As a travel photographer, I’m obsessed with sunrises and sunset. I visited Rome for the second time this autumn, so instead of doing all those touristy sightseeing things again, I dedicated my time to searching the best places to take amazing sunrise and sunset pictures. Here are the places I found:
For Sunsets:
Giardino degli Aranci
Giardino degli Aranci (the Orange Garden) is the most romantic garden in Rome, and you can see a lot of couples there watching the sunset. There’s also the famous keyhole where you can peep through and see St. Peter’s Basilica on the distant. They already close at 6 pm, so make sure to be there early if you want to watch the sunset. On my first day, I was there around 6 pm, and there was already a guard at the gate telling people that the garden is closed. I tried to go there the next day again, and I was early enough, but the weather wasn’t on my side as it was cloudy. It was still gorgeous, though, and the pictures turned out well.
Terrazza del Gianicolo
From Terrazza del Gianicolo you can get the best view of the city. It is a public “terrazza” up on the hill, and from there you can see both Rome and Vatican. If you are there early enough, you can see the city in a beautiful light when the sun sets on the Vatican side. I was late (again) and it was getting dark already. The place is charming, though, so I took my time there even though I had missed the best part of the sunset.
For Sunrises:
Terrazza del Gianicolo
After visiting this place for the sunset, I thought that it’s probably an even more beautiful place for the sunrise. Take a bus up the hill early in the morning and enjoy the view. I was the only person there watching the sunrise, and wow, it was one of the best sunrises I’ve seen for a while! Check out the pictures!
St. Peter’s Basilica
If you already are watching the sunset at Terrazza del Gianicolo, go to St. Peter’s Basilica after that. They open at 8 am and you can take a bus number 115 or 870 down the hill and walk from there. If you came to Gianicolo by bus, you can use the same ticket as it’s valid for 100 minutes. It’s not a long walk either, about 2 km, but I took the bus because I wanted to be at there right at 8 am. Don’t take it too long. Otherwise, you are going to miss the beautiful sunrise view from the Dome of St. Peter’s Basilica! It’s good to be there right at 8 am so that you miss the crowds and also get to see the amazing sunrise. You can see the whole city from the Dome, and the view is just breathtaking during the sunrise.
Check out a post Rome in a Weekend from Greta’s Travels for a 2-day walking itinerary.
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2 comments
Awesome post, I must try some of these!
Just, pssst, it’s “degli”, not “decli” Aranci 😀
Thanks for correcting. It’s my auto-correct which is for English and doesn’t recognize Italian words. I’ve changed it now.