Rome recommendations

My Top 10 list of things I can recommend you when visiting Rome:

1. Plan at least five days to visit. The eternal city has a magnificent past which should be respected. You can see Rome in fewer days, but if you want to enjoy la Dolce Vita, you need time to relax.
2. Circus Maximus, Palatine Hill, Forum Romanum and Colosseum take at least 4 hours to visit! Take a deep breath and dive into ancient Roman history. For 12 Euro you can buy a combination ticket for Palatine Hill, Forum Romanum and Colosseum which is valid on two days.
3. Rome has a good metro (metropolitan railway) connection with two lines A and B. Line C is planned. Metro is full during rush-hour in the morning and in the evening when the children go to school or the adults go to work.
   And the Metro’s from Termini are almost any time overcrowded. Be prepared to be pressed in, and to miss two or three metro’s before you get the chance to enter one.
4. A one-way metro ride costs 1.50 Euro. If you stay for almost a week, consider to buy the weekly metro ticket (CIS = Carta Integrata Settimanale). This ticket cost 24 Euro and is valid on the day of validation and is valid for six more days.
5. Although Rome has a good metro network, many attractions are only reachable by foot. So it’s definitely worth it to bring comfortable footwear.
6. Beware of pickpockets! If you look like a tourist, you’re automatically on their radar. They even steal things you wear close to your body…
7. Never give money to gypsies. When you put out your wallet, another guy (even little girls) steals it and will ran away (happened to a family member). So as hard as it sounds, just ignore them when they’re sitting on the street and shouting in agony.
8. Piazza Navona is a nice place to hang out. But be aware: Restaurants near tourist attractions are extremely costly! E.g. 6 salad and 6 small bottle of water close to Fontana di Trevi cost about 100 euro 🙂
9. Via dei Condotti – the street close to Piazza Spagna – is one of the most-expensive streets in Europe and contains the greatest number of Rome-based Italian fashion retailers. Dior, Gucci, Valentino, Prada, Hermès, Brioni, Armani, Ermenegildo Zegna, Burberry, Dolce & Gabbana, Cartier, Mont Blanc, Louis Vuitton and many more have stores there.
   Even if you cannot afford it to buy something there, you still can enjoy the buildings of the Baroque era in combination with modern fashion.
10. Taxi usually have flat rates to and from Fiumicino airport (prices vary between 42 and 50 euro). At the airport they also sell you taxi flat rates for 45-50 Euros to your hotel in the center of Rome. Don’t make this mistake. Those are Shuttle-Taxis… It can take you three times longer to reach your hotel, depending if you are the first or the last hotel on their way. Look out for the normal white-red taxis, the fares are written on their doors.