Well my bags are packed and I am ready to go.....

I can't believe that in a few days our family will be heading to Rome. Of course we will be there with about a million other humans, but what the heck its Rome.

Here is my itinerary. A few of the days are set so I will not be able to make any changes but everyones two cents will be welcome. I would love eating out suggestions for a family of 5,shopping and of course anything that I have missed.

April 9: Leave LAX for Rome
April10: Arrive in Rome 9am. Arranged taxi to Campo de Fiori. Try and stay awake and do walking tours suggested by other forum writers.
April 11: 1pm Tour guide arranged to guide us through anicent rome.
April 12: 2pm Borghesse Gallery
April 13: All dayCattacombs of San Callisto/San Sebastian
April 14: 2pm Vatican Tour with guide through Vatican
April 15: Half a day Ostia Antic
April 16: Not planned yet
April 17: 1:45pm Scavi tour
April 18: Home

I have also thought about a possible day trip to either Orivieto,Tivoli or Hadrians Villa.

You can see that we will have mornings and late afternoon to rome about rome. So suggestions here would be great.

I am also having fun (not) trying to fiqure out their bus/metro system to get to the cattacombs and to Ostia Antic. Any suggestions here?

Thanks everyone who has help me thus far!

This should help for directions to Ostia using local transportation: http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...ns-march05.cfm

Hadrian's Villa and Villa d'Este are close to each other at Tivoli and can be done in a day if you leave early enough, well worth the effort. How about a nice walk fr. Spanish Steps to Trevi Fountain to the Pantheon to Piazza Navona? There's a shopping mall along the way and there are a number of nice outdoor restaurants in Piazza Navona.

Thank you. I emailed this string to myself and will take it with me on our trip.

Nick4- I forgot about the spanish steps. I will check out the shopping and eating. Thanks!

I enjoyed reading your itinerary. We'll probably pass you at the Borghese Museum - my reservations are for 3:00 PM. We are arriving in Venice on April 8th and heading to Rome on the 11th. YOu have a very nice itinerary planned and you may just want to stay in Rome. However, if you do want to do a day trip Orvieto is very easy and is just a lovely place. We went there and did the underground tour and then had lunch and walked around. Siesta lasted for a while and stores did not open until later in the afternoon so I would go a bit later in the morning to Orvieto and have a late lunch.

Play your first day by how you feel...depending on how our flights were and the amount of sleep we got my family often requires a short nap and then we go out and about until the late evening. Some folks don't like to nap but I find it is not bad if you really can limit it to 2 hours. You are staying in a great area. I stayed in the Campo in November with my daughter- this time my husband and I will be together and we'll be in the Ghetto.

Have a great trip and enjoy all your tours.

Just wanted to add that you should really wander around...the evenings are just wonderful in Rome. And you are also near to Trastevere and that is a great area to venture to day or night - but my favorite at night for dining and hanging out. There are a lot of great restaurants in Trastevere - I like Il Duco and Hostaria del Moro both on Vicolo dei Cinque. Piazza Santa Maria in Trastevere is a nice place to just chill out in the afternoon at a cafe as is Piazza della Rotunda (the Pantheon). Don't forget to walk to the Trevi Fountain...the Castle St. Angelo, Borghese Park and Pincio before or after your visit to the museum, check out the ghetto close to Campo Fiori. Make sure to take some time to just linger and hang out and people watch. During my last visit to Rome we decided to take leisurely mornings (we had an apartment) and we ended up staying out late and sleeping in quite a few mornings. It made for a very restful vacation yet we were out and about for the majority of the day & night.

For shopping you again Trastevere has cool little shops and some cool street vendors at night that appeal to kids. I really like to shop on Via Cola di Rienzi near the Vatican. It is a nice wide street with a lot of nice stores and cafes. It is less touristy then Via del Corso. There are alot of beautiful stores in the streets around the Pantheon and Piazza Navona...but then there are wonderful stores in much of Rome. In the Campo Via Giubonnari has a lot of stores that appeal to young folks - although some of the quality varies.
...hope that helps.

If you find yourself in the location at a time when you have time, do visit Santa Maria del Popolo and then stroll back via whichever way is most interesting to you (if you take via Ripetta stop at Buccone and get some wine). We wanted to visit Ara Pacis but didn't have time that particular day. We did this on our way home from the Borghese--an excellent, beautiful walk.

Visit Trastevere, easily combined with the Vatican.

You don't mention budget or how old your kids are, so it's hard to make restaurant recommendations. However, thinking family friendly, in the past I have enjoyed Armando al Pantheon, Hostaria del Nerone, Ciak, Osteria della Pegna, Da Francesco, and Checchino dal 1887. Osteria della Pegna and Checchino are a little more formal. But you should probably take recs from people with children rather than me--I'm clueless.

Have a wonderful trip. I love Rome!

risab-its funny but we were going to go to Venice first then on to rome. We decided that there was so much to see in rome and it saved me a lot of money on the flights (used that to get a bigger apartment), that we just promised ourselves that we will have to come again next year and see venice and florence. Thanks for all the information on trastevere. From reading a lot of the forums here, everyone spoke highly of the area. I would have stayed there but I found this great apartment with balconies overlooking the city and a plus of three bedrooms two baths. Three young adult kids. I really needed the extra rooms. Hopefully we will cross paths in rome.

leely-Thanks for the restuarant tips. Are kids are young adults so I don't think there will be problems with your recommendations.
Do you know if restuarants are open on easter sunday?

While most people's itineraries are always too cramped, your April 13th is too leisurely planned - congratulations on that, but the two catacombs are not enough for a whole day. If the weather is fine, do yourself a favour a walk along Via Appia Antica as long (and far) as you feel like - with its 16 kilometres, it must be the longest pedestrian area in the whole world! Keep in mind that you'll have to track back by foot, too - no car traffic at all, not even public busses, unless you really walk the whole 16 km way to Frattocchie (the first village outside Rome), where you can catch a bus back into town.
Also, don't be surprised if Ostia Antica needs more than just half a day, so don't make firm plans for the afternoon of April 15th. I, too, thought half a day would be enough to visit Ostia Antica. Hah! Had to go back for another afternoon one of the following days.

I haven't been to Rome on Easter, but if you search the board I'd bet there's a thread for open restaurants on that day somewhere.

I was researching places open New Year's Day this past winter, and Renato e Luisa came up on a few foodie sites. You might see if they are open, as it's reputedly a good restaurant. I don't think it's terribly inexpensive, however.
http://www.renatoeluisa.it/

For Rome I have found it best to compile a long list of possible places to dine and then, if I'm in the neighborhood, stop by and eat. I have had some food quite carelessly prepared--and overpriced--but more often have enjoyed delicious, reasonable meals. If you decide you want to go to Armando al Pantheon, reserve a few days in advance.

April 9: Might as well hit the Pantheon, the big famous piazze, etc., while you're trying to stay awake. In the late afternoon a walk along the river can be fun (some people hate it because of traffic, though.)

April 11: If you have time and energy, you could add something later in the day, such as San Pietro in Vincoli and/or San Clemente and even further to San Giovanni in Laterano while you're out that way. But I love churches. FYI, churches tend to close for several hours in the afternoon, so keep that in mind if you're interested.

April 12: Again, depending on energy level, you could hit Palazzo Barberini or another smallish museum before your date at Borghese. Or go to the Capuchin Crypt on your way up...or or or. Many options.

I'd be inclined to do the Orvieto day trip if your family hasn't been to Italy before.

Catacomb directions; http://tinyurl.com/j9w3d
I agree with Franco, half-day Catacombs, full-day Ostia Antica.

In the off-season you could easily see all 3 Catacombs before noon if you arrived ~8:30.
I believe I mention it in the directions above but I once took the Archeobus out there and arrived @10:00, visited 2 Catacombs and was done before noon.
Regards, Walter

I agree you could fit more into the day you have scheduled for the catacombs. Two years ago our family took the archeobus to the Appian Way and catacombs and then out to the aqueducts. It worked well for us but I know others have complained that it gets crowded in the summer. The same might be true in April during Holy Week.

Walking on the Appian Way below the catacombs is a great addition to your itinerary that day. There are also bicycle rentals. Another interesting stop on the archeobus route near the Circus Maximus and before you get to the Porta San Sebastiano in the city walls are the Baths of Caracalla

If you go to Trastevere I recommend combining that with a trip up the Gianicolo for the great view of Rome, with a stop to see Bramante's Tempietto and San Pietro in Montorio. We took a bus from the Vatican area up the Gianicolo then walked down to Trastevere and back across the Tiber.

There are several good restaurants with traditional Roman specialties in the Ghetto neighborhood, a short walk from the Campo. You may also want to check out the cat sanctuary at the Area Sacra dell'Argentina

Franco-thank you for the information about the catacombs and ostia antica. I will make note of that. I understand at the catacombs they rent bikes. I thought that might be fun.

The question of the day is about pick pocketers, backpack or not and bringing traveler checks. Anyone have any advise on those?

paradiselost-
I read your notes on getting to the catacombs. It took a while to read all the responses. Is there a website to go to for the bus and metro lines?

I planned my trip to have a least one main attraction and leaving the rest of the time for wandering around. Plus my family are slugs in the morning. So making any early plans are hopeless. Of course, I will probably go out early and enjoy the surroundings. Thanks everyone for your suggestions. I will be making my lists on the 14 hour plane ride to rome.UGH!

I left an earlier comment about pick pockerers. Any advise?

My husband wants to bring his labtop but there is no internet at our apartment. Are there any internet cafes that he can go too? I personally have spent so much time on the computer for this trip that I am looking forward to not staring at one for 10 days.

Advice on pickpockets? Well, to keep your eyes open, obviously. But that's not a question of any particular Roman interest - there are pickpockets in Rome like in every other city of that size. Nothing to be particularly afraid of, certainly not a specific Roman plague.

Your itinerary sounds wonderful. It's great that you seem to be taking your time and not trying to do "23 cities in 20 days". There will be plenty to see just walking around - Rome is so wonderful.

I am not particularly a church person - particularly after you've been in your 500th church. However, I remember going into Santa maria Sopra Minerva and being blown away with its beauty. If you find yourself in the neighborhood, you may enjoy a quick stop. Here are 2 websites:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Maria_sopra_Minerva


http://www.initaly.com/regions/latium/church/smsm.htm

Enjoy your trip and let us know how it went -

La Dona

I don't think there is any bus that would go directly from Campo de' fiori to the Appian way.
Here is a link to the public transit site
http://www.atac.roma.it/index.asp?lingua=ENG

and here is a link to the archeo bus and the other hop on hop off bus in central Rome (#110)
http://www.rome.info/transportation/tickets/

You will find internet cafes. I don't know off the top of my head any in your neighborhood. You could post this as a separate question in the hope that someone who has stayed nearby will know.

Where we stayed this past winter by Piazza Navona, we had no wifi signal--sometimes we got a very faint one on our terrace but it was winter so we didn't want to spend much time out there. We found an internet cafe nearby and my friend and I would go there in the mornings for a cafe and a cornetto, double check emails for arrangements, etc., check opening hours of museums, restaurant locations, etc. Didn't haul a laptop, just an iTouch.

Pickpockets? Just stay alert in crowded situations: the bus, the metro, etc., as you would in any city.