To ask for help if you've been to Rome (with a buggy)?

[romanminibreak]

I'm going to be spending two days in Rome this weekend with my six month old and mother (late seventies).

Mum has always really wanted to go, but now I'm worried it's going to be a disaster. She really wants to see the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's, (is not v religious but is Irish catholic) beyond that I think would like to just see stylish Romans going about their business. We'll have a buggy (I have a pretty bad back and a giant baby so can't manage the sling) and mum had a stroke a few years ago which means she really needs to stop for a break after about 30 min walking.

Everything I've read has said the streets make navigating with a buggy impossible. I've read they let you use lifts in the Vatican museums if you have a pram but I'm not sure that will be enough for mum given the normal route is apparently 7km. It looks like it's going to rain and I can't think what else we should do besides the Vatican- I've been to Rome before but literally fifteen years ago and the only thing I remember is the colosseum which she has no interest in.

Can anyone reassure me? Have any ideas of things to do? She's also not a fan of Italian food and doesnt drink coffee which rules out my natural back up plan for rainy holidays.

I really want this to be special for my mum, any ideas/tips would be v gratefully received.

The Basilica is wonderful. I preferred it to the Sistine Chapel!

The Church of St Ignatius was also very beautiful. As was the Basilica of Santa Maria.

There is a bloody gorgeous restaurant by the colosseum to visit on an evening - Ristoro Della Salute. Food was great, service brilliant and the tiramisu was the best I have EVER had. They do something special with the egg yolks he was saying and it was bloody gorgeous.

We took our then 5 month old DS to Rome and used a combination of a sling/carrier and a buggy. It was fine - no problem at all. Our only real problems were heating bottles (no kettle in the hotel!) or changing facilities in cafes/restaurant.

A lot of the streets are cobbled but you can stick to pavements and still see a lot. It felt like I saw most of Rome in a weekend. We stuck pretty much to the tourist area of the old town that was on the map the hotel gave us, we could walk there and back to the hotel for the hottest part of the day, while out exploring in the morning we'd pick a place to head out to for dinner.

I didn't go to the Vatican but we did walk past it on our way to other places.

There are plenty of cafes and gelato shops, normally round a square so you can people watch. I think if you pick a place to visit per day and leave time for breaks so you can stop when you need to.

Wear flat sturdy shoes, the pavements in Rome are ankle twistingly uneven.

The Vatican Museum are huge and I was stunned by their beauty. The Sistine chapel is at the very end of the tour of the museum, but I am pretty sure there are shortcuts you can take. There is no sitting at all inside the chapel so you might want to have a rest before arriving there. We were advised to do the vatican in the afternoon as a lot less busy, and it was quiet indeed.

Rome has a magic on its own. Take it easy, enjoy the pace, window shopping. It is a good thing your mother has no interest in the colosseum as it would be a nightmare with a buggy!.
Go for all the Piazza and the Fontana di Trevi. I was quite impressed by the Pantheon.

Forget the Foro Romano with the pram, super rocky.
With the baby you will be welcome everywhere and in a restaurant you will be able to get some broth for the baby.

Italian food is so diverse. I don't eat pasta nor pizza but Rome is famous for its saltimbocca which are just to die for, so you mother might be pleasantly surprised!

Also, we used the hop on/hop off tourist bus and it was great - saw all the main tourist attractions and it cut out a lot of the walking. Rome is fab! Have a great trip.

You’ll be absolutely fine!!! You will spend a day in the Vatican City between the museums, the sistene chapel and St Peters itself. Book a tour (they’re all very similarly priced, we have used savelli tours in the past) to allow you to skip the queues at the museum which will then leave you at the entrance to St. Peter’s after doing the museums and the sistene chapel. Where the tour leaves you, you are right next to a gift shop and a ticket booth for going up on to the roof of St. Peter’s to climb the dome - obviously ignore the actual dome but the view from the top of the roof is great too.

As for wandering about - things worth seeing are the trevi fountain, Spanish steps area (sit on the steps and watch the world go by, then go to the shops), piazza navona, piazza del popolo (lots of cafes and places to eat/drink), the pantheon, the villa borgese park and the castel sant Angelo.

A good loop is to go to the Trevi fountain, up to the Spanish steps, over to the park if you fancy it, then down to the pantheon, piazza navona, piazza Venezia (the Italian parliament building is here) then on to piazza del popolo. All of this is walkable and the roads and pavements are wide/easily navigable with a buggy. However you can also get buses (google maps will tell you what numbers of buses take you where if you ask it for directions) and the metro system is easy to use too. Happy to answer any questions on any of the above if you need it!

Yes the booking! We didn't book a tour, but we booked the entrance tickets online to skip the queue.

You'll be fine! take the buggy, the Vatican is huge with lots of smooth (gold!) floors etc. Sistine is tiny but you and your mum can take turns going in one at a time while the other sits with buggy. People are very helpful when you have a buggy to, so don't be afraid to accept help with lifting it etc. or gesturing for help!
It's not harder than navigating any other city with a buggy.

My favourite Roman sights are the Pantheon (look up!) it's in a square full of cafés, Piazza Navona which they used to flood and hold mock naval battles in, The Trevi Fountain your Mum will probably remember the famous film scene.
As your Mum isn't interested in Colosseum, I'd give the Forum a miss, as to get the best out of it it helps to know what the various ruins were and how they relate to each other.

Think about using the underground to help you get around. What area is your hotel in, as I might know a nice restaurant nearby? Most restaurants will do dishes such as lamb or pork chops and your choice of vegetable, so finding something your Mum likes will be fine.

I meant the Pantheon also! Much nicer than the Sistine Chapel where we herded and clapped in like cattle for a voice to then boom out "siiiiilennnce" not unlike Professor Dumbledore

Wear comfortable shoes and you will be fine .
We were there over new years and I don't remember the roads being cobbled?
Like your mum I also needed to stop walking every half an hour due to pregnancy but there are plenty of places to sit.
Other than the vatican we spent 2 days at the colosseum and surrounding museums as we loved it there and didn't get to see it all in one day.
Another day was spent on the centre to see the Spanish steps and the trevi fountain. And we spent the day in and around the vatican, found it to be a lovely peaceful place and had food there.
Due to me being pregnant and having a young child, I was offered the use of lifts where available such as in the colosseum.
And you always have the option of the hop on hop off tour buses which might be a better option if walking proves to be too difficult.

The Vatican museums are huge so plan your visit and decide what you want to see. Or take a guided tour. It was a good plan to book in advance. If the tickets aren't time-limited, go in at lunchtime as that's when the tour groups leave and you can see the Sistine Chapel in relative peace. It's pretty close to the entrance. The other must-sees are the Raphael rooms and the Gallery of Statues. There's a canteen in the basement which does full meals and there are benches here and there where you can sit down. There are also quite a few cafes on the Via della Conciliazione en route to the Vatican. Bear in mind that it's quite a walk from public transport to St Peter's and it's around a 10-minute walk from there to the museums. If you have all day you can pace yourself. If you want to people-watch, just grab an outside seat at a café but bear in mind they will charge you more for your coffee. If your mum only drinks tea, you may have to ask for cold milk (latte freddo) as Italians drink it black. blog.romeandvaticanpass.com/10-must-see-highlights-of-the-vatican-museum/

I went with 2 young children including a buggy and it was fine-everyone was very family - friendly and helpful

Make sure you have tickets booked if you can as the queues can be very lengthy around the Vatican.

Thank you so much, I'm making notes and feeling relieved so many people think it's manageable.

We're staying in a hotel that's just a ten minute walk from the Vatican so I guess maybe having lunch then heading in makes sense for day 1. Lots of great ideas of things to do and places to see for the rest of the time. We'll take it easy and hopefully all will work out well.

We were in Rome over Easter.
Lots of cobbled streets so a good buggy with suspension is probably a must.
Book a tour of the Vatican a small group one. I felt disappointed by it to be honest. It's not like place here where the rooms are staged and you can see how people would have lived it felt more like corridors to be walked through herded along to the Sistine.
Beautiful art work but for me something was missing.
The hawkers are everywhere and it can be tiring fending them off. Worst around the colosseum where you stand around before your entrance time etc, constant Harassment to buy stuff.
So much choice for food and places to stop.
History is everywhere you turn a corner and stumble on something you weren't looking for.
We had 2 full days and fit so much in.
If waking is an issue I'd go for the hop on hop off bus.

Oh and the best view of the trevi fountain is from Benetton shop second floor window opposite the fountain.

If your Mum can handle a hill go to the Rome Orange Garden for a beautiful and not too busy view of the city.

We have with a 8month old in a buggy, we took our zappy which folds into a carry bag for times we found it difficult to use and popped dd in a sling

Quinny zapp not zappy

We took a sling!

One of my favourite cities - never tire of visiting it. I second the hop on hop off bus. Great way to get around and see things if you're too tired to walk.

We walked around Rome for 4 days with a 2 year old in a Maclaren Globetrotter. It was fine.

We didn't go to the Vatican museums though as we'd been before and didn't think 2 year old would be particularly interested! You can get round all the other big sights pretty well with a buggy, especially if it's lightweight and easy to lift up steps etc.

Enjoy!

Just wanted to follow up and say thanks so much.

Mum's mobility - or really stamina levels- were worse than I think I really realised, and in the end her focus as on St. Peter's rather than the museums so we just went to the basilica which was perfect. Checked the buggy and wore her in sling inside, the rest of the trip managed fine with buggy.

We did a hop on hop off tour, went to the pantheon and Trevi Fountain and to a fancy department store with great views where we had lunch and checked out the Italian fashion. It was a really good visit.

I would definitely pay to skip queues in future though, I couldn't believe how bad the queues were outside places we didn't get off in the hop on hop off bus. We spent 20 minutes queueing to get into St. Peter's in the late afternoon but the morning queues were astonishing. In general the levels of tourists seemed huge compared to the last time I was in Rome which to be fair was ten years ago.

It was a brilliant trip though and I really appreciate the advise.