Where to stay in Rome.

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Colosseum and Sistine Chapel

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Colosseum - Buy skip the line tickets with a guided tour or just go and walk around the outside. The lines to get in were legitimately the longest lines I have ever seen. Maybe a mile long of people waiting. It would take most of the day to get in there.

Sistine Chapel - Be prepared. It is nice and all but it's not what you are expecting. It is standing room only and the room is absolutely shoulder to shoulder packed. They limit your time in there as well and its loud, hot and people are bumping into you the whole time. There are a couple of places to sit along the wall but there are no pews. It's just a giant open space. Again, get the skip the line tickets or be prepared to be in line for hours.

My wife and I did an Italy trip a few years ago. We spent 3 nights and 2 full days in Rome and felt like it was enough. We stayed in Trastavere in an AirBnB. We loved the area, very walkable and had a more residential feel than across the river near all of the sites. We would get a quick coffee on the corner and catch a cab into the city proper. Doing our research the only consensus we could find was to NOT stay near the main train station in Rome.

The first day we did a Colosseum and Roman Forum small group tour through Walks of Italy. We did the early morning tour and it was excellent. Took about 4 hours, we hit the Colosseum first before it was crowded, and then walked across to the Forum. We spent that afternoon seeing other sites in town- Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, etc.

The second day we hit the Vatican. We did a tour called "Pristine Sistine", also by Walks of Italy. We entered the Vatican complex before it opened to the public, and our group of 20 or so had about 15 mins inside the Chapel where it was just us. It was awesome. Our group then did a full tour of the Vatican, and made a quick pass through the Chapel again- and this time it was shoulder to shoulder.

The tour ended inside St. Peter's and we also had the Scavi tour lined up that afternoon. Caught a cab back into Rome, walked among the ruins for a bit and saw a nice sunset. We headed out the next morning. We felt like the 2 full days was enough to see everything we wanted.

Thank you all a ton for the replies. Def will pony up for a good experience. Sistine chapel has been on my bucket list a very long time so I want to enjoy it. From what I’ve read I can’t take pictures but I’m good with that. The long lost art of just being in a moment vs having a dumbass phone out needs to make a comeback. But it won’t.

Thanks again.

Took my son a few years ago. He chipped in and got us a Private Tour Guide for the Vatican. That was well worth it.

Everything around the Campo di Fiori is great. I stayed a block off of it in October. It's a market during the day and by 5pm they are clearing out, and it becomes an open air piazza surrounded by great restaurants with outdoor seating.

Near the Piazza Navona is great also, but I am partial to Campo.

We are also debating doing a day trip to Pompeii

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jkylejohnson

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Not reading everyone elses comments first, but I will say, the wife and I wished we would have spent more time in Rome. We spent 2.5 days there. We will be going back to spend an additional 2-3 days.

I recently got back from Rome and stayed in an Airbnb in Trastevere. I really liked the area. Great food/ atmosphere and felt safe (had my 2 younger daughters with me). Here is the link to where we stayed. The master bedroom overlooks the oldest active church in Rome.

Rome airbnb

IMO, it really matters what's most important to you.

If I were going back to Rome I would stay in Trastevere, it has more of a residential neighborhood vibe than a lot of Rome. But that's what I look for when I travel, I want to hangout where people live, rather than the touristy places (obviously you have to hit up some of these like St. Peter's Basilica, the Roman Forum, the Colosseum, etc...).