5 Essential Apps to download for your first trip to Rome and Italy

The most stressful part of any trip to a new city is trying to find your way around. Before you land in Rome, you want to be prepare to navigate the trains, trams, and taxis.

While Rome is a walkable city, if you are trying to see a lot of the city in a few days, then you’ll need other sources of transportation. And you’ll need the apps to go with them.

In 2015, I spent a month living in Rome, in 2023 we traveled throughout northern Italy and the Dolomites. In 2025, we returned to Rome and Milan for Christmas and New Year’s. It’s safe to say that we are a bit obsessed with Italy and it still feels like we’ve barely scratched the surface of this beautiful country.

Disclosure:

Here are the apps we would recommend when traveling in Rome and Italy.

1. Google Maps

2. Trenitalia

3. Free Now (by Lyft) and Uber

4. Rick Steve’s Audio Europe

5. Get Your Guide and/or Viator

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1. Google Maps: For wandering the city and saving your favorite spots.

• We use Google maps for every trip we take. It helps us in a few ways:

  • First, within the city we save all of our favorite locations before our trip. So, every historical site, every museum, every restaurant, and bakery that we might want to visit, we record here. (Check out our Rome bucket list below!)

  • When we are in the city, if we are walking from one destination to another, we use the maps to help us find a quick route. We also will save any restaurants we see while we walk so we know where we want to return for lunch or dinner.

  • We also use Google maps to plan day trips or transitions from one city to another via train; Google maps will tell you which website to book on and if you need to transfer trains.

2. Trenitalia: Train Travel in Italy

Trenitalia allows you to buy tickets for travel between cities. You can purchase local, slower trains AND high speed trains through the website or on this APP. It’s also helpful when planning your trip to look at how the trains work between locations. For example, from Rome you can get to a lot of the hill towns in Tuscany, like Orvieto. But, depending on the time of day, you may need to transfer or may find a direct train.

• A few tips for buying train tickets to and from Rome:

  • If you land at Fiumicino airport, you can buy your tickets to the city center; there’s no need to buy them in advance.

  • Termini is the main train station in Rome. It has restaurants, coffee shops, real shopping, and even when we landed on Christmas Eve, we found the amenities at train station to be open. It’s a beautiful station during the day, but at night, you should not linger for too long.

  • Buying tickets in advance is going to save you money; prices will increase if you purchase at the last minute.

  • High speed trains cost more money, but are worth it. A train from Rome to Milan or Venice might be $100 per person for the high speed train, but you will have a reserved seat and be very comfortable. (I would always choose a high speed train over flying.)

3. Free Now (by Lyft) and Uber

The Free Now app, which was created by Lyft, works for taxis in Rome. The app will allow you to contact local drivers to give you a rate. Warning- sometimes the rate is a RANGE, and you cannot get an exact price. We used this about 4 times during our trip without issues, but one time we were overcharged.

Another option is to bring cash. Termini has a cab stand and if you are staying at a hotel, the front desk can also call you a cab. We found that if you are traveling under 2 miles at off peak times that cabs were under 10 euros.

Crossing the pedestrian bridge on the way to Castel Sant’Angelo

4. Rick Steve’s Audio Europe:

This free app allows you to download from a vast library of self-guided walking tours and radio interviews. The playlists are organized geographically and cover all of the top sights and offer a lot of historical and cultural insights that you might miss. If you cannot book a walking tour, this is a great substitute.

For Rome, here’s what we would recommend downloading:

• Colosseum Tour

• Roman Forum Tour

• Vatican Museums Tour*

• Sistine Chapel Tour

• St. Peter's Basilica Tour

• Pantheon Tour

Outside of Rome (potential day trips):

• Florence: Uffizi Gallery Tour (very helpful!)

• Ostia Antica Tour

• Pompeii Tour

(You can also purchase an audio tour at the Vatican, which is great. They have kid-friendly version, too!)

Enjoying our time at the Colosseum

5. Get Your Guide and/or Viator

Both Get Your Guide and Viator all you to book activities and trips in Italy. We had not problem finding activities and tours in an around Rome. One was a cooking class in Rome and another was a day trip to Montepulciano. We booked both WHILE we were in Rome. You can save money by booking in advance, but we wanted to check the weather and play a few days of our trip by ear.

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We visited Rome (again) in December of 2025. To read more about our trip to Rome and other parts of Italy, continue with the blogs below.

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