20+ things to do for free in Rome – a Complete guide to Rome on a budget (+ Map)

City breaks to major cities rarely come cheap between accommodation, transport, activities and food. But the great thing about historical places like Rome is that there is so much you can do for free without feeling like you have missed out on the experience.

We have been travelling together since we were still at school, meaning we have often gone to place with little to no money available to spend day to day – we just wanted to be there.

With that, we spent a lot of our time researching how to get the most out of our experience without breaking the bank.

Luckily, there are so many things to do for free in Rome that it makes visiting on a budget relatively easy. With so much history, architecture and scenic places to visit, you can easily fill your itinerary with free things to do in Rome and have the most memorable trip of your life.

Where to stay in Rome on a budget

Finding cheap hotels in Rome is not straightforward but it is definitely possible. When deciding where to stay in Rome, there are two considerations to finding budget friendly hotels in Rome. Firstly, you should try to visit during off peak months, particularly November-February, which is typically the cheapest time to visit Rome.

Secondly, you should consider staying in an area that is not in the city centre but has good access to public transport. Our recommendation would be to book a hotel in Trastevere. This area has some of Rome’s best restaurants, easy access to lots of great viewpoints like Giardino Degli Aranci and you can be at the Trevi Fountain.

Trastevere is also a great place to stay in Rome if you want to experience every day life for the local people of the city.

We would recommend staying at either Gasometer Urban Suites or Paper Suites Trastevere where you can sometimes get a room for under €100 a night, even in peak season.

It is still possible to find budget friendly hotels in the centre of Rome but overall you will find a better quality place to stay for the same price by looking elsewhere.

How many days do you need in Rome

Ideally, we would suggest spending at least 3 days in Rome to make sure you see everything the city has to offer.

Within a 3-4 day trip to Rome, you would also have the option of adding a day trip to another Italian city. That is what we did when we travelled to Rome by combining our trip with a visit to Florence, only 1.5 hours away by train.

If you are visiting Italy for the first time, one of the great benefits of Italy’s rail network is that you can easily reach other incredible cities within 2.5 hours, like Florence, Naples, Pisa & Bologna.

Map of Rome with Key Attractions

Things to do For Free in Rome

Generally speaking, one of the best hacks for visiting attractions for free in Rome is to be there on the first Sunday of the month.

Many of the monuments, museums and attractions that are run by the state can be accessed for free on the first Sunday of the month. This includes:

• Colosseum / Roman Forum / Palatine Hill
• The Borghese Gallery (booking required)
• Baths of Caracalla
• Castel Sant’Angelo
• Ostia Antica
• National Rome Museum (Palazzo Massimo, Palazzo Altemps, Crypta Balbi, Diocletian Baths)
• Villa Giulia (Etruscan museum)
• Palazzo Barberini
• Palazzo Corsini
• Galleria Spada
• Hadrian’s Villa in Tivoli
• Villa d’Este in Tivoli
• Palazzo Venezia

Landmarks

The Trevi Fountain

This is probably Rome’s most renowned location and with good cause – we really did love visiting the Trevi Fountain while we were in Rome. That being said, there are a few things to consider before you visit.

1. It is virtually always busy – the Trevi Fountain is surrounded by narrow side streets and the monument itself does not have a huge amount of room to get around it meaning the crowds here feel quite condensed throughout the day
2. You don’t need to stand directly in the centre to get a nice photo – we see a lot of people clamouring to the centre to get the perfect photo with that fountain but you are actually better off moving to the corners along the side walls to deal with less crowds and a clearer view
3. Visit in the morning and get a Pistachio croissant at L’Antico Forno or grab a €5 cocktail from Taberna in the afternoon/evening

You can still see the Trevi Fountain for free, however they have recently (January 2026) introduced a €2 charge to access the lower steps to reduce congestion.

The Colosseum

While we would recommend getting tickets to go inside the Colosseum to fully experience it, there are many places that you can also see it for free. Our main recommendation would be to visit at sunset if you wanted to fully appreciate its beauty for free.

Take a walk along Via del Colosseo and you will get amazing views of the fading sunlight coming through the of arches of the facade, it is honestly one of the most beautiful sites to see in Europe.

If you do decide to get tickets for the inside, The Colosseum is generally open from 8:30 am to 7:15pm from March to September so there is plenty of time available to enjoy it while you are in Rome.

The Roman Forum

The Roman Forum is one of the best things to do for free in Rome. Again, if you like, you can purchase tickets to get the tour which we would highly recommend.

However, if you are visiting Rome on a budget, there is also a great viewpoint you can go to beside Capitoline Hill. As you face the building there is a side street to the right hand side that will give you a perfect view – great if you want to see it without wanting to take a tour etc. especially early in the morning.

The Pantheon

The Pantheon is another historical church that has been dedicated to martyrs since the 7th Century. The historical monument can easily be seen for free throughout the day. It is situated in an open square with terraced seating at all of the surrounding restaurants so you could easily take in the view of the Pantheon while you stop off off to grab some lunch during the day without paying the fee to go inside.

I personally prefer to go to the Pantheon in the evening rather than during the day as there are lots of nice bars and restaurants with outdoor seating looking out at it but it is still a beautiful place to visit during the day.

Tickets to go inside the Pantheon are quite cheap at around €5 or you can also get a guided tour for about €20 if you prefer.

Castel Sant Angelo

Castel Sant Angelo just a short walk away from St Peter’s Basilica, and is a former burial place of the Roman Emperor Hadrian. As with many of the landmarks in Rome, Castel Sant Angelo is as impressive inside as it is from the outside and definitely worth adding to your list of free things to do in Rome.

Museums & Churches

Museums may not be for everyone but they are a great way to experience the local culture and history, as well as being a good activity on a rainy day. Rome is filled with lots of incredible museums, many of which can be accessed for free.

Broadly speaking, EU citizens aged 26 and under are free to enter with ID and may of the cities museums, including the Louvre are free to enter on the first Sunday of every month.

Equally, Rome is renowned for having some of the World’s most intricately designed churches. While this will obviously be subject to your religious preferences etc. many of these buildings are still worth visiting.

Sant Ignazio di Loyola Church

For example, you could visit the Sant Ignazio di Loyola Church, just 5 minutes away from the Trevi Fountain. This church is mainly known globally for its ‘magic mirror’ – a mirror in the centre of the church that perfectly reflects the incredible artwork adorning its ceiling. This isn’t completely free, it costs €1 to activate the mirror but it is definitely worth adding to your Rome itinerary.

St. Peter’s Basilica

Equally, perhaps the most famous church in Rome, St. Peter’s Basilica is worth visiting for its incredible design and you can also get tickets to visit the top of the dome to see one of the best views of Rome from anywhere in the city.

Parks and Viewpoints

Rome is filled with beautiful parks and squares lined with beautiful architecture and great views – this is one of the best things to do free in Rome in the warmer months particularly.

When we visit a new place we are often in a hurry to move from one site to the next but visiting one of these places allows us to slow down and live more like the locals for a while.

Giardino Degli Aranci

Our favourite free park to visit in Rome is Giardino Degli Aranci – particularly at sunset. This park is lined with orange trees and offers panoramic views of the city, unmatched almost anywhere in the city.

From here, you will get stunning views of St. Paul’s Cathedral and Vittoriano in the distance and it is the perfect place to get some final photos to capture memories of your trip to Rome. It is also just a few minutes walk away from the Aventine Keyhole so you can easily combine these two activities.

Villa Borghese

This is another park with great views overlooking Rome. We spent an afternoon here on our last visit to Rome and it is great place to go to feel a bit removed from the fast pace of city life.

One thing we would recommend doing is to rent the row boats in front of the Temple of Esculapio which costs around €3 per person – not free as such but still a great budget friendly activity to do during your stay. That being said, our co-ordination skills were not the best when we did this so we likely looked a bit silly paddling in opposite directions for the first few minutes.

Vittoriano

This was one of our favourite places in Rome and not somewhere that gets talked about as much as the other major attractions.

The building itself is stunning and was a built as a monument to the first king of Italy. You can get a guided tour of the palace, with entry to the museum and gardens, as well as an elevator to the rooftop.

But if that does not appeal to you, we would still recommend taking the walk up the steps to reach the rooftop. The rooftop has a nice bar area and a perfect view of the Colosseum to start your day.

Aventine Keyhole

This is quite a cool almost optical illusion style attraction that gives you a perfectly framed view of St. Peter’s Basilica when you look through the keyhole. This one could easily be combined with a sunset trip to Giardino Degli Aranci and that was our intention when we visited.

However, the queue for this was extremely long and people tended to spend quite a while getting photos etc. so you could easily spend a lot of time waiting for this and in our opinion there are better free activities in Rome without the big queue.

See a pyramid at Caius Cestius

A pyramid is probably not something you would expect to see on your trip to Rome but it is actually possible. Caius Cestius is an ancient Roman pyramid built as a tomb dating back to the 1st Century.

It is available for guided visits as well but definitely worth adding to your itinerary as an alternative free activity in Rome.