City guide · Italy
Rome
Ancient ruins, Baroque fountains, and perfect carbonara
April–May & October–November
Euro (EUR)
Italian
Europe
The guides
The best of Rome, by category
Rome stacks 2,800 years of empire, papacy, and la dolce vita into a city where you cross a 2,000-year-old bridge to reach dinner. The Colosseum, the Vatican, and Bernini's fountains are all walkable from trattorias still arguing over whose carbonara is correct.
The shortlist
If you only have time for the best
The single highest-rated picks across every category in Rome.
Hotels
See all 6- 1
Hotel de Russie
Piazza del Popolo / Campo Marzio
4.7★2,000+ reviews - 2
Hotel Hassler Roma
Spanish Steps, Campo Marzio
4.7★1,500+ reviews - 3
Hotel Eden
Via Ludovisi, near Via Veneto
4.7★1,500+ reviews
Restaurants
See all 6- 1
Roscioli Salumeria con Cucina
Campo de' Fiori
4.6★5,000+ reviews - 2
Armando al Pantheon
Pantheon, centro storico
4.6★3,000+ reviews - 3
La Pergola
Monte Mario
4.7★1,500+ reviews
Bars
See all 6- 1
Stravinskij Bar
Hotel de Russie, Piazza del Popolo
4.6★1,000+ reviews - 2
The Court
Colosseo, Monti
4.7★1,000+ reviews - 3
Jerry Thomas Speakeasy
Campo de' Fiori / Ponte
4.5★1,500+ reviews
Attractions
See all 6- 1
Colosseum
Celio / Monti
4.7★250,000+ reviews
- 2
Pantheon
Pigna, centro storico
4.8★150,000+ reviews
- 3
Vatican Museums & Sistine Chapel
Vatican City
4.5★150,000+ reviews
Where to base yourself
Rome neighborhoods, decoded
Pick your area first — it shapes everything else about the trip.
Trastevere
Ivy-draped lanes, nightly buzzAcross the Tiber, this medieval quarter of ochre walls and cobbled alleys centers on the glittering mosaics of Santa Maria in Trastevere, one of Rome's oldest churches. By night its trattorias and bars make it the city's liveliest dinner destination.
Monti
Artisan-cool near the ruinsRome's oldest residential quarter, minutes from the Colosseum, now mixes vintage boutiques and wine bars around the fountain on Piazza della Madonna dei Monti. It is where young Romans actually hang out among the ancient streets.
Testaccio
Working-class food soulBuilt around an artificial hill of ancient amphora shards and the old slaughterhouse, Testaccio is the keeper of true Roman cooking, from its covered market's street food to offal classics. It stays almost entirely local despite holding many of the city's best kitchens.
Centro Storico
Baroque theatre at every turnThe tangle between Piazza Navona, the Pantheon, and Campo de' Fiori is Rome's Renaissance and Baroque showcase, where every wrong turn produces a fountain or a Caravaggio church. Stay here to walk everywhere and have the piazzas to yourself at dawn.
Beyond the city
Day trips worth the ride
Tivoli (Villa d'Este & Hadrian's Villa)
45 min by train or carTwo UNESCO sites in one hill town: the Renaissance water-garden spectacle of Villa d'Este and the sprawling ruins of Emperor Hadrian's 2nd-century country palace.
Ostia Antica
30 min by train from Porta San PaoloRome's remarkably preserved ancient port city, a quieter rival to Pompeii with mosaic-floored baths, a theatre, and apartment blocks you can wander freely.
Castelli Romani (Frascati)
40 min by train from TerminiThe papal hill towns south of Rome, ideal for a long lunch of porchetta and chilled Frascati wine overlooking Lake Albano.
Eat like a local
What to order in Rome
Carbonara
Guanciale, egg yolk, pecorino, and black pepper emulsified into Rome's most jealously guarded pasta — never with cream.
Try it at: Roscioli, Campo de' Fiori
Cacio e pepe
Tonnarelli coated in a deceptively simple sauce of pecorino romano and toasted black pepper.
Try it at: Felice a Testaccio
Supplì
A fried rice croquette with a molten mozzarella core that pulls into 'telephone wire' strings when torn.
Try it at: Supplizio, Via dei Banchi Vecchi
Pizza al taglio
Crisp, airy pizza by the slice sold by weight, topped with anything from potato-rosemary to mortadella.
Try it at: Pizzarium (Gabriele Bonci), near the Vatican
Good to know
Rome essentials, answered
Three full days covers the Colosseum-Forum complex, the Vatican, and the centro storico fountains and piazzas; four lets you add Galleria Borghese and Trastevere at leisure. Book the Colosseum, Vatican, and Borghese before you fly — they are the three that sell out.
