Vatican, you can grab my e-book called A Brief History of Vatican City. You'll find links to this e-book along with links to my Rome by Month e-books where I include this itinerary in the description below. If you decide not to visit the Vatican Museums, you could just visit St. Peter's Basilica. And if you decide not to visit the Vatican Museums or St. Peter's Basilica, you can still visit St. Peter's Square for free, no lines, no waiting, and do something else that morning. Visiting the Vatican can definitely make you hungry, so if you're looking for places to eat nearby, check out my dedicated page on the Romewise website. As you leave Vatican City along the Via della Conciliazione, you'll come to Castel Sant'Angelo. Castel Sant'Angelo is truly an amazing monument because it tells the history of Rome through its architecture. Castel Sant'Angelo began as a tomb for Emperor Hadrian in the 2nd century. In the Middle Ages it became a fortress, in the Renaissance it became a party palace for the popes and a hideaway for them, and eventually it became a prison. Today it's a state museum you can easily visit, and as a bonus, there is a fabulous view from the roof. There's also a really fun rooftop cafe with stunning views of St. Peter's Basilica. You don't usually need to purchase tickets in advance for Castel Sant'Angelo, you could probably decide at the last minute to visit this site. I don't necessarily suggest that you visit Castel Sant'Angelo after visiting the Vatican, but if you decided to make your Vatican visit a short one or to skip the Vatican entirely, then by all means visit Castel Sant'Angelo. Or as I mentioned at the beginning of this video, if you're a turbo sightseer and you want to fit in as much as possible, you could absolutely visit Castel Sant'Angelo after your Vatican visit. I would just suggest a lunch break in between the two sites. Whether you visit Castel Sant'Angelo or not, you're going to cross over the Angel Bridge. The bridge has spanned the Tiber River since ancient Roman times, but the angels you see today on the bridge are from the 1600s. Many people think Bernini made the angels on this bridge, but he didn't. He made models for two of them, and these can be seen in the church of Sant'Andrea delle Fratte. The angels on this bridge represent the passion of Christ. Finally, the last stop of the day is Via dei Coronari. Arguably one of the prettiest streets in Rome. Via dei Coronari was once famous for its antique shops, but today you'll find a variety of shops and small boutiques along with wonderful little places to eat and drink. At the end of Via dei Coronari, you come to Piazza Navona. At this point, if you have more time and energy and still want to do more things, you could perhaps go back and see some of the things that you missed on the first day or visit them again. Or perhaps it's time for an aperitivo, whether on a rooftop or in a cafe in a piazza. As I said, I recommend this for solo travelers as well as people traveling on a romantic break or really for anyone. And that's a wrap for Day 2. Tomorrow, Day 3, is going to be a visit to Ancient Rome. On Day 3, you're going to visit Ancient Rome. You've actually already seen some ancient Roman sites when you visited the Pantheon, and even the Vatican. Usually when we talk about visiting Ancient Rome, we're referring to the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, and the Palatine Hill. And since it's all part of the same area, I would also include the Via dei Forti Imperiali, the Road of the Imperial Forums. As with the Vatican, a visit to Ancient Rome is going to take a full morning. Also like the Vatican, I suggest you do this in the morning so that you have your afternoon free. Keeping the afternoon of your third day open is crucial in my opinion. You might use this time to rest, pack, get ready for your departure, or you could go visit some site that you missed that you really wanted to see. To visit the sites of Ancient Rome, you have several options, including taking a tour or not, going inside of the Colosseum or not, so let me lay these out for you. One option you have is just to walk around these ancient Roman sites and see them all from the outside. I have a dedicated video called Visiting Ancient Rome for Free, so you can watch that if you want to see more about that specific itinerary. If you decide to visit the Colosseum, you should book your tickets in advance. I have so many videos on this channel about the Colosseum and the different tickets you can buy and how to get them and skip the line tickets, etc., so I'm not going to go into detail in this video. My suggestion for your three days in Rome, especially if it's your first time, is to book a tour that includes a tour of the Colosseum and the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill. Whether you're visiting the Colosseum on your own or with a tour, I would suggest you start your visit to Ancient Rome in Piazza Venezia. At the time I'm making this video for you, there are huge construction works in Piazza Venezia for the Metroline C, and these works are expected to take at least 10 years. But you can still visit the Vittoriano, the monument in the square, and you can take the elevator to the roof for some amazing 360-degree views of Rome. From Piazza Venezia, you have two options to reach the Colosseum, depending on your time and interest level. The first option is to walk straight down the Via dei Forti Imperiali to the Colosseum. It's about a 10-minute walk. The second option, and my suggestion, is to climb the ramp to Campidoglio, Capitoline Hill. Capitoline Hill is where the ancient Romans had their temple to Jupiter Optimus Maximus. The square as you see it today was designed by Michelangelo in the 1500s. Some interesting things to see right here on Campidoglio include the equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius, the she-wolf nursing the twins Romulus and Remus, which is part of Rome's founding myth, and to the back on either side, but in particular on the right-hand side, some of the most beautiful views of the Roman Forum from above. Right here on Campidoglio, you'll find the Capitoline Museums, the oldest museums in the world. I think these museums are amazing and well worth a visit, but in your three-day itinerary of Rome, I didn't include it because it takes a bit of time and energy, and you might not be able to fit it in. But, as I said, if you're a turbo sightseer, you may want to try to find a way to include it. One of my favorite secret things to do is to visit the Cafe of the Capitoline Museums. You don't need to enter the museums to go to this cafe, but you can head up there and get some beautiful views over Rome. Either way, from Capitoline Hill, you can walk back down the ramp, or you can climb down some of the back stairs to make your way to the Via dei Forti Imperiali. You'll see a lot just by walking down the Via dei Forti Imperiali from Piazza Venezia to the Colosseum. On the left-hand side, you'll see ruins of the forums of Emperors Trajan, Augustus, and Nerva. You can also see Trajan's Market next to Trajan's Forum. This is one of my favorite sights from ancient Rome, and it's very under-visited, and if you're looking for something interesting and unusual to do in the afternoon of this day, you could add this to your list. As you walk down the Via dei Forti Imperiali, you'll pass Julius Caesar's Forum on the right-hand side, followed by the Roman Forum. If you're wondering about the difference between an Imperial Forum and the Roman Forum, the difference is this. An Imperial Forum was a forum that an emperor had built for him, and it's where he conducted matters of state. The Roman Forum was basically downtown city life in ancient Rome. As I said, at the end of the Via dei Forti Imperiali, you'll come to the Colosseum. As I mentioned, I really suggest a guided tour for visiting the Colosseum, because there's a lot of history, and having a good guide can bring it all to life. Of course, you can visit the Colosseum on your own. The Colosseum app has some really good audio guides you can use. Every Colosseum ticket comes with a one-time entry to the Roman Forum Palatine Hill Park. I say one-time entry because it could sound like these are two separate parks, the Roman Forum and the Palatine Hill, but they're all connected, and with any Colosseum ticket, when you get your entry to this park, you can only go in once, and you cannot re-enter. You can of course visit the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill on your own. You can also visit them within 24 hours of your Colosseum entry time. And by 24 hours, I mean on either side of it. So if your Colosseum entry time is for 9 a.m. on, say, a Wednesday, you can visit the Roman Forum Palatine Hill up until 9 a.m. on the following day, or from 9 to 1 a.m. on the previous day. Considering that this is a three-day itinerary, and you've probably visited the Vatican the day before, I don't really think you have time to make use of this option to spread out your Roman Forum Palatine Hill visit, with the exception of perhaps taking a food break in between the Colosseum and the Roman Forum. On the other hand, most tours that you book with an outside tour company include a tour of the Colosseum, and a tour of the Roman Forum, and a little bit of the Palatine Hill. If you book a tour of the Colosseum through the Colosseum website, they only include a tour of the Colosseum itself, and not of the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill. A visit to the Colosseum, whether with a tour or not, should take you about an hour. If you visit the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill with a guide, you're looking at about two hours, so a tour of the Colosseum, Roman Forum, Palatine Hill is going to take around three hours. If you visit the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill on your own, and if you're like me, you could easily spend many more hours inside that park. If you're traveling with small kids, you may want to just visit the Colosseum and skip the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill, as that can be a bit much of a visit. Another option with kids is to skip the Colosseum and just enjoy all of these sights from the outside. If you do decide to visit these monuments with your kids, just know that everyone under 18 gets in for free. Also keep in mind that the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, and Palatine Hill are not very stroller friendly, although of course you can bring a stroller inside. After you finish your visit to ancient Rome, depending on what time of year it is and what time of day, you may want to head over to one of the nearby beautiful rooftop bars for an aperitivo. And as I said, if you have more time and energy and want to see more things, you can check out my video about things to do near the Colosseum. Or if it's lunchtime and you're ready to eat something, check out my page on the Romewise website all about where to eat near the Colosseum. So what do you think? Did I cover all the sights you think you wanted to see on your visit? Did you enjoy this three-day itinerary in Rome? Have you tried it? Please let me know in the comments. I would love to hear from you. And for more Rome itineraries, check out my playlist right here.