When in Rome…save money and find as many Rome Travel Hacks as you can.
These last two weeks have been so much fun. My mum and my two favourite aunties came to the UK for the first time to see my graduate and to go on a grand European tour. I was their designated travel agent. I booked everything for them. Flights, insurance, Airbnbs, you name it. All they had to do was to fly here. And they did. I drove them to Manchester to Glasgow so they could attend my graduation. We traveled to Oban, stopping at Loch Lomond and Glen Coe. I mastered the skills of driving manual transmission on the other side of the road. Then, we headed to Rome and Vatican City.
Rome and Vatican City is rich in history, culture and religion. My family was in complete awe at the spectacular sights. They took about a million photographs, half of them being selfies. We toured through all the touristy sights, including St Peters Basilica, the Vatican museum, the Colosseum, Pantheon, etc etc. Keep in mind, these things can cost a fortune and when you add in food for a group of 4, things can add up. Italy is not cheap. Since I’m used to student travel, I kept my good habits of keeping track of my travel spendings. I even found a few Rome Travel Hacks along the way, and want to share them with you. You could call them more of Italy travel hacks, because these could be put to use in any city in Italy. So here are some tips to help you save when traveling to Rome.
Hacking Rome/Rome Travel Hacks:
Go during the weekday and in the off season. This is totally obvious, but trust me, it makes a world of difference. My family and I came to Rome in the middle of December on a Tuesday. Our first stop was St Peter’s Basilica, and we only had to wait about 20 minutes in the security queue. By the time we were leaving on Friday, the queues had doubled in size, and so did the crowds. I can only imagine how the weekends in the summer must be!
If you can’t go during the weekdays or the off season, get the Roma Pass. For € 38.50 for 72 hours (or €28.00 for 48 hours), you gain free entry to two museums or archaeological sites of your choice, free use of the city’s public transport network, and discounted tickets to selected exhibitions. Many museums are free in Rome, and it is possible this pass will only help you break even. However, if you’re going in the summer, this pass will help you save time waiting in line. Trust me, you’ll need it if you’re going during peak season.
Walk ten minutes away from all famous landmarks to find better food for better prices. The restaurants closest to any famous landmark like the Colosseum or the Fountain will have the most expensive prices. Just spend a little bit more time hunting down some cheaper restaurants. We found deals where you can get a bruschetta, a drink, a pasta or pizza AND dessert for only 12 euro!
If you’re an EU citizen/student under 25 years, bring your ID card. You’ll get discounted prices on places such as the Colosseum and the Vatican museum. I got away with using my recently expired Glasgow Uni ID and only paid 8 euro to go into the Vatican museum instead of 16 euro!
Not all gelatos are created equal. You can see a good gelato from a bad one. Look through the shops’ windows and see how full or empty their tins are, or how appealing the gelato looks. We had gelato every day we were in Italy, and had both bad and good experiences. Be picky, so you don’t feel like you’ve wasted a good 2 euros on a bad scoop!
If you go to a cafe, don’t sit in — instead, order at the bar. This was one of the Rome travel hacks that I accidentally came across. Sitting in to drink a cuppa will cost you much more than if you just stayed standing at the bar.
Drink the water. Way back when, the ancient people of Rome maintained quality drinking water to keep the Eternal City, well, eternal. To this day, public drinking water flows freely from the Nasoni fountains all around Rome, so bring your own water bottle so you don’t have to buy plastic ones.
But don’t eat the bread. Restaurants will bring you a basket of bread at the table and will charge you if you eat any of it. They won’t tell you this until you get the bill; but by then it’s already too late! Don’t make the same mistake my family and I did. Get them to take it back to save you from temptation. I wish I had known this Rome travel hack before I left!
If you don’t have a big appetite like Angus, go to an Aperitivo for dinner. An aperitivo is also known as a pre-dinner drink and snack. This consists of a low alcohol content drink to “open up your stomach” for dinner such as prosecco, Aperol or Campari, followed with an offering of nuts, olives, breadsticks, cheese and cured meats. Nowadays, some restaurants serve larger buffets of food during Aperitivo to get rid of some of their leftovers from lunch. It’s a win win for all of us — the restaurants get rid of food they don’t want anymore, and we save on dinner meal.
Do you have any tips and tricks or Rome travel hacks that we missed? If so, comment below!
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