So you've got one day left to kill in Rome and have completely maxed out your credit cards and blown your savings. You can either sit in your hostel room sulking or take advantage of the many things Rome offers da gratis.

1. A stroll up to the Colle Oppio Park provides fine views of the Colosseum and contains ruins from the Domus Aurea.

2. The Colosseum, the granddaddy of Roman sights: Walking around and peering in are free, and also enough to get a sense of its grandeur. Admire the nearby Arch of Constantine.

3. The Roman Forum displays 2000-year-old ruins, as well as the Mamertine Prison where the apostles Peter and Paul were imprisoned. Notice the nearby Arch of Settimio.

4. Witness the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the Monument to Vittorio Emanuele II. Inside, visit the Museum of the Italian Renaissance, housing Italian historical art dating from renaissance times through WWI.

5. Gawk at Michelangelo's Capitoline Piazza and steps. Enjoy the piazza's copy of the bronze statue, Marcus Aurelius on Horseback. View the Roman Forum from the terrace.

6. Finally, on the last Sunday of each month, the Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel are free. Visit other Roman churches for mosaics, sculptures, paintings, and relics.

At 220m above the floor of the Verzasca Valley, the Val Verzasca Dam is home to the world's highest fixed-point bungee jump. It took seven years of lobbying before the Swiss government granted Trekking Team AG a license to install jumping equipment there, and since then the company has maintained a perfect safety record. When I arrived, I thought I knew what I was in for. Then I saw the dam, and its immensity immediately melted my certainty.

Physics suggests that a falling body should cover the distance in under seven seconds, but until the youngster next to me on the bridge threw a rock into the void, I had no idea how long that seemed.

After jumps by eight others, none of whom flinched before takeoff, I found myself at the edge. One second I was standing with my toes curled around the end of a metal platform, a staff member hanging onto my vest, then came a three-second countdown and the hand was gone. The sensation of falling felt like the most natural thing in the world.

Contact Trekking Team at www.trekking.ch. Open Apr.-Oct. Sa-Su; Jul-Aug W-Su. Reservations required. 255SFr, students 195SFr; additional jumps on the same day 125SFr. Night jumps possible.

France pumps out vast quantities of wine for unbeatable prices, but even that €4 bottle from the supermarket won't seem like such a great deal after a visit to Antibes's Cave Raymond. Behind a classy storefront and expensive bottles of local pastis, the owners keep three enormous vats of red, white, and rosé wine. From these metal barrels, frugal customers use a garden hose to transfer the store's wine into their own empty bottles for a mere €1.80 per liter. If you're worried about the quality of the wine, you can taste it before buying.

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