If your cruise stops in Civitavecchia, visiting Rome on your own is absolutely doable—but it’s not something you want to wing.
Rome is 40 miles away, transportation takes planning, and getting back to the ship on time matters more than anything else.
This guide walks you through your real options for visiting Rome independently from the cruise port, how much time you actually have, and how to plan a day that’s enjoyable instead of stressful.
🏆 Just looking for transportation? The best value is this 2-way bus from the port to Rome. You'll get to explore the Eternal City as you wish and getting back to the port in time is taken care of.
Your options for visiting Rome from the cruise port
There are three practical ways to visit Rome from Civitavecchia, each with different trade-offs in cost, flexibility, and peace of mind.
1. Take a cruise ship shore excursion
This is the least flexible option, but also the least risky if timing makes you nervous.
- Pros: The official cruise ship Rome excursions are plug-and-play convenient, because they make all the arrangements and simply add the fee to your final bill. Plus, if a cruise tour has a delay getting back to the ship, the ship will wait for you.
- Cons: This is the most expensive option, and you will be sightseeing with a busload of other tourists.
2. Buy your tickets yourself
This works well for confident, organized travelers — but you need to be disciplined about your return time.
- Pros: The cheapest option. You book your own transportation and spend your day in Rome however you want.
- Cons: It's your responsibility to be back on the ship in time.
3. Book a guided tour of Rome yourself
This is often the best balance if you're wanting structure without cruise-ship crowds.
- Excursions that depart from Civitavecchia cater to cruise schedules. They will make sure they get you back to the ship on time because their reputations depend on it!
- Others are held in Rome. They are more varied and suited to a wider range of interests. However, you must arrange your own transportation and ensure you're back on board in time.
We rely on Viator and Get Your Guide for tours when we travel. We like the wide variety of options, fair prices, and being able to read others' reviews.
Please review the itinerary thoroughly to confirm it meets your preferences. For example, maybe you don't care to go inside the Colosseum.
Pros:
- Tours range in price and often cost the same as cruise excursions.
- There will be fewer people on tours you book yourself.
- There's a much wider range of experiences than what a cruise ship can offer.
Cons:
- Tours that begin and end in Rome do not cater to cruise schedules.
- You will need to arrange your own transportation for Rome-based experiences.
ⓘ BUDGET TIP: If you're traveling solo, check your Roll Call on Cruise Critic. People often look for others who want to split the cost of a group tour.
How do I get to Rome from the cruise port?
1. Car
No matter where you are on the planet, city driving is a challenge, parking is expensive, and you’ll waste precious sightseeing time if you don’t know the streets. That said, cars are convenient if you have other places to visit en route. (You can check prices here.)
2. Train
The Civitavecchia train station is near the port. You can buy your ticket there, but to skip the line, buy it online first.
Choose the high-speed train to Rome both ways; the regular one takes a lot longer. You don't want to spend your precious sightseeing hours traveling to and fro!
Trenitalia, the national train system, rarely offers refunds. We've found Omio is easier to use than Trenitalia, especially if plans change or you need customer support.
3. Coach transfer from Civitavecchia Port
If you just need round-trip transfer between Rome and the Civitavecchia cruise terminal, it's best to book your round-trip ride to Rome yourself.
This gives you 6–8 hours to explore the “Eternal City” as you please. The trip will take 60–80 minutes each way and can be cheaper than the cruise line's transfer service.
This is the simplest way to see Rome without juggling train schedules or worrying about the return trip.
💡 PRO TIP: Rick Steves' Mediterranean Cruise Ports is worth buying. The book covers how to spend your day in various ports: itineraries, must-see spots, places to eat, local currency, how to get into town, and even self-guided walks and tours.
How much time to spend in Rome from the cruise ship?
This is where most first-time cruisers miscalculate.
You'll need to factor in 1.5 hours to get to Rome from the cruise ship port. Budget 2 hours to get back to the ship, due to Rome's typical delays and strikes as well as clearing the security line at the port. You'll end up with 6–8 hours for sightseeing.
💡 PRO TIP: Your cruise ship's “Daily Newsletter” will have a phone number for who to contact in an emergency. Take it with you every day and save the number to your phone. If you are delayed or something happens, you can let them know your status and find out what to do.
Regardless of when your ship docks, it takes time to get a seat on the port shuttle and then walk to the train station. So, you likely won’t board the train in Civitavecchia until 8:30 a.m. or later. Anticipate that you'll be sightseeing by around 10:00–10:30.
The primary concern is getting back to the ship in time; you don’t want the ship to leave without you! Assuming your “Back on Board” time is 6:00, we recommend heading back no later than 4:00 pm. Agree ahead of time with your travel partners when to head back, to avoid the temptation to see just one more thing and lose track of time.
If, after doing the math, Rome feels tighter than you’d like, staying closer to the port is a perfectly reasonable choice. Not sure what your options are? One of these articles may be just what you're looking for:
- Best Things to Do in Civitavecchia: Cruise Port Guide
- Best Cruise Excursions from Civitavecchia Besides Rome
Final Thoughts About Visiting Rome on a Cruise
Seeing Rome on your own from Civitavecchia works best when you plan around logistics first and sightseeing second. Rome is doable, but distance, transportation time, and return timing all matter more than most you might expect.
If you’re still choosing what to focus on—and what each option realistically involves on a cruise day—we break that down in detail here: What to Choose on a Rome Cruise: Colosseum or Vatican.
If you’re comfortable managing schedules and have tickets booked in advance, visiting Rome independently can work well. The most important takeaway is to build in extra time, expect delays, and start heading back toward the port earlier than you think you need to. Travelers who do that tend to remember Rome for what they saw — not for watching the clock or worrying about missing the ship.
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Hi Linda! We are scheduled to cruise at the end of May and will be stopping in Civitavecchia. I’ve done a one day tour of Rome before and visited St. Peter’s, the ruins, and the Coloseum. They were definitely not to be missed when visiting Rome. Having said that, I, however, missed seeing the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel then so this time I would really like to see them, as well as the Pantheon. You said that we can take the train from the port and should only take 45 mins, that’s great! Is there a way to get from the Vatican to where the Pantheon is located?
Sure. You can take Bus 64 (12 minutes) or walk (29 minutes). (I’ll let you in on a secret: I used Rome2Rio to get the routes and travel times. The website calculates all the ways you can get from one place to another, free.)
You might want to check our Guide to the Best Things to See in Vatican City beforehand, just to ensure you don’t miss anything else while you’re there, lol. Have fun!
My wife and I attempted to do a walking tour during a stop in Rome. We were able to see a lot but I bet we would have seen even more if we used a car service. This being said it was one fantastic trip.
We’ll agree with you, Johnny. Rome is enjoyable, even if you don’t see a lot. Was there a highlight for you?
Great advice! In our experience, the best time-saving (and sanity-saving) advice is to book ahead and skip the lines, especially when time is short. I do think seeing just the Sistine Chapel is a mistake. The Vatican Museum and St. Peters are amazing, and worth every minute you can spend there, so a tour can easily fill more than a few hours. We did both by starting a cruise in Rome, but if I had to choose and time was limited, I’d go for the Colosseum – even with the Forum and Palatine Hill, we felt satisfied with our three hour tour.
The problem with Rome is that there are so many wonderful things to see! How much time did you spend in Rome before you began your cruise? Do you think that was enough?
It would be nice to have an unlimited time in any travel stop we make but this is just not realistic and what we do with the time we do have depends on our personalities. Thank you for giving the tips how to enjoy both the slow and busy travel days in Rome:)
You’re welcome; I’m glad you enjoyed it. It sure would be nice to hear how she ended up spending her day.
This is great advice! Especially about booking tickets online in advance. There was nothing more satisfying during our time in Rome than to skip right past the looooooong queues with our pre-booked tickets. 🙂
You’re right, Fairlie. I’ve often thought that the time savings more than offsets the few extra dollars it might cost to buy a ticket beforehand — especially when you’re only in the area for a short time. Every moment is valuable! An added bonus: You won’t have to endure any possible bad weather.
This is such a wonderful, comprehensive answer to her question. We were fortunate to have a few days to explore Rome on on our own, and I still feel like there’s so much we didn’t see. I also wondered if it was doable as a one day port excursion. I’ve always been a little bit worried about a DIY port excursion for fear that the ship would sail without me. Do they ever depart before everyone is on board?
We usually do tours on our own, just plan to be back in plenty of time. They cynic in me can’t help but wonder if they might threaten to leave passengers behind so they will be more inclined to take a cruise-run tour. 😉 We don’t like big crowds so those tours aren’t for us. There are plenty of private guides and tours available, both online and at the ports, and they promise to get you back in plenty of time to sail. We had an especially great experience with our first private tour, a cave tubing tour in Belize.
Common sense says to arrive back early just in case, but it’s reassuring to know that cruise lines have check-in systems to ensure all their passengers are on board and will wait for quite a while to make sure everyone makes it back. That said, at some point they will have to set sail if it gets too late.
Great advice and options! I haven’t been to Rome yet, but you gave me some great things to remember when I do go. I definitely want to see both places. I was trying to decide which traveler I am. haha I’m a see as many as possible, check it off, but leave an option to return in the future. Thanks for the insightful look into visiting Rome!
Well, take it from us, three days in Rome is definitely NOT enough. We kept seeing more and more things we wanted to see, and that’s without all the day trips to places like Pompeii!
I hate to hurry through things, but sometimes it is definitely a necessity. Nowadays, you can buy almost all museum tickets online before you go and you will not regret it. It’s worth taking a few minutes when planning, to decide which museums you want to go to!
You’re so right, Corinne. Hurrying through things is definitely a necessity on occasion — for instance, if you want to spend layover time in the city.
As for buying museum tickets online, spending a few extra dollars is a worthwhile investment if you want to ensure you don’t waste precious vacation time. Planning ahead is absolutely essential, as you said. We were especially glad we had the Paris Pass when we saw the ticket line snaking all the way around the Louvre. Being able to enter right away saved us enough time to see the Rodin museum as well! Worth every penny, that.
Excellent advice when time is limited. I am an advocate of the hop on hop off buses when time is short particularly. All very helpful information.
We are as well, Paula. Glad you agree. We’ve found that HOHO buses are vastly underrated because they are “touristy.” Crazy, that. Their itineraries not only include most “must-see” sites but the narration in between offers a lot of insight into the city and culture.
Fabulous tips for a fun-filled day in Rome Linda. There’s so much to see, it can be difficult to decide which sites are your priorities 🙂
You’re so right, Lyndall. Luckily for our reader, she knew which two sites she really wanted to see. On the other hand, Dan and I spent 3 days there and the more we saw, the more we realized we were missing! 🙂