pbiflyer

There is a Roma Pass that gets you into several of the sites without the lines. It also gives you 48 hours of metro service. It gets you into the Coliseum and the Forum. I think it gets you into the Baths of Carracala as well.
You want to get tickets in advance to the Vatican museum. You can get those through the Vatican itself.

I would recommend a guide for the Forum and perhaps the Vatican museum. If not, get an app explaining the sites.

rickg523

I'm with you. Unless it's a matter of restricted access, I like to explore on my own. I've found helpful audiotours I can download onto my phone that I use as general orientation. The few tours I've taken in Italy were booked online (through Viator or Walks of Italy), and on-site. They've all been fine.
Just as a point of information, the paid tours of the Colosseum access areas you cannot visit independently.

boybi

Is that the underground/dungeon area of the Colosseum? If I won't go to the underground area, do I still need a ticket to get inside the Colosseum?

rickg523

I think that's it, but I last went before the renovation so it may be more than that now. Should be easy to look up all the current details.
You need a ticket to enter, which you should purchase online in advance (include the Forum) so you can scoot past the usually long lines to purchase entrance tickets. (You can separately sign up for a tour right at the gates if you decide you want to. You'll likely be asked.)

boybi

Thanks rick!

Now, I'll need to find the right hotel. How's Hotel de la Minerve and Hotel d'Inghilterra?

WestCoastFlyer

They open the reservation process for the upper ring and underground guided tours on a Tuesday near the end of the previous month - although it says November doesn't open until Oct. 25 and it appears that you can book Nov dates now. The tours sell out quickly. See here for more information. http://www.coopculture.it/en/ticket....&id=0&evento=6

boybi

Although my travel will be next year, I tried to check the online tickets and it seems all tickets have been sold out until the end of the year (2016).

rickg523

When I was there - 2012 - there were sanctioned guides signing people up just inside the main entrance gates for tours that day. Including the underground level. Iirc, the third level was not open though.

Has that beendiscontinued?

rickg523

I'd never stayed at either, so I checked them out on Oyster.
Those are a different class of hotel than I have visited in Rome. I usually stay in Rome for two weeks or more and the daily rates for a couple of weeks are beyond my budget. So, I'm afraid I won't be of any use with hotels for you.
But I'm sure there are plenty of folks around here who can help out.
Have a great trip.

Perche

Either one of them, but Minerva is better located.

You are doing something wrong. There is not one single day between tomorrow and the end of the year where there aren't gobs of tickets available.

boybi

Maybe it's my browser? I cannot click on the dates, and there's a red box on each of the days, that's why I think they are all booked.

boybi

By the way, what sim card can you suggest for data? And I'm going to use it for 2 weeks.

Perche

It's not your browser. They release the tickets in blocks for a few weeks ahead. October 9th there is only 1 ticket left. October 10th there are 12 tickets available. October 13th there is 1. October 17th and 20th there are 12. The 21st there are 7. The 22nd there are 6. And so on. The seats for October went on sale September 22nd. The seats for November go on sale October 25th. The seats for December go on sale on November 22nd. They aren't selling tickets earlier than that. You just have to stay on top of it based on whenever you are going.

I don't think any of them are really good or efficient. I have TIM, but I wouldn't necessarily recommend it. It's really painful. Going to a TIM store to upload more data is worse than going to the DMV or post office. A few weeks ago I bought a one month plan with 1 GB, a lot of texts, no phone calls for about 10 euros. Now I'm back in the USA. When I go back to Venice in a month I'll have to go to the TIM store and buy another plan.

The TIM store is so aggravating that while the person behind the counter said he couldn't help me re-up more data unless I signed up for a longer plan than the one month plan, I called the TIM help line and asked them what to do. They said to go to a TIM store. I told them I'm standing in a TIM store, calling you, because they won't help me. It is very bad.

Google has come out with an international plan that I've been looking to check out. It's called Project Fi. Because I go back and forth so much, and TIM always means wasting the first afternoon at their store like waiting at the DMV because you lost your wallet with drivers license, I've been thinking of trying it when I go back next month. I wonder if anyone else has tried it. https://fi.google.com/about/plan/

rickg523

Might be time to consider T-Mobile. I just take my phone. International data is included. Not always 4G, but if I need it I can buy a packet via text.

PWMTrav

You need one of the specified Fi-capable phones if you want to go this route. Otherwise, functionality will be hit or miss. In the US, some phones will activate on the Fi SIM, but they'll generally stay on the T-Mobile network since they don't have the ability to switch between GSM and CDMA networks on the fly (Fi uses T-M, US Cellular and Sprint networks domestically). Abroad, not sure, haven't found many data points online.

Unless you have one of those specific phones, just going with T-Mobile and their international data service is probably a better bet.