We had 48 hours in Rome.
That sounds like plenty of time… until you start looking at everything you want to see.
The Vatican. St. Peter’s Basilica. The Colosseum. The Roman Forum. The Trevi Fountain. And then, because I wanted to experience something a little different, an underground tour that took us beneath the streets of Rome into a hidden world of ancient water systems and history.
So the challenge wasn’t simply:
“What can we see in two days?”
It was:
“How can we see the most important things without spending our entire 48 hours rushing from one crowded attraction to another?”
That is where the planning really mattered.
I Didn’t Plan Rome as a Checklist
When I plan travel for my clients, one of the first things I look at isn’t how many attractions can we fit in?
It’s how do these experiences fit together geographically, logistically and emotionally?
Rome is one of those cities where you can technically see a lot in a short amount of time—but if you aren’t careful, you’ll spend half your day waiting in lines, navigating crowds and trying to figure out where you’re supposed to be next.
With only two days, I wanted our major sightseeing experiences to feel intentional.
So I divided our time into experiences where having a private guide would add real value and experiences where a smaller specialty tour made more sense.
That distinction made a huge difference.
Day One: Vatican City & St. Peter’s Basilica
We started with the Vatican.
This was one of the experiences where I knew I wanted a private guide.
Why?
Because the Vatican isn’t just a place where you walk through rooms and look at beautiful things.
There is so much history, symbolism and context that you can easily miss if you’re simply following the crowd and reading signs along the way.
Having our own guide meant we could ask questions, slow down when something caught our attention and actually understand what we were looking at.
And then there was St. Peter’s Basilica.
The scale of it is difficult to appreciate until you’re standing inside.
This was another reason I didn’t want to simply rush through the Vatican as part of a giant group tour.
When you have limited time, I don’t necessarily think you need to do everything privately.
I think you need to be strategic about where private guiding adds the most value.
For us, the Vatican was one of those places.
We also came off an overnight flight early that morning. We were tired, jet-lagged, but could not waste a day. Having a private tour was much easier on our jet-lagged minds on the first day.
Day Two: Ancient Rome
Day two was all about Ancient Rome.
We visited the Colosseum and Roman Forum, two places that were absolute must-sees for me.
Again, this is where having a guide can completely change the experience.
You can certainly walk through the Colosseum and Forum on your own.
But when someone can explain what you’re actually looking at, how the spaces were used and what life was like here, the ruins become more than just beautiful photographs.
And that’s something I think is worth paying for when your time is limited.
We weren’t trying to spend three days wandering around Rome hoping we’d stumble upon the important things.
We had 48 hours.
I wanted to understand what we were seeing.
And Of Course…Trevi
No trip to Rome feels complete without seeing the Trevi Fountain.
This was one of those stops that didn’t require a private guide.
We didn’t need someone to explain how to look at a fountain.
We just needed time to stand there and take it in.
And yes, we threw the coins.
Because sometimes the touristy things are touristy for a reason.
Then We Went Underground
For our next experience, I deliberately chose something completely different.
We went beneath the streets of Rome and discovered a completely different side of the city—one that most visitors don’t see simply by walking from one famous landmark to another.
This is one of my favorite things about planning travel.
Sometimes the experiences you remember most aren’t the ones that were at the top of every “10 Things to Do in Rome” list.
Instead of another large attraction with crowds of people, we did a smaller underground tour.
They’re the experiences that make you stop and think:
“Wait…this is underneath Rome?”
And because this was a smaller tour, it felt completely different from the Vatican experience.
That was intentional.
I didn’t want two days of large crowds and major attractions.
I wanted contrast.
So Why Did I Choose Private Guides?
This is probably the biggest takeaway from our two days in Rome.
I didn’t choose private guides because I think every travel experience needs to be private.
I chose them because we had limited time and there were certain places where the added expertise was worth the investment.
For us:
Private guide → Vatican & St. Peter’s
I wanted history, context, flexibility and the ability to ask questions.
Private guide → Colosseum & Roman Forum
I wanted the ancient ruins to actually come alive rather than simply walking through them.
Smaller specialty tour → Underground Rome
I wanted a more intimate experience that was completely different from the major attractions.
Self-guided sightseeing → Trevi Fountain
Because sometimes you don’t need a guide. You just need to be there.
The Real Luxury Wasn’t Seeing Everything
It was not wasting our time.
That’s the part of travel planning that isn’t always obvious when you’re looking at an itinerary online.
You can find a list of every attraction in Rome in about 30 seconds.
But figuring out:
- What needs advance planning
- Where a private guide is worth the money
- Which experiences work better in a small group
- How to group attractions geographically
- How much time to realistically allow
- When to build in breathing room
- And what you can skip without feeling like you “missed Rome”
…that’s where a travel advisor can make a difference.
We had only 48 hours.
We didn’t see everything.
And that was okay.
We saw the places that mattered most to us, experienced them in a way that felt meaningful, and still had moments where we could simply wander, look around and enjoy being in Rome.
Because a great itinerary isn’t the one where you check the most boxes.
It’s the one where you come home feeling like you actually experienced the place.
And if you’re planning a trip to Rome and trying to figure out how to make limited time work, that’s exactly the kind of planning I love helping with.
You tell me what you want to experience. I’ll help you figure out how to make it all fit.
