If you live reasonably close to the city centre, you can walk most of Rome.

Within the center + Vatican, walking has almost always been my fastest option for getting around the city.

The historic center is much more compact than it may appear on a map. The Colosseum, the Forum Romanum, the Pantheon, Piazza Navona, the Vatican, or the Trevi Fountain can all be easily connected by walking during the day.

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How I got around Rome

In a nutshell:

• Historic Centre + Vatican → on foot or by bus
• longer moves outside the centre → metro
• Trastevere → tram or on foot
• airport → train or special bus
• late evening → taxi

I used the buses when I was really tired. They are not very fast or clear, but ubiquitous in the centre.

Walking is often the fastest option

The metro tends to bypass the historic centre (for now, there is a part of the C line under construction that will also go through the centre).

The buses stand in queues.

And you mostly walk between the monuments anyway.

The whole centre can be covered in a relatively short walk.

I walked the whole centre in 3 days on these walking tours:

• 1️⃣ Colosseum -> Forum Romanum -> Monument to Vittorio Emanuele II -> Capitol -> Piazza Navona
• 2️⃣ Vatican -> Castel Sant'Angelo -> Gianicolo -> Trastevere
• 3️⃣ Galleria Colonna -> Fontana di Trevi -> Spanish Steps -> Villa Borghese
• 👉 Rome in 3 days: my plan to enjoy the city

If you are going to Rome for the first time, I would recommend a hotel nearby:

• Termini (the most practical transport)
• Pantheon
• Piazza Navona
• Trastevere
• Colosseum
• 👉 Here are my specific tips for hotels

View hotels in central Rome

Public transport tickets - what to buy?

Rome has integrated transport.

One ticket works for:

• Metro
• Trams
• buses
• regional trains within the city

Most common options:

Ticket	Price
100 minutes	1,50 eur
24 hours	8,50 eur
48 hours	15 eur
72 hours	22 eur
7 days	29 eur

💡 My experience: if you mainly walk in the centre, you often spend significantly less on public transport than you expect.

On one of my stays, I bought a 48-hour ticket outright and ended up taking public transport only 3 times in two days...

For current ticket prices, check the official website atac.roma.it/tickets-and-passes.

Where to buy tickets?

There are several ways to buy tickets:

• contactless payment card directly at the turnstile or reader in the car
• paper ticket
  • machines in metro stations or at selected bus stops
  • "Tabacchi" newsagents
• TicketAppy mobile app

Daily limit for contactless payment

I personally only paid with my own contactless payment.

It's the easiest for me - you don't have to do anything at all, you just beep and go. Of course, mobile/watch payments work too, etc. I pay with my Revolut card.

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Contactless payments normally count towards the so-called daily caps.

So in a 24 hour period you will never debit more than 7 eur from your card , in a 48 hour period you will never debit more than 12,50 eur etc.

Roma Pass - is it worth it?

Sometimes yes, but it certainly wouldn't pay off for me.

• A 38-hour pass for 38 eur
• 48-hour pass for 62,90 eur
• details romapass.it

The Roma Pass starts to make sense especially if:

• ✅ you use public transport a lot
• ✅ you visit more paid sights
• ✅ you will be in Rome for at least 3 days

If you're planning mainly walking and a few main sights, it's often cheaper to buy everything separately.

Metro? Yes. But not always.

The Roman metro is not London or Paris.

The metro is more for transport from the outskirts of the city to the centre, but it's mainly used by locals.

It is much less used for tourist travel than in other major metropolises.

If you are planning mainly the historic centre, you often won't use the metro at all.

My detailed experience of the metro and the city's trains is described in my article Metro in Rome.

Buses - ubiquitous but slow

Surprisingly, bus service is primary for the city centre.

But unless you are downright tired or have a disability, I would recommend preferring to walk.

While there are plenty of buses, they are modern and the stops are clearly marked, but the service is very slow.

Problems:

• traffic jams
• frequent traffic lights
• frequent closures and diversions
• unreliable timetable
• overcrowded buses

When you do use the bus, the Google Maps app works very well in Rome and was the only one I used to plan my trips around Rome.

How does the bus journey work?

• Boarding and alighting: you can go through all the doors
• validator for ticket purchase: inside the bus always at the door
• there are separate validators for paying the fare with a contactless card and for marking the paper ticket
• all stops are signposted: you must press the "STOP" button before getting off and wave to the driver before boarding

The buses are generally modern, air-conditioned and often have chargers for USB-A connectors.

The best routes for tourists

I used the following bus routes in Rome:

• 40 or 64 - from Termini station through the historic centre to the Castle of the Angels.
• 40, 64, 70, 170 - from Termini station to Piazza Venezia
• 118 - from the Colosseum to Via Appia and the Catacombs

Top 10 hotels in the centre of Rome

Trams: mainly to Trastavere

If you live near a tram line, they often work better than a bus.

Mainly because they don't wait in queues for a large part of the route.

On the other hand, there are really very few trams in Rome, and I've only used them practically on trips to/from Trastevere.

Unlike buses, trams tend to be quite old, poorly maintained and often hot.

How does the tram journey work?

• boarding and alighting: you can use all the doors
• ticket validator: inside the tram, always at the door
• there are separate validators for paying the fare with a contactless card and for marking the paper ticket

The best lines for tourists

• 3: Trastevere - Piramide/Ostiense - Colosseum
• 8: Trastevere - Historic Centre (Piazza Venezia)

Taxi or Uber?

There are taxis literally everywhere in Rome. Always - day and night.

The official taxis are white with the fares on the door. You can pay by card or cash and there is always a meter.

Taxis in Rome are safe and dishonest behaviour from taxi drivers is rare.

The prices are quite high though:

• Starting rate - 3 eur, 5 eur or 7 eur depending on time (night/day/weekend)
• Minimum amount - 9 eur
• 1 km - 1,14 eur, after reaching the amount of 11 € each additional kilometer is for 1,35 eur and after reaching the amount of 13 € each additional kilometer is for 1,65 eur
• If the speed is less than 20 km/h, the tariff is not calculated per kilometre, but automatically added 28 eur/hour of travel

Uber in Rome works differently than in many other cities.

You won't find the classic cheap UberX here. It's mainly the more expensive Uber Black or Uber Taxi that works - that is, hailing a classic taxi via the Uber app, but with a regular taxi fare based on the meter.

No other mobile ride-sharing apps currently work in Rome.

Night transport

Metro, trams and daytime buses normally operate until approximately 23:30.

Overnight, bus lines marked with the letter N take over.

For a map of the night lines, see this link: atac.roma.it/mappa-linee-notturne.

Transport planner and route maps

Official information about transport in Rome, ticket prices and more: atac.roma.it.

Clear maps of buses, trams and metro can be found here: atac.roma.it/maps.

I planned all my public transportation trips in Rome using Google Maps.

Compare hotel prices in Rome

Transport to the airport

Both of Rome's airports are further away from the city centre. The smaller Ciampino Airport is served by the regular public transport bus routes 520 and 720, for which you can use the public transport tickets above.

The larger Fiumicino Airport is only accessible by trains, express buses and Cotral buses, for which special fares apply.

Detailed information not only on transport to the airport can be found on the specific pages:

• Rome - Fiumicino Airport (FCO)
• Rome - Ciampino Airport (CIA)