pompei v.s. ostia antica
 

We are trying to piece together our itinerary for Italy from March 8 through March 25. My husband and I will be travelling with our 3 kids ages 4, 6 and 10 and are trying to figure out the best route at this time of the year.

We are flying into Rome and out of Venice. we will be spending the first 4 nights in Rome, a week in Tuscany in the middle and the last three nights in Venice. This leaves us with 3 nights to do something else. We wanted to either go to Pompei/Sorrento(my husband and I have been before) or try something new like Cinque terre.

All thoughts and opinions are appreciated!

Sorry, forgot to mention that we either wanted to do Pompeii or Ostia Antica, but hadn't heard much about the latter.

We've done both and both are fantastic. That being said, with only 4 nights in Rome I would suggest Ostia. Its much closer; less than an hour from Rome and can be accessed by public transportation from Rome's piramide station. The sight is huge and its a lot less touristy than Pompeii. Its a fascinating sight. If you do a search here for Ostia Antica you will find lots of good information.

Tracy

Have you considered the Catacombs of San Calisto? Is an afternoon trip... take the metro to Coli Alibi and pick up a bus there. Can't remember bus number but is detailed in Rick Steve's book. Frankly I found San Calisto much richer in history than Ostia Antica.

Plus, the little town where you get off the metro to catch up the bus to San Calisto is great for a little shopping at the places where the locals shop. Some great pastry shops in the area.

Many thanks. It's what we wanted to hear as it makes our lives much easier. Now the question as to whether the Cinque Terre is worth the journey in mid March.

I just read an article about these exact destinations, on Fodor's no less.

&quot;<b>Pompeii, Italy.</b> Millions of visitors shuffle through Pompeii every year, dodging groups of noisy school children and sweltering in the sun to see the results of Vesuvio's destruction. With so many distractions, it's hard to conjure up an image of life in the first century. Instead of joining the mobs, visit Ostia Antica, an easy day trip southwest of Rome. In Ostia, you'll find intact, two-story buildings, near-perfect mosaic floors, and in summer you can attend a live performance in the ancient amphitheater.&quot;
---Betsy Malloy

How's that for timing!
((c))

Thanks for sharing!

We went to Ostia Antica this past October, and visited Pompeii about 7 years ago. I would agree that with your schedule, Pompeii is not a good idea for 4 days/nights in Rome.

Re Ostia Antica, my opinion is that isn't not as much reconstructed as Pompeii, and I had a harder time envisioning what Ostia Antica looked like than I did Pompeii (tho part of that could be a poor memory of Pompeii). To supplement the extract from the article, yes, there are several two-story buildings, but when we were there, we could only climb to the second floor of one of them. One building still contained the &quot;furniture&quot; and other items that identified it as a bar/restaurant. The theater is mostly intact. There's a market square area with a lot of the floor mosiacs left, which identified the merchants. And there are some other very interesting and recognizable mosaics. But (as with Pompeii, and maybe more so), don't think you'll be able to walk through and tell what everything looks like! And more importantly, and you probably already know this, prepare your kids for what it will look like.

It is more open, has more vegetation and less people than Pompeii. Your kids may view it as a big park! We took picnic stuff (pizza bianca, marinated artichokes, cheese and wine) and had a wonderful picnic amongst the ruins.

Ostia Antica sounds more manageable than Pompeii. Pompeii has a great well documented story behind it that is appealling to my kids. But at the end of the day, no matter how great the story and their ability to use their imaginations to piece together the city, they are still children with limited attention spans. I really like the picnic idea!

prhirsch,
Show this to the kids http://www.ostia-antica.org/indexes.htm

Henry

Thanks henry. Great site.....I think my kids will love it, I just can't get my husband off of the site!

prhirsch, my husband and I took my younger brothers, ages 19 and 21 at the time, to the sight a few years ago and they loved it. Granted they wer older than your children, but they had their hearts set on Pompeii when we left for the trip. We ended up going to Ostia because we simply didn't want to leave Rome for the entire day, and they loved it. It is a great sight, even if it doesn't have the famous story of Pompeii behind it. I think they will love it.

Happy travels!
Tracy