Rome · Things to do

One ticket covers all three and entry to the Colosseum is by timed slot booked through the park's own ticketing site; the Forum and Palatine are entered separately on the same ticket. Buy direct at ticketing.colosseo.it rather than from resellers, and allow half a day for the full circuit.

Open Monday to Saturday 8am to 8pm with last entry at 6pm, plus the last Sunday of each month 9am to 2pm with last entry at 12:30pm, when admission is free and consequently packed. Book only at tickets.museivaticani.va; the museums warn publicly about inflated third-party listings.

Open daily 9am to 7pm with last entry at 6:30pm, and free on the first Sunday of the month. It is still a working church, so services can interrupt visits and shoulders and knees need covering; the oculus is open to the sky, so it rains inside.

The Ministry of Culture park along the Appian Way, taking in the Villa dei Quintili, the aqueducts, mausoleums and the road surface itself. Opening days vary between the individual sites, so check the park's page before setting out, and go early because there is almost no shade.

Bernini's sculptures and a dense Caravaggio room in a villa in the middle of the Borghese gardens. Booking is compulsory and visits run in fixed two-hour slots with a capped number of people, so it never feels crowded, but there are no walk-ups and it is closed on Mondays.