5 days in Rome

[legoqueen]

Please help me plan my 5 days in Rome! We are staying in the Trastevere area, with 8 year old DS who is very keen on history. Coliseum sounds like a must, should we pre-book? What are Vatican highlights that shouldn't be missed? Any restaurant recommendations in Trastevere? Thanks in advance.

Go to Restaurant34. Is bloody lovely.

Watching with interest.

Hiya
Colosseum is definitely a must. We didn't need to prebook, but we didn't go at a busy time. Definitely get a guided tour, it makes the history so much more real there.

Vatican is good, but long. Prepare to whiz round some of it, I imagine an 8 year old would get a bit bored- I did!

The castel sant'angelo is also good, worth a look just for the views.

I can't remember the name of the restaurants we went to, but would recommend going down the back streets a bit, find the ones that look busy with locals. Don't eat in the Irish pub!!! (I know, I know!!)

Have fun!

Not sure enough to keep amused for 5 days but you could do day trip to Florence too. I seem to remember there is a police museum that DS lived in Rome.

Take a day out of the city to Ostia Antica - it's the ancient port town and is amazingly complete and atmospheric (think Pompeii, but smaller). You can get there on the metro, linea B I think. It's cheap and beautiful.

Colosseum, Vatican museum, St Peters Basilica and St. peter's square, Trevi fountain, Pantheon and the Spanish Steps are all must sees. There are lots of monuments, beautiful churches and fountains dotted about the place so if you just wander about you'll see so much.

There are gorgeous ice cream shops everywhere too, so that should make your DC happy!

Piazza Novona's good for people watching, as is the square in Trastevere and outside the Pantheon.
There are some lovely parks if you want to escape and have some peace and quiet. I'm sure you'll have a great time...just watch out for the crazy traffic!

IIRC, your ticket the the coliseum includes entry to the Forum, where you can see the ruins of lots of the temples and monuments, as well as the shrine to Julius Cesar (where pilgrims still leave fresh flowers).

Ticket touts will tell you the queue to get into St Peters will take 3 hours, they're lying! The queue is massive, but it moves quickly.

The Sistine Chapel is beautiful but always packed and full of very grumpy security guards. Dare I say it, but I was expecting more and was rather underwhelmed.

The Pantheon is free to go in and isn't a long walk from the Trevi Fountain (where there is an awesome ice cream parlour).

The 'highlights' of the Vatican are basically the Vatican Museums (which includes the Sistine Chapel), and St Peter's Basilica. If you want to go to the Vatican Museums you need to get there early, unless things have changed dramatically since I last went. The museums open at 9am and I got there at 8am both times and joined an already quite large queue. But anyway, get an up-to-date guidebook for opening times and ticketing info, but AFAIK it's the same deal now. The Sistine Chapel is at the far end. If you speed-walk there as soon as you get in, you should be able to enjoy 10-15 mins in there before the bulk of the crowds arrive.

Make sure to wear something the covers your shoulders and legs when visiting any religious sites in Italy. You can be turned away at the door if you're wearing a strappy top and shorts. I've taken a light scarf in my bag on hot days to get around this, but a knee-length skirt is more appropriate than shorts and just as cool.

Trastevere is gorgeous - my favourite area. Be sure to visit Santa Maria in Trastevere - it has beautiful 12th century mosaics.

Thanks for the advice - much appreciated!