The Roma Pass is a multi-day card for tourists issued by the city of Rome that grants free access to public transport and free skip-the-line access to two Rome attractions, as well as substantial discounts off subsequent ones.
It also gives you free entry to Rome’s P.Stop public bathrooms.
Since Vatican City is a separate county to Italy, cards created by the city of Rome do not apply there. You can’t use your Roma Pass to make savings at the Vatican Museums or St Peter’s Basilica. However there are other cards that do cover the Vatican.
Yes indeed: the Omnia Card has all the benefits of the Roma Pass, but also gives free entrance to the Vatican, skip-the-lines at St Peter’s Basilica, and a free hop-on-hop-off bus tour. Naturally at it’s a little more expensive than the Roma Pass.
Unfortunately the Omnia Card is currently unavailable due to the pandemic. However an alternative is available:
No, the Roma Pass does not allow travel to or from the airports. For airport travel you must buy separate tickets.
The Roma Pass is a card is a time-limited pass that gives you free public transport and free entrance to two of Rome’s attractions (and discounts off other attractions) for the card’s duration. However entrance to the Vatican Museums is not included in the RomaPass because the Vatican is a separate country. The Omnia Card is almost exactly the same thing, but it also includes free entrance to the Vatican Museums and a hop-on-hop-off bus ticket too.
Unfortunately the Omnia Card is currently unavailable due to the pandemic.
You can order your Roma Pass online before you start your vacation.
Alternatively you can buy a Roma Pass in person from the ticket offices of major train/Metro stations, some tourist attractions, and the many PIT (Punti Informativi Turistici – Tourist Information Points) throughout the city. Sales points are listed below:
Stations (open 7am – 8pm every day, and from 8am on Sundays):
- Anagnina
- Battistini
- Conca d’Oro
- Eur Fermi
- Laurentina
- Lepanto
- Ottaviano
- Ponte Mammolo
- Spagna
- Termini
PITs:
- PIT Auditorium, c/o Auditorium della Conciliazione – Via della Conciliazione 4. 9.30am – 7.15pm.
- PIT Ciampino, Aeroporto G.B.Pastine – International Arrivals, luggage claim area. 9.00am – 6.30pm.
- PIT Cinque Lune, Piazza delle Cinque Lune (Piazza Navona). 9.30am – 7.15pm.
- PIT Fiumicino, Aeroporto Leonardo Da Vinci- International Arrivals area (Terminal 3). 8.00am – 7.30 pm.
- PIT Minghetti, Via Marco Minghetti (corner to Via del Corso). 9.30am – 7.15pm.
- PIT Nazionale, Via Nazionale (Palazzo delle Esposizioni). 9.30am – 7.15pm.
- PIT Termini, Stazione Termini – Via Giovanni Giolitti, 34. 8.00am – 7.45 pm.
- PIT Fori, Visitor Center – Via dei Fori Imperiali. 9.30am – 7.15pm.
Attractions:
- Complesso del Vittoriano (Altare della Patria) – Via di San Pietro in Carcere.
- Scuderie del Quirinale, Via XXIV Maggio, 16.
- Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Via Nazionale 194.
The two-day RomaPass costs €35
The three-day RomaPass custs €52
In the city of Rome the Roma Pass gives you unlimited use of the Metro, buses and trams. You can also use some commuter train lines out of the city: Roma-Lido (which goes to the seaside), Roma-Viterbo and Roma-Giardinetti. See the map here for ticket eligibility.
The Roma Pass does not allow you to travel to either of Rome’s airports. You need to buy separate tickets for them.
If you visit two historical sites and use public transport daily, the Roma Pass will save you a few euro – but the convenience of skipping the lines, not having to buy individual museum tickets, and not having to worry about transport tickets is an intangible benefit worth more than money. You also get a free handy map when you pick the card up.
The card also gives discounts at some stores and events. Check the official Roma Pass events page to find out more.
There are two types of Roma Pass: 72 and 48 hours.
Both cards are valid from the first time of use (either at an attraction or in the public transportation system) until either 48 or 72 hours after that time.
E.g. if you activate a 48-hour card at 5pm on Monday, it will expire at 5pm on Wednesday.
In theory you could, but in our experience you can’t: most guided tour operators buy entrance tickets for their guests in advance, and it is too complex to calculate who does or doesn’t have a Roma Pass when they are planning the visit.
The Roma Pass gives you free entrance (and skip the lines where available) to the first two participating museums/historical sites you visit, and a discount off tickets for subsequent visits.
For a new visitor to Rome, the most important of these sites is the Colosseum and Forum (which are accessed with a single ticket). Other famous places are Castel Sant’Angelo, the Capitoline Museums, the National Museum, the Baths of Caracalla, and the Catacombs of Santa Cecilia. To see the incredibly comprehensive list see the official Roma Pass site. (Rome Vacation Tips recommends the Ara Pacis, which is the almost perfectly preserved marble mausoleum of Augustus in a stunning modern building on the banks of the Tiber.)
Important note: even with a Roma Pass there are some museums, particularly the Villa Borghese Gallery and the Domus Romane, that are so popular that you need an appointment to visit. You will need to call and book ahead – sometimes several weeks in advance, so use the link above to find the contact details for each site, and call before your trip.
