3 Day Rome Itinerary

06 April 2017


Last summer Matthew and I went to Rome, Italy for three days before heading to Spain and we both completely fell in love with the city, with the Italian culture, literally everything! This city is not only gorgeous, you could just get lost in the streets because they are just so beautiful, but there is so much history! The city is completely walkable which I love, I literally walked everywhere, which makes seeing the city completely easy! Even though we only had three days there, I still feel like I was able to see everything I wanted, would I go back? Heck yes! I thought I would share my complete itinerary with y'all, this worked great for us! I'm also sharing some tips with y'all that can be helpful. 

Day One: Colosseum/Roman Forum Day
 8:15am: Head to the Roman Forum/Palantine Hill 
---I'd say to do this as soon as it opens so you can beat most of the crowds, and really spend as much time as you want there and you won't feel rushed if you head there first. Another tip is to buy your tickets in advance for this! It was really nice to not have to worry about getting in line, and I was just ready to go!
10:00am: After roaming the Roman Forum/Palantine Hill make your way over to the Colosseum (they are right next to each other) 
11:30am-12pm: Take a Lunch Break
--Relax, eat pasta, drink some amazing Italian coffee, try the pizza. Literally the food I had in Rome was some of the best food I've ever had! Some tips locals gave me were actually really helpful. Never eat at a restaurant that has a menu with photos, and make sure you see a kitchen in the restaurant. Apparently a lot of restaurants there just heat stuff up in microwaves? So to guarantee that you will be eating fresh Italian food, make sure there is a kitchen ;) 
1pm: Pantheon 
2pm: Trevi Fountain
--I went to the Trevi Fountain so many times because I passed it to get to and from places from my hotel. I suggest going in the day and night to see it because it definitely looks different, and honestly you can never get tired of seeing it! Don't forget to throw a coin in! 
3pm: Capuchin Bone Church
5pm: Take a break before dinner
--take a nap, rest up, you deserve it
8pm: Dinner
Day Two: Relax and Live the Italian Life 
10am: Get some breakfast and get an espresso and some yummy Italian treats
11am: Spanish Steps and Shopping
--Not only is this area gorgeous but there is some pretty amazing shopping, yes this itinerary has time for shopping, I did a lot of damage there. I bought my first Louis Vuitton there and let me tell you why I'm a huge advocate of shopping in Europe, let alone buying a designer bag. You HAVE to utilize the VAT refund. Read all about that here. But it's a basically a European tax refund that you receive upon departure. It's typically done at the airport. Just make sure to have your passport with you when you are shopping. I always do the refund in cash, I think it's a lot easier to not worry about. By doing this, you can save a lot of money, especially on big purchases! 
3pm: Piazza Navona and Lunch 
--Head over here for some amazing relaxation, take in the amazing gorgeous views and enjoy this square and you must eat lunch here! There are so many good restaurants and you will just love it! 
6pm: Gelato Break
7pm: Take a break before dinner
8pm: Dinner
10pm: Head back on over to the Trevi Fountain 
Day Three: Vatican Day
7am: Head on over to the Vatican area
--Get there early for several reasons, gorgeous light, but most importantly not as crowded! Okay so my biggest tips for the Vatican: don't buy your tickets in advance haha. Before I went all I read was do it before, but I'm so mad I did because I didn't realize that by buying my tickets in advance I had a specific time slot and it's really strict. Plus it was without a tour guide. I didn't realize my tickets were no good until I got there late and they take the time slots very seriously. But once we got to the Vatican and there are tour guides everywhere(that are legit, they will have badges) and they are not only selling tickets but a tour which is SO needed! This place is huge, really overwhelming, you can't truly see it in a day. So get with a tour guide that is guided. I am SO glad I did this. They gave us headphones so we could hear and our guide was great! And another huge plus of doing it this way is that you can SKIP the huge ass line! Because it's huge, at least when we went haha! One last thing, is to dress appropriately, they have a strict dress code! I wore a shirt with sleeves, and jeans just to be safe. 
8am: Vatican, Sistine Chapel, St. Peter's Basilica 
12pm: Castle St. Angelo 
1pm: Explore Trastevere and eat Lunch 
4pm: Cross over the Isola di Tiber and into the Jewish Ghetto to explore 
5pm: Campo di Fiori
7pm: Head back over to the Piazza Navona for dinner
--you can really have dinner wherever you like, we just really liked this area. 
9pm: Gelato for one last time :) 

Here's our Rome Travel Diary: 

2 comments:

  1. sounds great! i always do a diy tour but some places (like italy) are really overwhelming to me in terms of planning. oh man, and look at all those people. yeesh.
    b

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