Rome with under 10's

[Toomanycats99]

Hi. We are off to Rome shortly with 6 and 10 yo dd. There are obviously kids of historical sites to book up but I am wary of booking too much and ending up with grumpy over museumd children!

Definitely want to do colosseum. Also the Vatican but are the museums worth it? Is it better to just to Sistine chapel and St. Peter's?

Any other suggestions?

How many days will you be there for and what time of year is your visit? There are lots of tips on Trip Adviser but all families and children are different.
Our kids loved Rome one was 10 and one was 11. You will need to decide on your own itinerary. We watched a couple of films with them with some tourist attractions in before we went. We visited the colloseum without a tour and St Peters (with a tour) the latter was hard going but they survived it and I think it was worth it but don’t do much else on that day though as they will be shattered. We visited the Roman Forum straight after the Colloseum and they didn’t really get much out of it. We went to the Capuchin Crypt as recommended on Trip Adviser which my daughter hated. They loved the Trevi fountain, Spanish Steps, Victor Emmanuel monument, Pantheon helping navigate around the various sites, sampling some of the different gelatos and pizza they also had a really lovely morning in the Borghese park (which they still talk about now) hiring one of the four seater electric bikes and enjoying the park. The views on leaving the park over Rome were spectacular. We walked to the mouth of truth we got lost and it was closed by the time we got there but we all enjoyed the walk.
We stayed in a fairly central apartment (not far from Piazza Navona, we were up early and got taxis a couple of mornings to save time when we had very early starts but walked back to see the city. Had some relaxation time (more for me than the kids) then out again for pizza/pasta and to see some more of the sites lit up at night.
Have a fabulous time. We visited April time which was perfect.

We are going in 2 weeks. 3 whole days plus the days of arrival and leaving so half days there. We are also staying in an apartment not far from piaza navona. (Suite lungara)

I was thinking of avoiding the organised tours and getting the audio guides. Was the colosseum one worth it?

I think we are walking distance to Spanish steps, Trevi Fountain etc so hoping we can get away without taxis in most cases although we will need one for colosseum I think. We are on a bit of a budget so it's been quite complicated trying to work out what we actually need tickets for and what we can just aim to get there early for and miss queues (st peters although need tickets to walk up to dome from what I can see. )

Your location is spot on and you can walk to many of the sites (Spanish Steps, Piazza Navona, Trevi, Pantheon, Victor Emmanuel monument and the monument with all the cats on whose name escapes me etc and all these sites are free) by day and night. We watched Roman holiday and a couple of other films before our visit. You can get round all of these sites easily and on foot from where you are staying.
We just did the Colosseum without audio guide or otherwise and soaked up the atmosphere. We went early morning pre-booked tickets and taxi.
For the Sistine chapel we pre booked a tour which was expensive but we skipped the queues which were horrendous. We didn’t do the dome as the queues were too bad and we hadn’t pre booked this. I have done this myself many years ago and the views are fab. I would definitely recommend the Borghese park it’s massive and really beautiful maybe on your last day or on a middle day. We also had a lovely meal out very early in the suburb of Trastevere (in walking distance) which has a totally different feel to it. Our meal was delicious and various street entertainers were about. Some reviews on T/A said they felt threatened here and it might be like that very late at night but we had no trouble very early on and it was lovely to experience this area.
Watch out for pickpockets we heard a man shouting in the Pantheon that someone had stolen his wallet and a lady shouting about someone going in her bag in the Colloseum. In April we had all kinds of weather sun block one day it was scorching, hailstones and rain another day.
I am sure you will all have a fabulous time.

Thanks for advice. My current plan is to do st peters very early (maybe 8ish) and skip the pre booking. Hopefully that will work out!

We got to the Colosseum just after opening time and there was barely a queue (early Oct). DS age 11 had the audio guide and then told us bits which worked well.

Prebook this from Uk www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowUserReviews-g187791-d2179620-r165810593-Le_Domus_Romane_di_Palazzo_Valentini-Rome_Lazio.html.
Melo is a reasonably priced restaurant nearby.

A drink and a spell people watching in Campo Di Fiore broke up the pavement pounding.

When I took my children we did the two hour gladiator school www.getyourguide.com/rome-l33/gladiator-school-in-rome-for-kids-and-adults-t34663/?partner_id=SOFBH69&cmp=mln-rome-tour
On the last night instead of going out for a meal we did the 5pm pizza making class rometourswithkids.com/pizzaclassforkidsinrome.html as a family and ate our pizzas afterwards.
We also bought this book and took it with us www.amazon.co.uk/Mission-Rome-Scavenger-Hunt-Adventure/dp/098922676X?tag=mumsnetforum-21 My kids loved it.

What days are you there? If at the weekend the Canon at noon followed by the puppet show on the Gianicolo hill is great for children. Then walk down into Trastevere for a pizza. Trevi fountain I would do. Spanish steps are just steps to children, not particularly impressive. The Pantheon is impressive. There is a little known gladiator museum at one end if Piazza Navona which is really good. The cats of the Torre Argentino are interesting. The Mouth of Truth is fun with children. The baths of Caracalla give them an idea of the scale of ancient Rome, the grandeur of those days. St Peter's I would go if you really want to see it, but it is rather boring for children. I think in Rome it is good for children to see the two sides of the city. The ancient and the more modern.

@LeMesmer

We arrive Sunday - yes I came across reference to the puppet show but I think we will miss that as won't arrive to apartment until about 11.30.

TBH I don't think they will get much out of the Vatican. When we went it was very crowded, even though we had pre-booked tickets. There are so many people shuffling through the galleries that you can't walk at your own pace. It was like one long queue snaking around the whole complex. After the brightly lit galleries the Sistine Chapel felt underwhelming and dreary by comparison. The queue for the basilica was 2 hours long so we didn't bother. Ours was an October visit.

Palatine Hill, on the other hand was really worth it.
Take comfy shoes. You will walk for miles.

@LoniceraJaponica

My husband was brought up Catholic so I don't think I have a choice but to visit there!!

I hope you enjoy it. I would try to get into the basilica first then. All churches in Rome are free, which is why the queue for St Peters is so long. The other option would be to go late afternoon. As we were coming out of the Vatican mid afternoon there was hardly any queue.

Enjoy Rome. We loved it - and watch out for pickpockets.

I have seen there is a cat rescue where you can visit all the cats and wander round. As you can see from my username this will be a hit with my DD. Looks to only be a short walk from the apartment as well.

managed to book tickets for collosseum and Vatican. I found it quite hard to actually track down the official sites and not pay overinflated private tour prices!

The cat rescue is the one in Torre Argentino I mentioned before (didn't notice your name). The ladies who run it are very nice and will be happy to show you and DDs around, the part where you can visit is very small though, but still worth it.

We used to like to stand overlooking the ruins and count how many cats we could see. They are free but you can leave a donation, and they have a few souvenirs you can buy. I think the Vatican Museums are worth a visit. DS was fascinated by the map room. At this time of year it probably won't be too busy. St Peters a bit boring for children (that is what I meant before), but no reason why you shouldn't go. The church of Santa Maria in Trastevere is beautiful, well worth a visit, especially for your DH, for your DDs as well the mosaiques are interesting.

@LeMesmer

Yes I missed it on your original post but saw it when I went back. The only bad thing about going there is my dd will be wanting to take them all home!

We booked a Friday evening ticket (without tour) for the vatican. Worked really well as although we had to wait about 15 mins before getting in ( dont book the first evening slot) it wasn't hugely busy and we were able to go round it all with DS albeit at a quicker pace than I would have liked.

The tour we did of the colosseum was not worth the money and we ended up waiting half an hour for other folks to join us so woukd have been better just queueing.

All in all we had a great time with DS 10 at the time. There is a lot of walking so sometimes we got a cab if tired.

Hi @Toomanycats99 would be great to know how you got on in Rome and what you’d recommend. We’re looking at Rome for October half term. Would you recommend suite Lungara? Many thanks

@Loopy9 - we loved it!

We prebooked Vatican and colosseum. Queues were massive so would definitely recommend doing that. Be careful of all the places offering skip the line tours - after much googling I came across the official site for colosseum (can't remember exact name but think it was coop) children are only 2 euros and adults about 14 for combined entrance to that and forum / palantine hill. Way less that some of the sites. We didn't book a tour just wandered round. Again St. Peter's there are companies offering skip the line but it's actually free to get in. Unfortunately we couldn't as we turned up early on the morning of the last day to find there was some military ceremony on and it was too tight for time to go when it opened as we had taxi booked. We did a lot of meandering! The one think I found off putting was the number of street sellers (umbrellas rainy days and Selfie sticks sunny days!) and also the number of ticket tout types at the main attractions. It just got a bit much.

Location wise apartment was fantastic. 10 minutes walk st peters, 20 to Vatican museums, Trevi Fountain. 5 minutes to Piazza Navona. It's in a section of the old town where it's all cobbled streets no access for cars except residents and taxis. Loads of little shops and food places. Really quiet and lovely to wander around. Apartment itself was plain but clean. We didn't really end up cooking as you could get away / pizza for about 5 euros each from some really nice street food type places. So we just had cold stuff in the apartment. My husband and I slept on sofa bed which was perfectly comfy and the girls had the bedroom. Probably bit cosy for 4 adults but fine for us. Only one downside was the water pressure in the shower was horrific and if you wanted hot water it was a dribble. Also toilet took forever (think over half hour!!) to refill properly. It's second floor with no lift so not ideal if you had a buggy but if they sorted the water issue I wouldn't hesitate to recommend. We paid £400 for 4 nights. I would definitely recommend that area even if you didn't go for that apartment.

Hope that's all useful!

Oh....and the apartment had fantastic hi speed WiFi! Always a plus.

@Toomanycats99 thanks so much, sounds like you had a great time x