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Rome walking tours, free and self-guided

6 free walks through Rome that you take on your own, whenever you like. Each has a route map, its stops in walking order and a free audio guide at every stop that you play in your browser.

Self-guidedNo guide meets you: you follow the map and listen on your phone. Looking for a free walking tour with a live guide, the kind you pay for with a tip? The guided tours are further down this page.

See the guided tours

Is there a free walking tour in Rome?

Quick answer. Yes, of two kinds. Mappu has 6 free self-guided walks in Rome: you walk the route on your own and play a free audio guide at every stop, with no booking and no tip. The free walking tours that tour companies run in Rome have a live guide, leave at set times and usually ask for a tip at the end; you book those with the company.

Self-guided walks in Rome

Route map: Colosseum and Roman Forum, Rome6 numbered stops in walking order. Stop 1: Colosseum; Stop 2: Palatine Hill; Stop 3: Roman Forum; Stop 4: Santi Cosma e Damiano; Stop 5: San Giorgio in Velabro; Stop 6: Arch of Janus.Stop 1: Colosseum1Stop 2: Palatine Hill2Stop 3: Roman Forum3Stop 4: Santi Cosma e Damiano4Stop 5: San Giorgio in Velabro5Stop 6: Arch of Janus6
6 numbered stops in walking order.

Colosseum and Roman Forum, Rome

6 stops · about 2.9 km · about 40 min on foot · about 38 min of audio

Begin at the Colosseum, climb the Palatine, the hill where Rome began, and walk down into the Roman Forum, once the city’s marketplace, political stage and religious centre. Leave the Forum for Santi Cosma e Damiano, the first church in the old monumental centre, then end in the Velabrum at San Giorgio in Velabro and the four-sided Arch of Janus.

The stops and their free audio guides

  1. Colosseumfree audio guide, about 7 min
  2. Palatine Hillfree audio guide, about 6 min
  3. Roman Forumfree audio guide, about 7 min
  4. Santi Cosma e Damianofree audio guide, about 7 min
  5. San Giorgio in Velabrofree audio guide, about 5 min
  6. Arch of Janusfree audio guide, about 6 min
See the walk
Route map: Pantheon to the Spanish Steps, Rome4 numbered stops in walking order. Stop 1: Pantheon; Stop 2: Santi Apostoli; Stop 3: Trevi Fountain; Stop 4: Spanish Steps.Stop 1: Pantheon1Stop 2: Santi Apostoli2Stop 3: Trevi Fountain3Stop 4: Spanish Steps4
4 numbered stops in walking order.

Pantheon to the Spanish Steps, Rome

4 stops · about 2.5 km · about 35 min on foot · about 27 min of audio

From the Pantheon in Piazza della Rotonda, walk east to the Basilica of the Santi Apostoli, tucked into the palaces of the Colonna family, then north to the roar of the Trevi Fountain and on to the Spanish Steps below Trinità dei Monti. It is a short walk between four of the centre’s best-known sights, each with its own audio guide.

The stops and their free audio guides

  1. Pantheonfree audio guide, about 7 min
  2. Santi Apostolifree audio guide, about 7 min
  3. Trevi Fountainfree audio guide, about 7 min
  4. Spanish Stepsfree audio guide, about 7 min
See the walk
Route map: Piazza del Popolo to Chiesa Nuova, Rome4 numbered stops in walking order. Stop 1: Flaminio Obelisk; Stop 2: Ponte Cavour; Stop 3: Castel Sant’Angelo; Stop 4: Chiesa Nuova.Stop 1: Flaminio Obelisk1Stop 2: Ponte Cavour2Stop 3: Castel Sant’Angelo3Stop 4: Chiesa Nuova4
4 numbered stops in walking order.

Piazza del Popolo to Chiesa Nuova, Rome

4 stops · about 2.9 km · about 40 min on foot · about 26 min of audio

Start under the Flaminio Obelisk, raised by Seti I and Ramses II at Heliopolis and dug up for Pope Sixtus V in 1587, and walk along the Tiber to Ponte Cavour, built between 1896 and 1901. Cross to Castel Sant’Angelo, Hadrian’s mausoleum turned papal fortress, and finish at the Chiesa Nuova, rebuilt from 1575 for Saint Philip Neri’s congregation. Entry to the castle museum is ticketed.

The stops and their free audio guides

  1. Flaminio Obeliskfree audio guide, about 7 min
  2. Ponte Cavourfree audio guide, about 7 min
  3. Castel Sant’Angelofree audio guide, about 7 min
  4. Chiesa Nuovafree audio guide, about 6 min
See the walk
Route map: Santa Maria Maggiore to the Quirinal, Rome4 numbered stops in walking order. Stop 1: Santa Maria Maggiore; Stop 2: Santa Prassede; Stop 3: Santa Pudenziana; Stop 4: Sant’Andrea al Quirinale.Stop 1: Santa Maria Maggiore1Stop 2: Santa Prassede2Stop 3: Santa Pudenziana3Stop 4: Sant’Andrea al Quirinale4
4 numbered stops in walking order.

Santa Maria Maggiore to the Quirinal, Rome

4 stops · about 1.7 km · about 20 min on foot · about 27 min of audio

Start at Santa Maria Maggiore, with its coffered ceiling by Giuliano da Sangallo, and walk a few steps to Santa Prassede, where the ninth-century Chapel of Saint Zeno is covered in mosaic. Continue through Monti to Santa Pudenziana, whose late fourth-century apse mosaic shows Christ among his apostles, and finish up on the Quirinal at Sant’Andrea al Quirinale, a small oval church built for the Jesuit novitiate.

The stops and their free audio guides

  1. Santa Maria Maggiorefree audio guide, about 7 min
  2. Santa Prassedefree audio guide, about 7 min
  3. Santa Pudenzianafree audio guide, about 6 min
  4. Sant’Andrea al Quirinalefree audio guide, about 7 min
See the walk
Route map: Jewish Ghetto to Trastevere, Rome3 numbered stops in walking order. Stop 1: Jewish Ghetto; Stop 2: San Crisogono; Stop 3: Trastevere.Stop 1: Jewish Ghetto1Stop 2: San Crisogono2Stop 3: Trastevere3
3 numbered stops in walking order.

Jewish Ghetto to Trastevere, Rome

3 stops · about 1.6 km · about 20 min on foot · about 21 min of audio

Start on Via dei Funari in the Jewish Ghetto, home to one of the oldest continuous Jewish communities in the world, past the Turtle Fountain of the 1580s and the stumbling stones near the Portico d’Ottavia. Cross the Tiber to San Crisogono, whose fourth-century basilica lies beneath the floor, and finish in Trastevere at Santa Maria in Trastevere, among the oldest places of Christian worship in Rome.

The stops and their free audio guides

  1. Jewish Ghettofree audio guide, about 7 min
  2. San Crisogonofree audio guide, about 7 min
  3. Trasteverefree audio guide, about 7 min
See the walk
Route map: Castel Sant’Angelo to the Vatican Museums, Rome3 numbered stops in walking order. Stop 1: Castel Sant’Angelo; Stop 2: St Peter’s Basilica; Stop 3: Vatican Museums.Stop 1: Castel Sant’Angelo1Stop 2: St Peter’s Basilica2Stop 3: Vatican Museums3
3 numbered stops in walking order.

Castel Sant’Angelo to the Vatican Museums, Rome

3 stops · about 2.8 km · about 35 min on foot · about 20 min of audio

Start at Castel Sant’Angelo, built as the mausoleum of the Emperor Hadrian. Walk along Via della Conciliazione to St Peter’s Square and into the basilica for Michelangelo’s Pietà; shoulders and knees must be covered. Finish at the Vatican Museums, whose collection grew from the Laocoön, unearthed in a Roman vineyard in 1506 under Pope Julius II. The museums come last because entry needs a ticket.

The stops and their free audio guides

  1. Castel Sant’Angelofree audio guide, about 7 min
  2. St Peter’s Basilicafree audio guide, about 7 min
  3. Vatican Museumsfree audio guide, about 7 min
See the walk

Prefer a live guide?

Guided walking tours in Rome leave from a meeting point at set times with a local guide. Some are free and run on tips, others have a fixed price. Mappu does not run them: the partner below lists them, so you can compare and book.

Self-guided walk or guided free tour?

A Mappu walk is free and on your own time: start when you like, stop for a coffee, skip a stop, and listen to each place’s story in your browser. In the Mappu app, Walk Mode narrates each place as you walk: at the walk, your first two stories are free with a free Mappu account, and after that Walk Mode uses credits.

A guided tour gives you a person to ask and a group to walk with, at the tour’s time and pace. On a free tour that runs on tips, you pay what you think it was worth at the end.

More for your visit to Rome