Traveling alone in Rome

When I decided to go alone to Rome for 3 days, a lot of people start to say how sad and unsafe it can be for a 21 years old girl. Others just said that they wouldn’t be able to “jump” like this. Well, life is to be lived and sometimes we just need time to discover ourselves following your instincts.

As all the big cities I visited, Rome is a chaos. But when I mean chaos it is in a good way, full of life and energy. I admit, at the beginning I was a bit scared due to the area where my hostel was, in Chinatown, full with drunk men around and suspicious people. After finding my hostel and let my luggage there, I went to a free evening tour with “Airotour”. Joining to this tour was a really good idea, we passed by some famous places in Rome during the sunset/night, what was incredibly amazing, such as Piazza Repubblica, Four Fountain, President’s House, Trevi Fountain and Piazza Venezia, and meanwhile we were walking the guide was explaining important facts and curiosities about Rome’s history.

In the next morning, I met in a hurry a girl in my dorm who was traveling alone as well. In a jiffy she joined me to go to the Vatican with another girl who I met during the free tour. The three of us without knowing each other, went to Saint Peter’s Basilica and Vatican Museums. They are known for taking your breath away with its greatness and also for waiting 1 hour on average for each huge queue. After walking a lot in Vatican we went to another free tour with “Rome Free Walking Tour”. This tour covered other important places, Spanish Steps, the classic Trevi Fountain, Piazza Venezia, Roman Forums and Colosseum from outside. The time for having dinner was getting close and in Rome restaurants get crowded very fast and prices are higher, so we asked an advice about affordable places. Unfortunately, the transports in Rome are not as well developed as it should be, so we went by foot to an area with less tourist and more locals close to the Piazza dei Campani. Near to that, there are several pubs, bars and restaurants, but is difficult to get there unless is by taxi.

For the last day I decided to visit museums and for my surprise there are some tickets that have include other museums. The ticket for Colosseum allows the free entry in Roman Forums and the ticket for The Baths of Diocletian incudes the entry in Palazzo Massimo, Palazzo Altemps and Crypta Balbi, so I took advantage of it and walked around Pantheon, Piazza Navona, Largo di Torre Argentina and Capitoline. All of these places were incredible, even though it was in September, the weather was perfect for summer clothes and full of tourists.

TIPs: with 1 week in advance is important to plan the main things, such as, places to visit and transportations. There are several free tours in the city center, some of them is need to book before to ensure your spot. The best place when traveling alone is to stay in a Hostel, you can met easily other people from different countries, is interesting because normally they have been traveling around.