Travel to Rome with me and discover all there is to do and see in this magical city in just under 5 days. From touring the Colosseum to eating gelato to roaming the streets at night, Rome has it all!

Don’t have time to read? Download the Rome Bucketlist checklist now and come back to this post later!

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Rome aka The Eternal City, was the last stop on my first ever trip to Europe to visit Yann. We started in Amsterdam, then drove to Paris, and lastly flew to Roma!

We spent 5 incredible days touring the ancient city and visiting all the infamous sites and walked our hearts out.  

You do A LOT of walking when in Rome. 

It’s also one of the best ways you can view the city and see all the sites without missing anything!

Fair warning, this is a long post as I detail our entire journey from day 1 through day 5. 

Read along to see everything we got up to and if you’re planning a trip to Rome yourself, I’m positive you’ll enjoy this post and get some ideas for what you can do and where you can go while there!

There’s also a checklist you can download at the bottom of this post that lists out all the places mentioned, as well as a few extra, for your own visit to Rome!

Day 1

The flight

The flight from Paris was gorgeous but a little scary on my end. We sat at the very front of the plane directly across from the flight attendant. 

They say you feel the most turbulence (or just any movement really) when you sit at the very front or very back of the plane, so I was quite nervous. I don’t like flying and I’m scared of heights, not a good combination to get on a plane right? But it’s the necessary evil I continue to dance with because it gets me to beautiful destinations around the world.

I’m glad to say, we had no turbulence and the views during the flight were fabulous.

Hello Rome

Our flight landed at Ciampino airport. From there, we needed to find the correct shuttle bus that would take us into the city. It wasn’t hard to find and luckily the wait for the bus wasn’t too long either. We stood along with all the other eager travellers waiting to get into the city and our bus came shortly after.

Right away, we were gifted with views of ancient ruins as we drove along and it was awesome. 

A short bus ride brought us to the train station. There we figured out how to purchase a ticket that would get us onto the public train and to our Airbnb. 

Yann and I hopped on the train with our luggage and had to transfer onto another train shortly after. 

We got on what we thought was the right train but unfortunately it was heading in the wrong direction. We got off, figured out how to make our way around to the other side, and got on the next train going back in the direction we just came. We were tired with all our luggage but just being in Rome had us both too excited to even get upset. 

When the train reached Manzoni station, we got off, exited the station, and walked the rest of the way to our Airbnb which was thankfully less than 5 minutes away!

Our Airbnb

Our host, Emiliano, met us at the gate to let us in and lead us down to the apartment. He gave us a little tour and a brief explanation of how things worked and where things were. He also gave us a big map with all the main attractions highlighted, recommendations on where we should start, where we should go and where to eat. He really went above and beyond, it was great!

Grocery shopping

We said our goodbyes to Emiliano and headed to get some groceries at the grocery store nearby. We purchased a few things to make dinner, some lunches and snacks. We didn’t buy too much, but kept it minimal. The best thing we bought, I will say, was a 2$ bottle of red wine! I was shocked that wine could be found for that price, which is totally unheard of here in Canada.

1st dinner in Rome

After getting a sufficient amount of things, we walked back to our Airbnb and made dinner. On the menu was pasta, because why not! It’s cheap, easy, and quick to make and thought it was a great way to commemorate our first night in Rome. We served it up with our red wine which actually tasted pretty good!

It had been a long day, and we had an early start the next day, so we called it a night and hit the hay.

Day 2

We woke up early and set out for the Colosseum. It was about a 15-minute walk from our Airbnb which was awesome!

Yann had purchased line bypass tickets with get your guide and we were meeting at 9 am. 

Line bypass is a must if you plan to go to the Colosseum because the regular lineup is crazy long and the wait is probably about 2 hours on any given day. 

It took about 15 mins from the time we met to the time we got inside which was great. 

Touring the Colosseum

We walked with our tour group for a bit and then broke away on our own. We literally took a gazillion pictures around the Colosseum. I’m not even exaggerating.

It was awesome standing in the ancient ruins and walking along the same paths that were walked hundreds and hundreds of years ago. 

What was surprising to me was how well maintained the whole building still was. Lots of walls still standing tall and all the nooks and crevices still intact.

From one of the many openings, You could see the Arc of Constantine and Palatine Hill. The views were truly amazing.

After about 2 hours exploring all the different sides of the Colosseum, we made our way out of the stadium and decided to go on our own walking tour to explore the city. 

Walking Rome

As I mentioned earlier, Rome is absolutely amazing explored by foot. 

Our walk took us all over the ancient city. We came across several ruins along the side of the streets which was really cool. We drank water from one of the many freshwater fountains scattered around the city.

Bocca Della Verità

As we continued walking along, we were gifted with a spectacular view of the city before coming up to the infamous Bocca Della Verità – which means “mouth of the truth”.

The myth is that if you put your hand into the open mouth and tell a lie, it will cut your hand off. But if you tell the truth, nothing will happen to you. 

People pay 2 Euros to have their try at inserting their hands and testing out their fate, we on the other hand simply took a picture of it and then continued on our way haha!

Basilica di Santa Maria in Cosmedin

Just next to the Bocca Della Verità is the Basilica di Santa Maria in Cosmedin, which we decided to check out. I was very glad that I had my scarf because you can’t go into any of the churches with your bare shoulders out.

The church was beautiful on the inside. I particularly loved the design on the floor and the arched columns that ran along both sides of the room.

Walking and walking some more

Yann and I continued walking the lovely ancient streets and saw many more ruins, statues, columns, and fountains. We stumbled upon some gorgeous pieces of architecture before making our way back the way we came to head back to our Airbnb. 

We walk back down past Palatine Hill, the Arc of Constantine, and the Colosseum before heading the rest of the way home where we had our meal.

Yes, that was our first meal of the day. Yann and I get down like that sometimes 😆. 

Now Rome at night is a must

The city is so magical and you never know what you’re going to stumble across. 

After our meal, Yann and I headed back out on the town to explore the city at night. 

We walked the same path that we were now becoming familiar with to go to the Colosseum and beyond. 

The ruins at night are all lit up as well as the squares and it makes everything seem so charming. 

We didn’t plan where to walk but just followed our hearts and allowed our feet to move us. 

That decision brought us to several different ruins, up beside Palatine Hill which has a completely different feel at night. We came up to Capitoline Hill, which is the smallest of the seven hills of Rome and is the political and religious heart of the city.

It also has a lovely water fountain and a beautiful floor in the center of the square. 

Then we visited Victor Emmanuel Monument, built in honour of the first king Victor Emmanuel II, who was actually said to be hated by the people of Rome.

The gate in front of the building is absolutely beautiful, we did not hesitate to have a little photoshoot there 😋

My favourite part of the night was stumbling upon the Forum of Augustus all lit up. There was some sort of light show happening which we caught the tail end of, so we made it a point to come back a little earlier later on in the week.

Day 3

Another early start brought us to visit the Vatican Museum without eating breakfast.

We took the train there, which thankfully didn’t take us too long. We were once again meeting with Get your guide for 9am.

Again, the line up was incredibly long but as we had line bypass, it didn’t take us long to get into the museum. Once inside, we split with the group and went on our way. 

Our time at the Vatican

We were there for far too long (in my opinion). I like museums and the opportunity to visit the infamous Vatican was awesome but I am not a huge history buff.

So 7 hours in a museum is much too much for me.

 Especially on an empty stomach!

We toured the crap out of that museum as Yann kinda is a history buff. He likes to read all the little signs and step into all the rooms.

Me, I usually read a couple signs here and there, take a look around the rooms, take in some paintings and sculptures and I’m good. 

We toured the inside and the outside, followed the very large crowd into the Sistine Chapel which was very cool but a little less wowing than I thought it would be.

Needless to say, I was very happy when we made our way down the beautiful steps signifying the end of our tour of the museum and out onto the street.

Finally free, let’s eat?

Instead of getting real food like normal people, we got some gelato. Surprisingly, it satisfied both of us, for the time being at least.

We honestly didn’t even search out restaurants but decided to walk the short distance to visit St. Peter’s square and visit the Basilica. 

St. Peter’s Square

The entire square, just like everywhere else in Rome was beautiful. There is a big lovely fountain in the middle of the square and the colonnade that is made up of 284 large columns and 88 pilasters surrounding it. It is a beautiful sight to see. 

On the end is the large and beautiful basilica with a big dome on top.

We waited in line to enter the church and were absolutely amazed when we stepped foot inside.

It was gorgeous! 

St. Peter’s Basilica

The ancient church is so intricately designed. From the high ceilings to the marbled walls, to the painted floors and the massive statues resting all around the room. 

I was truly blown away by all the details and just how staggeringly breathtaking the entire church was. 

It was honestly just amazeballs.

It was also extremely busy inside, so once we had our fill and had taken a sufficient amount of photos, we made our escape and headed back outside.

We saw some swiss guards in the official uniform which was pretty cool. They’re actually responsible for the safety of the pope and watch over the Vatican.

Missed opportunity

Walking away from the square, we ended up by the bridge overlooking Castel Sant’ Angelo. 

I’m so sad I didn’t know what the beautiful building I was looking at was at the time. If I’d known, I wouldn’t have admired it from afar, but gone up to take pictures of it and possibly gone inside.

Hopefully I’ll get em’ next time!

We hopped back on the train and made our way back to our Airbnb to get ready for dinner. 

Dinner at an authentic mom and pop restaurant

Our first dinner out brought us to an authentic mom-and-pop Italian restaurant. It was one that our Airbnb host had actually recommended to us and the food was perfectly delicious. 

Yann got the Carbonara pasta and I got ravioli and we paired it with some wine that our server suggested. The meal and service were wonderful.

After gobbling up all the food (and finishing the bottle of wine), we took to the streets for another magical night roaming the city.

Roaming Rome at night

If it’s even possible at all, our second night on the town was even better than the first. We once

Yann and I talked life as we explored and were so excited when we came down several steps, rounded a corner and saw the Trevi fountain! 

It was even bigger, better, and more beautiful than I expected it to be.

It was probably around midnight by the time we found the Trevi and it was pretty crowded. 

I never expected to see so many people there as it was so late but that just goes to show you just how busy the city is during the summer months.

The fountain was so magnificent, however- even at night, that I totally understand why anyone would gather there at all hours of the day.

I mean, we too were there after all.

After admiring the fountain for a little, we decided to start walking back towards our Airbnb as it was late and we had no clue where we were going haha. 

Luckily for us, we managed to find our way back without too much trouble. 

Day 4 

This was definitely our biggest and longest day exploring Rome.

Before leaving, we consulted our big map to figure out where we wanted to visit and what route we would take.

First, we took the train to visit another district in Rome and started our day at the Piazza del Popolo. 

Piazza del Popolo

This is a big and beautiful urban square with a big fountain right in the middle as well as fountains on either side. The name Piazza del Popolo literally means “people’s square”.

We walked around the square and took photos with all the fountains and the lovely architecture before making our way up to where we saw a bunch of people gathered. 

Usually, where there are lots of people, there’s 9 times out of 10 an awesome view. 

On our way up, Yann and I took photos with some statues on the way up and had ourselves a mini-contest as to who had the better, more accurate pose as the statue. 

Personally, I think I won. What do you think?

We finally got to the top and sure enough, the view we had over the Piazza was so beautiful. You could see almost over the entire city, I honestly wasn’t expecting to have such an amazing view.

There was a little park that we decided to walk through and the views just kept getting better!

 Trinita dei Monti 

We made our way back down to street level and ended up by the Trinita dei Monti which is located at the top of the Spanish steps, so we decided to take a tour inside…

Well, Yann did.

I was actually unable to enter the church and had to wait outside because I lost my scarf somewhere along the way that morning.

I was a little sad I couldn’t go in, especially after Yann emerged to say how beautiful it was inside. But he had taken my camera in with him and captured it all for me, so I didn’t completely miss out.

The Spanish Steps

What was really sad, however, was that when we came to the Spanish steps, they were closed off due to construction. 

So we had to settle for taking pictures in front of this huge wall of glass. The only upside was that we were able to capture these iconic steps with no one else on them. Gotta try looking on the bright side of things, right!

Now what you don’t see when people are posting their gorgeous pictures on the Spanish steps is the massive crowd walking just in front of it. 

The Spanish steps are located at the Piazza di Spagna and as you can see here, it is a very very busy square. 

I love to capture not only the beautiful and quote on quote “Instagrammable” sights, but also all the people that frequent them so you can see everything you’re in for if and\or when you decide to visit yourself!

The square is beautiful though and the buildings that surround it are extremely characteristic and colourful. I loved the dark shutters on all the windows.

Another thing I love doing is taking pictures of the street signs. 

It’s cool to see how different they are in each country. To me, some of them look like pieces of art like these ones here. 

I think the street signs in Rome are my favourite.

The Pantheon

We continued walking along through the beautiful narrow streets and came up to another basilica which Yann quickly took a tour of.

We sauntered through a little courtyard and came across this cute little display, which obviously we captured on camera.

Next, we visited the Pantheon which was just around the corner.

I honestly didn’t know what to expect when I visited this beautiful and ancient building. The tall columned building was magnificent up close and in person.

The Pantheon is nestled in the center of a square surrounded by pastel coloured buildings. It’s a wonderful sight to see.

I hadn’t actually thought about going inside the Pantheon before but just wanted to see it with my own eyes. 

When I saw the line to get in, I thought “ Oh yeah, we’re definitely not waiting in that line to go in.” 

But then I saw how fast the line was moving and we decided we shouldn’t miss the opportunity to go inside this extraordinary landmark.

I’m so freakin’ happy we made that decision because inside was absolutely spectacular!

Beautiful tall pillars, textured ceilings and large statues filled the inside and it honestly took my breath away. 

It amazes me on so many levels how structures of this magnitude were able to be built hundreds and hundreds of years ago. 

They didn’t have the resources available to us today, so I’m always stunned to see grand buildings like this with beautiful and massively tall ceilings and gigantic strong pillars that are absolutely amazing and have the craziest details ever.

After being shocked by the beautiful interior of the Pantheon, we headed out and continued walking along. 

Our first taste of authentic Italian pizza

We arrived at the Piazza Navona and it actually started raining, so we ducked into one of the restaurants that lined the square and decided it was a good time to get some food in our bellies. 

We opted for some authentic Italian pizza and (obviously) got some wine to go along with it because why not! 

The pizza was thinner than I imagined it would be but was so yumm and the wine was even better! 

We finished off our meal with some dessert and just in time for the rain to stop.

With the rain behind us, we made our way down the street and came across yet another basilica. Yann went in with my camera and I stayed out on the street. 

The Trevi fountain during the day

We walked over to the Trevi Fountain and boy was I shell shocked at the sheer amount of people that were there!  

We thought there were a lot of people when we visited the night before but man were we wrong.

It. Was. Crazy. 

This is what visiting the Trevi Fountain during the summer season gives you. Just fyi haha.

Truthfully, it was overwhelming, so we snapped some pics, made our wishes, threw the coins over our shoulders into the fountain and then peaced out of that busy area. 

We came, we saw, we left. Sooo many people.

Monument Vittorio

Next we walked along till we reached the Monument Vittorio, the same place we happened upon at night. 

It’s safe to say that just like the Trevi fountain, there was definitely a different type of energy during the day.

There had actually been a cruise ship that had just docked nearby, so there were A LOT of people out on the street.

You know what’s hilarious, I actually saw a coworker in the crowd. I’m not going to lie, I kinda hid from him because I didn’t want him to see me haha! He was kinda that annoying person you never wanted to get stuck alone with. It wasn’t hard for me to hide because I’m 5’2 and also there were sooo many people there. I was actually super surprised that I spotted him. It must have been my internal alarms going off LOL.

Anyway we took some fun photos on the steps before making our way into the building to take a look around inside. The whole place was just beautiful, the architecture was stunning just like every other building in Rome.

We made our way through the halls and up to the top of the building for some more amazing views over Rome. 

Gosh I really love this city. 

We ended our last night in Rome by the Colosseum and reminisced over the amazing week we had. 

Day 5

Can we even call this day 5? 

Our last day in Rome was short- lived. We actually packed up our things first thing in the morning and then had to catch the train, then the bus to get us back to the airport.

We said goodbye to our lovely Airbnb and to the amazing time we had in Rome.

Well that pretty much sums up 4/5? incredible days in Rome! Writing this post I was reminded of all the amazing things we got to see and I’m so grateful for the experience. 

What about you? Have you been to Rome yet? If not, what’s the first thing you want to see when you get there? Let me know below!

I hope this post inspired you like it re-inspired me and who knows, maybe one day, I’ll see you in Roma!!!

Until next time, stay blessed ♡

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 “Rome is not like any other city. It’s a big museum, a living room that shall be crossed on one’s toes.”

~Alberto Sordi

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