The best things to do in Rome, hand-picked
Only the best, and only one of each: the version we would book ourselves, picked from the many sold like it. We do the research, so you don’t have to.
4.7/5
151,500+ GetYourGuide reviews of the 10 experiences we list
Average of the ratings GetYourGuide publishes, weighted by review count; read 23 October 2026.
The Better Trip Editorial Team · Last checked: October 2026
Ancient Rome
The ColosseumColosseum, Roman Forum and Palatine with a guide
The official ticket costs 18 euros; this tour costs 59 and puts a licensed guide in front of the Colosseum, the Forum and the Palatine for two and a half hours. For a first visit, that is the money well spent. Add the arena floor if you can.
From €594.8(93,382)Free cancellation
The PantheonThe Pantheon, with the official audio guide
Since 1 July 2026 the Pantheon costs 7 euros. On most dates this ticket costs the same and adds the official audio guide, in twelve languages. That makes it the best value on this list.
From €74.4(31,915)Free cancellation
The castleCastel Sant'Angelo, with the rooms that are usually shut
The official ticket is 18 euros and gets you the ramps, the papal rooms and the terrace. This tour, at 58, adds the parts of the castle that are normally locked: the oil stores, the prisons and Pope Clement VII's little theatre.
From €584.7(1,885)Free cancellation
The Vatican and the great art
The VaticanVatican Museums and Sistine Chapel before the crowds
The official ticket is 25 euros online. This tour is 109, and buys three things you cannot buy yourself: the first entry of the day, a group of ten or so, and the guides' shortcut from the Sistine Chapel into St Peter's.
From €1094.9(3,594)Free cancellation
Bernini and CaravaggioThe Borghese Gallery with an art historian
Rome's best small museum lets in 180 people an hour and sells out days ahead. The official ticket is 18 euros with the booking fee; this tour is 49, holds the tickets for you, and spends your two hours with an art historian in front of Bernini.
From €494.8(2,248)Free cancellation
St Peter's domeSt Peter's dome climb, with an audio guide
The climb is the best view in Rome and one of the cheapest things on this list. This ticket, at 22 euros, adds an audio guide in 15 languages and a host to the entrance. It does not skip security, so go at opening time.
From €224.5(2,387)Free cancellation
Eating Rome
Street foodStreet food from Campo de' Fiori to Trastevere
Two and a half hours, five stops, the snacks Romans actually eat, and a walk from Campo de' Fiori over the river into Trastevere. At 44 euros it is a light dinner with a guide attached, rated 4.9 from about 4,700 reviews.
From €44.104.9(4,698)Free cancellation
Cooking classPasta and tiramisù class by the Vatican
Fresh pasta and tiramisù from scratch, then you eat them, with wine and prosecco poured without counting. From 24.50 euros, it is the best-value evening in Rome, and the 8,800 reviews say it is fun as well as cheap.
From €24.504.9(8,769)Free cancellation
Beyond the walls
The Appian WayThe Appian Way and the aqueducts by e-bike
The half day that shows you the Rome most visitors never see: the Appian Way, a catacomb and the Park of the Aqueducts, on a full-suspension e-bike with a guide. From 75 euros, and the best-rated tour on this list.
From €754.9(1,856)Free cancellation
PompeiiPompeii from Rome by high-speed train
The way to see Pompeii from Rome without spending the day on a coach: 70 minutes each way on a high-speed train, a guide inside the ruins and a winery lunch under Vesuvius, nine hours door to door. From 160 euros.
From €159.834.8(810)Free cancellation
Can't decide?
Two of a kind, side by side: who each suits, what each costs, and when to do both.
- Colosseum: guided tour or the official ticket?First visit: the guided tour, for the Forum more than the Colosseum. Second visit, or a reader who has done the homework: the official ticket, bought the day it goes on sale.
- Vatican: early entry or the standard tour?If you only see the Vatican once, the extra 60 euros buys the one thing money cannot otherwise buy there: space. On a budget, the standard tour does the job, and the official 25-euro ticket does it without a guide.
- Pompeii from Rome: by train or by coach?The train buys you three to four hours back and a better lunch for about 90 euros more. The coach is the only way to add the Vesuvius crater in one day from Rome at that price.
- Borghese Gallery or the Vatican Museums?First visit: the Vatican, early. Every visit after that: the Borghese, which is the better museum and the calmer morning.
- Rome: food tour or cooking class?The walk shows you Rome; the class shows you an Italian kitchen. For a first trip, start with the walk.
How we hand-pick them
The way we pick hotels. First, the ten things worth a morning or a day of your trip. Then, for each, we price the official ticket against the tours sold on top of it, read the fine print and the reviews that complain, and route the walk from each of our hotels, and keep only the one we would book. None of them pays to be here.
If you book through our links we may earn a commission from GetYourGuide. It never affects which experiences we include. Operators cannot pay to be here.
Image credits: GetYourGuide