Helpful Guide to “Is the Omnia Card Worth It?”

What is the Omnia Card?

The Omnia Card, or the Omnia Rome Pass, as you may know it, is a tourist pass you can purchase for a trip to Rome.

It covers admission to iconic places such as the Vatican Museums, the Colosseum, St. Peter’s Basilica, and more. It also provides you with free public transport, a hop-on-hop-off bus, audio guides for walking tours, and priority entrance at some popular attractions.

You can get the pass for 24 or 72 hour time allotments.

Does the Omnia Card Save You Money?

The easiest way to determine if a tourist pass is worth it for you is to figure out how many attractions you’re interested in.

I have my master trip outline and use it to see how many attractions match up with the card on offer. I then calculate how much it would be without the card and with the card. Some cards also give you front-of-the-line access, which can save time, so make sure to factor that in as well when deciding. You don’t want to spend your vacation waiting in line, trust me.

Now, you may be saying, “Darn Michelle, that total is larger than the first one!” And you’d be right, however, if you plan on visiting some other sites in Rome, such as St John in the Lateran, Borghese Gallery, The Capitoline Museums, Castel St Angelo, or the National Roman Museum, then the cost of the Omnia Card would be less than the total without.

Of that list, the only one I’m remiss I didn’t fit in is Castel St Angelo so the card wasn’t really a steal for me as other passes have been.

I instead did free things during my 3 days in Rome, such as the Roman Pantheon, Piazza Navona, Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore, the Trevi Fountain, and the Spanish Steps.

Before I diswade you entirely, let me cover what else the pass offers, aside from the lack of savings based on what I wanted to see.

Does the Omnia Card Save You Time?

St Peter’s Basilica and the Colosseum are hot tickets, no doubt about that! So, skip-the-line is quite nice when you’re trying to pack a lot in during your trip.

However, if you’re only worried about getting ahead at those two locations. There’s likely a GetYourGuide tour you can take that includes skip-the-line access.

Sometimes, those tours also provide more than the ‘basic’ tour offered by the Omnia Card, as in the case of the Colosseum. If you want to see the arena’s underground, you’d need to get a separate ticket anyway, as that’s not included in the Card.

Is the Omnia Card Easy to Use?

Yes. Most tourist passes are easy to use, so the Omnia Card aligns with my other experiences with passes, such as the Paris Museum Pass, on this.

What’s nice about passes is that you don’t have to buy an individual ticket to each attraction. Sometimes, there are lines, or it can get confusing when purchasing if there are a load of different options. Or if you’re just nervous to speak to someone when you don’t fluently speak their native language, all of this is understandable, and this is where I think tourist passes excel: in their ease of use.

Note that reservations are not required for some attractions included in the pass. However, some may have limited capacity, so you must book beforehand, such as the Vatican Museums and the Colosseum. Be sure to check whether the attraction you’re planning to visit requires booking ahead.

Is the Transportation Worth It?

Hop-On-Hop-Off Bus Tour

Most cards also include things like a hop-on, hop-off bus tour, walking tours, boat rides, etc. Make sure to check and see what the card offers and if it’ll be of use to you.

Another thing to remember is that a hop-on, hop-off bus tour can save you a good amount of walking and transportation fees. If you’re going to touristy places like the Colosseum, it’ll get you basically right to the front door.

I certainly used the bus as my transportation while in Rome. I was already walking a lot, so it did help me save some money on transportation. It also allowed me to see the city while taking transportation.

If you know where you’ll be staying, it’s a great idea to see where the closest stop on the bus route is to your accommodations. I was staying at the Comics Hostel, so the closest stop to me was by the Vatican.

On my first full day in Rome, I spent time at the Vatican Museums and at Saint Peter’s Basilica, then hopped on the bus to see some of the sights while sitting down. I had just climbed the Dome at St. Peter’s Basilica, so I was rather tired.

You can see a lot while on the bus. You see them quickly, surely, while driving by, but if you’re short on time, this can be a great way to cram things in.

“With 12 central and popular stops around the city, it’s the perfect way to plan your day and see the sights without tiring yourself out!”

If you have more time, check out a walking tour of Rome.

Roma Cristiana Bus Information

The bus tour that’s included in the Omnia Rome Pass is called the Vatican & Rome Bus Tours (Roma Cristiana). The map the Omnia website provides is rather small, so I found another one on Rome Map 360. I am not sure if it is the most up-to-date, but I’m going to assume it’s pretty close to what they are currently doing.

I’ve listed some additional bus schedule information below. Again, I don’t know if this is the latest and greatest. But it should provide you with some basic information and be roughly accurate based on my experience.

First departure: 9:00 am (Termini Station), 09:30 (St. Peter Basilica).
Last departure: 6:30 pm (Termini Station), 6:45 pm (St. Peter Basilica).
Frequency: every 10/15 minutes

On-board commentary is available in: English, Spanish, German, Italian, French, Japanese, and Russian
Availability: Daily from 9 am – 6 pm

Cost: Children under 9, disabled visitors, or Omnia Rome Pass holders travel for FREE
Amenities: Free Wi-Fi included

What Do You See on the Hop-On-Hop-Off Bus Tour?

As I mentioned before, the Vatican stop was my jumping-on point for the bus near my hostel. So, just before getting on the bus, I snapped a few photos of the Mausoleum of Hadrian, more commonly known as Castel Sant’Angelo.

You may recognize it from the movie Angels & Demons. The Roman Emperor Hadrian initially commissioned it as a mausoleum for himself and his family. Later, it was used as a fortress, castle, and eventually museum.

Touring the Ancient Ruins of Rome

I chose some of my best snaps from the bus to showcase for you here. I sat on the open-air second level to get the best pictures. There is an audio guide you can listen to that describes what you see along the way with some religious, historical, artistic and cultural background.

I recall being handed a pair of headphones, but you may want to bring your own pair, in case. I own a set of AirPods but I always have a set of wired headphones with me for occasions just like this.

We passed by several ruins, some of which may have been part of the Aurelian Walls. These city walls were built between 271 AD and 275 AD in Rome, Italy, during the reign of the Roman Emperors Aurelian and Probus.

You can also see other gorgeous sites around Rome from the bus, such as…

• Santa Maria Maggiore
• The Colosseum
• St Peter’s Basilica
• Circus Maximus
• Venice plaza 
• Soragna square
• Barberini square
• Piazza Navona
• The Victor Emmanuel II National Monument

… and more!

Using the hop-on-hop-off bus tour through the Omnia Rome Pass allowed me to cover a lot during my 3 days in Rome!

Is it Worth Getting the Omnia Card?

For my trip, it was not worth getting the Omnia Card. However, I did my trip back in 2015 and had heard how busy things were, especially at the Vatican and the Colosseum, so I mainly purchased the pass for the skip-the-line capabilities.

Had there had been Get Your Guide available at that time. I likely would have booked separate tours for the most popular attractions instead of purchasing a pass that wasn’t going to be financially beneficial.

However, if you plan on checking out other sites in Rome, such as St John in the Lateran, Borghese Gallery, The Capitoline Museums, Castel St Angelo, or the National Roman Museum, then I think the card may be worth the cost.

For a full list of attractions the Card covers, please visit their official site, as it will have the most up-to-date information. Note that some attractions are fully covered by the pass, such as the Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel, but some merely provide discounts; make sure to note which are which when deciding.

Update: I see they recently changed how the Card works. Instead of the discounts, once you’ve used up your allotted free admissions, you pay a reduced ticket price for the rest.

What the 72 Hour Omnia Card Includes:

OMNIA Services

• Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel – entrance ticket according to opening dates
• Open bus tour of Rome downtown – hop-on hop-off ticket according to service times
• St. Peter’s Basilica – official audio guide (no Dome)
• Cloister and Basilica of St. John Lateran – entrance ticket and audio guide
• Mamertine Prison (or Carcer Tullianum) – entrance ticket and audio guide
• Underground of the Basilica of Santa Maria in via Lata – entrance ticket and audio guide
• Multilingual audio guide package for walking itineraries

ROMA PASS Services – for adults only*

• 2 free admissions at your choice among more than 45 museums and archaeological sites which are part of the Roma Pass circuit (for example Colosseum and Roman Forum plus Borghese Gallery)
• Reduced-price admission to other museums and archaeological sites part of the Roma Pass circuit (see complete list)
• 72 hours of fares-free access to Rome’s subway and Atac city buses

The best way to determine if the Omnia Pass is a good option for you is to do the math by listing out what you want to see and comparing it to what’s covered here.

Update: It appears the Card contains two passes in the package, each lasting 72 consecutive hours. However, they can be activated at different times and have different expiries. This may mean you can stretch out the Card usage to 6 days; however, as I have not done this myself, I cannot guarantee this.

What Other Options Are There?

They also have a €95 pass called the Omnia Smart and a 24-hour €69 version of the card I got. However, with 24 hours, you’d really only be covering what the Vatican has to offer, or the Colosseum, Palatine Hill, Roman Forum, and maybe another attraction. Check out my 3 days in Rome itinerary for more guidance on how long each of these attractions take to see.

Whether the Omnia Card is right for you really depends on how long you’re in Rome and what you plan on seeing. Their official site states the pass can save you up to 55% on your trip to Rome. However, that wasn’t so in my case.

Note: They now have an app available rather than just the paper pass offered previously.

What Other Tourist Passes are Available?

I haven’t used these personally so can’t vouch for them but to better inform your decision, these are the other passes available…

• Roma Pass
• Go City Rome Explorer Pass (I used Go City in Stockholm and liked it)
• The Rome Pass

Final Thoughts on the Omnia Card

So, no, I do not think the Omnia Card was worth it for my trip to Rome. However, again, this is based on what I wanted to see, so if your list is different, then it may be worth getting for you.

If I were to do my trip over again, I’d likely take the Get Your Guide route and book skip-the-line passes for the attractions I know will be difficult to access, such as the Vatican Museums, St Peter’s Basilica, and the Colosseum. And as my favorite part of the Card was the hop-on-hop-off bus tour, I could have just gotten that separately.

Please don’t hesitate to let me know if you have any questions about the Omnia Card. Feel free to comment below or reach out via email.

Want to remember this? Pin this Helpful Guide to “Is the Omnia Card Worth It?” article to your favorite Pinterest board!