How to Visit the Best of Rome in 2 Days

Are you looking into visiting Italy but want to make your way around the whole Country in just a couple weeks? We spent 2-3 days in each spot and in this post, we share with you how we saw the best of Rome in just 2 days time. Make sure you bring your walking shoes because you’re going to need them especially with the cobblestone/brick sidewalks and roads throughout the city.

Our Rome Checklist:

1. Vatican, Sistine Chapel, St. Peter’s Basilica

2. Colosseum Tour

3. Spanish Steps

4. Watch the Sunset over St. Peter’s Basilica

5. Take a walk through the Villa Borghese Gardens

6. Trevi Fountain

7. Shop (or window shop) all the fancies

8. Rent bikes and ride along the river

9. Eat the gelato

10. Enjoy delicious Mexican food at Picos Taqueria & American Grill

Day One

1. Villa Borghese Gardens

We started our day by taking a walk through the Villa Borghese Gardens. This is a landscape garden in Rome that has buildings, museums, and many fountains and sculptures that you can pay to tour. We just walked around the park and enjoyed the beautiful day. You can also rent 4 person bikes to ride around the park and explore.

2. Spanish Steps

We walked to the Spanish Steps before our tour of the Vatican. This steep 135 step staircase is absolutely breathtaking, especially on a nice sunny day. The church at the top definitely draws your attention with its immaculate steeples. It was hard to believe this staircase was constructed in the 1700s. Sit by the fountain at the base of the staircase and enjoy a time of rest from all the walking. Then get yourself some lunch before you take on the Vatican tour!

3. Tour the Vatican, Sistine Chapel, & St. Peter’s Basilica

We highly recommend touring the Vatican, Sistine Chapel & St. Peter’s Basilica in the afternoon so the sun is setting on your way out when you are exiting the tour. St. Peter’s Basilica still remains the largest church in the world. We couldn’t believe its size when we walked in the front doors. The pristine architecture, colors, and textures in the church were overwhelming. We paid for a tour to not only skip the lines but also to hear about the history of the building of this church - it’s quite amazing the time it took to just paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.

4. Walk the Streets & Window Shop (or Literally Shop)

We spent some time “window shopping” on the main shopping streets in Rome. Their shopping district is full of high-end, luxury designer stores featuring clothing, handbags, and accessories. Think Louis Vuitton, Giorgio Armani, Versace, Burberry, Chanel, Bulgari, Fendi, Gucci, Jimmy Choo, Prada, Max Mara, Valentino, and many more. Do those names make you want to shop? Glad I didn’t cause we’d be broke! It’s still fun to see all the styles that you’d likely never see me in lol.

5. Eat the Gelato

You literally cannot end a day in Italy without gelato (or at least we didn’t). You know how you can find coffee shops or churches on every corner? Here it’s churches and gelato. No matter where we went, we were able to find a gelato shop. We may have gained a few lbs. from this trip (or 10) but we sure were filled with joy.

Day Two

1. Colosseum Tour

The Colosseum Tour is a MUST! This beautiful yet crumbling oval amphitheater is the largest ancient amphitheater ever built. The first thing we thought of when we entered the arena floor was the movie Gladiators so of course, we watched it that night when we returned to our camper. The structure was ruined by earthquakes and those who would rob stones from it but approximately 65% of it is still standing (per our tour guide). We stood on the arena floor and imagined the tiered seating being filled with those from all wealth ranks and superiority from the bottom to the top. Highly recommend touring the whole amphitheater including the underground tour.

2. Trevi Fountain

The Trevi Fountain is the largest Baroque fountain in the city of Rome. An iconic place to take a picture. This fountain is the largest fountain we have ever seen spanning approx. 160 feet wide. It’s name derives from the Latin word Trivium which is the intersection of three streets. In history, it was a terminal for one of the main aqueducts that supplied drinking water to Rome.

3. Rent Bikes & Ride the Bike Trail Along the Tiber River

We hopped on some spin bikes and rode the Tiber Cycling Lane along the Tiber River. This bike path is well-paved and well-lit which makes seeing all the cool bridges crossing the river all the more beautiful. Many people use this path as a mode of transportation across the city via bike/e-bike and for general recreation. You can get across town pretty fast without having to stop at traffic lights with your bike.

4. Watch the Sunset over St. Peter’s Basilica

It’s a strenuous walk but totally worth the view. There’s a garden/park at the top of Aventine Hill called Giardino Storico di Sant' Alessio. It overlooks the Tiber River and in the distance, you can view the grand dome of St. Peter’s Basilica. A must-see sunset setting behind the dome.

5. Eat Mexican Food at Pico’s Taqueria & American Grill

You can only eat so many carbs…We needed something other than pasta, bread, and pizza so we discovered this delicious Mexican restaurant called Pico’s Taqueria & American Grill. I mean don’t get me wrong…we LOVE pasta, bread, and pizza but I think eating it for 10 days straight was getting rough. We recommend using the e-bikes you can rent and pick up off the sidewalks like Lime, Spin, and other brands. They make it so easy to get around and are cheaper than a Taxi or Uber ride. We preferred taking the bikes over a Taxi/Uber because you can stop wherever you want to take pictures, sightsee, grab food, etc. And most of those bikes had phone holders for ease of navigating while riding.

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That’s our suggestion to explore the best of Rome in just two days’ time. You’re likely going to be exhausted after these two days but it’s worth it. We crashed pretty much every night around 9:00 PM. And in Italy, you can never have enough espresso! I think we had at least 3 a day and a bonus cause it’s inexpensive to get coffee in Italy (at least compared to home).

We hope this post inspires you, encourages you, gives you insight, and gets you to start planning your next vacation to Italy! If you have any questions or comments for this post, please leave them below and we would be happy to answer any questions you have!

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