Rome: Catacombs & Appian Way with Private Transport

★★★★★★★★★★ 4.38 (8 reviews)

Free cancellation

1/14

Duration2h 30m

GroupPrivate

LanguagesEN

PickupAt your hotel

Walk Rome's oldest road and descend into 2,000 years of burial chambers

You get hotel pickup, entry to the catacombs, and a private vehicle for the Appian Way and its surrounding sites—Porta San Sebastiano, the Circus of Maxentius, and the Chiesa del Domine Quo Vadis. The guide handles the history; you handle the walking. Water and Wi-Fi are included. It's suitable for all fitness levels, though there are stairs and uneven ground underground and along the ancient road.

2h 30m

Step-by-step itinerary

Explore Catacombs and Appian Way

Hotel pick-up in Rome
Visit Porta San Sebastiano gate
Tour Catacombs of San Sebastiano
Walk along the historic Appian Way
See Villa of Maxentius ruins
Visit Chiesa del Domine Quo Vadis church

The Experience

You're standing at Porta San Sebastiano, the best-preserved gate of the Aurelian Walls, and your guide is already pointing out the layers—literally. The stone beneath your feet has held Rome's weight for two thousand years. From here, the tour splits between what's above ground and what's below. Hotel pickup gets you here without the metro confusion, and then the real work begins: descending into the Catacombs of San Sebastiano, where early Christians carved niches into soft tufa rock when burying their dead above ground was forbidden. The air shifts. It's cooler, quieter, and the walls are covered in frescoes—fish symbols, anchors, the Chi-Rho—small acts of faith scratched into stone by people who had no idea anyone would still be looking at them two millennia later.

The Appian Way itself is the surprise. You expect a road, and it is one, but it's also a walk through a countryside that somehow survived inside a modern city. Pine trees line the cobblestones, and the Tomb of Cecilia Metella—one of Rome's most prominent mausoleums—rises up like a reminder that this wasn't just a trade route; it was a statement of power and permanence. The Circus of Maxentius sits nearby, its racing track still visible, still enormous, still holding the shape of spectacle from the 4th century. Your private vehicle means you're not herding with a large group; you move at a pace that lets you actually absorb the scale of these places instead of just checking them off.

The Chiesa del Domine Quo Vadis is small and easy to miss, but it's where the tour often lands its emotional weight. The footprints of Christ, according to tradition, are pressed into stone here—the moment Peter asked Jesus where he was going as he fled Rome. Whether you believe the story or not, you're standing in a place where belief mattered enough to build a church. Water and candies are included, which sounds minor until you've been underground and then walking ancient roads in Rome's heat. The whole thing runs as a half-day tour, which means you're back with time to grab lunch or wander into a neighborhood without the tour schedule hanging over you.

What’s included

Your day includes hotel pickup and drop-off, private air-conditioned transportation, guided entry to the Catacombs of San Sebastiano, visits to Porta San Sebastiano, the Appian Way, the Tomb of Cecilia Metella, the Circus of Maxentius, and the Chiesa del Domine Quo Vadis. Water, candies, and Wi-Fi in the vehicle are provided.

Good to know

Easy physical level

Operated by Eternal Rome Experiences

Is this one for you?Book this if you want Rome's underground and ancient roads without arranging separate transport, entry tickets, and timing—the private vehicle and included catacombs entry mean you move at your own pace instead of keeping up with a large group.