Budget Travel Rome
Rome is a great place if you’re on a budget.
It’s a city full of history, but vibrant with modern life and you can enjoy it to it’s fullest without falling for the many tourist traps that are awaiting you everywhere.
For great views of the Colosseum and the Domus Aurea have a walk through the Colle Oppio Park.
Scattered on top of the Oppian Hill Park are the remains of the ancient Roman Baths of Trajan.
The Domus Aurea was a huge landscaped portico villa that the famous Roman emperor Nero built (yep, the one that the now so famous CD burning software is named after…).
And the famous Colosseum itself - well, what can be said about it? You’ve seen it in a thousand pictures, but it’s magnificence can really only be fully grasped when you experience it first hand.
It’s almost 2000 years old now. This was where gladiators used to fight, and there were up to 50,000 people in the audience.
Another great place to explore for free in Rome is the Roman Forum. There you can see more 2000 year old ruins.
And if you want to see the famous Sistine Chapel for free - go there on the last Sunday of the month. The Vatican Museum is also free on that day.
Painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel turned out to be Michelangelos lifework, even though he didn’t really enjoy painting - his passion was always about creating statues (I guess that is why “David” is still mesmerizing people to this day).
Remember what the German poet Goethe said about the Sistine Chapel: “Without having seen the Sistine Chapel one can form no appreciable idea of what one man is capable of achieving.”
Unfortunately, there isn’t much time to absorb the beauty of the Sistine Chapel nowadays… it’s just so crowded there now with so many people passing and wanting to see it every day that you don’t have the time to truely appreciate it. But don’t worry, because everybody is so obsessed with the - admittetly amazing - Sistine Chapel, the other amazing things to see that aren’t as crowded.
Cheap Food In Rome
Food can be really expensive in Rome - unless you eat in the real trattorias. There you still get the real Italian culture and not the tourist spectacle that most visitors pay fivefold for.
Cheap Accomodation in Rome
Most budget hotels are nearly the main train station (Termini). However, keep your valuables safe in this area as there are lots of pickpockets.
