Rome

Rome: The Colosseum Queue Is Not Optional, and the Trevi Fountain Now Costs Money

Rome is 2,800 years of continuous occupation compressed into a city of 3 million. Every neighbourhood has something extraordinary in it, and the challenge is deciding what to spend time on while accepting that the Colosseum, Sistine Chapel, and Vatican Museums require pre-booking or you will lose half a day to queues that serve no purpose.

Since February 2026, the Trevi Fountain charges a €2 fee for close access between 9am and 9pm, with capacity limited to 400 people at a time. It is still free to walk past it, but the timed access system has actually reduced the crowd around the water’s edge significantly. If you want the coin-toss-over-the-shoulder moment, book your slot.

The Colosseum and Forum

Standard adult Colosseum tickets cost €18. The full experience (including Arena floor and Underground levels) sells out within 5-10 minutes of its release date – 30 days before the visit, at 9am Rome time. Book at colosseo.it as far ahead as possible. On the first Sunday of every month, state museums including the Colosseum offer free admission; expect very large crowds on those dates. The Forum and Palatine Hill are included in the same ticket and are, taken together, more rewarding than the arena interior for anyone interested in how the city actually functioned. Allow 2.5 hours minimum.

The Pantheon

The Pantheon is 1,900 years old and structurally intact: the original coffered concrete dome, the 9-metre oculus open to the sky, and the original bronze doors still in place. Entry costs €5, pre-bookable at pantheonroma.com. The proportions are exact: the diameter of the dome equals the height from floor to oculus, producing a perfect sphere of interior space. Visit at noon when the sun comes directly through the oculus. The effect is not subtle.

The Vatican

Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel entry costs €20 for adults plus a €4 booking fee at museivaticani.va; skip-the-line access costs an extra €5 and is worth it. Photography inside the Sistine Chapel is strictly prohibited. The Chapel ceiling was painted by Michelangelo between 1508 and 1512; the Last Judgment on the altar wall was added 1536-1541. Visit Wednesday morning when the papal audience draws crowds elsewhere and the museum thins slightly.

St Peter’s Basilica is free to enter; queues for the security check run 40-60 minutes. Dome ascent costs €8 for stairs or €10 for elevator partway, and gives the best view of the piazza and the city skyline.

What to Eat

Roman pasta is four dishes: cacio e pepe (pecorino, black pepper, tonnarelli), carbonara (guanciale, egg yolk, pecorino), amatriciana (guanciale, tomato, pecorino), and gricia (guanciale, pecorino, no tomato). A plate at a decent trattoria runs €12-18. Da Enzo al 29 in Trastevere and Osteria dell’Angelo in Prati are locally-used and not tourist-optimised. Book ahead.

Supplì al telefono – fried rice balls with mozzarella that stretch when pulled apart (hence the telephone reference) – cost €1.50-2.50 each at rosticcerias throughout the centro storico. Suppli Roma near the Pantheon is the standard-bearer.

Where to Stay

Trastevere, across the Tiber from the centro storico, has mid-range hotels and b&bs at €90-160 per night and genuinely good local restaurants. It is 20 minutes walk to the Vatican and 25 to the Forum. Testaccio, southeast of the centre, is where the Roman food market scene survives; the Mercato Testaccio runs Tuesday through Saturday and has the best produce and prepared food stalls in the city.

October and November remain the best months: the summer crowd has gone, temperatures run 15-20 degrees, and the evening light is better than at any other time of year.