27 Best Things to Do in Rome (2026)

Ancient Rome. Start here. The Colosseum, the Forum and the Palatine sit side by side and share one ticket, and the Pantheon is a 20-minute walk away. The Colosseum is the amphitheatre where tens of thousands of Romans watched gladiator fights, and walking its upper levels still gives you a sense of the scale. The standard ticket covers the first and second levels; to stand on the arena floor or go down into the underground passages where animals and fighters waited, you need a Full Experience ticket.

Price: €18 for the 24-hour Colosseum, Roman Forum and Palatine ticket; €24 for the Full Experience Underground and Arena (valid two days). Book: only on ticketing.colosseo.it. Sales open 30 days ahead, each ticket has a fixed Colosseum entry time, and you get 75 minutes inside. Open: 8.30am-4.30pm until 28 February, last admission 3.30pm; closed 25 December and 1 January. Allow: two to three hours with the Forum. Metro: Colosseo (line B). Free on the first Sunday of the month, with tickets collected at the ticket office, so expect a crowd.

The Roman Forum and Palatine Hill are the other two-thirds of that ticket, and they're the part people rush. The Forum was the centre of public life in ancient Rome: temples, law courts, the Senate house. The Palatine rises above it, where the emperors built their palaces, with the best view back over the Forum. Do the Colosseum first, then walk across and give these the rest of the morning.

Price: included in the €18 Colosseum ticket; the Forum Pass SUPER (€18) covers the Forum, the Imperial Fora and the Palatine without the Colosseum. Open: from 9am, last admission 3.30pm in winter. The House of Augustus is closed on Mondays. Allow: two to three hours. Metro: Colosseo (line B). Bring water and wear proper shoes; it's uneven ground with little shade.

The Pantheon is the best-preserved building of ancient Rome, a temple turned church with a concrete dome that is still the largest unreinforced one ever built, 43.3 metres across, with an open hole at the top. It's a quick visit and a remarkable one, and since July 2026 it costs a little more.

Price: €7 (up from €5 on 1 July 2026); free under 18, €2 for 18-25s. Going in for Mass is free (Saturday 5pm, Sunday 10.30am). Book: optional, on the Musei Italiani portal, or buy on site. Open: daily 9am-7pm, last entry 6.30pm. Allow: 30-45 minutes. Metro: none close; it's about 15 minutes' walk from Spagna or Barberini (line A).

The Baths of Caracalla are the ruins of a vast public bath complex from the 3rd century, with walls still standing several storeys high. They're far quieter than the Forum, and they give you a better feel for the size of Roman building. A photography exhibition by Frank Horvat runs on site until 10 January 2027.

Price: €10. Open: Tuesday to Sunday 9am-4.30pm in winter, ticket office until 3.30pm; closed Mondays. Allow: 1-1.5 hours. Metro: Circo Massimo (line B), about 10 minutes' walk. No booking needed.

The Basilica of San Clemente is three layers of Rome stacked on top of each other: a 12th-century church at street level, a 4th-century church below it, and below that, Roman buildings and a temple to the god Mithras. You can hear water running through the lowest level. It's five minutes from the Colosseum and one of the best things in Rome for the price. For more places like it, see our Rome hidden gems.

Price: €10 for the excavations; the upper church is free. Book: online, which is required for the excavations. Open: Monday to Saturday 9am-12.30pm and 2pm-6pm; Sundays and holidays noon-6pm (last entry 30 minutes before closing). Allow: about an hour. Metro: Colosseo (line B).

The Catacombs of St Callixtus on the Appian Way are underground Christian burial galleries on several levels, including the crypt where 3rd-century popes were buried. You can only go in on a guided visit, which keeps it orderly. Pair it with a walk or a bike ride along the old Roman road outside.

Price: €10. Open: 9am-noon and 2pm-5pm; closed Wednesdays, and closed for the season from 13 January to 10 February 2027. Allow: 40 minutes for the tour, half a day with the Appian Way. Getting there: there's no Metro, so take a bus or taxi.

The Vatican. Give it a whole morning, and book ahead. The Vatican Museums are the popes' collections: classical sculpture, the Raphael Rooms, the map gallery, and at the end, Michelangelo's ceiling in the Sistine Chapel. The route is long, and the Sistine Chapel comes near the end, so don't rush the first rooms trying to get there.

Price: €20 at the door, or €25 booked on the official site (the extra €5 skips the ticket queue). Book: tickets.museivaticani.va is the only official online seller, according to the museums; similar-looking sites charge more. Open: Monday to Saturday 8am-8pm, final entry 6pm. Closed on Sundays, except the last Sunday of the month (free, 9am-2pm, very busy), and on 8, 25 and 26 December. Allow: three to four hours. Metro: Ottaviano or Cipro (line A). Cover your shoulders and knees, or you'll be turned away.

St Peter's Basilica is free, and it's enormous: Michelangelo's Pietà is just inside on the right, and Bernini's bronze canopy stands over the altar. The paid part is the dome. The stairs ticket has you climb to the terrace and then on up inside the dome to the top, for the best view of the city; the lift saves the first stretch.

Price: basilica free; dome €17 by the stairs or €22 with the lift, both booked on the basilica's official site. Open: basilica daily 7am-7pm in winter; dome 7.30am-5pm. Allow: an hour, two with the dome. Metro: Ottaviano (line A). The security queue in the square is the slow part; it's shortest early in the morning. Same dress code as the museums.

Castel Sant'Angelo began as Emperor Hadrian's tomb and became a papal fortress, prison and residence. A spiral ramp takes you up through it to a terrace with one of the best views of St Peter's. Walk there over Ponte Sant'Angelo, lined with angels designed by Bernini.

Price: €18 (up from 1 July 2026). In 2026 it also opens on the first Monday of each month, 2pm-8pm, on a €5 ticket sold on site. Open: Tuesday to Sunday 9am-7.30pm, last entry 6.30pm; closed Mondays, 25 December and 1 January. Allow: 1.5-2 hours. Metro: Lepanto (line A), about 15 minutes' walk.

Piazzas and fountains. These cost little or nothing, and they're best at either end of the day. The Trevi Fountain is the big Baroque one, finished in 1762, and since 2 February 2026 there's a €2 ticket to stand in the area right by the basin and throw your coin. You can still see it free from the square, and after closing time the whole thing is free again.

Price: €2 for the basin area; free for children under 6 and for residents of Rome and its Metropolitan City. Book: on the official site, fontanaditrevi.roma.it, at tourist infopoints, or at the entrance by card. Open: 9am-10pm (11.30am on Mondays and Fridays), last entry 9pm; opening times change on some dates, including from 2pm on 23 November and 7 and 21 December, so check the calendar on the official site before you go. Allow: 20-30 minutes. Metro: Barberini (line A).

The Spanish Steps run from Piazza di Spagna up to the church of Trinità dei Monti, and the view down Via dei Condotti from the top is the reason to climb them. One rule to know: you can't sit on the steps. Rome's urban police rules have banned it since 2019, and wardens move people on.

Price: free. Allow: 20-30 minutes. Metro: Spagna (line A), beside the steps. Come early or after dark; at midday the piazza is packed.

Piazza Navona keeps the long oval shape of the Roman stadium of Domitian it was built over. Bernini's Fountain of the Four Rivers stands in the middle. Come for the square and the fountains, then eat a street or two away; the cafés on the piazza charge for the view.

Price: free. Allow: 20-30 minutes. Metro: none nearby; it's five minutes' walk from the Pantheon.

Museums and galleries. The Borghese Gallery is the best small museum in Rome: Bernini's sculptures (Apollo and Daphne, The Rape of Proserpina) and paintings by Caravaggio, Raphael and Titian, in a villa in the middle of Villa Borghese park. Visits are in two-hour slots of 180 people, so it never feels crowded. The catch is getting in: booking is compulsory, and slots sell out.

Price: €16 plus a compulsory €2 reservation fee, €18 in all (prices can rise during exhibitions). Book: on the gallery's official site or by phone (+39 06 32810). Open: Tuesday to Sunday 9am-7pm, last slot 5.45pm; closed Mondays. Allow: the two-hour slot. Metro: Spagna or Flaminio (line A), then a walk through the park. Only small bags are allowed inside.

The Capitoline Museums sit on Michelangelo's piazza on the Capitoline Hill, and they're the oldest public museums in the world. Inside are the bronze she-wolf, the original equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius and Caravaggio's paintings. Take the underground passage to the Tabularium, whose gallery looks straight down over the Forum.

Price: €16.50 for non-residents with the current Angeli exhibition (€15 when no exhibition is on), plus €1 if you book ahead; the price changes with each exhibition. The Diego Rivera exhibition, to 13 December 2026, is a separate €15 ticket. Open: daily 9.30am-7.30pm, last admission 6.30pm; 24 and 31 December to 2pm; closed 25 December and 1 May. Allow: two hours. Metro: Colosseo (line B), about 12 minutes' walk.

Palazzo Massimo, by Termini station, is the part of the National Roman Museum to choose if you see only one. Its painted garden room from the villa of Livia, wife of the emperor Augustus, and its bronze Boxer at Rest are two of the finest things from ancient Rome anywhere, and it's rarely busy.

Price: €15, which covers the National Roman Museum's sites (one entry each) for a week. Open: Tuesday to Sunday 9am-7pm; closed Mondays. Allow: 1.5-2 hours. Metro: Termini (lines A and B) or Repubblica (line A). A good plan for an arrival or departure day.

Galleria Doria Pamphilj is a private art collection still owned by the family, hung floor to ceiling in their palace on Via del Corso. The star is Velázquez's portrait of Pope Innocent X, and there are Caravaggios too. It feels more like visiting a house than a museum.

Price: €16 at the door, €17 online. Open: Monday, Tuesday and Thursday 9am-7pm; Friday to Sunday 10am-8pm; closed every Wednesday. Allow: about 1.5 hours. Metro: none close; it's a few minutes from Piazza Venezia. There's no cloakroom, so leave large bags at the hotel.

Neighbourhoods. Rome's best evenings happen in its old districts. Trastevere, across the river, is cobbled lanes, ivy and trattorias, and it fills up every night. Its centre is the piazza in front of the Basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere, one of the oldest churches in Rome, with gold mosaics in the apse. Go in before dinner.

Price: free. Allow: an evening. Getting there: tram 8 from Largo di Torre Argentina, or walk over Ponte Sisto from Campo de' Fiori. Climb the Janiculum Hill (below) first for the view, then come down for dinner.

Monti is the neighbourhood just north of the Forum: small shops, wine bars and a little piazza with a fountain where people sit out in the evening. It's the obvious place to eat after a day at the Colosseum.

Price: free. Allow: an evening. Metro: Cavour (line B), five minutes' walk to Piazza della Madonna dei Monti.

The Jewish Ghetto, between Largo Argentina and the river, is one of the oldest Jewish communities in Europe. Its main street runs past the columns of the Portico of Octavia, a Roman colonnade from the time of Augustus, to the Great Synagogue. Come at lunchtime for Roman-Jewish cooking, such as fried artichokes.

Price: free to walk. Allow: one to two hours with lunch. Getting there: no Metro; it's a short walk from Largo di Torre Argentina (tram 8).

Food experiences. Eating well in Rome is cheap if you eat where Romans shop. Campo de' Fiori has had a market since 1869, every morning but Sunday. Today it's half tourist stalls, so come for the square and the bakeries and bars around it rather than to stock up. In the evening it turns into a bar square.

Price: free to browse. Hours: market mornings, Monday to Saturday. Allow: 30-45 minutes. Getting there: no Metro; it's a few minutes south of Piazza Navona.

Testaccio Market is the real one: a covered neighbourhood market where locals buy their food, with street-food stalls doing sandwiches, supplì (fried rice balls) and pasta to eat on the spot. Come for lunch, then walk round Testaccio, the old working-class district built around Rome's former slaughterhouse. For the city's other food markets, see our Rome markets guide.

Price: free to browse. Hours: Monday to Saturday 7am-3.30pm; closed Sundays. Allow: an hour. Metro: Piramide (line B), about 10 minutes' walk.

Free things. Rome's best views cost nothing. Villa Borghese is the big central park, and its Pincio terrace looks straight down over Piazza del Popolo to the domes of the centre. It's at its best before sunset. Walk up from Piazza del Popolo, then through the park to the Borghese Gallery if you've booked it. For a view with a drink in hand, see Rome's rooftop bars.

Price: free. Allow: one to two hours. Metro: Flaminio (line A) for Piazza del Popolo, or Spagna (line A) and walk up past the Spanish Steps.

The Janiculum Hill (the Gianicolo) gives the widest view of Rome, from above Trastevere across every dome in the centre. Time it for noon: a cannon fires a blank from below the terrace every day at midday, a custom since 1846.

Price: free. Allow: 45 minutes. Getting there: no Metro; it's a 15-20 minute walk uphill from Trastevere.

The Aventine Keyhole is a famous trick of framing. Look through the keyhole of the gate of the Order of Malta's villa, and a hedged garden path lines up exactly on the dome of St Peter's in the distance. There's often a queue for it, but it moves.

Price: free. Allow: 15 minutes, plus the line. Metro: Circo Massimo (line B), then 10-15 minutes uphill.

The Orange Garden (Giardino degli Aranci, also called Savello Park) is two minutes from the keyhole: a small park planted with orange trees, with a terrace over the river and the domes beyond. Do both together, late afternoon.

Price: free. Allow: 20-30 minutes. Metro: Circo Massimo (line B).

Day trips. Two easy ones, both reachable by regional train. Ostia Antica was ancient Rome's port, and the ruined town is big enough to walk for hours: streets, apartment blocks, a theatre, shops with their mosaic signs. It's quieter than the Forum and gives you a better sense of everyday Roman life.

Price: €18 for a ticket valid eight consecutive days at all the park's sites. Open: Tuesday to Sunday from 8.30am, closing 4.30pm until the end of February (last entry an hour earlier); closed Mondays and 25 December. Allow: half a day. Getting there: the Metromare train (formerly Roma-Lido) from Porta San Paolo, next to Piramide Metro (line B), to Ostia Antica station.

Villa d'Este in Tivoli is a Renaissance villa built for a cardinal, with terraced gardens full of fountains: the Avenue of the Hundred Fountains, the Organ Fountain, pools and cascades all down the hillside. It's a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the best day out from Rome when the weather is good.

Price: €15; free on the first Sunday of the month. Open: daily (Mondays from 2pm); in November and December, entry 8.30am-4pm and exit by 5pm. Allow: two hours, plus about an hour each way by train. Getting there: regional train to Tivoli; the villa is in the town centre. Our day trips from Rome guide has the train times and fares.