Rome
Italy
Three thousand years of history on every corner
Photo by David Köhler on Unsplash
Photos by Caleb Miller, Chris Czermak, Chris Czermak and Spencer Davis on Unsplash
Best time to visit all of Italy
April to May, late September to October
Climate month by month
The next sixteen daysOpen-Meteo
Average high and low · °C
Rainfall · mm per month
Best months to visit This month · wettest 115mm in Nov
Where it is
41.90°N, 12.50°E Open in Google Maps
Things to do
Weeks of it- Tour the Colosseum and Roman Forum
- See the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican
- Throw a coin in the Trevi Fountain
- Wander Trastevere after dark
- Visit the Borghese Gallery
- Climb the Aventine Keyhole for the Vatican view
Rome travel tipsthe general rules
Currency budget Italy
Mid-rangeEuro country — no exchange needed from the Eurozone. Skip the change bureaus around Termini and the Spanish Steps, they take 10%+ in spread.
ATMs & cards
Use Intesa Sanpaolo, UniCredit or BNL ATMs. Always refuse the ATM’s offer to charge you in your home currency. Euronet machines near tourist sites charge €5-6 per withdrawal.
Avoid these
- Euronet
- ATMs beside the Trevi Fountain and Termini
Use these instead
- Intesa Sanpaolo
- UniCredit
- BNL
- Banca Sella
Look for the Bancomat logo — that is the Italian interbank network.
Wherever you are: if the machine offers to charge you in your home currency, decline. That is dynamic currency conversion and the rate is set by the ATM's operator, not your bank.
Safety all of Italy
Stay alertYou are very unlikely to be hurt in Rome and quite likely to be robbed. Pickpockets work Termini, the 64 bus to the Vatican and the metro relentlessly and professionally. Wear bags across the body, keep nothing in back pockets, and be most alert exactly where you are most distracted — boarding a bus, or looking up at something.
Where to walk, and where to pay attention (7 areas)
Comfortable, including after dark
Worth more attention
- Roma Termini — and the streets immediately east of it after dark
- Bus 64 and 40 to the Vatican, which are notorious for pickpockets
- Spanish Steps — and the Colosseum, for organised groups working the crowd
Our own assessment, not a sourced index.
Entry & visa Italy visa rules
No visa needed
Freedom of movement — no time limit, and no visa. Bring a passport or national ID card.
Other passports
No visa neededup to 90 days
90 days within any 180-day period, counted across the whole Schengen area, not per country. ETIAS, a paid online authorisation, is being introduced for these passports — check the official link for whether it applies to your travel dates.
Visa required in advance€90 (Schengen short-stay visa)
A Schengen short-stay visa is applied for before travel, at the consulate of your main destination.
How to get it: Apply at the consulate or visa centre of the country you will spend most time in, typically 15 working days ahead and no more than six months before travel.
Entry rules change often and depend on your passport, not where you live — the official page above is the authority, and the airline checks before you board.
Health & emergencies all of Italy
Excellent and cheapRequired to enter
No vaccinations are required for entry from Europe or North America.
Jabs worth having, and what happens if you need a doctor
Worth having
- Routine vaccinations up to date
Getting treated
EU/EEA and Swiss visitors are treated on the same terms as residents with an EHIC or GHIC card; UK visitors use a GHIC. Everyone else pays, and travel insurance is worth having for the repatriation cover rather than the treatment. Pharmacies handle a lot of minor problems directly and are the fastest route to advice.
Orientation, not medical advice — entry rules change and what you need depends on your own history. Check with a travel clinic four to six weeks before you go.
Food tip
OutstandingThe rule is simple: walk five minutes away from any monument before you eat. Order cacio e pepe, carbonara or amatriciana — Rome does pasta better than sauce variety.
Nightlife
Long dinners that turn into drinks rather than a club scene. Romans go out to eat and stay out.
- Trastevere — the classic Roman evening, and the busiest
- Monti — wine bars, five minutes from the Colosseum
- Pigneto — and San Lorenzo, for the student and alternative crowd
- Testaccio — where the actual clubs are
Closing: Bars 02:00, and the centro storico is quieter than its reputation.
A beer in a bar: €4–6
Piazza drinking has been cracked down on; buying at a shop after 22:00 is restricted in the centre.
Getting around
Workable- UberWorks here
- BoltWorks here
- FREE NOWWorks here
- IT TaxiWorks here
FREE NOW taxis, which is what Italy allows · IT Taxi the national taxi app · Uber Black and Taxi only — no UberX anywhere in Italy · Bolt taxis, in Rome and Milan
- From the airport
- Fiumicino to central Rome is a flat €55 by taxi, and the Leonardo Express is €14
- Against a taxi
- The app is the taxi. Uber Black is a different, dearer category.
There is no cheap ride-hailing tier in Italy — the law reserves the work for licensed taxis and NCC hire cars.
Time zone and your working day
Europe/Rome — 6 hours ahead of you
2 hours of overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are — 09:00–11:00 your time, 15:00–17:00 theirs.
No overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are. Working from here means one of you keeps odd hours — their day starts at 03:00 on your clock.
office hours both at once night
Their 09:00–17:00 is 03:00–11:00 on yours.
The difference from the UK, Europe, the US and ten more
Worked out against America/New York, which is where this request looks like it came from.
Internet speedall of Italy
What these numbers mean
Home broadband — Fast. Several people on calls at once, large uploads, 4K. Broadband here runs at 1.3× the global median of 130 Mbps.
Mobile data — Good. Maps, calls and streaming, and enough to tether a laptop for an afternoon. Mobile runs at 1.3× the global median of 109 Mbps.
A median is the middle of every connection tested there, old copper and new fibre together — so in a country part-way through laying fibre it sits well below what a fibre line actually delivers, and a rental on one can run several times this number. Half of the connections are slower; a fibre flat is rarely one of them. It says what a place can do, not what your rental does, so every listing on Holistay carries its own measured speed and the date it was tested.
Getting online: Airalo or Holafly — a data eSIM for Italy, installed before you fly and working the moment you land.
Source: Ookla Speedtest Global Index · measured June 2026
Must-see
Nearby day trips
Say a few words
Italian
- HelloBuongiornobwon-JOR-no
- PleasePer favoreper fa-VO-reh
- Thank youGrazieGRAT-tsyeh
- Yes / NoSì / Nosee / no
4 more phrases
- Excuse meScusiSKOO-zee
- How much is it?Quanto costa?KWAN-to KOS-ta
- The bill, pleaseIl conto, per favoreeel KON-to
- Cheers!Salute! / Cin cin!sa-LOO-teh / chin chin
Ciao is for people you know. With shopkeepers and waiters, buongiorno until evening, then buonasera.
Religion
Catholic
The Vatican is a sovereign state inside Rome. Dress codes are enforced at St Peter’s and most major churches: shoulders and knees covered, and they will turn you away.
Do's and don'ts
Do
- Say buongiorno rather than ciao to anyone you do not know
- Drink cappuccino only before about 11:00; after a meal it is an espresso
- Cover shoulders and knees to enter churches, including the major basilicas
- Validate regional train tickets before boarding or risk a fine
Don't
- Do not ask for parmesan on seafood pasta — it is a genuine culinary offence here
- Do not sit on monument steps in Rome or Florence; both cities fine it
- Do not order a coffee "to go" and expect it to be normal
- Do not tip beyond rounding up; coperto already covers the cover charge
Where to stay in Rome
No Holistay rentals in Rome yet — the platform is just opening up. Every listing here will have a video tour and the option to negotiate the nightly price directly with the host.
In the meantime, here is Rome on the sites that do have the inventory — each search is already filled in:
- Booking.com hotels, guesthouses and apartments — the widest coverage almost everywhere
- Airbnb whole homes and apartments, and the better option for a week or more
How to get there
Fly into Fiumicino FCO
32 minfrom the airport· 23 km as the crow flies
Leonardo Express to Termini, 32 min.
Also worth pricing: Ciampino CIA — low-cost carriers; 40 min by bus to Termini.
Google Flights · Rome2Rio for the trains, buses and ferries as well as the flights
