Would you like to help me to plan a trip to Rome?

[LadySybilLikesCake]

Just ds (age 15) and I from the second week of July for 5 days. Where would you go? We're going to catch the train to pompeii, visit the colosseum, but otherwise we're not sure. Ds can't walk too far so no mountains. Will 700 euro's be enough for 5 days of food and activities (I have to save it)? Any advice?

thank you.

Excuse me OP, do you mind if I just park myself below you
Am also having an inkling for Rome this summer, would like to earwig!

No, go for it. If you're there at the same time we could have a Mumsnet meet up at the travelli fountain!

I went with DD when she was 7, and was really glad we paid out for the open top bus. Like most big cities, you can hop on and off when you've bought the ticket, and it's not cheap but it's very easy to figure out and goes to all the main tourist sites. If your DS has trouble walking far it will be great because it's a big city and you'd end up walking miles. Those 7 hills can be bloody inconvenient!

It saved us using the underground system which can be ridiculously busy, stressful and risky. A colleague had her purse stolen very recently on the train.

Also it's an expensive city - carry water and snacks.

Oh, we like the sound of an open top bus. There will be shops for water and snacks (I hope)

Thank you. I think there's a beach not far from Rome but I can't see if it's clean/touristy or not.

I love Rome. It's the way you just walk through the little streets In between the houses and all of a sudden stumble across the Trevino Fountain or the Pantheon, right in the middle of everyone going about their business. It's one of my top 5 cities in the World
You can catch a train right from the airport into the city and then walk or taxi to many of the central hotels.
If you are heading to Pompeii, Herculaneum is very close and well preserved. I found it more interesting than Pompeii actually. Sorrento is a lovely coastal resort with some stunning views en route.
Have a great time

Trevi Fountain - damn autocorrect!

some of my favourite things (there are many more):

Go from colosseum to forum to palatine hill then Capitoline Museum
Caravaggio paintings (various churches)
San Carlino and sant ivo (Borromini churches)
Cafe San eustachio (coffee)
Palazzo Massimo alle Terme (amazing frescoes)
Borghese Palace
Baths of Caracalla
Pantheon
Wander from Piazza Navona to Campo di Fiori, Farnese Palace and across the river to Trastevere
Outside Rome:
Antica Ostia
Hadians Villa
Villa d'Este, Tivoli

If you have only 5 days then going to Naples to see Pompeii would be a very time consuming trip..

We loved Rome last year but found it very expensive for eating and drinking. Def take snacks and drinks or top upmost supermarkets etc not cafe's or restaurants

We did a guided tour of the colosseum which was almost worth the £100 or so it cost us . The queues were really long , so look into buying tickets in advance if you can.

€700 should be fine if you can manage to eat snacks / picnic rather than restaurant food.

We went Oct before last when DD was 13 - the best day was a trip to Ostia - shortish train ride which is included in the travel pass thing you can get. It's quite a big site, much less crowded than Rome itself or Pompeii/Herculaneum. (how far can your DS walk?... Pompeii is big too, Herculaneum is more compact and IIRC might possibly be a better bet.)

Depending where you want to go, it can be well worth getting a tourist pass eg this - esp for the Colloseum/Sistine chapel to avoid queues. (they're the worst by far)... but some sites are free for EU kids so check the details, your DS may just need a travel pass. I've forgotten the details of what we had but you've plenty of time to research it.

You can buy water and snacks but i remember coming out of the colosseum with Dd hot and hungry and paying 12 euros for a bottle of water and a packet of crisps. And that was a few years ago. I just meant stock up before you hit the tourist sites.

Also Google the square with the cats. Can't remember the name. And we loved st peters dome.

When you go to the Pantheon, pop down the little side street and get ice cream from the Gelateria della Palma - best ice cream shop in the world! Rome is fabulous, I'm not a city person but I love this place. As well as the places Lucelulu mentions, there is also the Vatican museums and Castel Sant Angelo. The Roman ruins are everywhere, stunning in size and number.

Id very highly recommend staying at Cristiana's

Great ~B~&B, good restaurants around for evening, fridge for picnics, 2 mins from tram line stop for central Rome.

We were there (after a week in Naples) last summer. Hope you have great fun.

(love the name TittyNotSusan!). Oh yes - we happened upon the cat sanctuary while walking between other sites.... only in rome would there be a prime archaeological site including the spot where Julius Caesar was assassinated, which is inhabited only by cats!

Honestly, there's so much to do in Rome that if you're there for 5 days I'm not sure I'd spend the time going to Pompeii (save up for a trip to Sorrento and go to Pompeii, Herculaneum, Capri and Paestum!) or to a beach.

I took my mum a few years ago and the highlight of our trip was doing a Segway tour. We covered more ground and saw some amazing things (the keyhole of the Knights of Malta for example) in a few hours than the rest of our four days, worth every penny! Also it's great fun whooshing by all the tourists with aching feet, Rome's cobblestones are cruel! I highly recommend just pottering about too, we loved the markets, Campo del fiori and the Sunday one by the bridge, can't remember the name. The Vatican sent my mum into a rage though. you lucky thing, you will love it!

I also wouldn't do Pompeii or the beach, there is more than enough in Rome to keep you busy.

Get somewhere with air con. It is HOT hot hot.

And dont be freaked when you find the trevi fountain only to see it is located in (pretty much) a back alley.

There is so so much to see in the city that you dont need to do excursions out to other sites, unless you both really want to.

Oh yes! go to the Vatican.

Oh and you could get 24 hpur tickets for those open topped tour buses which stop at most of the major sites and are hop on and off ones.

Things to do:
Go on a hunt for Caravaggio sculptures (seconding Villa Borghese)
Buy tickets online for the Vatican tour and bypass the queues & crowds
Stand in St Peter's square and look around, then step on to one of the metal circles on the ground and see what happens to the columns around the square - marvellous!
Go inside St Peter's Basilica

Personally, I would not waste time going to Pompeii, there's plenty yo do in Rome (I found Pompeii really boring).

I was going to suggest a trip to Ostia too, just outside Rome and you feel like you have the place to your self, there was hardly anyone there when we went it was lovely to wander around and have a good nosey through all the buildings looking at the beautiful mosaics, there is even a cafe there too.

For a teenager I recommend the cappuchin(sp) crypt, probably one of the most breathtaking sights I saw in Rome, it is decorated with human bones definitely worth a visit.

Walk across the Pons Fabricius if you get a chance. There is something amazing and uplifting about walking where people have walked for nearly 2000 years.

And gelato at Della Palma - a mere 150 flavours.

Oh I am sooo excited!

Anyone got tips for places to stay? for me it will be me and a girlfriend, a long overdue long weekend away from DC for me, we used to like to party hard in our younger days so somewhere a bit lively.....

We stayed at hotel una for our honeymoon :) it was lovely.

Our favourite things were the Trevi in the evening and also the Vatican. We are not religious but it was simply beautiful and very awe inspiring. There is a lovely little cafe on the bridge just before you cross it to get there and we really enjoyed that.

We stocked up on food in the spa supermarkets to take with us for lunch etc so we didn't spend a fortune!

When dh and I went he proposed at the Trevi Fountain but I'm not smug at all we did a guided tour of the coliseum and surrounding area it was like a history lesson I loved it ! The company were called "Romaround Tours" .

If you would like to go to the papal audience it's on a Wednesday iirc and you have to book well in advance but you can get the tickets sent to your hotel . This may have all changed now though it was about 5 years ago now we went .

Wow, loads of ideas, thank you! I'll have a read