Long Weekend in Rome

[Platypus]

I'm off to Rome for a long weekend with GF Platypus, and we've a few things already lined up to see and do, mostly things we didn't have time for last time.

But what recommendations do you have? Your favourite things to see and do in Rome?
Any restaurant recommendations?

Thanks!

P.S. Did the Colosseum last time, not doing it again this trip. Ditto St. Peter's.

[Incognito]

Get the train down to Pompeii for the day (3 hours on train), even better stay the night and then get over to Capri for the day.

[petergriffin]

But what recommendations do you have? Your favourite things to see and do in Rome?

I know some swingers clubs around Rome

[conned tractor]

When you take a woman to Rome you must take her up the tower.....it's the law.

[Bunk]

Get the train down to Pompeii for the day (3 hours on train), even better stay the night and then get over to Capri for the day.

WHS

I did a 2-day trip while I was there to Naples, Pompeii, stayed overnight in Sorrento, then got the boat over to Capri the next morning, spent most of the day touring the island, went into the Blue Grotto, and got back to Rome late evening.

[MrRobin]

You say you've been before so don't want to go to the Colosseum or St. Peter's (although I would gladly go to St.P again, did you get a guide? I found that really helped the experience) but did you do the other main touristy things? Trevi Fountain? Castel Sant'Angelo? Pantheon?

I thought the best place for some atmosphere in the evening was Piazza Navona, it's a bit of a tourist trap but there are enough bars and restaurants in competiotion with each other to keep prices reasonable. The best pizza restaurant we found was near to there, called da Buffetto2, I highly recommend it. I actually found it quite hard to get a decent pizza in Rome until we found this place. Try cafe Giolitti for gelato to die for.

There are some great street markets in Rome; Porta Portese, held on a Sunday, was a great one to walk through even if you don't buy anything.

Pompeii is a good visit but if you're only there for a weekend then the journey time might not make it worth it. I would avoid Naples like the plague, it's a dump! Capri is nice but I didn't think there was that much to do there. The blue lagoon grotto was a massive anticlimax IMHO. Sorrento and the Amalfi coast are beautiful though.

[NotAllThere]

My wife and I will also be in Rome this weekend.

[Gibbon]

I'm off to Rome for a long weekend with GF Platypus, and we've a few things already lined up to see and do, mostly things we didn't have time for last time.

But what recommendations do you have? Your favourite things to see and do in Rome?
Any restaurant recommendations?

Thanks!

P.S. Did the Colosseum last time, not doing it again this trip. Ditto St. Peter's.

Right!

Travel:- If you’re flying to Ciampino then get a ticket for the Bus to Anagina which is the last metro stop on line A, then buy a three day ticket that covers all public transport for a 30 km radius. Taxis etc will rip you off. If you’re flush, book a limo online before you go, it’s cheaper and they are all nice Mercs.

Museums:- You can visit all 4 Nazionale Museums for 7 euros over a 48 hour period, all are worth a visit especially the one up near the Termini. The Capitoline Museums are a must if you haven’t been before, but it is pricey at 12 Euros pp.

Galleries:- Villa Borghese is brilliant but you have to book before hand for your 2 hour slot. The Galleria Antica in the old Barberini Palce and the Doria Pamphlia collection on the Corso are also worth visiting. Also on Saturday AM only you can visit the still private Colonna Palace and see the damage done by Napoleon’s artillery to a stairway. This was also the setting for the final scene from Roman Holiday.

Churches:- Basilica Santa Maria Maggiore is a must. The Athenian Columns inside are gorgeous. Also round this area you have the gems of Santa Praxede and Santa Pudenzia. San Clemente down by the Colosseum is also a must for it’s crypts, three full levels of Roman history. Santa Maria della Concezione dei Cappuccini at the bottom of the Veneto is a sobering place to visit and reflect on your mortality, and incidentally the monks gave their name to the celebrated Cappuccino.

Ostia Antica is also well worth a visit and your three day ticket covers transport there.

Food etc:- Valentinos at the bottem of Via Cavour is good if you’re round that area for lunch. It isn’t much to look at from the outside or inside. The food though is good basic Roman cooking. Not romantic etc but consistently good honest food over the last ten years and cheap.

Be wary round the Navona / Pantheon area, go further west on the Via Coronari or around Santa Maria della Pace and Via Fico and you will find better restaurants and a few decent wine bars.

I tend to stay in the Prati district, hardly a tourist in sight but near enough to walk into the Centro Historica. There are several good restaurants and wine bars around here.

I’ll be there in October for a week!!

[minestrone]

Just do what the Romans are doing, that is what I was always told to do. Pickpocket, nip arses and throw your arms in the air when you talk.



I know an excellent food place in Trastevere, I think I have the card in the house somewhere

[Mich the Tester]

La Matriciana

The classic Italian city restaurant as it should be, run by the same family since, oooh, Noah's ark maybe, smartly dressed brusque but professional waiters in white jackets, excellent antipasti and perfect bucatini, often half filled with priests enjoying their expense accounts (some of whom have exceptionally attractive secretaries), sufficiently hidden from the tourists to attract a mostly local clientele and decidedly NO pictures of the meals or multi-language menus outside.

Enjoy. (tulip, I shouldn't really have told anyone about this place)