How I Traveled to Rome, Italy for $238

In this post, I discuss how I was able to travel cheap to Rome, Italy for approximately $238 USD for flight, accommodation, and transportation.

Rome is filled with architectural beauty and rich history. There were so many sites that I had wanted to see in person.

Admittedly, the Vatican museum was the first place I shed tears in a museum from how beautiful it was just to be there.

Traveling in Europe can be pretty expensive and Rome was no exception. I only stayed a couple days but quite honestly, it felt enough at least for me.

If you want to see more of Rome and take time to go through each site, a couple more days would probably be better.

Also, if I had more time I would have definitely wanted to visit Greece which is only about 1.5 hours away by train.

I always start with the big 3 expenses in traveling. To travel for cheap, you’ll need to save on Flights, Accommodation, and Transportation. The better deal you’re able to find for all 3, the more money you’ll be able to save.

Flight Costs: $160

This was part of my Round the World Trip I booked using points. So I tried to be fair and split the total fees by the number of countries I visited.

I know it seems a bit unfair, but that’s really a close estimate of the price I paid to get to Rome.

If you’re flying on a normal itinerary, you can use some of my tactics here to find cheap flights. If you’re flying Internationally, I would evaluate your points inventory to see if you can travel using points.

Flying from Europe, I would definitely consider a budget airline, bus, or train as those methods can get you around Europe for cheap.

Accommodation Costs: $23

I definitely made a big mistake in planning my accommodation stay in Rome as you’ll see later on.

I found a very cheap deal about 30 minutes away from the main city area. It was only about $23 (Euro – USD conversion at the time was 1.05).

However, getting to the hotel was the issue. There were buses but the bus system in Rome is incredibly complex and not many drivers speak English.

I ended up taking a cab to get to the hotel which costed about 45 EUR ($47 USD) for a short 30 minute ride because I got scammed by the driver.

If you stay in Rome, you absolutely should stay near the main city. You can get to the main city by a common bus that only cost around $5 USD.

However, taking cabs in Rome is not recommended.

Transportation Costs: $55

From the Airport
From Leonardo da Vinci–Fiumicino Airport to the City Centre, there’s a bus that costs 4 EUR. It’s called the Terravision Bus and you can find it easily outside the airport.

There are also many cheap alternatives from the airport to City Centre. You can take the Leonardo Express (14 EUR) or the local train (8 EUR).

Here is all the information you need on transportation in Rome.

At City Centre
At City Centre, I bought a subway ticket for around 3 EUR. For the rest of the way, I walked to all the sites I wanted to see.

If you’re able and willing to walk, you can actually get to a lot of sites without spending any money on transportation. There was only a couple sites too far apart that I had to use the subway for.

In my trip around the world to 14 countries, this was the only scam I fell victim to.

After my tour around the City, I was too exhausted to look up public transportation to get to my hotel. And I had booked a hotel away from City Centre.

With fatigue kicking in, I decided to take a cab. My second mistake was not asking the driver to use a meter. We negotiated a rate of 35 EURO.

After my driver dropped me off, I gave him 40 EUR. Seconds later, he accused me of only giving 30 EUR. I was confused and flustered and had no EUR left so I asked if I could give him USD to make up the difference.

After he left, I realized I had counted my leftover currency and for sure gave him the only two 20 EUR notes I had left.
All-in-all, Rome was still a great place to visit. Below are some photos from the trip: