Rome: What to Do and See in Three Days
It’s the land of pasta, wine, and ancient ruins. Glorious, gorgeous, delicious Italy.
It’s no wonder it’s the fifth most visited country in the world. For decades, I wanted to see it for myself, and finally made that dream come true on a trip I shared with my teenage daughter. Our adventure involved stops in Rome, the Amalfi Coast, and Venice. All in one week. Ideally, I would have planned a longer trip, and thrown in visits to so many other spots in this beautiful country, from Florence to Cinque Terre to Milan and more, but I think I could live there for years and never truly see all the country has to offer, so I squeezed in what I could in the week I was given. If you’re facing a similar challenge, I hope you’ll consider a similar venture, and maybe this information will help guide you to make the most of your limited time.
Our journey started in Rome, and we chose to be based at the Hotel Fontana, located directly across from the Trevi Fountain. It’s a converted convent, and the view will never get old, since you wake up each morning and go to bed each night hearing the water in the fountain and appreciating its view at all hours. Staying there allows you several perks beyond being able to easily see the fountain in the wee hours of the morning and late at night. You won’t have to fight off the massive crowds that surround it all day if you decide to make it part of your bedtime routine, or first thing when you wake up. There’s a legend that if you throw a coin into the Trevi Fountain, you’ll be gifted a return visit to Rome. About three-thousand euros are tossed in each day, and we even happened to catch the weekly cleaning when the money is vacuumed out, then bagged up and taken to a Catholic charity for the poor and oppressed. The Hotel Fontana even offers a view few others get to see. From the dining room several floors up in the hotel where you’ll have free breakfast each day, you can have a windowside seat looking down at the crowds and the spectacular view. We even chose to come back in the evening and have a glass of Prosecco from this vantage point.
Being based by the fountain means being in the middle of everything, with an easy walk to most of the monuments and landmarks you’ll want to see on your visit.
We started with Vatican City, which is actually a country. Yes, you heard that right. The vatican is technically the smallest country in the world, only about one-eighth the size of New York’s Central Park. It’s where the Pope lives. You can actually see him most Sundays for mass, though if you go *that day, you won’t be able to tour the sites, like St. Peter’s Basilica and the Sistine Chapel, painted in 1512 by Michelangelo, housing some of the world’s most famous monuments. So, my suggestion is go another day and soak up all the art and lessons on how it came to be.
The next day we hit several of the other big sites in Rome, from climbing the Spanish Steps; twice in our case, by accident actually, as we looked for our hop-on, hop-off bus; to roaming the Colosseum. We paid for a tour that allowed us access to the arena floor, where the gladiators of centuries past entertained the Romans. Fun fact: In some cases, the gladiators were even women. Our tour guide explained how gladiators were chosen and walked us throughout the facility, showing us parts that had been rebuilt after earthquake damage, and more. You’ll get so much more out of it if you pay a guide, so I highly recommend setting that up in advance.
The Roman Forum is nearby, along with Palatine Hill, and you could spend hours walking through each historical landmark. It’s fascinating to see that they’re STILL digging up artifacts on the property to this day. We skimmed through this area and wished we’d had more time to explore, so try to learn from our mistake here.
We spent the rest of the day exploring much of the rest of the city, meandering by foot whatever direction the next thrill took us. It’s the kind of place where there’s a surprise everywhere you turn, from artists painting in the street to musical performers, to massive statues that you can spend hours studying minute details of.
That night, we took in the sites a different way: On a Vespa with a sidecar, a’la the movie Roman Holiday. No, we didn’t drive it ourselves; they say that’s dangerous in Rome and we weren’t interested in trying our luck. We had a guide take us around, and saw many of the same sites from earlier, but with a very different perspective, lit up beautifully. Rome takes on a different aura in the evening, and we embraced the fun of doing it via Vespa. Our guide threw out fact after fact, stopping along at various landmarks, including the Roman Baths.
We even hit the highest spot in the city, to take it all in by starlight. And we topped it all off with a pitstop for gelato at a shop that had a chocolate waterfall. Not kidding. Go ahead and add that to your list of must-sees, too. We wrapped up our evening with a pizza we shared that filled our bellies and made it easy to sleep well that night with a happy soul.
Our takeaway from Rome: It’s small enough to get around most places by foot, so skip the hop on hop off tour unless you really want the ride. Its stops aren’t as close as you’ll want to the buildings you’ll want to see, and there are so many stops it really just ends up taking much longer than you need. And splurge on the vespa tour, especially if you have a teen or tween with you. It makes the tour feel less like an educational trip and a whole lot more fun, while still sneaking in important information.
I’ll post about the remainder of our trip next week, so come back to read more on that!
In the meantime, if you go, here are a few tours I suggest you take as you make your way around the city making your own memories!
