The park itself costs nothing and is open all day, every day. There is no gate and no ticket.

What it holds: formal gardens, wooded avenues, a lake, temples and follies, several museums, a zoo, a cinema, a Shakespeare theatre, and the terrace above Piazza del Popolo.

It covers around eighty hectares, which makes it substantially larger than most visitors expect from the map, and walking from one side to the other takes a good half hour.

The ticketed elements within it — the Galleria Borghese, the Etruscan museum, the modern art gallery, the zoo — are separate and optional.

As a free thing to do in an expensive city, this is among the best.

The single best-known spot in the park and the one to head for if you only do one thing.

The Pincio terrace sits at the south-western corner, looking down over Piazza del Popolo with its obelisk and twin churches, across the rooftops of the historic centre, to St Peter’s dome on the horizon.

It is free, open at all hours, and it is one of the finest views in Rome.

Sunset is the time. The crowd builds in the last hour of light and thins quickly afterwards.

From the terrace, steps lead directly down into Piazza del Popolo, which connects the park to the centre — the most pleasant way to enter or leave.

The park’s headline attraction and an entirely separate proposition from the gardens.

It holds the finest collection of Bernini sculpture anywhere, a room of Caravaggios and Canova’s Pauline Bonaparte, in a villa near the centre of the park.

Entry is by capped two-hour slot with no walk-up option, and it sells out weeks ahead in high season. This is the one Rome attraction to book before anything else in your itinerary.

Bags must be checked, and the two-hour window is enforced at both ends.

If you cannot get a slot, the park is still worth the visit. If you can, arrive early, use the gardens before and after, and treat the whole thing as a half day.

The park is large enough that transport is a genuine option rather than a novelty.

Bicycle hire is widely available, along with four-wheeled pedal carts that seat several people and are the thing families end up on. Electric scooters and segways operate too.

The lake in the middle has rowing boats for hire by the half hour — a small artificial lake with a temple on an island, and one of the more charming ways to spend twenty minutes in Rome.

A small road train circulates in season.

Hire points cluster near the main entrances. Agree the time and price before setting off.

Beyond the Galleria Borghese, several ticketed institutions sit within the park and are far quieter.

The National Etruscan Museum in the Villa Giulia holds the finest Etruscan collection anywhere, including the famous sarcophagus of a married couple.

The National Gallery of Modern Art covers nineteenth and twentieth-century Italian art in a grand building.

The Carlo Bilotti museum and the Casina delle Civette are smaller and specialised.

The Bioparco is Rome’s zoo.

All are a fraction as busy as the Galleria Borghese and none need booking weeks ahead.

The park rewards wandering, and several things are worth aiming for.

The Temple of Aesculapius on the lake, which is the most photographed folly.

The water clock, a nineteenth-century hydraulic curiosity tucked among trees.

The Globe Theatre, a wooden replica of Shakespeare’s playhouse, which stages plays in summer.

The formal gardens near the gallery and the long avenues of umbrella pines that give the park its Roman character.

A cinema, playgrounds, a small pony ride, and a great deal of grass to sit on.

Early morning is the park at its best — joggers, dog walkers, low light through the pines, and almost no visitors.

Late afternoon into sunset is the other window, and the Pincio terrace is the place to be for it.

The middle of the day in summer is hot even under the trees, though the shade here is better than anywhere else central.

The park is open at night and the terrace is a popular evening spot, though the wooded interior is dark and quiet after hours.

Museum opening hours are much shorter than the park’s, so check them separately.

August, September and October are the busiest, with June and July close behind — a summer park in a city where summer is punishing everywhere else.

January and February are the quietest.

Spring is the loveliest, with the gardens planted and the light soft.

Autumn brings colour among the pines and comfortable walking weather.

Winter is bare but the terrace view is at its clearest in cold air, and the park is genuinely empty.

Several ways in, and the entrance matters because the park is large.

From Piazza del Popolo, steps and a ramp lead up to the Pincio terrace — the most scenic arrival.

From the top of the Spanish Steps it is a short walk into the park’s southern end.

Spagna and Flaminio metro stations both sit at the park’s edge. Barberini is a longer walk.

For the Galleria Borghese specifically, the entrances nearest it are on the northern and eastern sides, and walking from Piazza del Popolo across the whole park takes twenty-five minutes — worth knowing if you have a timed slot to meet.

Buses serve several of the entrances.

Cafés and kiosks are distributed through the park, with a cluster near the lake and the main entrances.

Toilets are available at several points but are not plentiful for the size of the park.

Benches and shade are abundant, which is the park’s main practical virtue in a hot city.

Picnicking is normal and the grass is there to be used.

Drinking fountains run cold and are frequent enough to rely on.

Good for a large historic park. The main avenues are paved or well-compacted and largely level, and the Pincio terrace is reachable by a ramp from Piazza del Popolo as well as by steps.

Some of the smaller paths are gravel or uneven, and the park has gentle gradients throughout.

The museums within have their own provision — the Galleria Borghese has lift access, and accessible admission arrangements should be made when booking.

Accessible toilets are available at the main facilities.

Distances are the real constraint: this is a big park and the interesting parts are spread across it.

There is almost nothing to criticise here, and the complaints in the reviews are about the gallery booking rather than the park.

The minimal version: walk up from Piazza del Popolo, look at the view from the Pincio for five minutes, and go back down.

The good version: book the Galleria Borghese weeks ahead, arrive an hour early, hire a pedal cart or walk the avenues, take a rowing boat on the lake, do your gallery slot, and come out to the Pincio terrace for sunset over the whole city.

It is free, it is the largest green space in central Rome, and it is where the city goes to breathe. In a trip full of queues and timed tickets, that is worth an afternoon.