10 Tips For Beating JETLAG In Rome!

The first visit to Rome can be overwhelming, especially when you have just had a long-haul flight with one or more connections. Here's how to hit the ground running, without jetlag or burnout...

The Eternal City has so much to experience, with ruins, museums, churches, parks and galleries.  Rome is also a starting point for many travellers to explore other Italian regions such as  Tuscany, Umbria and Venice, leaving only a few days to experience the capital city.  Here are some tips & tricks I use to make the most of my time in Rome and to hit the ancient bricks running, so to speak.  Tip 1:  Try and get an overnight flight.  If you can, get an overnight flight from North America with no stop-overs.  If you must transfer planes, try to have the last leg to Rome be the longest flight of 5+ hours.  This way, you can sleep, even if you sleep in small, half-hour cat naps.  This will make give you some regularity and make you think you've had a whole night's sleep.  Take a sleeping pill if you have to, and don't worry too much about being groggy-excellent espresso awaits you in Italy.

Tip 2: Set your clock to the destination time as you board the plane.  This will help your brain get used to the new time before you even arrive, and resist the temptation to convert time backwards to your home time.  Nothing is worse than thinking, "Ugh, it's 4 am right now at home!"  It's a sure-fire way to become tired.

Breezing through Leonardo da Vinci (Fiumicino) airport terminal in Rome is surprisingly simple. What a vast improvement from my trip to Italy! In 2013 the new terminal renovation was not yet complete, so passengers had to deplane on the tarmac and take a bus to the main arrivals terminal.  Now the new international arrival terminal is finished, and the building is gorgeous, bright, and, most importantly: efficient.  I try to get flights that land in the early afternoon, so the Rome rush hour traffic is light.

Enjoying The Train

The Leonardo Express train connects Fiumicino Airport with Termini Station, the central train station in Rome.  The ride is 30 minutes, and trains depart every 15 mins to half-hour (depending on the time of day) from 6am - 11pm. Follow the signs in the airport to Stazione/Railway Station" it's about an 8-minute walk from the main arrivals gate.  Buy your ticket from the machine or a biglietteria or "ticket office" and don't forget to validate it in a yellow machine near the track or you could get fined! Make sure you board the train going to "Roma Termini" there are many other stations in Rome!  The one-way ticket price is €14. There is also a bus option.  Tip 3: If 3 or more people are travelling together, catch a cab.  We took a taxi from the airport rather than the bus or train to downtown Rome.  It is not that much more in cost (with the three of us) and makes a lot of sense because we had more bags this time. Plus, we would have to take a bus or taxi from the train station to our flat anyway; it just seemed like an extra hassle at this point. Tip 4: There is a FLAT FEE for taxis from the airport to Rome center.  The 32km trip in March 2017 costs €48.  It is the law.  Make sure you use an official taxi (white cab with a taxi number on the side) and ALWAYS agree on the price before getting into the cab.  Our taxi driver wanted to charge us more, and I said: "No; it's 48 Euro".  He said it was 2 Euro extra for each bag he handled (???).   I told him I will put our bags in his taxi myself then, and started to walk away.  He came after me and said, "Fine lady, you are the boss."  I gave him €50  in the end anyway because he was a great driver and got us really close to our flat.  Tip 5:  The many pedestrian-only streets in Rome make it impossible for taxi drivers to deliver their fares straight to the doors.  This is especially true in the historical centre of Rome. Our flat in Campo di Fiore was one of those neighbourhoods, so make sure you can schlep your luggage a short distance on your own.

Our Sweet AirBnB Kitchen

Tip 6: finding street addresses in Italy is very confusing and also illogical. We learned our lesson from our last trip to Italy.  This time our Airbnb flat was not hard to find because we had the "Maps.Me" App for our phone (and I also stalked around on Goggle Earth from home and found the address image, so I knew what the front door looked like).  The apartment owner Maurizio was there to meet us and show us around and was just so lovely. The top floor flat is just perfect for us- complete with a kitchen, a balcony in the bedroom, a bathroom with a claw foot tub, and a private loft with a water closet (2 piece bathroom) for the teenager.  Maurizio had bought coffee and a box of brioche for us, so we could make a little snack or keep it for breakfast.

Map.Me App

A coffee and a snack, once you arrive at your hotel or lodgings, is a good idea.  In Italy, dinner does not start until 7pm, and it is difficult to find restaurants that open up for the evening meal before then.  Tip 7: Unpack, freshen-up, have a coffee, BUT DO NOT LIE DOWN! FRESH AIR, SUNSHINE & EXERCISE IS THE ENEMY OF JETLAG.  Trust me on this one, I have made a mistake by "resting on the bed" and fell asleep only to wake up at 2 am Rome time and messed up my sleep schedule for DAYS! Get outside for a walk in your neighbourhood to get acclimatized to where the taxi stand, grocery store, tobacco shops that sell bus tickets are.  Become familiar with local street names and find a local landmark.   

Tip 8: It is easy to get lost in the complicated laneways of Rome, so I use the "Maps.Me" App on my phone.  The App uses satellite GPS to find where you are, without using data. Download the maps at home before you go, place a "pin" where your hotel is and use the offline Map to guide you back to your lodgings after exploring.  Try a lovely meal of traditional Roman pasta: spaghetti carbonara (spaghetti with smoked bacon) or cacio é peppe, which is pasta with cheese and pepper or homemade large hollow pasta called rigatoni in tomato sauce.   Tip 9: Eat a heavy meal to last you through the night.  The last thing you want is your stomach growling you awake at 4 am!   

Tip 10:  This is the time to do your after-dinner evening walk through Rome.  This is also called the passeggiata, where all of Rome's citizens are out strolling and socializing.  One thing I like to do is use the Map.Me App to link all the famous monuments of Rome together. To create a scenic night walk of Rome: Piazza Navona, Pantheon, and Trevi Fountain, you can connect the attractions together on the App. This exercise is what grounds me in Rome and the feeling of returning to my favourite city.  It is like running into old friends!

Usually, by this point, the miles are starting to catch up on you.  I try to stay up as late as possible on my night of arrival.   Sometimes I grab a gelato to go for a mobile dessert hoping the sugar will give me a bit more energy. Also, I usually grab a bottle of Tuscan red wine and some breakfast supplies for the next morning from a convenience store. A nice glass of wine and a super comfy bed at the end of a great day of travel usually put me to sleep before my head hits the pillow.  BONUS TIP: I always carry a bottle of Melatonin, which is an all-natural supplement to restore your natural sleep patterns.  I get the dual-action timed release to help me get to sleep and then STAY asleep until morning.   Following these ten "rules" almost religiously helps me to feel refreshed and ready to explore Rome, and I hope they help you cope with jetlag too. 



Do you have any jetlag secrets?  Let me know about them in the comments below!

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This post first appeared in March 2017 as Home Sweet Rome!