Rome is one of the most famous tourist locations in the world and it absolutely lived up to the hype for me. Rome was one of my favorite places I visited on my study abroad trip; however, we only spent a day there. This is how I spent my day, and how I would recommend others to spend theirs. This guide will allow you to see many of the most sought-after monuments in Rome all while being very cost and time efficient. This guide will not include the Vatican City however, because with only 1 day in the city, it would take up almost all of your time.
Our train arrived at Roma Termini at 10:10am. Firstly, we walked 20 minutes to the Colosseum where unluckily we had to wait around 45 minutes to enter because I didn’t realize exactly when our entrance time was. A ticket is required for the colosseum; however, they are easy to purchase and only around $30 (admission only) on italy-museum.com. After exploring the inside of the Colosseum, we walked towards the Monument to Vittorio Emanuele ll, which is beautiful building. After stopping for pictures, we headed towards Caffe Doria for lunch. This restaurant was not crowded at all, had a beautiful atmosphere, and great food. Also, it was not expensive which can be rare in Rome. This is a great place to get away from the crowds for an hour or so and enjoy a great meal. After lunch, we headed towards the Trevi Fountain. Despite how long the line may seem, it moves very fast. Also, after you see the fountain up close, there is a clothing store called “United Colors” directly across the street that has a great view of the fountain from the second floor. Next, we headed towards the Sant’ Ignazio of Loyola Church, who’s ceiling rivals that of the Sistine Chapel (it was closed from 2-5 for a wedding on our day so we had to circle back later but it was not difficult at all). This was my favorite monument I saw on my whole trip! Then, we headed to the Pantheon. We did not purchase entrance tickets; however, you can see a decent amount of the inside by just standing close to the doors. After this, we walked to the Piazza Navona and also admired the Sant’ Agnese in Agone church right beside it. Finally, we walked to the La Rinascente mall and explored some shops along the way. This 8-story mall has anything you could want and probably every designer brand you can think of. This concluded our plans and almost all of our time, so we stopped and ate dinner at a random restaurant on our way back to catch our 7:50 train out of Rome. Overall, besides food and any shopping, the only thing we had to pay for was our $30 entrance ticket to the colosseum. Everything else we saw was free, and I think that is the beauty of this guide. Also, this guide leaves plenty of time to stop in random shops you see along the way. We also tried to go to the Galleria Colonna for free, which I would recommend, but I believe it is only open to the public on Friday and Saturday (I don’t think this includes private tours).
A picture from our table at Caffe Doria:
The view of the Trevi Fountain from the 2nd floor of the “United Colors” store.
