Is A Rome Tourist Pass The Right Option For You? Here's The Best Way To Know

Whether you're just starting your Italian vacation in Rome or are planning to spend your entire vacation in this ancient city, there's so much to see. You could spend a lifetime learning Rome's secrets, but if you're only there for a few days or even a few weeks, you'll probably be running around trying to fit all the most famous and beautiful sights in. One way to pay for your admission to a lot of the city's top attractions is to buy a city pass or tourist card, which can get you into a lot of the most famous spots for free. But will it actually save you money? If you're only in Rome for a short time and you want to see everything, it just might.

Not all the passes give you the same opportunities, so you may have to do some research to decide which, if any, are right for you. For example, the $112 Rome Tourist Card lets you choose from some of the biggest attractions in Rome, with an optional public transit card. The Rome City Pass (Turbopass) gets you into a lot more sights, but it costs between $122 and $184 and expires between one to seven days, depending on how much you pay. The relatively cheap Roma Pass gets you free rides on public transit, free bathrooms, free admission to one famous attraction, and discounts on all the rest of the city's museums and archeological sites for two to three days for just $41 to $65. The priciest Vatican & Rome Omnia Card costs $165 per person, but grants access to the majority of the most famous tourist attractions, along with a panoramic bus tour.

Rome is packed with must-see churches, ancient ruins, and artistic masterpieces. If you only have a short visit, you'll probably spend more time cutting down your itinerary than you did coming up with it. The first step in determining if a city tourist pass is right for you is to see if your top attractions are on the list of ones you get into for free. Then, you'll have to add up to see if buying the pass is cheaper than buying the tickets individually. Even if the price of ticket admission works out to be about the same, the perks of the pass might make getting the pass worth it. It's also worth noting that buying tickets individually in person can mean waiting on extremely long lines, so if it's not more expensive, skipping the line on your top attractions is a perk in and of itself.

For instance, if you want to see The Colosseum, have a guided tour of St. Peter's Basilica, and marvel at the Sistine Chapel ceiling, all of those are available though the Rome Tourist Pass. Bought on their own, tickets for the Colosseum can be as cheap as $20. St. Peter's Basilica is free if you're willing to wait in line, but an English language tour plus a skip the line ticket can cost around $45. Fast track entry to the Sistine Chapel costs $44. Those three tickets add up to about the same price of the Rome Tourist Card, so if you're interested in the audio guides or free shuttles to and from the airport that come with it, it might save you a little money.

You probably know that the best time of day to visit big tourist attractions is first thing in the morning — but how many mornings will you be waking up in Rome? While not all Rome tourist passes have a time limit, a lot of them grant you unlimited access to certain attractions within a set period of time, be it a week or a single day. If you're spending a summer-long retreat staying with friends in Rome you probably don't want to pack all of your sightseeing into a short period of time. If you only have a few days before you dash off to the next stop on your big European backpacking adventure, a pass might be perfect for you.

For instance, if you're visiting Rome for two nights, it won't matter that the Roma+Vatican pass expires after three days — as long as you're willing to pack enough sightseeing into a few days to make the price of the pass worth it. If you're only going to be in Rome for a short time but want to use public transportation while you're there, the Roma Pass may be the ideal option, considering it provides you free access to the transit system. If you are staying for longer, you might still consider the Rome Tourist Card, since it operates more as a virtual place to buy all your tickets at once for a fixed price — but in general, the longer your visit the less likely it is that a tourist card will be worth it for you.