2 days in Rome

2 days in Rome is enough for the Colosseum, the Vatican and the fountains and squares in between, if you give each day one side of the river: ancient Rome and the center on the first, the Vatican and Trastevere on the second. You walk from one stop to the next and take the metro once.

This is the plan as we built it in Traypass for a sample trip in late November. We land at Fiumicino on Sunday evening and fly home on Wednesday, so the app counts four days: our day 1 is its day 2. Prices and opening hours were checked on October 25, 2026.

Colosseum

€18

About $20, with the Forum and the Palatine

Vatican Museums

€25

Booked online with a time slot; €20 at the door

All the tickets

€70

Per person, for the two days

Metro ride

€1.50

Never more than €8.50 a day with contactless

Day 1: the Colosseum, the Forum and the center

Start at the Colosseum at 8:30 a.m., walk through the Palatine and the Roman Forum, then cross the center to the Pantheon, the Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps for sunset at about 4:45 p.m.

Book the first slot. The €18 ticket gives you one entry to the Colosseum at the time you booked, and one entry to the Forum and the Palatine within 24 hours. Tickets carry your name, so keep your ID handy, and arrive 15 minutes early: you cannot go in at another time, and you can stay up to 75 minutes. Sales open 30 days before the visit; the only official site is ticketing.colosseo.it. The arena floor and the underground need the €24 Full Experience ticket.

Traypass lays the day out on a map and a timeline: the stops numbered in order, your hotel, the walks between them and the free time left over.

Matteo del Piano · Unsplash

From the Colosseum, the Palatine entrance on Via di San Gregorio is a 5-minute walk. Climb the Palatine first, then go down into the Roman Forum: two and a half hours is a comfortable pace for both. Leave by the Forum’s exit at Largo della Salara Vecchia and walk 7 minutes up to the Capitoline Hill, where the view from behind the Palazzo Senatorio over the whole Forum is free.

Nicole Reyes · Unsplash

Have lunch in the Jewish Ghetto, around the Portico d’Ottavia, 9 minutes away. Then walk 11 minutes to the Pantheon: it has cost €7 since July 1, 2026 (it used to be €5) and is open daily from 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., last entry 6:30 p.m. Buy at the desks or on the Musei Italiani app; 30 to 45 minutes is enough. On a Saturday, get there before 4:00 p.m., when ticket sales stop for the 5:00 p.m. Mass.

Nelson Rodz · Unsplash

The Trevi Fountain is 9 minutes away. Since February 2, 2026, going down the steps to the basin costs €2, from 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. (from 11:30 a.m. on Mondays and Fridays); at the gate you pay by card only. The fountain stays free to see from the square, and after 10:00 p.m., when the fee ends, you can come back to see it lit and quieter.

tommao wang · Unsplash

Walk 9 minutes to the Spanish Steps and climb to the church of Trinità dei Monti at the top for the sunset, at about 4:45 p.m. in late November. Walk the steps but don’t sit on them: it is not allowed, and fines start at €250. Spagna metro station, on line A, is right beside them; you will use it tomorrow.

Matteo del Piano · Unsplash

Day 2: the Vatican, Castel Sant’Angelo and Trastevere

Be at the Vatican Museums for the first slot at 8:00 a.m., see St. Peter’s before lunch, climb Castel Sant’Angelo for sunset and walk through Piazza Navona and Campo de’ Fiori to dinner in Trastevere.

Take metro line A from Spagna to Ottaviano, three stops, and walk 8 minutes to the Museums’ entrance. Tickets are €25 (about $28) booked online with a time slot, or €20 at the door; book only on tickets.museivaticani.va, as the museum warns about look-alike sites. Allow about three hours for the route that ends in the Sistine Chapel, where photos and video are not allowed. Cover your shoulders and knees, and leave your hat off; backpacks, large bags and medium or large umbrellas go to the free cloakroom.

Traypass leaves 45 minutes free after the Museums before the 15-minute walk around the walls to St. Peter’s, time for a coffee or the security line.

St. Peter’s Basilica is free and open daily from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. in winter. You first go through an airport-style security check under the colonnade, and the wait varies. There is no cloakroom inside, so carry only a small bag. The dome is open from 7:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. if you want to climb it.

Fabio Fistarol · Unsplash

After lunch in Borgo or Prati, walk 14 minutes from the square to Castel Sant’Angelo: €18, open Tuesday to Sunday from 9:00 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. and closed on Mondays. Its top terrace looks over the Tiber to St. Peter’s dome, and the sun sets at about 4:45 p.m., well before closing.

Mauricio Artieda · Unsplash

Cross Ponte Sant’Angelo and walk 15 minutes to Piazza Navona and Bernini’s Fountain of the Four Rivers, then 7 more to Campo de’ Fiori: a market in the morning, bars in the evening. From there, Ponte Sisto takes you over the river into Trastevere, and the square of Santa Maria in Trastevere is 11 minutes from the Campo. Stay for dinner.

Mariano Alvarez · Unsplash

Which days of the week work best

Put the Vatican on a Tuesday, Thursday, Friday or Saturday. On a Sunday, Monday or Wednesday, something on day 2 is closed or crowded, and on Mondays, Fridays and Saturdays a few day 1 times change:

If you can only book a later slot at the Museums, swap the morning: be at St. Peter’s when it opens at 7:00 a.m., while the lines are shortest, and see the Museums afterward.

Getting around Rome

Walk: on each day the stops are 5 to 15 minutes apart. Take the metro to the Vatican, and tap a contactless card or your phone at the gates: €1.50 a ride, never more than €8.50 in 24 hours. Tap on every change, use the same card all day, and use one card per person.

The Leonardo Express runs nonstop every 15 minutes, and you can tap a contactless card at the gates; metro tickets are not valid on it. The €55 taxi fare is for the whole car, to anywhere inside the Aurelian Walls: take a white Rome taxi from the official rank, as Fiumicino-licensed cars charge more.

Where to stay for 2 days in Rome

Stay between the Pantheon and Piazza Navona, or near the Spanish Steps, so both days start a short walk or a metro ride away. Our sample trip stays in Monti, 12 minutes on foot from the Colosseum. Prati is next to the Vatican, Trastevere is good for evenings, and Termini is handy for the airport train.

Before you go

Book the Colosseum (sales open 30 days before) and the Vatican Museums as soon as you have dates, both on the official sites only. In Traypass, bookings like these become tasks with a date, listed before departure.

On a US passport you need no visa for up to 90 days in any 180-day period in the Schengen area, which includes Italy. Your passport must be valid for at least three months after you leave the Schengen area and issued within the last 10 years; the State Department recommends six months. On your first entry you give your fingerprints and a photo at the border. ETIAS, the EU’s travel authorization, is not in operation yet, so you don’t need it this November.

Italy uses plug types C, F and L at 230 V: bring an adapter (a two-pin type C fits every socket). Phone and laptop chargers handle the voltage; US hair dryers and straighteners usually don’t. In November, lows in Rome are about 47 °F and highs about 62 °F (8–17 °C), with rain on about nine days: pack a small umbrella. Rome is 6 hours ahead of New York. The Traypass packing list adds the adapter for you.

Your two days in the app

Add your flights and hotel to a trip and Traypass lays them out in order, with each day on a map and its stops on a timeline. The itinerary planner builds the days with you. Going on to London? Here are 3 days in London, planned the same way.