Hi all,

We will be taking our 8th trip to Rome at the end of next month and are hoping to finally visit Ostia Antica, something that has been on our "list" for years. We will have our 3 yr old and 1 yr old sons with us, as well as my parents.

Questions:
Are there licensed guides available for hire at the entrance like one finds at Pompeii and Herculaneum? Or, if a guide is desired, is it recommended to arrange beforehand?

Any idea of the cost estimate of a taxi trip from the Pantheon area? Our apartment is located nearby, and with two young children (stroller, etc), taking public transport isn't the easiest of accomplishments.

Many Thanks.
Happy Travels,
TA

You'll need 2 taxis for 4 adults, 2 children and strollers. Are you having the taxi wait while you explore the site? Probably a car service would be less expensive and more convenient.

Why not take taxis to the train station. I'm sure your children will love getting on a train for the short ride. And four adults should be able to manage two children and the strollers. The one down side of the train is that you have to cross the street via a bridge so you'll need to be able to navigate that but it shouldn't be difficult.

There's a lot of cobbles at Ostia Antica so it's going to be rough for the strollers. Parallel to the main walkway is a paved road for service vehicles to the cafe. You could take this on the way back to the train/taxi rather than walking back over the cobbles.

I didn't see any guides at OA but it's not necessary to have one. Get a guide book that explains what you're looking at. You won't be able to cover the entire site with the children.

You don't need a guide but it would be far better with one. We didn't enjoy OA as much as we expected to and it was one of the few sites we visited without a guide, We used a private guide at Hadrian's Villa and it made a world of difference. Not only did she explain what we were looking at, but the history, how it looked "back then", how it was used, etc....

I am sure there are many terrific guides you could use. We saw none at OA. We used Daniella Hunt for Tivoli and she is wonderful. She engages you and makes it a fun learning experience.

The first time we went to Ostia Antica was with two very young children. Public transportation wasn't an issue, as I recall. There were no guides waiting around. We had read up a good deal on it and had a map and guidebook and found it fairly easy to figure out what we were seeing both in the outdoor areas and inside the museum. We spent a good 3+ hours there and thought it fascinating.

TexasAggie- You not only won't find any guides hanging around, you may very well not see more than 20 other people there! It is a wholly-under-touristed site, in my humble opinion! But SO worth the visit!

I, too, think you can handle the kids on the train. Take a taxi to the Ostiense/Piramide station. You will be taking the regional train from the Ostiense side. (Go through the turnstyle and turn right. Go down those stairs to the tracks. Any/all trains (if I remember correctly) go to Ostia Antica.

Rick Steves has a free download (Rick Steves Audio Europe) for your iphone/ipad. It was very good. We used it there.

I agree that once you've finished at the site, head to the paved road (you can also download a map from Rick Steves app!) to return to the front of the site.

There are dozens of places you can sit to picnic, so I advise you to take a lunch and/or snacks. There is a cafeteria, but it is at the far end of the site and has limited fare. Besides, the site is perfect for picnicking! It is so green and quiet and fascinating. Lots of shady spots, too, to sit and catch your breath.

Have fun! I think you will love OA!

PS If you have a Roma Pass, it can be used at Ostia Antica!

Agree with sarge that it was virtually empty when we went. We saw a French school group and another small group with a tour guide and that was it. We were very entertained by the teenagers on the train (going to the beach)----quite the make out scene!

Thank you so, so much for all of the advice! Love the idea of using taxis to the train station and then taking the train. Our 3 yr old would love a train ride. We visited Villa Adriana on our last trip and spent about 5 hours there just enjoying having the site largely to ourselves. I'm thrilled to hear that OA is similarly uncrowded

I never saw huge crowds there, but I went in September and while we practically had the place to ourselves for the first hour, as the morning went on, more and more visitors trickled in, often with tour guides. Never a throng of people, but since the point of the place is to try to imagine Roman life from the ruins left, the quiet for contemplation was nice.

I used this guide: http://www.ostia-antica.org/touristguide.pdf

I've been to Ostia Antica a number of times; I can't remember exactly how many. It's never been crowded when I was there. Getting to the site isn't difficult, but I think pushing strollers on the ancient paving blocks may be difficult.

I've used Daniella Hunt once, for the Roman Forum. She is a superb guide for ancient Roman sites. Her background is as a classics scholar, and she assists on archaeological digs. She's often unavailable because she's so busy, and not just as a guide.

The signage at Ostia Antica leaves a lot to be desired, and the maps I've had on my past visits also were not crystal clear. If you just want to see some old buildings and streets, go inside an ancient bar, giggle about the ancient public toilet, sit on the seats of the amphitheater, and go up to the second level of an ancient apartment building, you may not need a guide. But if you want to understand something of the history of the city, you'd really benefit from a guide.

Ostia Antica is a very different type of site from Pompeii. For one thing, the city flourished for over 500 years, and existed for a lot longer than that, while Pompeii was a fairly new city when it was destroyed. So there are many layers of history there, which is one of the things that make it so complex. Also, it was a busy port and commercial city, while Pompeii was a provincial residential town, a sort of bedroom community for Naples. Its history is fascinating, although not as dramatic as that of Pompeii.