Italy
Rome
Post-Jubilee crowds haven't eased off, summer heat is genuinely brutal, and a camera-enforced restricted zone will fine a rental car by mail weeks after you've gone home.
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- Entry
- Visa-free for 90 days in any 180 for UK, EU/Schengen, US, Canada and Australia — a shared Schengen allowance across all member states, not per-country.
- ETIAS
- Still not live — postponed indefinitely on 12 August 2026. Nobody needs to apply for or pay for it right now.
- Currency
- Euro (EUR)
- Best months
- April–May and September–October. July–August is genuinely brutal heat, and also peak crowds.
Checked 15 August 2026. Prices and visa rules change — tell us if something here is wrong.
Rome rewards a bit of upfront planning more than most European capitals: the historic centre's restricted-traffic zone fines rental cars automatically by camera, the city's marquee sights now require timed-entry bookings that sell out, and 2025's Jubilee Year pushed visitor numbers to records that, by every account, haven't come back down.
Entry rules, and the ETIAS confusion
UK, EU/Schengen, US, Canadian and Australian passport holders can enter visa-free for up to 90 days in any rolling 180-day period, shared across the whole Schengen area. Your passport needs to have been issued within the last 10 years and stay valid at least 3 months past your planned departure.
ETIAS is not in force. The EU postponed its rollout indefinitely on 12 August 2026 with no confirmed new date — 2027 is now the working expectation. There is nothing to apply for or pay right now; treat any site telling you otherwise as a scam. Separately, the EU Entry/Exit System (EES) — biometric fingerprint and photo capture at the border — did go fully live on 10 April 2026 and is adding real time to first-entry queues at Fiumicino and Ciampino.
Getting from the airport
Fiumicino (FCO) — about 32 km out
- Leonardo Express train — direct to Roma Termini, no stops, 32 minutes, every 15 minutes, roughly 5:38am–11:27pm from FCO. €14.
- FL1 regional train — cheaper, but stops at Trastevere/Ostiense/Tiburtina rather than Termini; confirm the current fare with Trenitalia directly, since it wasn't cleanly listed on the airport's own page at the time this was checked.
- Official flat-rate taxi — €55 to anywhere within the Aurelian Walls (the historic centre), set by the municipality and not negotiable. Only use the official white taxi rank.
Ciampino (CIA) — about 15 km out, no train link
- Official flat-rate taxi — around €40 within the Aurelian Walls.
- Terravision bus — €6 one-way, about 40 minutes to Termini.
- SIT bus — €6 one-way / €11 return, more limited schedule than Terravision.
Flat fares only apply inside the Aurelian Walls. Addresses outside that boundary can be metered instead, so confirm before you get in. And Uber in Rome isn't the budget peer-to-peer service you might expect from other cities — Italian regulation only allows licensed executive-hire (NCC) or taxi partners on the platform, so expect black-car pricing, not a cheap ride.
Where to stay
| Area | Mid-range/night | Good for | The downside |
|---|---|---|---|
| Centro Storico | €150–300 | Walking to everything — Pantheon, Navona, Trevi | Noisy at night, very crowded in season, no parking |
| Trastevere | €100–200 | Food, nightlife, atmosphere | Loud on weekend nights; cobbled streets are rough with wheeled luggage |
| Monti | €100–180 | Trendy, walkable, near the Colosseum | Hilly streets; fewer large hotels, mostly boutique/B&B |
| Prati | €120–250 | Vatican visits, families, calmer base | A metro or bus ride from the classical-antiquity sights |
| Termini/station area | €60–120 | Budget stays, early trains or flights | Genuinely rougher after dark in parts — a repeated, not exaggerated, local caution |
| Testaccio | €150–250 | A real, lived-in food-scene neighbourhood | Fewer major sights on your doorstep; you'll rely on transit for the centre |
Nightly ranges are directional estimates — check live rates, since Rome pricing spikes hard in peak season.
Hotels in Rome
Anywhere in Centro Storico, Monti or Trastevere keeps you walkable to the historic core.
Agoda is often cheaper for the same properties in this region.
Compare on Agoda
Same hotels, frequently different prices.
What things cost
| Item | Price |
|---|---|
| Espresso, standing at the bar | €1–1.50 |
| Espresso, seated at a table | add €0.30–0.70 (touristy piazzas can run €2.50–5) |
| Pizza al taglio (slice, ~100g) | €1.50–3 |
| ATAC single ticket (100 minutes, metro/bus/tram) | €1.50 |
| ATAC 24-hour / 72-hour / 7-day pass | €8.50 / €22 / €29 |
| Colosseum + Roman Forum + Palatine Hill (combo, 24 hrs, timed entry) | €18 |
| Vatican Museums (adult) — no booking / with skip-the-line booking | €20 / €25 |
| Galleria Borghese (mandatory reservation, incl. booking fee) | €18 |
Prices dated 15 August 2026. Colosseum and Galleria Borghese both require mandatory timed-slot bookings — not an optional skip-the-line upsell — and both sell out days or weeks ahead in high season. Turning up without a slot, especially at Borghese, risks being turned away outright.
Should you rent a car?
No, not for Rome itself. The historic centre is small, walkable and well served by transit, and driving into it risks a fine that lands weeks after you've left.
The ZTL (Zona a Traffico Limitato) is a real, camera-enforced restricted zone covering the historic centre, closed to non-permitted vehicles on weekdays roughly 6:30am–6pm, with separate weekend windows. Trastevere has its own, overlapping ZTL. Cameras photograph the plate automatically — for a rental car, the fine (typically starting around €80–100+) gets charged to your card weeks later, plus an administrative fee from the rental company. Electric vehicles are generally exempt. If you must drive, confirm the current zone hours directly with your rental company or Roma Mobilità before you get behind the wheel.
An International Driving Permit is recommended alongside your home licence regardless of nationality — some rental counters treat it as a hard requirement, others don't, and it's cheap insurance against a refusal at the desk.
Compare car hire for trips outside Rome
Covers local Italian agencies the big international sites leave out, and shows the excess before you pay — worth it for Tuscany or the Amalfi Coast, not the city itself.
Staying connected
Italy's main carriers are TIM, Vodafone, WindTre and the budget option Iliad. A prepaid tourist SIM or eSIM with a few GB of data typically runs €15–30 at an airport kiosk or city phone shop; compare a couple of providers' own sites before buying, since promotional pricing changes often.
Scams and traps to know about
- Costumed "gladiators" near the Colosseum pose for photos, then demand payment, sometimes aggressively — there have been arrests for extortion-style tactics. Don't engage.
- The friendship bracelet scam — a stranger ties one onto your wrist "as a gift," then demands payment.
- Restaurant overcharging — check prices before ordering, especially unpriced "market price" seafood. The coperto (cover charge, typically €1.50–3 at trattorias) is legal and normal, but combined with inflated tourist-zone pricing it adds up fast.
- Bus 64, from Termini toward St Peter's/the Vatican, is well known locally and among travel forums as a pickpocket hotspot — keep bags zipped and in front on this specific route.
- Unofficial taxis — use the official white taxi rank or an app; touts approaching arriving passengers are a real overcharging risk.
Laws and things that catch visitors out
- No sitting, eating or drinking on monument steps — this is an actively enforced local ordinance. Sitting or leaving luggage on the Spanish Steps can draw a fine; eating or drinking while leaning on historic fountains or church steps carries fines too.
- Don't wade or dip in fountains, including the Trevi — this carries real fines and has ended in a lifetime ban for at least one drunk tourist who jumped in.
- Dress code for churches, St Peter's and the Vatican Museums: shoulders and knees covered for everyone. Guards actively turn away bare shoulders and short shorts at St Peter's — a genuinely common trip-ruiner on a hot day, so carry a cover-up.
- A tassa di soggiorno (tourist tax) is charged per person, per night, for the first 10 consecutive nights — roughly €4 at 1-star properties up to €10 at 5-star, paid directly to the accommodation, not included in the booking price.