Rome's baroque staircase: 135 travertine steps climbing from Piazza di Spagna to the church of Trinità dei Monti.
Climb past the boat-shaped Barcaccia fountain, look back over the rooftops, and come in spring, when azaleas line every terrace.
Minutes at the StepsRead from each itinerary, not the title
The square is freeWe say when you don't need a tour
Free cancellationUp to 24 hours before, on every tour here
2026 rules checkedSitting ban, Trevi ticket, church hours
Tours
Choose your Spanish Steps tour
In the centre, the golf cart tour with the most reviews in Rome, Steps included. Either side, the walk
that gives the Steps a full half hour and a small group that starts right at their foot. Every card opens a full tour page.
A guided walk from Piazza del Popolo down to the Spanish Steps, then on to Trevi, the Pantheon and Piazza Navona. Half an hour at the Steps, the longest stop of any tour here.
What's included
Licensed guide and headsets
30 minutes at the Spanish Steps
Trevi Fountain, Pantheon (outside) and Piazza Navona
Three hours of Rome by electric golf cart, from the Colosseum to St Peter's, with a 15-minute stop at the Spanish Steps. Easy on the legs, with a gelato stop included.
What's included
Small-group golf cart with a live guide (max 14)
Stops at the Spanish Steps, Trevi and the Pantheon
Gelato, bottled water and headsets
Start and finish at Via Urbana 40, near Cavour metro
Meet at the foot of the Spanish Steps in a group of six or fewer and walk to Trevi, the Pantheon and Navona. The guide fits in a gelato or coffee stop on the way.
What's included
Group of no more than 6 guests
Starts at Babington's Tea Rooms, Piazza di Spagna
Pantheon visit (not on first Sundays and holidays)
Three questions sort it out. Do you want to walk or ride? Do you want real time at the Spanish Steps, or
are they one photo stop among six? And would you rather see Rome in daylight or lit up at night?
Children under 6 ride free on the night tour; most walks give a child rate from 5 years. The
Tix & Tours walk was on sale at $45 when we checked. On City Wonders and EcoArt, the lowest price is a shorter option:
pick the full walk if you want the Steps.
Before you book
Free to see, not to sit.
The Spanish Steps cost nothing. There is no gate, no ticket and no opening time: walk up at 7 a.m. or at midnight and
nobody will ask you for a cent. The church of Trinità dei Monti at the top is free as well. What you cannot do is sit
down. Since August 2019 Rome's urban police regulation treats the staircase as a monument, and the municipal police
patrol it with whistles.
That changes what a "Spanish Steps tour" is. Nobody is selling you entry. A tour sells the route around the
Steps (Trevi, the Pantheon, Navona), a guide who explains them, and the timing, often the evening. And on most
tours the Steps are a stop of 15 to 30 minutes. A few well-reviewed Rome tours with "Spanish Steps" in the marketing
never go there at all. Read the itinerary, not the title.
€250
The fine for sitting or lying on the Steps. Eat, drink or dirty
them and it can reach €400. Standing, walking and photos are fine.
Hours and tickets nearby, tour prices, the rules and what to wear: one tab each.
Spanish Steps and Piazza di Spagna: free, open 24 hours, every day.
Trinità dei Monti church: free; 10:15 to 19:45 (Wednesday from noon, Sunday 9:00 to 19:30), not during services.
Keats-Shelley House: Monday to Saturday, 10:00 to 13:00 and 14:00 to 18:00; €7 adults, €5 reduced.
Trevi Fountain basin: €2 for non-residents, 9:00 to 22:00 (Monday and Friday from 11:30); free after 22:00.
Evening walks that stop at the Steps: from $40.
The half-hour-at-the-Steps walk from Piazza del Popolo: $56 (on sale at $45 when we checked).
Golf cart tour with gelato: $102. Small group of six with gelato: $148.
Vespa sidecar afternoon, no Steps stop: $171.
No sitting or lying on the Steps: €250, up to €400 if you dirty or damage them.
No eating or drinking on the Steps, and no dragging suitcases or strollers up them.
No wading or climbing into the Barcaccia or any Rome fountain.
Churches, Trinità dei Monti included: shoulders and knees covered, quiet during Mass.
Shoes with grip: travertine gets slippery after rain, and the side streets are cobbled.
A light scarf or shirt to cover shoulders for Trinità dei Monti and the Pantheon.
In summer, water and a hat: there is no shade on the Steps at midday.
On evening tours from October to April, a jacket. One guest's advice: "Bring a jacket bc gets chilly at night."
The StepsFree, 24/7A public square. No ticket, no queue, no closing time.
Trinità dei MontiFreeThe French church at the top, with its obelisk and the view.
Keats-Shelley House€7The poet's last home, right of the Steps. Closed Sunday.
Trevi basin€2Since February 2026, 9:00 to 22:00. The piazza above is free.
MetroLine A, SpagnaExits beside the square, with lifts up toward the top.
AzaleasApril to May16 April to 17 May in 2026. The 2027 dates come in spring.
Where it is
Finding the Steps
In the heart of the Tridente
Piazza di Spagna, 00187 Roma · Metro A: Spagna
The Steps sit at the top of the shopping grid between Piazza del Popolo and Via del Corso. Via dei Condotti runs
straight from the foot of the Steps toward the Corso, the Keats-Shelley House is on the right of the staircase, and
Babington's Tea Rooms on the left. Tour meeting points are scattered around the centre, so read yours before you
set out.
Trevi Fountain: about 10 minutes on foot
Piazza del Popolo: about 10 minutes along Via del Babuino
4.9★★★★★ 1,993 reviews · Rome golf cart tour with gelato Viator rating
★★★★★
This tour is ideal for three situations: (A) you just arrived and want a 3hr orientation. (B) someone in your party (like my 82 year old mother) has trouble walking/climbing or has limited walking stamina or (C) you’ve had a great time in Rome and want a relaxing way to end / recap your time here.
★★★★★
Our small group tour with Emanuele was wonderful! It was our very first taste of Rome sightseeing, with visits to the Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon [...]
★★★★★
Looking at all the sights lit up at night was magical. Lots of great information and a wonderful way to see Rome our first night. Highly recommend!
★★★★★
Really enjoyed taking it all in from the golf cart even in the bracing New Years Day cold. We saw far more from this tour than we would have had we attempted to do it on foot. Also the gelato was very tasty! Grazie!
★★★★★
We loved making a wish at Trevi Fountain and learning about the boat fountain at piazza Spagna. We loved going inside the pantheon and learning about the history.
★★★★★
I had a phenomenal tour of the city today. Eslam was vey thorough and accommodating. Went out of his way to show us everything and then some. Thank you for the fountain coins because I forgot mine.
★★★★★
Such a great walking tour at an easy pace. We learnt a lot of info without it being boring or just 1000 facts.
★★★★★
Lisa was an excellent tour guide, very informative and knowledgeable about the 3 sites and accompanying areas we visited. Would thoroughly recommend.
★★★★★
The Vespa tour was a great way to get introduced to Rome [...] It was fun to explore alleys and back streets while seeing most of Rome’s best sights.
Same trip, different afternoon
See Rome from a sidecar
Walk the Steps on your own in the morning, when they are empty. Then let a driver show you the rest.
Not a Spanish Steps tour, and it says so: the route runs from Piazza della Repubblica to Trevi, the Pantheon, the Gianicolo hill and Trastevere. A professional driver does the riding, you sit in the sidecar. Walk the Steps yourself in the morning, ride in the afternoon.
Most people spend ten minutes here, take a photo, and walk on to Trevi. Know what you are looking at and
the Steps hold you a lot longer.
A French staircase with a Spanish name
The hill above the square belonged to the French: the church of Trinità dei Monti was built for King Louis XII's
Minim friars in the 1500s. The square below took its name from the Palazzo di Spagna, the Spanish embassy to the Holy
See, which still faces it. For a century and a half the two were joined by a muddy slope. A French diplomat, Étienne
Gueffier, left money for a proper staircase when he died in 1660, and after decades of arguing over whose king would
get the credit, Francesco De Sanctis won a competition and built it between 1723 and 1725. 135 steps, about 29 metres of
climb, in flights that split, curve and meet again like a slow piece of music.
The obelisk at the top came later, in 1789: a Roman copy of an Egyptian original that once stood in the Gardens of
Sallust. The church behind it is free to enter and has a tour of its convent by reservation.
Our guide to the top of the Steps has the hours.
The Barcaccia sits low in its basin because the aqueduct that feeds it has very little pressure.
The sinking boat
At the foot of the Steps, the Fontana della Barcaccia is older than the staircase. Pietro Bernini carved it between
1627 and 1629, probably with help from his son Gian Lorenzo. The story goes that a boat was stranded here by the Tiber
flood of 1598. The real reason for its odd half-sunk shape is plumbing: the Acqua Vergine aqueduct arrives with too
little pressure for a tall jet, so Bernini sank the fountain below street level. Football fans chipped it in 2015, and
it was repaired. Wading in it is banned.
The honest small print: the Steps are free, so a tour only earns its price with the route and the guide.
Some sell "Spanish Steps" in the name and then give them 15 minutes, a few skip them entirely, and the cheapest fare on
some listings is a shorter option that never gets there. Each of our tour pages gives the minutes
at the Steps first.
Why you can't sit down
For three centuries people sat on these steps: artists' models waiting for work in the 1800s, Audrey Hepburn with her
gelato in Roman Holiday, and thousands of tired tourists every summer evening. After a €1.5 million restoration paid for
by Bulgari in 2016, the city lost patience. Rome's urban police regulation, approved in June 2019, made the staircase
a protected monument, and from August that year sitting became a €250 fine, rising to €400 for food, drinks or damage.
The rule is enforced. Expect a whistle within a minute. The full story, and where to rest your legs instead, is in
can you sit on the Spanish Steps.
Standing and walking are free. Sitting is not.
When to come
Early morning is the Steps at their best: before 9 a.m. the staircase is close to empty and the sun lights the
facades. Late April brings the azaleas, set out by the city gardeners since 1952. Evenings are busy but beautiful, with
the church floodlit above you, which is why so many night tours pass through. In July and August, avoid midday: there
is no shade, and with no sitting allowed you will not linger. For month-by-month detail see
the best time to visit.
Trinità dei Monti and the Sallustian obelisk: free to visit, with the best view back down the Steps.
Straight answers to what people ask most about the Spanish Steps and the tours that stop there.
Is it free to visit the Spanish Steps?
Yes. The Spanish Steps and Piazza di Spagna are a public square, open day and night, with no ticket and no gate. The church of Trinità dei Monti at the top is free too. You only pay for a guide, for the Keats-Shelley House (€7) or for a tour that links the Steps to Trevi and the Pantheon.
Can you sit on the Spanish Steps?
No. Since August 2019 Rome's urban police regulation treats the steps as a monument, and sitting or lying on them can cost €250, or up to €400 if you dirty or damage them (eating and drinking count). Police patrol and whistle. Walking and photos are fine. The details are in our rules guide.
Do I need a tour to see the Spanish Steps?
No, you can walk up them on your own for free. A tour is worth it for what surrounds them: the route to Trevi, the Pantheon and Navona, a guide who explains what you are looking at, and the evening timing. Compare the options in Spanish Steps tours compared.
How long do tours spend at the Spanish Steps?
Usually 15 to 30 minutes. The Tix & Tours walk lists 30, the golf cart tour 15, the night tour 20. Some popular Rome evening and Vespa tours do not stop there at all, so check the itinerary, not the title.
How many steps are there?
135, climbing about 29 metres from Piazza di Spagna to Trinità dei Monti. If you would rather not climb, the Spagna metro station has lifts that come out near the top. See how to get there.
Why are they called the Spanish Steps?
After the Palazzo di Spagna, the Spanish embassy to the Holy See, which faces the square. The steps themselves were paid for by a French diplomat's bequest and lead up to a French church, Trinità dei Monti. They opened in 1725.
What is the best time to visit the Spanish Steps?
Before 9 a.m. for an empty staircase and soft light, or after dark when the day crowds thin. Mid-April to mid-May brings the azaleas. Our best time guide goes month by month.
When are the azaleas on the Spanish Steps?
Rome's gardeners set out the azaleas each spring; in 2026 they stood from 16 April to 17 May. The 2027 dates are not out yet, so watch our azalea post.
How do I get to the Spanish Steps?
Metro line A to Spagna, which exits right beside the square. On foot it is about 10 minutes from the Trevi Fountain and from Piazza del Popolo. More in getting there.
Do you have to pay for the Trevi Fountain now?
Only to stand by the water. Since 2 February 2026 non-residents pay €2 to enter the area by the basin between 9:00 and 22:00; the piazza above stays free. Read the Spanish Steps to Trevi walk.
Can I cancel a Spanish Steps tour?
Every tour on this site cancels for a full refund up to 24 hours before the start. Small-group tours can also be cancelled by the operator if too few people book, and then you get your money back.
Ready to book
The Steps are free. The stories cost a little.
Free cancellation up to 24 hours before on every tour.
Most time at the Steps
★ 4.92.5 hoursFree cancellation
