The Best Time to Go to Rome: An Insider Guide

The Eternal City is open for business all year round. No matter when you visit, Rome simply buzzes with life, restaurant tables overflow onto cobbled piazzas and fragrant markets are awash with colour. However, get your timing right and you could marvel at Michelangelo’s sublime Sistine Chapel virtually alone or pick up a discounted designer handbag in the twice-yearly shop sales. Read on to find out more.

The best time to go to Rome often depends on your personal preferences and interests, with avid shoppers, determined sightseers and visitors seeking well-priced accommodation often having different agendas. Of course, weather is a consideration too, with mild, sunny weather and longer daylight hours making Rome particularly appealing from April to June and in September. High summer brings the crowds, while in October days can be cool and rainy or you may catch ‘Ottobrata Romana’, a late flowering of warm, sunny days ending in spectacular sunsets. Shorter days and colder temperatures are features of the winter months, although the thermometer rarely dips below freezing and snowfall is rare.

Hotel rooms are often discounted in July and August in Rome, when the mercury soars to around 30°C (86°F) and humidity strikes. However, all this is manageable if you dress accordingly in light cotton or linen clothing, take a hat and sunscreen, and use the air conditioning in your room to keep cool. It’s easy to dodge the tourist crowds by visiting the most famous sights (the Trevi Fountain and Spanish Steps in particular) early in the morning or late at night – either time will give you perfect light for taking selfies at these attractions.

Historically many Roman locals took their holidays during August, shutting up shops and restaurants as they fled the sticky temperatures and made for the Lazio coast or the Tuscan hills. Following the disastrous financial impact of the pandemic, however, this trend has slowed and more businesses now stay open for the whole month.

Although Rome (along with every other major European city) could never actually be called a ‘cheap’ city to visit, the best time of year to score discounted flights and hotel accommodation is often January, when airlines and hotel owners offer bargains to lure you into off-peak travelling. Weather-wise, expect some rain and the city will be cold(ish) with temperatures averaging 12°C (53°F), so sneak a couple of extra layers of clothing into your luggage. This is one of the best times to go to Rome if you don’t like going elbow-to-elbow with crowds in the museums, and you can still experience la dolce vita as many restaurants set up heaters to keep al fresco diners toasty warm. One downside of travelling in January, however, is that opening hours may be shorter.

Shopping in Rome is always a gratifying experience, but if you want to bag an elusive (and exclusive!) bargain, you’ll need to be there in January and July for the start of the highly anticipated sales (i saldi). Winter sales start the first Saturday in January and end mid-February, while summer sales begin on the first Saturday in July and last until late August.

The best time for sightseeing in Rome is from mid-March to the end of May, when the weather is sunny and dry and before the annual advent of the tourist hordes in June sees accommodation prices increase.

As is often the case for tourists, Rome’s best travel months – when the weather is at its most accommodating – are also its most expensive. The shoulder months of April, May and September are known for their pleasant, sunny weather and smaller crowds. They are unfortunately also the months when hotel and flight prices are at their highest, but it’s worth paying a little more to have a relaxed sightseeing experience.

Rome is abuzz with cultural events and festive occasions all year round. Here are some of the major highlights of a packed roster of events, which may help you decide when it’s your best time to go to Rome.

As home to the Pope, the Eternal City is absolutely central to the Christian faith, and Christmas is one of the best times to go to Rome. The streets are bedecked with Nativity scenes, sparkling lights and Christmas trees, and festive markets fill lovely historic squares like Piazza Navona with its iconic fountain. There’s an ice rink in Piazza Adriana near Castel Sant’Angelo and a flurry of Christmas concerts at the Auditorium Parco della Musica. Please note, however, that most shops and some restaurants will close between December 24th and 26th, while the Vatican Museums close on January 6th for Epiphany.

The days around Pasqua (Easter) see pilgrims pour into Rome in their thousands for three days of intense prayer and services at the Vatican. The Pope gives a Mass and traditional ‘Urbi et Orbi’ blessing from the balcony of St Peter’s Basilica on Easter Sunday, a service for which you can reserve free seats in advance. In more secular concerns, spring also sees Natale di Roma (Rome’s Birthday) celebrated on April 21st with historical re-enactments and costumed parades throughout the ancient heart of the city.

A visual feast of Roman culture, the Estate Romana festival permeates every corner of the city from June to September, with open-air opera and ballet performances, busking in the streets, and late-night guided tours of attractions including the Vatican Museums and the Forum. In late July, Festa de’ Noantri takes over trendy Trastevere, starting with the procession of an ornately robed statue of the Virgin Mary through the cobbled streets between churches, and finishing with her journey by flower-strewn boat along the River Tiber.

October sees film stars from across Italy and the world flock into the city for the prestigious Rome International Film Festival, an eleven-day jamboree of movie premières and screenings held at the Auditorium Parco della Musica. Autumn’s other major cultural party is Romaeuropa, an off-beat tribute to diversity and multiculturalism in the shape of dance, music and theatre from around the world.

Whether you are visiting Rome for the first or the umpteenth time, here are a few tips to help you navigate the city with the ease of a native.

As more than 10 million visitors descend on Rome annually, accommodation can come at a premium. Ensure you stay at some of the best hotels in Rome by reserving rooms well before you intend to travel.

If your heart is set on seeing as many of Rome’s bucket-list attractions as possible, bag a Roma Pass online. Valid for either 48 or 72 hours, it will save you money on entry to museums, galleries, archaeological sites and gardens, as well as on the public transport system.

To save hours standing in queues at famous sights like the Vatican Museums or the Colosseum, it makes good sense to buy skip-the-line tickets online – and well in advance. They may cost you a few euros more, but they’ll save endless hanging around at the venues.

The Romans are very, very keen on decorum – and not just in their exquisite churches. It is still not considered acceptable to wander around the city in shorts and flip-flops (the latter will kill your ankles when you’re walking on the cobbles anyway). And bear in mind that to enter any Christian site – from St Peter’s Basilica to the Pantheon – you’ll need to dress modestly, which means no bare shoulders, midriff or knees. So, no shorts and no skimpy sleeveless T-shirts for anyone, please, or else you will be refused entry.

If your trip to Rome coincides, all the city’s state-owned attractions – and that covers big-hitters like the Colosseum, Forum, Castel Sant’Angelo, Galleria Borghese and the Baths of Caracalla – are free to visit on the first Sunday of each month.

For an authentic Roman dining experience, look beyond restaurants with menus printed in several different languages and illustrated with helpful pictures of the dishes. Grinning waiters trying to usher you into their premises should be avoided too, as their food will be priced for tourists rather than Rome locals. The secret of eating like a local in Rome is to search streets and piazzas well off the main tourist routes for cosy trattorias with menus penned in Italian.

So it seems that any time of year is the best time to go to Rome – and we hope you have an amazing holiday visiting this cultured and ceaselessly romantic city.