City break with a toddler?!

[Mel2023]

Rome has been my favourite place in the world since I first visited it on a college trip when I was 17. I’ve since been back several times, and 5 years ago my now husband proposed to me there, in a rooftop terrace overlooking the Colosseum. It was amazing, so romantic, and the perfect way to propose to me and made Rome even more of a special place. It was DHs first trip there and he fell in love with it as well and has said he’d love to go back. Within 6 months of that trip, we went into lockdown and the pandemic happened. I then had a baby, and so I haven’t been back since. I can’t wait to take my son (now 2) to Rome, show him such a beautiful place, along with my DH of course, and we can make more special memories. We’re now starting to think about next year’s holiday, our first one with DS where it’ll just be us three. We went to Italy (not Rome) last year for a friends wedding and my parents and other friends came with us, so we haven’t gone abroad by ourselves with a toddler yet but we really want a family holiday just us - and I know I might be crazy but Rome is popping into my head! We’ve both done it before so we don’t need to try and do a rushed city break where we cram everything into a few days and walk our feet off, we’d be able to pick and choose our favourites, take it at our own pace and try to find some more child friendly things to explore. I’ve done it enough that the whole getting there with a toddler doesn’t feel daunting. The hotel we stayed in last time was right in the centre and also had a decent sized rooftop pool (lots of kids using it when we last went) which would be perfect for our son if we could stay there again. We could do mornings round the pool and afternoons venturing out.

My question is, has anyone done Rome with a toddler? Am I being ridiculous? He would be 3 next year and I imagine still need to be in his stroller for most of the time as he wouldn’t manage with all the walking, but we’d make use of public transport/tourist buses as well - he’ll go crazy for the rooftop bus. But I don’t want to get there and it be a nightmare. I’ve done it a lot but never when I’ve had to look at it from a “is this suitable for a mum with a 3 year old” mindset and I can’t remember how accessible it is with a pushchair (we have a lightweight one we can carry up steps and DS can walk of course) - I just remember it’s a lot of walking and cobbled streets! AIBU to want to take a 2-3 year old to Rome? And if you’ve done it, or something similar, tips please!

Do you walk and use public transport a lot at home? If at all possible get your DS trained before you go.

I haven't done Rome but I have taken tiny children on lots of city breaks, took a two year old all round Paris etc etc. My top tip would be do without the buggy! I didn't use ours much tbh. It was sling or walk and both boys became good walkers and just came everywhere with us. One of those Little Life backpacks is good for keeping hold of them if they won't hold hands nicely but also lots and lots of practice at doing days out, buses, walk in busy streets. ALWAYS holding hands when told to.

Plan to have lots of cafe stops for ice cream, sit down, play with toys at the table,
toilet stop. Google where the playgrounds are and have them planned into the day. Lunch is the big meal, eaten out. Dinner is a picnic in the hotel followed by bedtime routine. So long as we stayed with them they would sleep and we could have tv on low volume without waking them.

Always unplug any hotel phone the second you get in the room, so they can't dial Bulawayo by mistake.

Thanks so much for the tips! We live in a city (albeit a small one) which is very touristy and we do go into the centre regularly so he’s used to busy, packed streets etc. That said, we always drive into town but there is a service bus which picks up by our street and goes into the city centre, so I’ll definitely start using it to get him used to it (might save us on parking fees too!). Our city also has the usual hop-on-hop-off buses so we can even get him used to those. I’d have never thought to practice with that beforehand so thank you!

He has a buggy and we use it when we go on long days out, so we’ll definitely work on getting him used to not having it. At the moment, if we don’t have it he will ask to be carried and get upset if we say no (he’s heavy!) and then do the usual toddler lie on the pavement in protest scene - obviously want to stop that! He has one of the Little Life back packs but again he hates it with a passion - shrieks “off off!” and pulls at it and gets inconsolable - so again one to work on. That would actually be a non-negotiable for me - he either wears that or he’s strapped in the buggy (if we have it) where I can see him. And if he won’t do either then back to the hotel it is. Will not risk losing him in Rome as I know how busy it is!

I’ll definitely be researching things for kids to do - even the play parks!

Haha the hotel phone! Thanks for the tip! Definitely something he’d manage to do!

We’ll have almost a year to get him ready and he’ll start to understand more as well, so you’ve given me lots of things to work on to get him ready! Thank you x

We went to Milan when mine was about that age. Stayed in an airbnb so he could nap and the adults had a separate living space. We took it easier than we'd normally do on a city break but it was still great fun. He got a lot of fuss from Japanese tourists (probably because he's blonde/blue eyed). We did end up eating an evening meal in McDonalds one night because he was being fussy but we sat and had our food in a beautiful square and people watched for a while. I'd say go for it!

It will be great. I think my kids enjoy city breaks more than beach/pool breaks. They much prefer to be active. We went to Venice when they were 3 and 1 and it was great. Just do your research on family friendly places to eat, play areas for running off steam and don’t go mid summer!

@Mel2023 what worked for me was different levels of control using the Little Life backpack. For extremely nice walking, he was allowed to simply wear it and the string would be stowed away inside the backpack (he had to be walking next to me and I'd never let him get out of arm's reach so he was still safe). That was what he was aiming for and if he walked nicely that was what we did. However, if he tried to run, we would go back to most restrictive (strap out and round my wrist PLUS holding hands or me grabbing the handle of the backpack.) As he hated holding hands, I'd remind him that if he walked nicely we could go to just me holding the wrist strap, and if he walked really well, the strap could go away in the bag. We would step up and down the Little Life backpack levels constantly but it worked because there was always the prospect of a little more or a little less control depending on behaviour. (Contrast this with rewards and punishments like buying an ice cream or taking away a toy - you can't keep doing and undoing it to get an immediate behaviour modification, but I could do the Little Life thing all day).

He did used to resist the backpack too but that was a non-negotiable. I just used to get it on as quickly as possible and then march him out of the house distracting him as fast as I could. Eventually they learn that refusing to wear the backpack is like refusing to wear shoes outside the house - never gonna happen.

With walking and asking to be carried, it's a tricky one because you do have to try to judge when they are genuinely tired and need a rest versus just playing up. Sometimes you need to acknowledge that they are tired/bored and provide a break as soon as you can, with much praise for walking to the the cafe/playpark/bench/bus stop when I know you were tired.