Rome is one of Italy’s most popular destinations, filled with ancient wonders and artistic delights. But the draw of the Colosseum and St. Peter’s can sometimes mean overwhelming crowds, especially in peak season. Is it possible, you might wonder, to avoid the crowds?
Luckily, yes! there are still ways to avoid the crowds and experience the magic of Rome. Read on for some of the best ways we’ve found to avoid the hustle and bustle
1. Get up before the crowds
One of the easiest ways to avoid crowds in Rome is to get up before they arrive. Go out before breakfast to see Rome’s most famous sites like the Trevi Fountain or the Spanish Steps without crowds. Take incredible pictures and enjoy the freshest hours of the day, before a quiet breakfast after the other guests have left. While this works all year round, New Year’s Day is the best time to do it when the rest of the city sleeps in.
2. Pay more for exclusive access
Paying more is sometimes an option to avoid the crowds in Rome. Look for exclusive entrance to museums early in morning or after the doors close in the evening. Be the first people inside the Sistine Chapel or visit the Colosseum by moonlight. Special access tickets with limited numbers, like the passetto at Castel Sant’Angelo or the VR experience at the Domus Aurea are more affordable options, but they do sell out quickly.
3. Take a day trip out of town
A day trip is a great way to get away from the city and there’s plenty of choice! Rome is well connected by various types of trains that will have you away from the crowds in no time. The villas of Tivoli, the Etruscan necropolis of Cerveteri or the Castelli Romani are all less than an hour away by regional train. InterCity trains are perfect to reach Assisi or Orvieto in under 2 hours, or book a high speed train for a day in Medieval Bologna.
4. Visit smaller museums
Rome has over 100 museums, galleries and archaeological sites, though most visitors concentrate their time in the same ones. You’ll find many others free from crowds, ignored by tour groups and with tickets available on the day. Here are some we think you should add to your Rome itinerary:
- Explore Rome before the Romans at Villa Giulia, the national Etruscan museum
- Discover ancient art at Palazzo Massimo
- See Raphael’s ceiling frescoes at Villa Farnesina
5. Enjoy some free art
With works by Michelangelo, Raphael, Bernini and Caravaggio, the Vatican owns one of the most amazing art collections in the world. So it’s not surprising that Rome’s most intense crowds are in its narrow corridors. But you’ll also discover that works by these artists are visible for free around the city! Don’t miss Michelangelo’s Moses in San Pietro in Vincoli and some of Caravaggio’s most impressive works in Santa Maria del Popolo and San Luigi dei Francesi. And the prolific Bernini left a legacy of fountains and statues across the city, includes the ones made famous in Dan Brown’s ‘Angels and Demons’.
6. Avoid central hotels
While there are a few hotels with to die for views of the Eternal City, the view comes with crowds at all hours. If you’re hoping for a peaceful getaway, avoid hotels next to monuments or top-rated restaurants. Look at accommodation options on the quiet streets of the Aventine Hills, minutes from the Circus Maximus, or hotels like The Hoxton behind Villa Borghese.
7. Travel in low season
Perhaps our favorite crowd-avoiding tactic is to visit Rome in low season. While November can be wet, by December the days have become clear, sunny and perfect for exploring Rome. Join the Romans as they enjoy their city when tourist numbers are low
8. Take a slow or sustainable tour
One of the easiest ways to avoid a crowd is not to join one! Avoid large guided tours promising to show you all the sites and opt for a local experience instead. See Rome by bike, join a walking tour of a local neighborhood or learn to cook from a Roman chef.
9. Avoid the weekend
Weekends can be extra busy as visitors arrive from across Italy and elsewhere in Europe. Instead of fighting to avoid the crowds in Rome, why not get out of town? Perhaps a wine tasting weekend in Tuscany, go to an ancient spa in Viterbo or get your hiking boots on and explore the towns of the Castelli Romani.
10. Venture outside the center
Be adventurous and take a bus or metro away from the crowded city center. The Romans buried their dead outside the ancient city walls, so this is where you’ll find the catacombs and some of Rome’s oldest churches. These are 5 places of our favorite crowd-avoiding places that we think you should add to your Rome itinerary
Appia Antica
Catacombs, Christ’s footprints and an ancient stadium, just some of the fascinating sites in Rome’s most beautiful park. Walk along original parts of the road that Roman soldiers travelled on their way to conquer northern Africa. Although close to the center, you’ll soon feel like you’re in the countryside, surrounded by green fields and the occasional flock of sheep blocking the way!
Ostia Antica
Rome’s ancient port, where ships once arrived from across the empire bringing people and goods, is the perfect escape when Rome gets too crowded. Just a 30-minute train ride from the city center, the ruins of the town are a world away from the monuments of Rome. Despite being used as building materials by later Romans, the site remains a fascinating look at ancient life and an easy half-day trip. Visitors are free to wander among the ancient houses, shops and temples. Don’t miss the Greek theater (still used for performances in the summer), the many mithraeums or the painted houses.
The site can be popular with school classes in the morning and while it’s big enough to avoid them, it’s generally quieter in the afternoons.
San Paolo & Centrale Montemartini
The Basilica of St. Paul’s outside the Walls is built over the necropolis where St. Paul was buried and there’s a convenient metro stop right outside. Spend an hour wandering around the basilica – the only one in Rome that wasn’t redesigned in the 16th/17th century – then walk towards Piramide and stop at Centrale Montemartini.
The museum contains ancient statues and mosaics from the stores of the Capitoline Museums, now displayed around imposing the industrial machinery of Rome’s first electricity plant. While none of the works are famous, the setting makes this one of Rome’s most charming museums, though there never seems to be more than a handful of visitors here at any time.
EUR
Rome’s business district won’t be quiet, but you’ll get an authentic look at modern Roman life. At the end of the blue metro line is an area of Rome started in the 1930s under Mussolini and finished in the 60s when Italy hosted the Olympics. The massive square structures, inspired by the city’s ancient monuments, lack all the elegance of the originals, but they are very big! Love or hate the Rationalist style, the square interpretations of the Colosseum and the Pantheon, the imposing columns of the Museum of Roman Civilisation (sadly permanently ‘temporarily closed’) and the ugly obelisk celebrating Marconi are all fascinating in their own way.
Verano
Rome’s monumental cemetery is perhaps the city’s ultimate peaceful escape. At the gate you can pick up a map of some of the more noteworthy tombs and occupants, or just wander around the shady ‘streets’. Some tombs are organized by ‘type’ – military, Hebrew, non-Catholic – while others are divided by date, showing changing architectural tastes. Don’t miss the Basilica of San Lorenzo next to the main entrance, one of the city’s oldest churches. It closes for a long lunch, so time your visit carefully.
