Advice on 6 days trip in Rome

Old Aug 8th, 2013, 09:07 AM
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Advice on 6 days trip in Rome

Hi Fellow travellers,

We are a group of 6 adults and 2 children aged 3 and 2. We have rented an apartment near the Colosseo and we won't be driving so main transportation means will be Metro / Train and I've come up with the draft itenenary as follows, please see if you have comments / suggestions.

Some other questions:

1. Debating between going to Tivoli or Orvieto as day trip. Which is better? Should we go to both?
2. Is spending an entire day at Tivoli or Orvieto too much? Not enough to see in these two towns?
3. Have been searching for the mass time of San Silvestro in Capite church (near Trevi Fountain) on Sundays, but cannot find it on-line. Anyone knows?
4. Are shops closed from 3 to 6pm? What time do they open till?


Day 1
Afternoon – lunch around hotel neighbourhood / groceries
Evening – Spanish steps / Trevi Fountain dinner

Day 2
Morning – Colesseum / Roman Forum (opens at 9am – try to be early morning so less hot)
Afternoon – lunch in area of Roman Forum, can go home to rest, then early afternoon – Santa Maria Maggiore
Evening – Shopping around Via del Corso (from 4 to 7), then dinner

Day 3
Morning - Tivoli
Afternoon - Tivoli
Evening – dinner in Tivoli / or can go back to Rome

Day 4
Morning – Vatican museum / Sistine Chapel / St Peters Square
Afternoon – Vatican museum / Sistine Chapel / St Peters Square
Evening – Trastevere for dinner

Day 5
Morning – Mass at 10am at St. Sylvester church in English
Afternoon – Piazza Navona shopping and dinner late afternoon
Evening – Piazza Navona shopping and dinner late afternoon

Day 6
Morning – St. Sebastian Church near Catacomb OR Orvieto
Afternoon – St. Sebastian Church near Catacomb OR Orvieto
Evening – Rome dinner

Day 7
Morning - depart

Thanks so much
Billmui
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Old Aug 8th, 2013, 10:06 AM
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I like the pace. You could certainly add things as time, energy and temperatures allow. I wouldn't miss the Pantheon and perhaps the Castello.

Personally, I don't think I could spend an entire day iin Tivoli. Others may disagree. The excavated Hadrian's Villa is close enough to Tivoli to combine the two in your day excursion, but the effort and logistics with two small children might not suit your group. In contrast, I could very easily spend an entire day at Orvieto. It's a charming, small-ish town.

Mass times at San Silvestro in Capite:

http://sansilvestroincapite.com/
Jean is online now  
Old Aug 8th, 2013, 10:13 AM
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When are you planning on going? I was in Rome a couple of weeks ago and it was EXTREMELY BEASTLY HOT AND HUMID--from morning to evening. If the weather is the same when you go, based on your proposed itinerary, your children are going to be bored, hot and unhappy. (I saw a lot of those kids.) Can your group split up so that some go sightseeing and some stay with the children in a cool place?
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Old Aug 8th, 2013, 11:58 AM
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billmui - longhorn just asked my question - when are you going?

we did the tivoli trip with our kids a few years ago IN APRIL and the bus there was extremely hot. we liked it when we got there, but the journey might not be very pleasant.

Orvieto could be better but I wouldn't count on it, unless you can get on a nice modern air-conditioned train.

If this is a summer trip, I would plan very much as you have done to sightsee in the morning, have lunch, a siesta, and then to go out again in the evening, when the shops etc will be open again.

you might find some cool in the Catacombs, the basement of San Clemente [and other churches with crypts, like Santa Cecilia in Trastevere] etc.

on your Day 5, afternoon on Piazza Navona and shopping might not be enough - there is the Pantheon to see, the Campo die Fiori [there's a flea market on a Sunday] the Borghese gardens which your children might enjoy...you might also want to visit some museums to take advantage of the air-conditioning!
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Old Aug 8th, 2013, 07:39 PM
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Orvieto is a bit simpler to reach.

>>>Evening – dinner in Tivoli / or can go back to Rome >>Are shops closed from 3 to 6pm?
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Old Aug 8th, 2013, 07:51 PM
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There are trains Orvieto-Rome until about 11:30p, but I can't imagine a group that includes two toddlers will be contemplating that sort of evening.
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Old Aug 10th, 2013, 03:40 AM
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Hi, I would recommend Tivoli more than Orvieto, go to Villa d'Este and its magical fountains (your kids will love it, just like mine!) and the breathtaking remains of the emperors Adriano Villa. You will need a day for both the sites, including lunch in a Trattoria.
I like your itinerary, may I just add some suggestions:
Day one: there is a really nice and cheap restaurant in Piazza Sant'ignazio, 5 minutes walking from Trevi Fountain, you can eat outside, and the square is gorgeous
Day 2: close to the colosseum you can find amazing middle age churches build over ancient Roman houses and temples (and you can visit them!) Have a look at my travel blog delightfullyitaly.com for the complete itinerary, including san clemente, santi quattro coronati, san pietro e paolo, ...
Day 4: DO reserve your vatican tickets, you can do it online. Queues are a nightmare
Day 5: if you are in piazza Navona, you can consider eating at the Roman Ghetto (have a look at my blog for itinerary and restaurants). It's a very typicall area, less touristic and expensive than piazza Navona. 20 minutes waking from Piazza Navona. You can then have a walk and an icecream in Trastevere, it's just opposite the river.

Hope this helps. Enjoy!
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Old Aug 10th, 2013, 06:52 AM
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Thanks so much everyone for the thoughtful replies. They are very valuable. Our travel time is last week of August, will it have cooled down a little?
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Old Aug 10th, 2013, 07:28 AM
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Rome is like a furnace in August.

This a great time to head to the very beautiful Borghese Gardens.

You can rent bicycles here to explore this very large park.

I certainly would NOT visit Tivoli or Orvieto at the expense of Rome.

Thin
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Old Aug 10th, 2013, 10:06 AM
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I hate to ask this - but have you confirmed that your apartment has AC - many don;t and without it you will all ust miserable the whole time.

Agree that it may be better to do things in shifts with people taking turns with the kids, At that age they really have no interest in what you will be doing and will be much happier in a cool place where they can play and rest.

(If you were someplace with boat trips or toddlers activities it would be different - but hauling them around Rome - and strollers are very difficult in many of the places you will be due to cobblestones, uneven pavements and flights of very steep/narrow stairs.)
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Old Aug 11th, 2013, 04:00 AM
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The apt claims it has AC in every room whether its's strong enough will be the question. At least it has it.
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Old Aug 11th, 2013, 05:03 AM
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Hi- we went to both last year in early September.

Hadrian's villa is massive and we went with a guide. It is hot and dry and will likely be so in late August. You don't have to have a guide but having one really helped us understand the ruins, the purpose of the complex (almost like a municipal operations center, not only a residence)' etc... I would think strollers might be difficult to deal with there.

Villa d'Este is amazing with all the fountains. If you go only for this, the train station is right in town and it will be easy for you. We loved Villa dEste....but we went at night. In Late summer it is open at night on the weekends. You can check the website to see if this is possible during your trip, but check the train schedule to make sure you don't get stranded (we had a driver for our day at Tivoli but didn't get there until very late afternoon for Hadrian's Villa, dinner then Villa dEste.

We would definitely recommend Villa d'Este.

We also loved Orvieto. The church there is lovely and we enjoyed the town. We had a little drizzle and it turned off cool that day and a bit windy. I would plan on it being warm when you are there. It's an easy train ride from Rome...spend the day and then have dinner back in Rome. We would go back and didn't quite get everything done there that we wanted to.

The trip report link is below. There are links to our photos in the report, if you want to see them.

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...-hits-back.cfm
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Old Aug 17th, 2013, 03:45 AM
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Would you recommend getting tickets on line for the Colosseo and the Vatican museum?
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Old Aug 17th, 2013, 04:18 AM
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I'd echo Pepper on going to the Borghese Gardens with your family. It's a lovely park, and is home to my favorite museum in Rome, the Galleria Borghese.

And yes, definitely reserve your Vatican tickets online, makes it much more efficient to enter once you arrive with tickets in hand. I did not go into the Colosseum, but I'd imagine advance tickets are also preferable there.
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