ROME with children

[Laptopwieldingharpy]

They are 10 & 6 reasonnably patient.
4 days.
What's on your bucket list?

We recently went to Rome with our 10 and 8 year old (8 year old had just done Ancient Rome at school, 10 year old liked history - which helped).

We did
Day 1 - Colosseum, Roman Forum and Palatine Hill. This was too much for one day and they were tired before the end, it would have been better split out.

Day 2 - Went to Vatican City intending to go up St Peter's dome but it was so busy we gave up and went to Castel Sant'Angelo instead (which I actually think was probably better for the DC). DH and I have been to the Vatican museums before and made the decision they wouldn't interest the DC. Back to our apartment for a break, then later went out to Piazza Navona and the Pantheon.

Day 3 - got train to Ostia Antica. In the evening had a bit of a wander around the centro storico just going wherever took our fancy really

Day 4 - Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain (and the bits in between) then to Pincio gardens and Borghese gardens. Later went to the Circus Maximus and to see the Mouth of Truth and the keyhole where you can see 3 countries.

The bit I missed out was lots of gelato :)

Oh wow...IMHO Rome is pretty hard work (amazing of course, but) for adults, let alone dc's. It's sort of taking them to a city sized museum, but in baking sunshine...4 days is ambitious! We had one day with ours, only visited the Coloseum and Trevi Fountain and had lunch and we were all frazzled. Young DC's just don't 'get' history either, as evidenced by dd asking 'did the Romans use this lift?' at one point

I don't mean to say don't do it by the way - just see if you can build in some time out every day, a swimming pool would be ideal!

We did pretty much exactly what redsky did! We did hire a private family-oriented guide for the Coliseum and Forum, which was fab. We also went into the Capitoline Museum, which has enough statues/history to keep ours (8 & 9) entertained for an hour or so. Our children had a fab time.

We went for 5 days which was a good length of trip.

Thank you!
Patricia can you remember how you booked the family tour?

We did 3 days in Venice, 4 in Rome a couple of years ago, dds would have been 3 and 7. We did the usual stuff (coliseum, St. Peter's, trevi fountain, spanish steps etc), started in the morning, had lunch in town and then escaped back to the hotel pool by about 2pm for the rest of the day.

Kids enjoyed it but we took taxis everywhere (much easier and not too expensive with 4 of us). It was August so not the best time of year to go but we lived in Asia at the time so the roasting temperatures in the low 30s were cool for us and it coincided with our annual trip back to Europe to see the inlaws and outlaws

Oh yes, gelato most days too!

Not too bothered by the heat, at least no humidity & no Typhoons!
We're in Asia too, so walking in the middle of antique ruins is actually something the kids really look forward too!

Anyone been to Taormina? the Etna is erupting so that's one day trip we won't be making! Is Syracuse worth a visit? What else? Any really good beach nearby? sailing? boat trips?

TIA

Yes - it was these guys -

www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attraction_Review-g187791-d5123988-Reviews-Rome_Tours_With_Kids_Private_Tours-Rome_Lazio.html

can't seem to get the website to work but there is an email there. Not cheap, but excellent.

Fantastic!,thank you!

We went to Naples and then Rome last summer.

Lots of Gelato. Our dc (then 9,11,13) enjoyed eating out, trying different pasta etc. (a wee bit out of the centre makes eating much more affordable!).

We did Coliseum, Pantheon, Piazza Navona, Spanish Steps, Vatican (museum was definitely a mistake with dc, even dd1 the art lover!) quite a lot of just hanging out by fountains (good for a bit of shade!!), taking funny family photos, a bit more gelato, somehow it all seemed very relaxed.

I don't know if you'll have time as it's a bit far for a day trip, but we loved Pompeii, Vesuvius and other stuff in the Naples area, and we had a villa with a pool there :)

Have a great time, it was a fantastic trip for us.