Rome, Italy, is at the top of many of our travel lists. With ancient ruins like the Coliseum, gelato on every corner and the chance to see Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel, it’s no wonder that 22.9 million people visited The Eternal City in 2025, according to the Lazio Bilateral Tourism Board.
I just returned from a whirlwind 10 days in Italy. We had a fabulous time! We traveled to Rome, Florence, Pompeii and the Amalfi Coast. Visiting in spring is ideal because it’s before the full crush of summer tourists and temperatures are warming up. Most days were sunny and in the mid-70s, perfect for long days exploring the city.
While Rome isn’t Italy’s most expensive destination, visiting can come with a hefty price tag. Plus, the dollar is weak. The exchange rate was 1.25 US dollars to 1 euro, meaning exchanging $100 USD only provided 78 euro. With our last minute bookings and the exchange rate working against us, we did have moments of sticker shock. But with a little effort we found ways to be cost conscious and splurge on what was important to us.
Below, I’ll share 7 tips for saving money on lodging, transit, and tourist bookings in Rome, all tried and tested from our trip in May 2026. Rome is a beautiful city, and this list will help you navigate the terrain, regardless of the time of year you visit.
LODGING
Hotels are expensive in Rome, so choose wisely. Compare hotel sites and Airbnb options as soon as you have your dates locked in. We chose apartment amenities via Airbnb over smaller hotel rooms and have two neighborhoods to recommend.
For a cool Roman neighborhood where Anthony Bourdain hung out, consider crossing the Tiber River and staying in Trastevere. Knowing it was further from the city center, we chose to stay in the cute, centrally located Barberini. We stayed in an apartment surrounded by Italian shops and were only a 7 minute walk from Trevi Fountain. In Barberini, our Airbnb was $325 USD per night and hotel room was $155 per night. For a lower cost alternative, we met tourists who booked hostels. On Hostelworld.com, a shared dorm in Rome is around $70 USD, and a private double room is around $150 per night.
SKIP THE AIRPORT TAXI
When you land in Rome, skip the overpriced taxi and take the airport train. You’ll be rewarded with views of the rolling hills of Lazio on the relatively quiet, 30 minute ride. Airport taxis cost 55 euro regardless of destination, while the airport train is only 14 euro and takes you directly to the central train station, Termini.
Once we reached Termini station, we switched to the metro train and took it two stops to Barberini, where we stayed. The information desk at the airport helped us map the route.
Rather than spending 55 euro for a private taxi, we spent 15.5 euro each (adding the metro fare) and saved 24 euro. The train adds time but I liked that we were adapting to the city in our first minutes on Italian soil.
TAKE PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION
For your sightseeing day, get the 24 hour metro card. It costs 8.5 euro for unlimited rides. With each ride costing 1.5 euro, this is a great option. The sixth ride and beyond is free, and it saves you time from the agonizingly slow machines, and lines, to refill your metro card. We took the train to the Coliseum, the Vatican, and the restaurants on my hit list. The trains were faster than Ubers, especially during rush hour.
BOOK A FREE WALKING TOUR
Walking tours are an amazing way to orient yourself to the city and learn from a local guide. We’ve done free walking tours in San Juan, Mexico City and Barcelona and they’re always highlights for me. Google “Free Walking Tour CITY” to find them and sign up via the site. They’ll email you a confirmation and the meeting location.
As the name implies, it’s free to sign up and at the end of the tour, tip what you feel is fair. In Rome, our walking tour emphasized the political infighting and double crossing of the popes which was way more dramatic than I expected. The suggested tip is 10-15 euro per person. Here’s the tour we booked and loved.
BOOK TICKETS DIRECTLY
Be careful where you book entry tickets. There are plenty of hawkers re-selling tickets for double, triple and quadruple the true ticket cost. Most tickets for Italian heritage sites will be on government run websites that have a widget to translate to English. Italian websites end in “.it” for Italy instead of “.com”.
It can be a little confusing, so here is exactly what we booked. Tickets for the Coliseum were 24 euro per person. There are a few ticket tier options, and visiting the gladiator cells and surrounding archeological sites costs more. Our tickets were called the “Full experience and Arena” which included two levels of access. The website to book is called Parco archeologico del Colosseo, and tickets become available exactly one week prior to the tour time.
The Pantheon costs 5 euro per person. During the day, the plaza surrounding the Pantheon is extremely crowded, but in the hour or two before closing, the church interior was quiet and the plaza crowds thin. Book evening tickets on their website to skip the line.
The Vatican, the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter’s Basilica are all free but do require reservations. Reserve your Vatican tickets as soon as you have your dates. It is very popular.
GET AN E-SIM
Our T-mobile coverage wasn’t great for internet in Rome and we opted to get an e-sim. You won’t be surprised to hear me say – don’t purchase this at the airport. The airport sim card was 55 euro. At Termini Station, there were 3 cell phone stores where we compared pricing and found Iliad for only 20 euro (10 euro to sign up, and 10 for the coverage plan). Iliad is the lowest cost carrier (versus higher priced Vodafone and TIM) and we saved 35 euro.
This was worth it for us for 10 days of high speed internet. It took about 30 minutes to sign up in the Iliad storefront in Termini Station. Check your phone settings to find out if your phone is unlocked and compatible for an e-sim (which stands for electronic subscriber identity module).
VISIT TREVI FOUNTAIN AFTER DARK
The Trevi Fountain is an enormous, intricate fountain in a relatively small intersection. We happened to visit at 11pm, caught an evening lightshow, got to the front and skipped the ticket fee! During the day, there’s a 2 euro fee to get close enough to the fountain to throw in a coin. If you’re wondering why you’d want to do that: there’s a tradition that if you throw a coin over your left shoulder into the fountain, you’re destined to return. Lucky for me, my husband threw a coin on his first visit and I made sure to throw one for our return. This cute tradition is on everyone’s bucket list.
If you use these tips, let us know on Instagram @url_media. Stay tuned for my next guide on how to eat fabulously well in Rome, without breaking the bank. Ciao!
