Maps & apps | how to get around Rome

Of all the cities in the world, Rome has to be one of the best to walk around. It has some incredible sights, firstly: the Colosseum, the Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon, the Vatican. And they are also all walking distance from each other, all totally accessible to pedestrians.

But walking round and round trying to see everything clocks up the kms like you wouldn’t believe. When we first visited Rome years ago we walked 20km in a day no problem. You definitely need to know how to get around Rome to see what you want to see.

Usually when we navigate around cities in our slow way we use paper maps. There’s just something beautiful about reading the spidery little code of streets and roads. Sometimes we draw where we’ve walked on maps and take them home as keepsakes.

But while we were in Rome this year, Luxe City Guides approached us and asked us if we wanted to use their walking city guide app around Rome instead. We’d actually never done this before, and were interested.

So if you’re wondering which one might be best to get around Rome, these are our experiences:

How to get around Rome: by paper map

Grabbing the available-everywhere-for-free tourist map gave us a rough idea of where we were and what we wanted to do in Rome. You can see the city’s shape, size, even the idea behind the city from a map. In Rome’s case, you can imagine an old old house annexed and added to over the years – all crazy conservatories and extra bedrooms.

From a paper map some things become immediately clear: the Spanish Steps, the Pantheon and Trevi Fountain are all super close, for instance. Just by tracing it on the map we knew we’d be able to see them in half a day.

We could of course also work out how to get around Rome via public transport. As well as having those tourist open top buses which -God help us- are not our bag at all, Rome has a bus and underground network. We realised we could train to a stop called Pyramid and see the well-known cemetery (the poet Shelley is buried there) then could navigate our way back ourselves.

We in fact routed our walk back via the tiny streets of Trastevere for lunch. Walking nowhere in particular in that labyrinth, we got a bit lost – a bit of an occupational hazard with maps. But it’s also the nice thing too: not being on any particular route, just wandering.

We should say that Luke loves maps. Knowing where we are, where we need to go, the street names, a shortcut, it just makes him happy. And we can all probably get on board with that right? It can be harder work, but ultimately we always come away from a place feeling like we know it in some way, and that’s quite rewarding.

How to get around Rome: by app

So on our most recent trip to Rome we used Luxe City Guides. The app had multiple walking itineraries loaded on and we could choose a route based on what we fancied doing: did we want the big sights? Did we want markets? Or shopping and drinks? We could then follow whatever Googlemapped route which came with recommended eating stops along the way.

We did a few. But the food one was our favourite: it took us to the Testaccio market and introduced us to the fresh food scene in Rome. Although we presumed Rome had food markets, we didn’t know where they were or if they were worth visiting – the app did! On the way our little app told us there was a historic café to dip into, and a little information on it – would we have gone in there otherwise? Probably not.

We learnt little nuggets of information. We were directed to some beautiful things. And we didn’t have to work it out for ourselves – all good things.

So.

Really, paper or digital guide depends on what type of traveller you are. Of course how tech-savvy or not you are comes into it, as does how much you like maps. But it’s also whether you want help or not. The nudge, the point.

Our advice: pick a map if you’re into independence and spontaneity. An app if you want the inside info and the ease.

In Rome, there’s definitely room for both.

Note: The Luxe City Guide App was gifted to us. All opinions (and all those kms!) are definitely our own.

Do you have an opinion one way or the other on how to get around Rome? Any personal stories? Let us know in the comments.

Did you also know we walked to Rome from the UK? Read our journey here

Remember you can keep up with our adventures on Instagram and find more walking/slow travel inspo and info on our Pinterest page

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