Rome Countryside and Catacombs Tour by E-Bike on the Appian Way

What the Rome countryside and catacombs tour includes

The Rome countryside and catacombs tour is an e-bike ride that leaves from a shop by Colosseo metro, passes under Porta San Sebastiano and then stays on green, largely traffic-free ground for the rest of the morning or afternoon: the Parco dell'Appia Antica, the Parco della Caffarella and the Parco degli Acquedotti, where six of Rome's ancient aqueducts converge. Stops run from 15 to 50 minutes each, and the whole thing takes 4-5 hours.

The length you choose decides what you see. The guided visit of the Catacombs of San Callisto and the meal are in the 5-hour version only, so if the underground is the reason you are coming, take that one. The 4-hour version keeps the same ride and the same monuments above ground, including the Circus of Maxentius, the Mausoleum of Cecilia Metella and the Baths of Caracalla.

Bikes are high-quality e-bikes with a helmet, a phone holder and a handlebar holder. A child seat up to 25 kg is available, and children aged 6 to 10 are accepted only if they are under 4'5''. On the preserved stretch of basolato, the original paving rutted by cart wheels, cyclists dismount and push or use the dirt paths beside the stones, which is slow going and part of why the Appia is worth doing on two wheels rather than in a vehicle.

San Callisto is a working religious site conserved by the Pontifical Commission for Sacred Archaeology and staffed by the Salesians, and you go down with its own staff rather than wandering alone. It is the largest of the Appia catacombs: galleries on four levels more than 20 metres deep, begun in the mid-second century, the official cemetery of the Church of Rome in the 3rd century, with 16 popes, dozens of martyrs and an estimated half a million burials. Underground it sits around 16 C with high humidity, there are about 50 irregular steps down and 50 back up with no lift, and photography and video are banned inside. The site closes every Wednesday and from 13 January to 10 February 2027, so check your date before you count on the 5-hour option.

The ride stop by stop

1. Porta San Sebastiano 15 min
   The southern gate of the Aurelian Walls, built around 275 AD, and the point where the Via Appia Antica begins. Medieval graffiti cut into the stonework was left by pilgrims passing through over the centuries.
2. Catacombs of San Callisto (5-hour tour only) 50 min
   Included in the 5-hour version only. The funerary complex of the Church of Rome, named after the deacon Callixtus I, with 16 popes, dozens of martyrs and an estimated half a million burials in galleries on four levels. The visit is guided by the site's staff and means stairs, 16 C air and no cameras.
3. Appian Way (Via Appia Antica) 50 min
   The Regina Viarum, begun in the 4th century BC by the censor Appius Claudius to move troops south, later extended from Capua to Brindisi. You ride the quiet stretch and push the bike where the ancient basolato takes over.
4. Parco Della Caffarella 50 min
   One of the largest green areas in Rome, now part of the Appia Antica regional park. Flat paths, grazing land and groves, with the remains of ancient buildings standing among them.
5. Ninfeo di Egeria 20 min
   A nymphaeum linked in legend to the nymph Egeria and Numa Pompilius, the second king of Rome, and to the spring that still runs at the site. A short stop in the shade.
6. Mausoleo di Cecilia Metella e Castrum Caetani - Parco Archeologico dell'Appia Antica 20 min
   A pagan tomb built between 30 and 10 BC at the third mile, the best preserved mausoleum on the Appia, with its frieze of ox skulls. It was absorbed into the 14th-century Castrum Caetani, beside the perimeter walls of the church of San Nicola.
7. Lunch or aperitif in the aqueduct park (5-hour tour only) 40 min
   Included in the 5-hour version only. The stop is at a restaurant in the Parco degli Acquedotti, under the arches of the Claudian aqueduct: a traditional Roman lunch on morning departures, an aperitif on afternoon ones.
8. Parco Archeologico dell'Appia Antica 20 min
   Back on the e-bike across unpaved, traffic-free ground where six ancient aqueducts cross, among them the Aqua Claudia with tufa arches up to 28 metres. The line of the Via Latina runs through the same fields.
9. Circus of Maxentius 20 min
   The best preserved Roman circus still standing, with the spina visible down the middle of the track. The obelisk that once stood on it was moved in the Renaissance to the Fountain of the Four Rivers in Piazza Navona.
10. Terme di Caracalla 15 min
    The largest public baths in Rome for about a century, with most of the structure preserved. Water reached them from a branch of the Aqua Marcia through the Antoninian aqueduct, whose remains can be seen at Porta San Sebastiano.

What is included

Meeting point, ages and what to bring

• Meeting point: Roma STARBIKE, 0.03 mi from the Colosseo metro station on line B, next to the Carrefour supermarket.
• Ages: infant 0-5, child 6-10, adult 11+. Children aged 6 to 10 ride only if they are under 4'5''.
• A helmet, a phone holder and a handlebar holder come with the e-bike, and a child seat up to 25 kg is available.
• For the 5-hour version bring a layer and shoes you can manage stairs in: San Callisto stays around 16 C with high humidity, has about 50 irregular steps each way and no lift, and photography is not allowed inside.
• San Callisto closes every Wednesday and from 13 January to 10 February 2027; pick your date around that if you want the catacomb included.
• The first stretch of the Appia past the Circus of Maxentius is closed to ordinary traffic on Sundays and public holidays, which makes those the calmest days on the bike.

Other Rome countryside and catacombs tours compared

Four other versions of the same countryside are on this site, and the difference is how you move. The small-group e-bike tour at €75 runs a fixed 5 hours with the catacombs and food built in, the €73 option covers the ground in 3.5 hours and can be taken private, the golf cart tour at €99 does 3 hours with no pedalling, and the Fiat 500 tour at €119 is for people who want the drive and the photo stops instead of the exercise.

Tour details from the operator's listing, checked 24 October 2026. Prices and times can change; the booking page has the current ones.

More ways to plan your visit

Via Appia Antica: the road and its monuments

Via Appia Antica: the road and its monuments

Parco degli Acquedotti and the six aqueducts

Parco degli Acquedotti and the six aqueducts

Catacombs of San Callisto: hours and what you see

Catacombs of San Callisto: hours and what you see