2025: Rome trips and the Jubilee

[Revised January 2025] Have you heard of the Jubilee?

It is an important spiritual event taking place ordinarily every 25 years  for the Catholic world to join in Rome and ask for forgiveness.  The year  2025 is a Holy Year.

If you are planning to come for this reason, best  way to get infos and updates is the official website.

But if you are planning to travel to Rome for other reasons, what is expected? The Jubilee lasts the whole year, from Christmas Eve of 2024 to Jan 6th of 2026. Vatican area and major basilicas (S. Paolo, San Giovanni, S.Maria Maggiore, S. Sebastiano, San Lorenzo al Verano, S. Croce in Gerusalemme) will be especially impacted because of the presence of the “holy doors” that pilgrims are supposed to cross to receive absolution from their sins.

Significant Christian venues such as the catacombs or the abbey of the Three Fountains might result busier than usual too.

But if you avoid those sites in your itinerary, I expect the situation to be more or less the same of the  standard years …i.e. very busy from April to November at the “must sees” (Colosseum, Pantheon, Trevi fountain, Spanish Steps) and relatively calm anywhere else (you might question: is there anything else? OH YES, we wrote a full book about it!!!)

Some take-home tips:

• As a general indication, try to avoid week-ends in Rome, that’s when most of the Jubilee events take place. Move around your Italian itinerary and make sure your tours in Rome can be scheduled in the week days.
• Going off-the-beaten-path is always a good idea (the book can be a great resource and we are happy to offer ideas)
• Periods to avoid for your stay are : April 5th and 6th , from Easter (April 20th) to May 5th, June which hosts a lot of events.
• The biggest event is probably the Youth Jubilee from July 28th to Aug. 3rd. Touring on those days might be really hard.
• Unexpectedly,  a good period to visit Rome will be in fact from Aug 4th to Sept 14th (no events), but of course these are hot days… in any case we know tricks to avoid the heat (underground tours, pool stops, evening walks, sunrise tours, Vespa tours…) so do not exclude that time frame.

We remain at your disposal to plan the best Roman holiday even when a world event is taking place!