One of the most popular spots to visit in Rome is the Baths of Caracalla. In Ancient Rome, going to the baths was one of the most popular things to do, both for good hygiene and to build social relations. But now, these ancient ruins just tell the stories of what once was in its place.
Where In Rome Are The Baths Of Caracalla?
The baths are near a few other places tourists can visit. They are right next to the Palatine Hill, along with the Basilica of Saints Nereus and Achilles. Circus Maximus, Arch of Constantine, and the Colosseum are other popular places near the baths to visit.
Another good thing about this spot is the public transportation. There is a metro station that is close to the baths. There are also three different bus routes that visitors can take to the baths, or take to several other stops once done with visiting the baths.
What Visitors Can Expect At The Caracalla Baths
While walking up to the baths, it looks like there is not a lot to see. It has a lot of brick and collapsed vaults inside. But once visitors walk up, they see the huge openings to let light into the bathhouse. Walking in they can see the marked-off places where pools once were and where socializing was done. It is like walking into the past, and all one has to have is a little imagination.
When tourists go to this ancient site, they must keep in mind how things would have been in the ancient days, along with admiring how effective the Romans' technology was in their time. They had different rooms for the hot, lukewarm, and cold baths, along with another for the pool. There were aqueducts that carried water into the baths and pool. It was extremely advanced for the times that they lived in.
How To Visit
The best way to visit is to buy a ticket online and have everything sent over email. It saves time, and most places are now moving towards only having online tickets. So visitors should buy the online ticket for the time that they are planning on visiting, and be a little early for a stress-free visit.
If visitors are considering going to several different spots in the city, looking up tickets that allow entrance into several places would save them a lot of money. These tickets usually include at least three different places for the price of visiting one or two of them. Another important thought about visiting is to research the culture of where they are traveling so they can be as respectful as possible to the country and city they will be in.
Times And Cost
The baths are open almost year-round, with only a couple of days a year being closed off. But the bad thing is that there are several different times in which to visit and when the visiting hours change. Research is key before buying tickets.
- Time: Tuesday-Sunday 9-6:30, Monday 9-2
- Cost: $9 and up
While those are the average times, they do change throughout the year and depending on which website is used to buy the tickets from. There is one website that changes the hours depending on every couple of months, and there are others that say the times stay the same. The general times are listed above.
The History Of The Caracalla Baths
During the time that the baths were being built, they were one of the largest buildings in Rome, much like the Colosseum. The building of the baths took over nineteen thousand men, from leveling the ground to crafting the marble sculptures. The bathhouse was built so that visitors coming in could clean themselves from their trips.
Baths were an extremely popular pastime in Ancient Rome. It is how people kept their good hygiene and would socialize with one another. However, baths were also used for sick people and they would prescribe baths for everything from fever to worms to diarrhea. It wasn’t for several years till anyone got the idea to reserve sick hours for those who wanted to bathe to cure illness.
Destruction Of The Baths
Despite being in operation for over 300 years, the baths were shut down due to the aqueducts being destroyed by invaders. This led to the sculptures and other fineries that were in the baths to be plundered. To further add insult to injury, there was an earthquake in the year 847, which helped further destroy part of the baths.
After the aqueducts were destroyed, the people of Ancient Rome had to leave. They had no healthy drinking water and no bathing water. This is why the bathhouse is just a pile of bricks now. The Romans left everything behind, but now it is there for visitors to learn from and appreciate.
When visiting Rome, the biggest things to visit are the ruins. The Baths of Caracalla should be in the top 10 places to visit because of the magnificent beauty and how easy it is to imagine what the building once looked like. For the tourists who are history or architecture buffs, this is a particularly amazing building to go see and learn more about while visiting Rome.