Comments and suggestions on my Rome itinerary
 

Hi

I´d like some input on my Rome itinerary. We are a family of 4: two adults and 2 kids ages 8 and 10. First time for the kids in Rome. We are not early risers, we can manage to be out of the hotel by 9:30am but not before that . My husband doesn’t like to walk at all, my kids and I do fine with long walks. My kids are really interested in visiting the Colloseum and Forum, Trevi fountain, and extremely excited about going to Pompeii. My husband and I want to do the Vatican, museums and Sistine Chapel, Pantheon, and Capitoline museums.

The itinerary is not set in stone, we will see how each day goes, how is the weather, and how tired we feel. The trip from our country until we arrive in Rome is going to take almost 20 hours not counting our airport-hotel transfer. We want to do a lot, but realize that if it is not possible then we will just have to save it for some other trip. We are going to be there on the last week in October since we are taking a cruise on the 30th.
After a lot of planning, research and reading your posts and a few web sites about Rome with kids, here is how my trip looks now.

Day 1 Wednesday 26th Arrive in Rome at 6:00pm. Go to hotel to rest. We will be staying near the Pantheon.

Day 2 Morning: Colosseum, Palatine, Forum
Lunch
Afternoon: elevator to the top of the Vittoriano, campidoglio and Capitoline museums.

Day 3 Morning: Vatican museums, Sistine chapel, St Peter’s
Lunch
Afternoon: Castel Sant’Angelo, and Ponte Sant’Angelo

Day 4 Morning: Piazza Navona, Pantheon, Sta Maria Sopra Minerva, Trevi fountain
Lunch
Afternoon: Sta Maria della Concezione, Piazza di Spagna, Via Condotti

Day 5-12 Cruise
Day 12 Leave the ship at 9:00am
Thinking about doing the hop on bus, or visit Trastevere, or doing something that was left undone from the previous days. (Suggestions are welcome)

Day 13 Day trip to Pompeii and Naples
Day 14 Fly back home

We don´t plan on staying at the museums longer than 2 hours, I´m doing a bit of research to see which are the must sees so we don´t stay too long, since we don’t know how well the kids will handle the museums.

For lunches I searched for kid friendly restaurants, my kids love pasta and pizza so I guess they will enjoy their meals a lot.

I´ve also looked for a few gelato places like Tre Scalini and Old Bridge that are near the places we will be visiting.

I would also like to visit St Pietro in Vincoli but don´t know when. Or if I should just leave it.

Thanks in advance for your comments and suggestions.

You can't go to Rome without doing a lot of walking unless you are taking taxis everywhere, and even then there is a lot of walking in places like the Forum and Vatican Museums.

With a later start in the morning, Day 2 is a going to be a bit much. You'll be having a late lunch after your planned morning. For the afternoon, I wouldn't count on making the Capitoline Museums (In my case, I probably wouldn't make it to the other afternoon things either, but you probably have more energy than I have!) Be aware that there a LOT of stairs before you get to the elevator in the Vittorio Emanuele II Monument.

You might do all of Day 3, depending on how tired you are after the Vatican, etc. Day 4 looks OK.

For Day 12, it's very likely you'll have something you missed from a previous day's itinerary. But relaxing in Trastavere would be nice.

I'm afraid you'll have to get out of the hotel before 9:30 for Day 13! :-d And it will be a very long day.

Your Day 3 will be difficult. Seeing the Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel and St. Peters in the morning will make it a very late morning and delayed lunch. The Castel Sant'Angelo and Ponte Sant'Amgelo (one of my favorite sites in Rome) won't take too long. You might consider doing St. Peters on Day 12.

Looks like a full but not impossible itinerary if your kids have plenty of stamina.

Hi,

When my husband and I travel together, we're lucky to get out the door by 10am, let alone 9:30.

Good news is that Rome is a wonderful place to explore at night. Somethings you will of course need to see during the day, but many things stay open until 7-7:30 pm, and some places, like the Trevi Fountain or the Spanish Steps, or the Piazza Navona, are positively glorious at night, even better than in the daytime.

Bad news is that a day trip to Pompeii means getting up verrrrrrrrrrry early in the morning and walking all day when you are not scrinched on a bus. I would substitute Ostia Antica. If the kids are crushed by that idea, I would head down to Pompei THE NIGHT BEFORE. Don't do it as a day trip from Rome. You can stow your luggage at the Pompei entrance while you see Pompei, pick it up, take the train back to Rome for your last night.

I suggest that you not tour the sights of antiquity one day and the Vatican the next. Tour the sights of antiquity (Forum, etc), then the next day, wander around and goof off, and then go to the Vatican.

Consider taking a night bus tour, just for fun. Instead of going to Trastevere, consider taking a train ride to Orvieto, just an hour away. While you husband sits in a cafe in front of the cathedral and reads a newspaper, you can scoot the kids around the hilltown. It's small. You won't get lost.

Anyway, I think you need to see the Vatican museums in the morning, but otherwise I think you should go with who you are. Take a close look at museum and church opening hours and realize how much you can do in the afternoons. Put space between your museum visits.

Have a great time!

The Vatican Museums tend to clear out a bit in the afternoons. In the mornings, it's full of tour buses groups and other tours. Entrance lines are very long although you can book online with the Vatican and skip the lines. By 2 or so in the afternoon, you can usually just walk in without waiting in line. It's still crowded, but not like the mornings.

I think I would just train on to Pompeii on the 12th when you get back from the cruise and spend the night unless you are taking a tour to Pompeii/Naples. If you are training from Civitavecchia, you will arrive Termini and may as well just hop a train to Naples (1 hour).

Hi again
Thanks a lot for your input.

I think I will switch days 3 and 4, so that I have ancient Rome day followed by piazzas and fountains day, instead of the Vatican day.

If I don´t have time for the Capitoline museums I´d probably leave those for day 12.

I was planning on buying the Vatican tickets on their website for a 10:00am visit. But if it´s going to be too crowded I may try switching times so that I can go there in the afternoon.

For the Pompeii tour the guide said he would pick us up at 7:30am, I´m going to try the option of staying overnight in Pompei.

I didn´t realize there were a lot of stairs before the elevators at the monument, I guess we´ll see what to do when we are there.

Thanks for everything

You might just want to meet the guide in Pompeii. It's a very easy trip to make from Rome to Naples and then on to Pompeii. It's just a train ride and a commuter trip away. This will save you a ton of money and allow you to start and come back to the hotel when you want. There are licensed tour guides at the site that will customize the tour to your needs. This will save you a ton of money and allow you the freedom to do and see exactly what you want.

For the Vatican museums, you might want to visit them in the afternoon. They will still be crowded but it's even more crowded in the mornings. I would visit the Castel sant angelo in the morning, followed by the basilica and then the museums/sistine chapel.

Other than that your itinerary looks good and not too full. You should have a wonderful time.

Donna