6 Days: The Complete Rome Experience

With six days you can take the Colosseum at a real pace. Arrive at 9 AM with your pre-booked ticket and spend a solid 90 minutes inside. Then cross to the Forum and take your time walking from the Arch of Titus down through the ancient city to the Senate house and Temple of Saturn. Climb Palatine Hill for the gardens and the views. By 1 PM, walk 10 minutes to Monti and settle into a trattoria for a long lunch. The afternoon is for wandering Monti's streets, popping into vintage clothing shops, and ending up at a wine bar on Via Panisperna. Aperitivo at Ai Tre Scalini is a Monti institution. Stay in the neighbourhood for dinner.

• Colosseum at 9 AM (book the combined ticket online, €16)
• Roman Forum, enter from Via dei Fori Imperiali
• Palatine Hill for views over the Forum and Circus Maximus
• Lunch in Monti on Via del Boschetto or Via Panisperna
• Afternoon browsing Monti's vintage shops and wine bars
• Aperitivo at Ai Tre Scalini or La Barrique
• Dinner at a Monti trattoria, no reservation needed on weeknights

The 8 AM entry at the Vatican is worth every euro of the booking fee. You'll have the Gallery of Maps nearly to yourself, and the Sistine Chapel is still quiet enough to actually look up without someone's elbow in your face. Budget 3 hours for the museums, then walk to St. Peter's Basilica. The interior is staggering. Michelangelo's Pieta is inside the first chapel on the right and it's behind glass now, but it still stops you in your tracks. Climb the dome (€8 for 551 stairs, €10 for the elevator-plus-stairs option) for the best panorama in Rome. Lunch in Prati, the quiet residential neighbourhood next to the Vatican where you'll pay half what you would near St. Peter's Square. Spend the afternoon at a slower pace, walking the Tiber embankment south toward Ponte Sant'Angelo.

• Vatican Museums at 8 AM (book online, €17)
• Sistine Chapel, head straight there to beat the crowds
• Raphael Rooms and Gallery of Maps on the way back
• St. Peter's Basilica (free, dome climb €8-10)
• Lunch in Prati on Via Cola di Rienzo or Viale Giulio Cesare
• Afternoon: Castel Sant'Angelo exterior and bridge
• Evening walk along the Tiber, dinner in Prati or Ponte area

The Centro Storico is where most people spend all of their time in Rome, but you've got six days so you can take it properly. Start at the Pantheon when it opens and just stand under the oculus for five minutes. The building hasn't changed in 2,000 years. Coffee at Tazza d'Oro next door, where the granita di caffe (frozen coffee cream, €2.50) might be the best thing you drink all week. Walk to Piazza Navona, then south through the alleys to Campo de' Fiori. The market is produce and flowers in the morning, tourist tat in the afternoon. Buy some fruit and keep walking. The Jewish Ghetto, just south, has some of Rome's best food, particularly the deep-fried artichokes at Nonna Betta or Giggetto. Hit the Trevi Fountain at 7 AM or after 10 PM, never at midday.

• Pantheon at opening (free, timed reservation required)
• Coffee at Tazza d'Oro (the granita di caffe in summer is legendary)
• Piazza Navona and Bernini's Four Rivers Fountain
• Campo de' Fiori market (morning produce, afternoon tourists)
• Lunch at a trattoria on the side streets near Piazza Navona
• Trevi Fountain early morning or late night
• Spanish Steps and window shopping on Via dei Condotti
• Dinner near Campo de' Fiori or in the Jewish Ghetto

Trastevere in the morning is a different city from Trastevere at night. Before 10 AM the streets belong to locals walking their dogs and grandmothers shopping at the alimentari. Start at Piazza di Santa Maria in Trastevere, where the basilica's medieval mosaics are some of the finest in Rome and free to see. Walk south through the backstreets to Testaccio, Rome's working-class food neighbourhood, and eat your way through the market. A supplì at Supplizio (€2.50), a porchetta sandwich at Mordi e Vai (€5), and a glass of house wine at any market stall, that's lunch for under €12. Walk up Aventine Hill for the keyhole and the Orange Garden, then down to the Baths of Caracalla if ancient Rome still has energy left in your legs. Back to Trastevere for dinner, when the cobblestone streets fill up and the atmosphere is at its best.

• Morning in Trastevere before the crowds arrive
• Santa Maria in Trastevere (the mosaics are extraordinary)
• Walk south to Testaccio Market for lunch (€5-8 for supplì and pasta)
• Aventine Hill: Knights of Malta keyhole and the Orange Garden
• Afternoon at Circus Maximus and Baths of Caracalla (€8)
• Evening back in Trastevere for aperitivo and dinner
• After-dinner gelato at Fatamorgana or La Renella bakery

You've earned a day out of the city. For Pompeii, take the high-speed train from Roma Termini to Napoli Centrale (70 minutes, €15-25 if booked ahead on Italo or Trenitalia). From Naples, the Circumvesuviana train to Pompeii Scavi takes 35 minutes (€3.60). Entry is €16. Bring water, sunscreen, and snacks because the site is massive and the on-site cafe is terrible. The Forum, amphitheatre, House of the Faun, and the Garden of the Fugitives (with the plaster casts) are the essentials. For Tivoli, take the regional train from Tiburtina station (45 minutes, €3). Villa d'Este's Renaissance gardens have 500 fountains running on gravity alone, and Hadrian's Villa is the remains of an emperor's countryside palace spread across 120 acres. You can do both in a day if you start early. Either way, you'll be back in Rome by 7 PM for a relaxed dinner.

• Option A: Pompeii by high-speed train (70 min from Termini, then Circumvesuviana)
• Pompeii entry €16, budget 3-4 hours minimum
• Highlights: Forum, amphitheatre, House of the Faun, plaster casts
• Option B: Tivoli by regional train (45 min, €3)
• Villa d'Este and its 500 Renaissance fountains (€10)
• Hadrian's Villa, the emperor's countryside retreat (€10)
• Return to Rome for a relaxed evening dinner

The Borghese Gallery is the best museum in Rome and also the most annoying to book. You need a reservation 2 weeks ahead, you only get 2 hours inside, and the €15 ticket feels steep until you're standing in front of Bernini's Apollo and Daphne, watching marble turn into skin and bark and flying hair, and you realize it might be the most beautiful thing you've ever seen. The gallery is small enough to see everything in 2 hours if you don't linger too long at any single piece, but you will linger. After the gallery, walk through the Borghese Gardens to Pincio Terrace for views over Piazza del Popolo and the city. Lunch nearby, then take the tram or bus to Pigneto in the afternoon. This former working-class neighbourhood east of Termini is where Rome's younger crowd drinks and eats. Street art covers the buildings, vintage shops line Via del Pigneto, and aperitivo at Necci dal 1924 (where Pasolini used to drink) runs from 6-9 PM. Your farewell dinner should be wherever you ate best during the week. Go back.

• Villa Borghese Gallery at 9 AM (book 2 weeks ahead, €15, only 2 hours allowed)
• Bernini's Apollo and Daphne alone is worth the ticket
• Walk through the Borghese Gardens to Pincio Terrace for views
• Lunch near Piazza del Popolo
• Afternoon in Pigneto for street art, vintage shops, and aperitivo
• Pigneto's bar scene is Rome's most interesting right now
• Farewell dinner: splurge at your favourite neighbourhood restaurant