🇮🇹Rome City Pass Guide: Is the Roma Pass Actually Worth It?
The 48- and 72-hour Roma Pass, what each includes, and the arithmetic that shows the margin has largely disappeared. Plus how the new digital card works and when to activate each half of it.
2026-08-22
The Roma Pass bundles entry to one or two sights with an unlimited transport pass, in 48-hour and 72-hour versions.
Is it worth buying?
Run the numbers on the 48-hour pass, which costs €38 and covers one sight plus 48 hours of transport.
Take the most popular choice — the combined Colosseum + Roman Forum + Palatine Hill ticket at €18 (reservation compulsory, plus a €2 booking fee) — and add a standalone 48-hour transport pass at €15. That's €33 bought separately, against €38 for the pass.
The margin is thin enough to be awkward. The Roma Pass used to be a clear win; a series of price changes has eroded most of that. Do the arithmetic against your own itinerary before you buy — that's the only way to know.
Prices and what you get
48-hour Roma Pass: €38 — one sight, 48 hours of transport, plus discounts at other sights.
72-hour Roma Pass: €62.90 — two sights, 72 hours of transport, plus the same discounts.
Which sights you can choose
The 48-hour pass covers one; the 72-hour covers two. The usual picks:
- Colosseum + Roman Forum + Palatine Hill combined ticket — €18, counts as one selection, reservation compulsory with a €2 fee
- Borghese Gallery — €16, reservation compulsory, €2 fee
- Capitoline Museums — €15, booking advised
- Castel Sant'Angelo — €16, no booking needed
The Vatican Museums and St Peter's Basilica are not included — they're in Vatican City, not Italy.
What transport costs on its own
48-hour pass €15, 72-hour €22. There's also a single ride at €1.50 and a 24-hour pass at €8.50 — see getting around Rome.
The discounts
Beyond your chosen free entries, the pass gives reductions at the sights on the official Museum list, and at some smaller items under Unusual Routes and Attractions. The P.Stop list covers a handful of public toilets you can use free with the pass — useful, though there aren't many.
Roma Pass with transport included
GetYourGuide · from from €38
Work out the total against your own itinerary first — the pass no longer wins automatically
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Buying and using it
Since late 2025 there's a digital card and a Roma Pass app. You can buy in advance on the official site or a third-party platform, or straight from the app.
Buy online and you'll be emailed a QR code, a PNR code and a ticket code; download the app and either scan or type them in. Avoid switching devices afterwards — it's possible, but only by going through customer support. Once bought, you have six months to activate.
How activation works: the app shows two passes — Museum and Public Transport.
- Public Transport must be activated manually. Don't do it early — activate it just before your first ride. The resulting QR code is what opens metro gates and validates on buses and trams.
- Museum activates automatically when you enter your first sight. Its validity is slightly longer than the name suggests: three days on the 48-hour pass, four on the 72-hour.
Back to the Rome travel guide for the full itinerary, or getting around Rome if you'd rather buy transport separately.