25 Things to Know Before Visiting Rome | First Trip to Rome

welcome to Rome hi I'm Megan a travel content creator and I am visiting Rome for the very first time I'm traveling with my mom and we are going to tell you everything that we feel we did right and everything that we feel we did wrong so that you can learn from it now I actually majored in ancient Roman history and college so I'm super excited to see all of the historical sites but we also love shopping and food but before we get started make sure that you click subscribe so you never miss a travel minute [Music] I was really worried coming to Rome because I knew that my feeble attempts to learn Italian and Duolingo just weren't going to be enough if I had to speak Italian to get around fortunately I found in Rome that pretty much everybody speaks English so it's okay if you don't speak Italian that being said my feeble attempt said at least saying good evening and hello and thank you and please in Italian have certainly been appreciated and I find that whenever you travel someplace it's always a nice gesture to at least attempt to learn a little bit of the language do also have a huge suggestion I use Google Translate so when I'm in a situation where someone hasn't spoken English and we had to communicate in Italian I can just easily type it in to Google Translate and I can show the person I'm talking to what I'm trying to say and then they can type back and we can communicate that way so if you speak no Italian at all Google translate it's free it's a website and it will be an absolute Lifesaver for you this is why you never need to buy a new bottle of water when you are in Rome so these are called the Sony they mean big nose they get its name because this faucet looks a bit like a big nose now in the 1870s Rome wanted to bring fresh clean cool water to its citizens so it installed these all over Rome they're currently over I believe 2 000 and it's the same water that goes into home so it's totally clean you can refill your water bottle if you want or if you don't have a water bottle that is okay you can take your finger like this and it becomes a water fountain and it's so cool perfect for a heat wave while the nissani may be free it has been at least my experience that when I go out to eat it's impossible to get tap water you get a choice between still or sparkling water it comes in a bottle they do charge you money I've asked for tap water they've looked at me like I had a second head the horror of this even though I'm told that Rome has really wonderful drinking water so just be prepared for that and we've also noticed that some restaurants charge like a head fee for water and bread and olive oil so be prepared when you come to Rome you have to take a tour now I took a couple of tours with City experiences including one called Rome in a day it was a seven and a half hour long tour but you saw all of the major sites including the Coliseum the Vatican the Sistine Chapel the pantheon and the Trevi Fountain and I just thought this was really really fabulous because you get to get all of the you know postcard sites done and then you really get to take in the energy of Rome the rest of your trip when they tell you that Roman July is hot they are not kidding today it's going to be over a hundred degrees Fahrenheit so bring your sunscreen dress appropriately and be prepared to be out in the sun a lot oh and a lot of the museums and the attractions including the Coliseum are not air conditioned it's July in Rome and it is hot I'm originally from Florida this is hotter than what I usually experience growing up in Florida this heat is intense for New York heat so I just want to give you some advice so I bought this hat in Sicily It's a Wonderful hat it's light it lets the breeze through but it keeps the sun off my face now I also have this light little scarf this also doubles as something that can cover my shoulders if you go into something like a church or religious site you're going to need to have your shoulders covered but it keeps the sun off of my back which is really really wonderful of course sunglasses and then I have a very Breezy dress and that lets it's nothing is really tight on my body so that allows whatever Breeze there is in so just a little advice but be prepared it's going to be hot if you need one of those portable fans bring those portable fans there's no shame in doing what you need to do to stay cool in this crazy heat I'm just outside the side of the pantheon which is a religious site in Rome remember if you visit a religious site in Rome you do need to have your shoulders covered and some religious sites even require that you cover your knees and this is very strictly enforced in places such as the Vatican we took a tour at the Vatican and people on our tour who did not have something such as a scarf to cover their shoulders weren't allowed in until they went out to purchase a scarf so I I really love these just make sure that you are dressed appropriately you have either a shirt or a scarf to cover your shoulders when you enter a religious site hello puppy one thing that I was not prepared for in Rome was the crazy crowds if you're visiting any of the major attractions the Coliseum the Vatican the Trevi Fountain just be prepared for a lot of people I'm visiting in July I've been told that these are really crowded all the time but July is the height of the the crowded season now if you're visiting an attraction that is ticketed you want to make sure that you purchase those tickets well in advance get the time tickets get to skip the line tickets and this is a case where having a tour might really really help you I took a tour of the Vatican it helped us get timed entry it minimized that waiting time and you're going to want to do that well in advance so I'm from New York City I was not prepared for these crowds so you know you can't even like take a selfie without people here so be prepared right now I'm standing outside the pantheon you can see how crazy the Crowds Are to get in this is not unusual in Rome so you definitely want to make sure that you book your tickets to these attractions well in advance and I'm not talking about like the morning of I'm talking about a day sometimes even a week or more in advance this is a shock for me I don't normally have the issue of not being able to get into an attraction in New York City but here in Rome you have to book those attractions in advance in addition to visiting all of Rome's main attractions the Colosseum the Vatican make sure that you leave time to explore some of Rome's beautiful Parks especially in the summertime it can get really hot today the temperature is 100 degrees Fahrenheit so it's a great way to cool off also if you have kids kids are going to love running around in the Park using it as a playground right now I'm probably going to mispronounce it but we are in a place that I believe is called Pasa Jada Del pincio and they have a bouncy castle set up we saw a bunch of kids using that as a playground and having so much fun so it's a great way of seeing another side of Rome one of the biggest shocks to me coming to Rome from New York is how difficult it is to get a cab so there are these little cab stations right now it's very lucky because we have a lot of cabs waiting but there have been times when I have come and I've had to wait 30 minutes for a single cab to come to the cab stations now they also have things such as Uber where you could try to call a car but it's been my experience that when I tried to call a car even if a driver answers they'll cancel the trip and I end up having to wait 30 minutes anyway so just be prepared to allow extra time and look for these taxi stops stations when you come to Rome if you're looking for a car in Rome you can walk almost anywhere now on this specific trip we've chosen to not use the Metro we have taken a few buses we have taken a few taxis but it's been really impressive that almost every place that we've wanted to go in Rome we could get to using our own two feet now of course some of these walks have been closer to 40 minutes and every day we easily clock in between 20 000 and 10 000 steps so if you bring your walking shoes you'll be able to walk around and discover some really cool Treasures of Rome that you might not have noticed otherwise so we found really cool shops really cool restaurants and really cool historical sites that way so just know you definitely don't need a car I would be scared driving here you can get around using some public transportation but most of it can be done with your own two feet something else to watch out for in Rome is how tiny how tiny the cars come so close so you definitely want to be careful my mom definitely got her foot run over she's okay but this is something that I'm certainly not used to how close the cars come to you how tiny the sidewalks are and I've been told by some local Romans that even at crosswalks the street signs are more like suggestions for both cars and pedestrians so be on your be on your A game walking around Rome when we first said that we were coming to Rome people asked us if we were going to rent a car and even at one point we were having some Transportation troubles getting from one point to another someone said well you should just rent a car what do you think of that Mom no way Jose this traffic is crazy it's pedestrians against cars against delivery vehicles against scooters against bicyclists no way a narrow narrow narrow twisty to me so our recommendation is the Caps take public transportation use your own two feet but not rent cars I don't care what anybody says when you come to Rome my suggestion is to bring your sneakers and wear your sneakers all the time you can see the ground's not always level you're going to be walking a lot sometimes over cobblestone streets so you're going to be so much more comfortable and so much more happy in sneakers the other thing is when it comes to you know blending in with locals I usually ask my tour guys I've taken two tours and both tour guides they were wearing sneakers and I asked them you know do locals wear sneakers and they said maybe they don't wear sneakers so much but when you're touring when you're walking when you're acting as a guide you have to wear sneakers and it's not going to make you stand out as a tourist so wear your sneakers with pride talking about why you should wear sneakers we're walking back and we saw that somebody had lost both of their shoe heels wanted to take a moment to give these bags a shout out I know that they are not Gucci I know that they are not Chloe they might not be the trendiest but these are Travelon bags and they are pickpocket proof now what makes them pick pocket proof is the zippers actually hook on to these little clasps right here so it just makes it harder for someone to get in because they have to actually unzip it now this one has three different Pockets I'm able to carry my camera my microphone my phone an extra battery a bottle of water sunglasses Keys all sorts of stuff in here and it's worked great I gave a little flare with my scarf and then my mom's is a little bit bigger it's wonderful because it has this exterior water bottle pouch and it also has this little back pocket here so they've been really really wonderful for a trip to Rome you can get them at Amazon or Macy's I'll try to put a link in the comments also I will never travel without air tags again these have been a total Game Changer I put one in my bag whenever I go out to be totally honest I have found every single person in Rome to be so friendly um when I was watching YouTube videos people were like oh my God there's tons of pickpockets we have 24 hours left but so far my experience has not been that there are tons of pickpockets but I do feel really good knowing that I have an air tag in my bag so that if anything does happen including me just being forgetful and leaving a bag behind it's there I can also track my luggage with it which has been like such a game changer it gives me such confidence we've had a little bit of trouble at some of the airports and I was like I hope my bag makes it onto the plane these air tags let me know that it was on the plane it was that baggage claim so air attacks a must for travel when you visit Rome something to know is that hotels by law have to ask you for your passport so just have your passport ready to show they're not checking you out it's just part of the law also by law in Italy different cities have to charge a different amount per person per night of your stay that's not included in the original hotel bill so for us it's about seven euro per night it's not a scam just know when you get that bill it is something that's required in Italy by law I love to shop my favorite place that I found to shop in Rome is around the Spanish Steps as you can see there's all these crazy high-end name brands around here but if you go just a little bit further in there are all these like little streets where you can find boutiques that have things you can only get in Italy my favorite is a glove place where they make these gloves in Italy they're just the most gorgeous gloves in the world and they are right near the Spanish step so if you're looking for great shopping you want to come to the area around the Spanish Steps once you visit Rome my suggestion is that you want to keep sufficient cash on hand and places where you might need to use cash it's been my experience that if we take a cab a lot of times the cab drivers won't take credit card so you really want to have cash on hand for that and also there are situations where we have wanted to tip tip the house cleaning staff tip the concierge tip your tour guide and of course Italy doesn't have the same sort of tipping culture that the United States does but there have certainly been times when a tip was appropriate and you really need to have cash on hand for that so whether you come to Italy and you use an ATM here or you get your cash before you fly over to Italy just make sure that you have some cash in terms of tipping in Italy it's been so strange because in New York City we have a huge tipping culture we tip for everything now in Italy my understanding is it's not that same way everyone is paid a living wage so your waiters paid a living wage and of course no one's going to be upset if you leave a tip but it's not the same situation as it is in the United States it's where the waiter won't eat if you don't leave a tip I think it's a nice gesture to maybe leave a Euro or two if the service was really great and I do think that you still need to tip your house cleaning staff if you're staying in a hotel your concierge if they do an amazing job and of course tip your tour guides we're at a restaurant that my friend recommended called bucatino This is the pasta bucatini which gives the restaurant its name it is phenomenal it's apparently pasta that looks like spaghetti but is shaped like a straw this is some of the best pasta I've ever had we got such big portions that even though I'm so full we've eaten so much it looks like we haven't even made a dent in it and if pasta gets any better than this my brain's going to explode the portions at least in my experience have been huge this is a half portion it's bigger than my head it is giant we're actually splitting one portion but when you come to Rome be prepared to eat in Rome a mistake that we made was not making restaurant reservations super far in advance a lot of the restaurant recommendations that we got required that you had a reservation three weeks in advance so if someone gives you like a super hot restaurant you want to make sure that you get those reservations now the reason why you have to make these reservations so far in advance is because you tend to have the table for the whole night so instead of like a fast turnover in the United States you have this table for the whole night now right now I'm at a place called I'm going to mispronounce it but it's chichilia Santa Cucina this is seriously my favorite meal in all of row you have to come here it's where we are choosing to have our last dinner in Rome something that really surprised Us in Rome is what time people eat now in the U.S I typically tend to eat my dinner around six o'clock maybe seven o'clock here a lot of the restaurants don't even open for dinner until seven o'clock people eat very very late in Rome so one in Rome be prepared to have a late dinner this chocolate cigar is perhaps the most important lesson of all when you visit Rome we had so many restaurants that were recommended to us they were all amazing so many attractions so many tours right now I'm at chichilia Santa Cucina which we wandered into by accident I'm in shock that it's not sold out every single night because the food literally deserves at least one Michelin star if not three Michelin stars and look at how creative their food is it comes in this case with a chocolate cigar and some ice cream so my point is when you visit Rome don't be afraid to just go with the flow you don't have to get so stressed out about following the guidebooks and following the influencers and following what your friends say wander the paths sometimes your plan B is going to be better than your plan A and have fun it's your vacation live The Sweet Life in Rome when you visit Rome you'll probably find that there are thousands of tour books and thousands of influencers and thousands of friends who are telling you you know these are the trendiest restaurants that you have to eat at and these are the neighborhoods that you have to visit and it can be super overwhelming now I have personally found that every single recommendation that I've gotten has been wonderful however there have been times when we haven't been able to get a reservation at a restaurant or get into an attraction and we've just kind of wandered around we've wandered into a random restaurant a random shop a random attraction and it's been every bit as amazing as the recommendations so don't put so much pressure on yourself to have to do everything that people recommend let yourself just wander because that's how you're really going to experience the city the best and you might have some of the best most memorable and authentic experiences that way I hope that this video has helped you know what to expect when you come to visit Rome I hope that it helps you get your very best Rome travel experience if you enjoyed this video make sure that you click subscribe so you never miss a travel moment especially if you're visiting New York City I have hundreds of videos about New York city so thank you so much for watching and happy travels

Channel: The Megan Daily

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Keywords: 25 things to know before visiting rome, first trip to rome, things to know rome, things to know before visiting rome, things to know before traveling to Rome, rome, rome italy, roma, first time in rome, traveling to rome, rome travel, before traveling to rome, rome travel advice, rome travel guide, travel to rome, first time visit to rome, travel to italy, rome travel video, italy travel video, rome guide, rome tourist advice, rome advice, rome vacation, rome trip, italia

Id: PbKU3_YMpA0

Length: 20min 0sec (1200 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 06 2023