Pre-Cruise Roman Holiday

[yarramar]

I have been struggling to find an appropriate itinery for our upcoming stay in Rome prior to our cruise.

 

We are arriving at FCO 1.30pm after a seven hour flight from Dubai on a tuesday. The ship sails on Sunday and during our stay we wish to do the following:

 

• Hire a car and travel to Umbria for 1 night either 1st day from airport or on Saturday from Rome and leave it at the port on Sunday
  
• Take a day tour to Pompeii as we wish to do another tour from the ship on the day we are near there. This may be a tour or just a bus ride from Rome, thinking Gray Line for the bus trip there.
  
• Spend the remaining time seeing sights in and around Rome including Ostia and the Appian Way
  
• Stay somewhere in Rome which is handy and in walking distance to many of the sights of interest
  

Wondering if anyone has any good ideas for us.

[cruisemom42]

I strongly recommend getting hold of a copy of Rick Steve's guide for Rome. Not only does he have excellent walks and ideas for itineraries in Rome, he also outlines an easy day trip to Naples and Pompeii on your own from Rome. I haven't done it from Rome, but looks simple enough, if a longish day.

[euro cruiser]

I've done a day trip from Rome to Pompei by train. It is a very long day, but certainly possible.

 

From a logistics standpoint, I think it makes the most sense to rent a car and drive to Umbria on Saturday morning, returning the car to the port at Civitavecchia on Sunday afternoon. Also, that means you'll be driving when you are well rested and somewhat settled into the country, vs. after a long flight. Doing it the other way means having both the rental car expense plus the cost of getting from Rome to Civitavecchia, so it's more financially efficient as well. There's another financial benefit - you avoid the airport rental car tax, which was around 14% the last time I checked.

 

There are several locations in Rome where you can pick up a rental car and head north toward the A1 quite easily, especially on a Saturday morning.

 

Cynthia's suggestion is a good one, get yourself a good guidebook and start narrowing down your priorities. You'll only have three full days in Rome (Wed, Thurs, Fri) and you're already talking about spending more than one of them outside of Rome. You won't be able to see much in Rome with this schedule, so you'll need to plan carefully.

[texancruzer]

For an amazing location to stay while in Rome - check out Albergo del Senato hotel. You can reach out and touch the Pantheon from the hotel and all the sites are within walking distance. Very very nice area......shops, restaurants, piazzas etc etc..... ask for room 204 :D !!

[Susan-M]

If this is your first visit to Rome, I would suggest skipping the trip to Pompeii and enjoy the time in Rome. Three days in Rome, including a trip to Ostia Antica will give you a good length of time there, but definitely not too much time with all that there is to do and see.

 

With a long flight on Tuesday, and the driving that you'll be doing on Saturday and Sunday (if those are the days you drive to Umbria & Civitavecchia), I think you'll appreciate not spending another full day going to Pompeii and back, esp. when you'll be stopping in that area on your cruise.

 

Another vote for Rick Steves Rome guidebook (and his walking tour podcasts for ipods and mp3 players are excellent).

 

We stayed at this hotel ... great location! http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g187791-d488889-Reviews-Residenza_Canali_ai_Coronari-Rome_Lazio.html