Activities

Things to Do in Rome

Guided tours, cooking classes, sunset cruises, and experiences that go beyond the standard sightseeing loop.

Experiences & Tours

10 activities

Underground hypogeum tunnels beneath the Colosseum arena floor

Colosseo Sotterranei & Arena Floor Tour

Special-access tour down into the hypogeum — the underground tunnels where gladiators and animals waited before being raised onto the arena floor by a network of lifts and trapdoors. Small groups, limited daily slots.

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Early morning light in an empty Vatican Museums gallery

ROM.002· activities

Vatican Museums Early Entrance Tour

Enter before the general public with a small group and a guide, walking the Gallery of Maps and Raphael Rooms in relative quiet before reaching a considerably less crowded Sistine Chapel.

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Hands rolling fresh pasta dough during a Roman cooking class

ROM.003· activities

Roman Pasta-Making Class

Hands-on class in a Testaccio kitchen — hand-roll tonnarelli, learn the emulsification trick behind proper cacio e pepe, and sit down to eat everything you made with a glass of local wine.

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Vintage Vespa sidecar parked on a cobblestone street in Rome

ROM.004· activities

Vespa Sidecar Tour of Rome

Ride shotgun in a vintage Vespa sidecar past the Colosseum, along the Tiber, and up to the Aventine keyhole view — a driver does the work while you photograph the city from the road.

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Boat cruising the Tiber River past Isola Tiberina at sunset in Rome

ROM.005· activities

Tiber River Sunset Cruise

An hour on the water past Isola Tiberina, Castel Sant'Angelo, and a dozen bridges as the domes and pines of Rome turn gold. A quiet, low-effort way to see the skyline from a completely different angle.

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Guide leading a small group food tasting tour through Trastevere

ROM.006· activities

Trastevere Food & Wine Walking Tour

A three-hour crawl through Trastevere's back streets — supplì, pizza al taglio, a cheese-and-salumi stop, and enough local wine to make the maze of alleys feel entirely reasonable to get lost in afterward.

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Cyclists riding the ancient paved Appian Way lined with umbrella pines

ROM.007· activities

Appian Way Catacombs & Bike Tour

Cycle the original Roman road out past pine-lined tombs and ancient paving to the underground catacombs of San Callisto — early Christian burial tunnels running for kilometres beneath the countryside.

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Piazza Navona illuminated at night during a Rome walking tour

ROM.008· activities

Rome by Night Walking Tour

The historic centre after dark, when the day-trip crowds thin out — Trevi, Piazza Navona, and the Pantheon lit up, plus the best gelato stop of the night worked into the route.

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Terraced fountains and gardens of Villa d'Este in Tivoli near Rome

ROM.009· activities

Tivoli Day Trip: Villa d'Este & Hadrian's Villa

A full day out to the hill town of Tivoli — the Renaissance fountains and terraced gardens of Villa d'Este in the morning, the vast ruins of Hadrian's country retreat in the afternoon. Coach transfer included.

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Rowboats on the lake in Villa Borghese park in Rome

ROM.010· activities

Villa Borghese Bike & Rowboat Rental

Rome's central park on two wheels or on the water — pedal the tree-lined avenues past the Pincio terrace, or rent a rowboat on the little lake by the Temple of Aesculapius. The easiest half-day with kids in the city.

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Top Pick

Explore Beyond the City

Day trips from Rome unlock Tivoli's villas, the ruins of Ostia Antica, and the hill towns of Lazio — each reachable in under two hours from the centre.

Read the Rome Day Trips Guide Tivoli Day Trip — from $45 Ostia Antica & Countryside — from $39