Live in Rome On A Budget

Want to live in Rome for a few months? Who doesn’t?! Rome is one of the best cities to live in and easy to stay on budget. With my travel tips for living in Rome you can get an idea of what it really would be like to live there. If you have the opportunity GO! Best decision ever made for myself that year. You won’t regret it!

Budget

First things first how much to you have to spend? This will determine how much you have to allocate towards housing, food, transportation, day trips, souvenirs, tours, shows, etc.  Whether you save up for this trip in advance or use some of your savings you need to think about how much you are willing to spend. I used a portion of my savings and was also able to save.

To live in Rome for 3 months with everything I listed above it cost a little over $5,000. I set a budget of €250 that I could get out for every 2 weeks and if I could stretch it further I did. That included groceries, day trips from Rome, souvenirs on the trips, and food/ drinks.

*below I’ll break down the budget as I go

Passport, Programs, and Reentry

I lived in Rome on a Passport which is the standard way to live/travel in a foreign country. I was accepted into a program with a dance company. There are plenty of programs that you can apply for especially to those just entering the job market.

You can only stay on a Passport for 3 months at a time because there is an agreement of a majority of Europe or the Schengen Area that consists of 26 countries. This agreement says that you can’t stay in their countries for more than 90 days on a passport without a visa. That being said there are certain ways to keep traveling and come back to them. You can travel to England for 3 months to reset the clock on your 90 days in the Schengen Area. This is what makes it possible for “re-entry” back into Europe. It doesn’t have to be England it can be any country that isn’t in that region.

There is a Working Holiday Visa that you can apply for. This is honored in Australia, Ireland, South Korea, Italy, and many more. Check the regulations on the Visa because most will let you apply from ages 18 to 30 and if you don’t have any kids you would be bringing with you.

There is also a Visa that allows college graduates to apply up to a year after graduation to live in Austria, Italy, Ireland, South Korea, etc for up to 2 years!

Flights

My favorite apps for finding cheap flights are Hopper and Skyscanner. Hopper is my number one because you can see the highest, moderate, and cheapest flights in each month. It will watch your trip dates for you and tell you when to buy and wait for a better price.

When flying in Europe I flew Vueling Airlines. It was THE cheapest and the BEST flight I have ever taken! I paid €36 for a flight from Rome to Vienna, I checked 2 bags for free, had a carry on for free, and the plane was surprisingly clean/quiet/they played overhead music. However, if you see people wrapping their bags with some form of cellophane…DO IT! I didn’t have a major issue with my bag but there was a small tear on the backside of my suitcase.

Housing

The program had an option to include the housing which they orchestrated and then we just paid the fee. The program and housing together were €1,300. That being said I know some of the Italians that found reasonable housing and just by looking at Air B&B that there are plenty options. There are several places that have long term stays available, Hostels and Airbnb have long term availability. Just be sure to check reviews of each place. I use Hostel World to help me out with choosing the best one for price and cleanliness.

Transportation

I wrote about transportation in a previous blog which you will want to check out about getting around Rome in general. Cost of transportation around Rome was €36 a month. I purchased the Monthly Personal Card from atac which is the transportation company in Rome. You can refill it at any shop that has the atac transit logo in the station. This will allow you to travel on any bus, metro, tram, and some regional trains.  I refilled mine at the Termini Station in a tobacco shop. You can find places to refill almost anywhere, especially in Termini. Show the cashier the card, ask for one month, and they will refill it, give you your receipt, and presto you have another month to use.

In order to take day trips, I would recommend using TRENITALIA train company. I was able to get to Naples, Assisi, Florence, Cinque Terre, and more all from Rome. Because it’s such a central city in Italy that makes days trip easy! Ticket prices range from €20 to €80 round trip.

Food

I chose to go grocery shopping most of the time which was around €60 a week. I did allocate enough to go eat on the weekends and enjoy the local cuisine. Check out my post Can I Eat Gluten Free In Rome? for my favorite restaurants! As for the most common grocery stores you can find a Conad or Tuodi pretty much anywhere in the city.

Tours and Souvenirs

If tours are your jam then you should probably set aside some money specifically for that Most sights already require a ticket purchase around €8 or €12 and it can add up if you include a tour. Places that require a ticket purchase are Colosseum, Forum, Palatine Hill, Sistine Chapel, Vatican Museum, go to the top of the Dome in St. Peter’s Basilica, and most museums in Rome (too many to name lol).

Souvenirs are always everyones go to with t-shirts, coffee mugs, magnets, bags, etc. Most of these products will cost around €20-40 for the big items and €5-15 for the smaller items.

Learning Italian

I used the Duolingo Language App to pick up some Italian phrases. It was a lot easier to navigate around Italy and also have a few phrases I could get by with. In my experience when I gave it a shot while ordering, checking out at the grocery store, or just on the street to ask for directions, people were very kind and I think appreciative that I at least tried haha. I love this app and still keep up with it today.

There are matching sections, you can repeat sentences/phrases back to make sure you’re pronouncing it correctly, it gives you the Italian sentence/word and you can type out the meaning in your language and vice versa. It was really one of my best tools to use while staying in Italy!

To live in Rome is an easy decision or at least it was for me. You can definitely live there on a budget and either go home or keep traveling from there and not break the bank.

I hope this helps in planning your travels abroad! If you have any questions feel free to comment and don’t forget to follow my blog via email! You don’t want to miss out on any travel hacks, tips, and new destinations to come. Ciao!