The Baths of Caracalla

If the Colosseum shows how Romans were entertained, the Baths of Caracalla show how they lived. Built in the early third century AD under the emperor Caracalla, these were among the largest and most luxurious public baths ever constructed, a leisure complex where thousands of Romans came each day to bathe, exercise, meet friends, read and do business. The scale is still overwhelming. Walls of brick and concrete rise to dizzying heights, and the ground plan stretches over a vast rectangle once surrounded by gardens, libraries and porticoes. Visitors follow the classic Roman bathing sequence through the ruins: the changing rooms, the gymnasia where athletes trained, the frigidarium for cold plunges, the warm tepidarium and the great circular caldarium, once crowned by a dome. Underneath ran a hidden world of service tunnels, furnaces and water channels operated by slaves, which kept the whole complex heated and supplied. Large stretches of black-and-white and polychrome mosaic flooring survive, some of it fallen in great slabs from the upper floors. Many of the sculptures that decorated the halls, including the colossal Farnese Bull and Farnese Hercules, were excavated here in the Renaissance and now stand in the archaeological museum in Naples. The baths are run by Rome's state heritage authorities separately from the Colosseum and Forum, which means a calmer, more spacious visit than the headline monuments, often with very little queueing. In summer, the ruins become an open-air stage for the Rome Opera's outdoor season, one of the most atmospheric performance settings in Europe.

The visit is largely outdoors and on level ground, which makes it one of the gentler ancient sites for families and anyone with tired legs after the Forum. Give yourself at least an hour and a half to walk the full circuit. The ticket sold on Tiqets includes an audio guide and access to the Immaginare Roma exhibit, and you will need your own headphones for the audio; information panels on site are good, but the audio helps to rebuild the halls in your mind. Look up at the window and vault springs to sense the original height, and look down for the mosaics, including the athletic pavements in the gym halls. Parts of the underground galleries and the Mithraeum, a shrine to the eastern god Mithras, open only on certain days or special tours, so check before you go if they matter to you.

Practicalities: the entrance is on Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, about ten minutes on foot from Circo Massimo Metro station. There is little shade in the open courts, so bring water and a hat in the warmer months, and come early or late in summer. Opening hours follow the season, with earlier closing in winter, and the site has its own closing day, so check the current schedule on the day. Because tickets are rarely in short supply, booking ahead is less critical than at the Colosseum, but an online ticket with the audio guide included saves time at the gate.

The baths pair naturally with the southern side of ancient Rome. Combine them with the Circus Maximus and the Aventine Hill for a full morning, or use them as the first stop on a trip down the Appian Way, whose gate at Porta San Sebastiano is a short walk or bus ride away. If you are in Rome in summer, look up the outdoor opera and ballet programme: watching a performance with the floodlit ruins as backdrop is one of the city's great experiences. For history buffs, the baths explain more about daily Roman life than almost any other site; for families, the open space and sheer scale are a welcome change from crowded museums.