Move Over Rome! 4 Ancient Cities With Colosseums & Less Crowds

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If you happen to’ve by no means been to Rome your self, and a visit to Europe is within the playing cards for 2026, likelihood is you are eyeing a go to to the Everlasting Metropolis, and we’re positively not right here to discourage you, or downplay Rome’s significance:

We may write at size about its world-class museums, historic wonders, and unequalled meals scene. In reality, now we have on a number of events. Rome is actually all that, and we’re positively not a part of the antithetical crowd that calls it ‘overrated’.

Nevertheless, what you ought to know if Rome’s in your radar this 12 months, is that it’s going to most likely be busier than every other 12 months that preceded it.

Why You Ought to Keep away from Rome… For Now

Italy is anticipating a record-breaking rise in customer numbers in 2026, though it is already crumbling beneath the load of mass tourism, and because the nationwide capital and fundamental vacationer vacation spot, Rome is on the helm of the worrying development.

Rome will all the time be Rome, however between a cordoned-off Trevi Fountain—tossing a coin in will now value you greater than the coin itself—to new charges awating vacationers on the entrance of the Pantheon, and the lengthy strains blocking the Colosseum, it isn’t precisely the equal of dolce vita type of summer time.

What if we advised you that you need not go to Rome particularly to expertise all that Roman attract?

The legendary empire stretched far and extensive throughout Mediterranean Europe and past, and iconic as it could be, the Italian capital just isn’t all that is left behind.

In reality, these 4 different historic cities pack their personal Colosseum-style arenas and killer historic vibes, and get this: no traffic-jamming crowds anyplace in sight!

4 Rome Look-Alikes With out The Loopy Crowds

Nîmes, France

Thought-about by many the most Roman city outside of Italy, Nîmes revolves round a near-intact Roman amphitheater, constructed circa 70 A.D., a picture-perfect Outdated City dotted with Italian-style skinny townhouses (they even have the identical inexperienced shutters!), and luxurious city parks.

The Arènes de Nîmes, their native ‘Colosseum’—we all know, we all know, there’s solely one Colosseum, however you get the gist—is each an open-air museum and a still-functioning leisure venue:

Again in summer time 2024, none lower than Dua Lipa carried out reside within the 2,000-year-old area to about 24,000 spectators, so in contrast to the Roman Colosseum, this one nonetheless embodies the spirit of panem et circus.

Within the coronary heart of Nîmes, La Maison Carrée stands as one of many best-preserved Roman temples kicking round into trendy instances, barely a scratch on it. This limestone stunner dates again to the first century, and it is solely rivaled in its pristine state by the Pantheon in Rome.

You learn it right here first: Pula is Rome by the Sea, and maybe Croatia’s most Italian-esque port metropolis.

Overlook Dubrovnik and its crowded metropolis partitions, or Cut up with the drunken British lads: Pula is the a lot calmer, laid-back various the place you may really breathe in all some historic historical past with out by chance inhaling some puff on the facet.

In fact, there is a monumental area proper by the port, and in contrast to Rome’s, its elliptical form has not seen vital injury over the centuries.

The inside of the world did not share the identical destiny, with many of the seats and construction now gone, however the cool half is that, equally to Nîmes’, Pula’s area additionally hosts reside occasions in the summertime months.

This contains the Pula Music Week, a multi-day digital music pageant that pulls in children from everywhere in the Balkans. We’re not ones to toot our personal horn, however you have not really lived till you have skilled a European rave in an historic Roman area.

In addition to the marvelous amphitheater, Pula lays declare to the first century Arch of the Sergii, the Temple of Augustus, the most important and best-preserved temple in a levelled Roman Discussion board, and a richly adorned Hercules Gate.

Did we point out all the attractive seashores a stone’s throw away from Pula’s Roman core? For a chill Croatian seashore day, away from the city plenty, head out to Gortan Cove: pine-shaded, pebbly, and bathed by turquoise seas.

Verona, Italy

You need not depart Italy altogether to attain a peaceable Roman-style vacation, both: a 3h20 prepare from the capital, up within the northeast of the Italian peninsula, Verona seems like a miniature Rome with half the usual buzz.

Like each different metropolis on the checklist, the star of the present is the Verona Area, constructed as early as 30 AD. It initially offered the backdrop for gladiator fights and different blood-letting spectacles, but at the moment, essentially the most thrilling happenings are Vivaldi concert events and operatic Andrea Bocelli renditions.

Yep, this one stays in use as properly, and it may well accommodate as much as 30,000 guests.

Verona itself is suffering from traces of its historic previous, together with a string of various metropolis gates, most notably Porta Borsari and Porta Leoni, and authentic Roman bridges crossing the Adige River.

That being mentioned, the town’s largest declare to fame ain’t some dusty tie to a long-gone empire, however its Shakespeare hookup: it is the setting of Romeo and Juliet, the Bard’s blockbuster play.

These aren’t actual characters, after all, however that does not change the truth that Verona’s prime vacationer entice is Casa di Giulietta: a medieval townhouse with a cute-enough balcony and courtyard that native bigwigs randomly picked to show right into a Juliet-themed museum.

It does 1000’s of holiday makers a day, so possibly steer clear should you’re eager on avoiding Rome-like crowds.

Arles, France

Yet one more underrated gem of Provence with an unsung Roman history, Arles straddles the banks of the Rhône that, at one level, impressed strokes of genius by Van Gogh himself.

The well-known Dutch painter was not the one exceptional resident of Arles at any given time: the riverside city flourished as a Roman settlement in Antiquity, and given the dimensions of its monuments and the existence of an area, we are able to guess it wasn’t any minor outpost, both.​

The Arles Amphitheater is among the most spectacular monuments of its form nonetheless standing, having been constructed across the similar time as its sister edifice in neighboring Nîmes.

The elliptical area is, with out query, the locals’ delight and pleasure, however the smaller Roman Theater in its neighborhood is equally fascinating: with imposing columns and marble seats, it as soon as hosted epic performs and spectacles that drew crowds from throughout Provence, and it very a lot continues to take action.

A brief 4-min stroll from the world, the Cryptoportiques d’Arles are a sequence of underground galleries constructed by the Romans, previously used for storage and commerce.

To the informal onlooker, it is nothing however a bunch of underground chambers, positive, however get your self a educated information and it is abruptly a uncommon window into Roman city life.​

Vinicius Costa

Vini, our senior lead author at Journey Off Path, has over 60+ international locations beneath his belt (and presently weaving tales from Paris!), and a knack for turning off-the-beaten-path experiences into informative tales that can have you ever packing your baggage.