Castel Gandolfo
Tours

Our most recommended things to do in Castel Gandolfo

Castel Gandolfo: Papal Apartments and Secret Garden Ticket

Castel Gandolfo: Papal Apartments and Secret Garden Ticket

Escape the vibrant bustle of Rome and journey to the idyllic Italian countryside. Await you the sapphire waters of Lake Albano, cradling the picturesque village of Castel Gandolfo. This historic gem grew around the Pope's summer residence, a true treasure chest brimming with art and history. Step back in time within the Papal Apartments. Explore 500 years of history as you wander through the Pope's private sanctuary. Imagine quiet moments in the library, reflection in the private chapel, and the view from the balcony where the Angelus resonated every summer Sunday. Gain exclusive access to the Secret Garden. Immerse yourself in this haven, a hidden gem within the Papal Palace grounds. Explore the heart of the residence – the Pope's summer offices. Delve into seven unique rooms, each whispering tales of papal history. Enrich your experience by adding the option of visiting the Astronomical Domes of the Papal Palace. Choose a particular combo and enjoy the complete and niche visit.

Rome: Pontifical Villa Gardens at Castel Gandolfo Minibus

Rome: Pontifical Villa Gardens at Castel Gandolfo Minibus

Explore the 55-hectare gardens of the Papal Palace of Castel Gandolfo by open minibus. Listen to the audio guide as you roam the gardens to learn all their secrets. Meet your greeter in the Palazzo before starting your tour. Climb aboard the eco-friendly minibus to discover the Castel Gandolfo gardens. See tree-lined avenues, flowers, fountains, and statues. Admire views of the sapphire blue and emerald green waters of Lake Albano. Take in the remains of Emperor Domitian's residence. Find out all there is to know about the Popes, including which pontiff installed a swimming pool and which one laid low in Castel Gandolfo for months after handing in his resignation. Enrich your experience by adding the option of visiting the Astronomical Domes of the Papal Palace. Choose a particular combo and enjoy the complete and niche visit.

Rome: Castel Gandolfo Kayak & Swimming Lake Tour with Pizza

Rome: Castel Gandolfo Kayak & Swimming Lake Tour with Pizza

Immerse yourself in the history and nature of this peaceful lake, located just a short distance from Rome, on a kayak tour with plenty of interesting stops and technical kayaking tips. After a quick paddling, navigation, and communication lesson, you will begin your tour of the lake. Stops will include the village of the millstones, the Roman port of the Villa of Domitian, the Trampoline of the Pope, and a beautiful beach reachable only by kayak, where you can swim if the weather is right. Along the way, you see the summer residence of the Popes, atop the mountain of Castel Gandolfo and surrounded by untouched nature. Listen to the sound of local wildlife and the water lapping—a unique and unforgettable experience so close to Rome. Your guide will provide technical assistance throughout the tour and offer stories and anecdotes about the lake. After arriving back at the starting point, you will have the opportunity to take a shower before heading back to the capital.

Rome Explorer Pass: Save up to 50% - Includes Colosseum

Rome Explorer Pass: Save up to 50% - Includes Colosseum

Save up to 50%* on Rome experiences with Go City's Rome Explorer Pass. Choose from 2 to 7 attractions, experiences and tours from a list of over 45 popular activities. With a full 60 days validity, you can explore Rome at your own pace - there's no need to rush. Visit the Colosseum and the Vatican Museums, enjoy a pizza dinner in the Prati District, go to a classical music concert, bike ride among ancient Roman ruins, and experience the best Rome has to offer. Avoid the hassle of buying individual attraction tickets. With your pass, everything is right on your phone. Get a digital guide packed with attraction information and instructions on booking your visits. The Rome Explorer Pass includes entry to any 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, or 7 Rome and Vatican attractions or activities including the following: • Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel with Escorted skip the line tickets (R) • Colosseum, Roman Forum and Palatine Hill with audio tour and multimedia video (R) • Big Bus Rome Hop-On Hop-Off 1-Day Discover Ticket • Big Bus Rome Catacombs guided tour with bus transfer • Pantheon: Reserved Entrance with Audioguide • Castel Sant'Angelo (R) • St. Peter's Basilica and Cupola Guided Tour with Breakfast + audioguide of the papal tombs (R) • 1-Hour Pizza-cooking Experience • Capitolini Museums with Skip Line Entry • Espresso, Gelato and Tiramisu Tour • Altar of the Fatherland Panoramic View (R) • Imperial Rome Walking Tour (including Colosseum exterior) • Hop-on Hop-off River Cruise Ticket (24 Hours) • Sunset pizza tour near the Colosseum • Pizza Terrace Menu in the Prati District (R) • and more! (R) Reservations required. Follow the instructions on the digital guide for each attraction or tour. *Savings based on sample itineraries on Go City website.

Rome: Fast-Track Ticket to Vatican Museum & Sistine Chapel

Rome: Fast-Track Ticket to Vatican Museum & Sistine Chapel

Explore the Vatican Museums' art collection with a trip that includes an optional visit to Castel Gandolfo. Getting into the museums before the general public allows you to see them in all their glory. You’ll walk around the vast galleries in peace and quiet, with plenty of time to admire all the classic statues, Renaissance masterpieces and more. You’ll also be able to spend some time in the Lapidary Gallery, the Borgia Apartment and Raphael Rooms before you make your way to the Sistine Chapel to bask in Michelangelo’s famous ceiling fresco. You’ll have flexible time to admire all the sculptures and paintings in this amazing collection. See all the major artworks and you’ll also be able to spend time in the Borgia Apartment, the Sistine Chapel and of course St. Peter’s Square.

Castel Gandolfo: Kayak Food and Wine Tour

Castel Gandolfo: Kayak Food and Wine Tour

Your tour will begin with you being helped into all of the safety devices, such as the life jacket. You will then partake in a lesson on the ground which will run you through the techniques of paddling and on the use of the kayak. The first leg of paddling will involve your guide teaching you how to paddle, correcting the posture and the movement of your arms as you go. Your first break will then be at the village of the millstones, which consists of submerged stilt houses that you will see from your kayak. After your break, you will engage in another stretch of paddling through untouched nature where you can admire the summer residence of the Popes on the mountain of Castel Gandolfo. You will then take a second break at the Roman port of the Villa of Domitian. Next, you will pass in front of the old structure of the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome, where all the kayaking and rowing competitions were fought. Your third stop will then be the Pope's Trampoline, where you will stop to admire the old structure on the lake shore with the ancient papal coat of arms. You will next be invited to continue your tour in a unique way to awaken all your sensory activities, as you paddle in perfect silence and listen exclusively to the sound of nature and the local wildlife. To stay in the theme of wild nature, you will then dock in an uncontaminated beach reachable only by kayak, where if the season allows, you will also dive and swim. Your paddling will then continue to the starting point, from where you will receive another relaxing break.

Rome: Vatican and Rome Experience Pass

Rome: Vatican and Rome Experience Pass

The Vatican and Experience Pass is your key to unlocking the Eternal City. Cover all the essentials Rome has to offer by creating your own unique combination ticket to top attractions and experiences. Saving you time and money, the Pass will supercharge your sightseeing plans, with priority entrance and the masterpieces you'll see at each would justify the price alone. Select among the 3, 5 and 7-choice passes available: at the Touristation office the staff will help to customize it! WALKING TOURS Navona, Pantheon +Trevi Fountain Walking Tour (English only) VATICAN AREA Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel Skip the Line ticket Papal Udience + St. Peter's Guided Tour (English and Spanish, Wednesdays only) St. Peter's Dome and Audioguide (NO Skip the Line) Basilica Santa Maria Maggiore audioguide and Dome ticket COLOSSEUM AREA Colosseum, Roman Forum and Palatine Hill Reserved Entrance. Please note Colosseum can be booked 2 days later. Roman Forum and Palatine Hill with Super Sites Reserved Entrance Trajan’s Markets Reserved Entrance Caracalla Baths Reserved Entrance Circo Maximo Virtual Reality Experience Reserved Entrance Largo Argentina Reserved Entrance UNDERGROUND Navona Underground Reserved Entrance Trevi District Underground Guided Tour (English or French) Trevi District Underground Reserved Entrance with audioguide Catacombs Guided Tour with transfer (English, French, Spanish, German, Italian and Polish) PANTHEON Pantheon Skip the Line ticket with audioguide (smartphone app) Pantheon Guided Tour (English only) FOOD EXPERIENCE Panoramic Terrace Breakfast next to the Vatican or Colosseum Panoramic Terrace Aperitif next to the Vatican or Colosseum Food tasting tour in Trastevere MUSEUMS Capitoline Museums Skip the Line tickets Leonardo da Vinci Experience with audioguide The Altar of the Fatherland Elevator, Risorgimento Museum and Palazzo Venezia Reserved Entrance Sant'Angelo Castel Skip the Line tickets with audioguide (smartphone app) Palazzo Valentini Experience Reserved Entrance Doria Pamphilj Gallery Reserved Entrance National Roman Museum (Palazzo Altemps, Baths of Diocletian, Palazzo Massimo) Reserved Entrance Cappuccini Cripts Reserved Entrance

Borgo Laudato Si' - Gardens of Villa Barberini

Borgo Laudato Si' - Gardens of Villa Barberini

Borgo Laudato Si' is located in the marvelous Gardens of the Papal Villas of Castel Gandolfo, a botanical and historical heritage of inestimable value. With its 35 hectares of gardens and 20 hectares of agricultural area, it is home to more than 3,000 plants and trees of 300 different species, as well as the archaeological remains of the Roman Emperor Domitian's villa. The beauty of the Gardens becomes the natural setting for the development of a place for training in integral ecology, open to all people of good will. The route - aboard an ecological vehicle - winds through the ruins of Emperor Domitian's villa and along avenues that flank beautiful gardens and majestic fountains.

Rome: Castelli Romani Hop-on and Hop-off Tour

Rome: Castelli Romani Hop-on and Hop-off Tour

Visit this history-packed region near Rome with 2 separate hop-on hop-off lines that stop at the Roman castles scattered across the Tusculum area or Alban Hills. Enjoy flexibility, see famous villas, castles, and palaces, and marvel at the Castel Gandolfo Lake. Choose between a ticket for Line 1 or Line 2 or get both and spend your weekend exploring the ruins outside Rome. Board your bus at the meeting point in Rome and head out into the countryside, hopping off and back on again until you catch the bus back to the city in the evening. Leave Rome on Saturday with Line 1 and visit several of the more prominent towns, starting with Frascati, and continuing to Grottaferrata, Marino, Castel Gandolfo, and the Castel Gandolfo Lake. Travel around the region on Sunday on Line 2 to see Albano Laziale, Ariccia, Genzano, Lanuvio, Nemi, and Castel Gandolfo. When you board, receive a €20 voucher to spend at local restaurants or use it to enter the attractions you stop at. As you ride through the countryside, learn about the sights you see from the live commentary onboard. 

Rome: 2-in-1 Train & Bus from/to Castel Gandolfo

Rome: 2-in-1 Train & Bus from/to Castel Gandolfo

Come and explore the famous panoramic terraces, ancient archaeological remains, and scenic nature trails in Castel Gandolfo's vibrant gardens! Traveling between Castel Gandolfo Villas (Ville Pontificie di Castel Gandolfo) and Rome has never been easier with Trenitalia's convenient combined bus and train ticket, taking you directly to the palace entrance in less than an hour. Begin your adventure by boarding a regionale train from Roma Termini to Castel Gandolfo station. Upon arrival, hop on the Castel Gandolfo Link bus, which runs twice daily from Monday to Saturday. This direct bus will take you straight to Castel Gandolfo Villas without any intermediate stops. The return journey is just as seamless, with the same route running four times per day. The Ville Pontificie di Castel Gandolfo, or the Pope's summer residence, is a must-visit destination. It offers stunning views, beautifully landscaped gardens, and a rich history. Enjoy the panoramic terraces overlooking Lake Albano, explore the ancient archaeological sites, and stroll through the lush nature trails. Experience the beauty and tranquility of this unique and historic location.

All activities

19 activities found
Sort by:
Recommended

Go beyond Castel Gandolfo

Explore all

Frequently asked questions about Castel Gandolfo

What top attractions are a must-see in Castel Gandolfo?

The must-see attractions in Castel Gandolfo are:

See all must-see sights in Castel Gandolfo

Top Attractions in Castel Gandolfo

Experiences in Castel Gandolfo

Tours in Italy

Things to do in Italy

Other Sightseeing Options in Castel Gandolfo

Want to discover all there is to do in Castel Gandolfo? Click here for a full list.

What people are saying about Castel Gandolfo

Overall rating

4.5
(53,295 reviews)

The gardens are very beautiful and the archaeological remains are wonderful for their uniqueness. It would have been better to be able to walk in this place rich in history with a guide, rather than taking a rather hasty tour with the electric car and the help of the audio guide. The harmony between nature and ancient remains creates a truly suggestive atmosphere. It is an ideal place to spend an hour immersed in beauty and silence. A visit here is an experience that I recommend to everyone and for this we thank the driver who told us some curiosities about the place.

Really enjoyed kayaking, we had a lovely morning full of sunshine, the guide Alex was such a brilliant guide/host, being completely honest the pizza wasn’t exactly pizza as you might expect but it was still nice and edible

we weren't able to see the gardens because it was raining. The tour was basically on our own. we didn't see the observatory due to being on our own. w

Our guide Alex is great and he also offered to take us to visit the town nearby of Castel Gandolfo. Thank you for this experience

Beauty of the place and kindness/competence of the staff