gasawaye

I haven't been here since I planned a trip to Paris for our family in 2003, but I found everyone very helpful at that time.

I won a $2000 travel voucher from US Airways Vacations in a sweepstakes last month, and would like to use it for a trip to Rome in February. It will be myself, husband, 17-year-old son & 14-year-old daughter. We have 5 days available for touring.

I know we'll spend a day on the Vatican, a day doing ancient Rome. Pompeii is also a must for our kids. Assuming we have to sleep every night in Rome, Pompeii will probably be a day trip.

Questions:

1) What part of Rome to stay in? We'd like to use only one room.

2) Any suggestions on making it to Pompeii? Can we do this easily ourselves with no language skills? Or will be need a tour? Any tour company suggestions?

3) What else to see in Rome or near by that would interest restless teenagers?

4) We like to hike. Is any of the nearby countryside worth the effort of getting there?

Thanks in advance for what I'm sure will be good advice.

wliwl

We took a trip to Paris and Rome just this past June with our 16 and 18 year old boys. Here is the link of our trip report (cut and paste it into your address spot):

http://www.fodors.com/forums/pgMessa...een_name=wliwl

We just loved staying in the Campo de Fiori area. It is pretty lively, especially with teens. February should be just great. It was very HOT when we were there (although we had a great time). We did not go to Pompeii (but maybe we should have). Anyway - maybe my trip report will help you out. Let me know if you have any questions I might be able to help with.

rex

<<What part of Rome to stay in? We'd like to use only one room>>

Short answer: the Centro Storico - - roughly a triangle formed by Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon and Piazza Navona.

And with four people needing to share one bathroom, I would seriously suggest that better comfort and economy could be found in two rooms (or three) with shared bathroom facilities in the hall. Maybe even on different floors!

<<2) Any suggestions on making it to Pompeii? Can we do this easily ourselves with no language skills? Or will be need a tour? Any tour company suggestions?>>

I submit that you CAN do this - - especially considering that you have six months (for one or more of you to start seriously trying) to learn (some) Italian. It will enrich the trip tremendously. Building a vocabulary of 25-50 words a week is a very realistic goal. Make flash cards. Use audio aids. Say it out loud. Track your progress. You can do it. Today would be a good day to start.

And while you're at it, it really might be worthwhile to relocate closer to Pompeii/Vesuvius/Caserta for one or two nights.

<<3) What else to see in Rome or near by that would interest restless teenagers?>>

See Caserta.

<<4) We like to hike. Is any of the nearby countryside worth the effort of getting there?>>

You can actually hike all the way up Mount Vesuvius, and look down into the crater (as I understand it - - I have never done this).

Best wishes,

Rex

tcreath

We daytripped to Pompeii from Rome last year without any problems. We took an early morning train to Naples (roughly 2.5 hours) and hopped on the circumvesuviana to Pompeii (be sure to get off at Pompeii Scavi stop). We spent about 5-6 hours at Pompeii and were back in Rome for dinner. We both learned a little bit of Italian but language was a non-issue as everyone we encountered spoke English.

It makes for a long day but definitely worth it if you can't stay the night in the area. Pompeii is fascinating but quite large, so plan to spend the better part of the day there. As mentioned above, we spent 5-6 hours there and still missed a large chunk of it. I would also highly recommend doing a tour. We did not do a tour and greatly regret it.

If you don't want to go all the way down to Pompeii, Ostia Antica is a ruined port town about half an hour from Rome. While not as famous, it's very interesting and much less crowded. I would highly recommend it.

As for areas to stay in, I would recommend staying somewhere around Piazza Navona, Campo di Fiori, or the Pantheon.

Tracy

jgg

I would recommend going to the Catacombs. San Sebastiano and San Callisto are the largest ones. It is about a 15-20 minute taxi ride. They are fascinating.

Also, your teens might enjoy Castle St. Angelo near the Vatican and Mammertime prison near the Forum.

We also went to the Museo Criminologico di Roma (Via Galfone 27). It is housed in one of Rome's old prisons and traces the history of crime and punishment in Italy. There are many torture and execution devices, weapons, and a section on the mafia. This is a small museum, there was only one other person there when we went. We all found it very interesting. Many, but not all, descriptions were written in English as well as Italian.

The Cappuchin Monk crypt is also a must, Via Veneto 27 .

Our family of four (kids age 9 and 12) stayed near the Pantheon at the Albergo Cesari. It was an excellent location, walking distance to all the sites as well as shopping and restaurants and right near our favorite espresso (Cafe St. Eustachio) and favorite gelato (Le Cremeria). We stayed in their quad room which is fairly large and had a pretty good size bathroom as well. We never felt cramped, but must admit we had two rooms in Venice and Florence and were happy for the two bathrooms.

gasawaye

Thanks so much for the replies. I guess I'm a bit nervous about planning this, since I worked so hard on our Paris trip a couple of years ago (thankfully with good results). I'm just getting started on this one, and want to be prepared when it comes time to book the flights and hotel.

wliwl, your trip report is great. But I know my kids don't have the patience to spend hours over dinner. Do you have to spend a long time over dinner? What is "Context Rome"?

Rex, I am intending to learn as much Italian as I can (I can get by in Spanish very well). But my efforts in French two years ago were very pitiful. Since we have to book flights and hotel through US Airways Vacations, I don't think relocating to Naples for a couple of nights will work.

tcreath, thanks so much for the encouragement. Your comments are exactly what I was hoping to hear. In all the years we've travelled with our kids, we've never needed to resort to a tour yet. I'm not sure they'd take to it very well.

Everyone's suggestions are most welcome, and should help me get off to a good start with my planning.

wliwl

gasawaye:
Context Rome is a tour company that gives tours of some of the major sites in Rome. Their tours are very small (~6 people) and the guides are advanced degree art historians and the like. They are expensive - but well worth it (we thought). They are quite popular here on Fodors. If you google their name you'll see their web site and their offerings. Also search on here and you'll see other people's comments.

I wouldn't have been optimistic about my kids liking long dinners either. (Especially my youngest, who doesn't eat.) But somehow you sort of get into it! You know how hard it can be to sit down together at home and have a meal and a conversation? Well, we had a great time doing that on vacation. Maybe we had a lot of catching up to do!

I will say that we always returned to our apartment about 4:00 or 5:00 for cheese, bread and wine, a little rest and some freshening up. So, by the time we got out for dinner it was always late - which is good because people really don't eat until about 9:00pm.

There's always good people watching at dinner (we always ate outside) so that also made the time go by enjoyably.

I wish we could go again tomorrow! Now my eldest is off to college and our trip seems like it was a long time ago...

motor_city_girl

Context Rome is a tour company. I have read many good things about them. We used Icon Tours this past April and loved them. They are VERY reasonably priced and the guides are American/British, so very easy to understand.

The gardens around the Borghese Gallery are really nice for picnics. If you want to see the gallery, you must make advanced reservations. Your hotel should be able to do this for you. I am not sure if the kids would like the actual gallery.

The catacombs is a great suggestion.