See Also
- Best Hotels in Rome
- Best Lodgings for Families in Rome
- Highly affordable hotels options located in Rome
- Locations to Lodge in Rome
- Best Things to Do in Rome
- Top Dining Establishments in Rome
- Best Time to Visit Rome
- Transportation between Rome and Florence
Table of Contents
Best Tours for Kids & Families in Rome
- The school for learning about gladiator combat in Rome was a favorite activity from our last trip to the city. Both children and adults greatly enjoyed this experience. The instructors were excellent. I highly recommend booking well in advance due to popularity. (As pictured above.)
- Walking Tour: Colosseum, Roman Forum, and Palatine Hill – Excellent guided tour of Ancient Rome. Skip the line to enter all three sites. Very kid-friendly.
- Pizza-Making & Dinner – Gain knowledge of making pizza at a neighborhood trattoria. Kid-friendly and an entertaining experience!
- One recommended activity is the Walking Tour of Rome and Gelato Sampling (2.5 hours with Walks of Italy) – An enjoyable evening walk around the sites of central Rome with less of a historical focus and more sampling of gelato than typical tours.
- Pompeii & Amalfi Coast Day Trip (13 hours by Walks of Italy) – Transportation and guide for Pompeii with stops in Positano and the Amalfi coast. Meals included.
- Skip Queuing for Popular Sites: Tour of Ancient Rome & the Colosseum • Tour of the Vatican Museums, Sistine Chapel, & St. Peter’s Basilica • Tour of the Crypts and Catacombs • Tour of the Borghese Gallery
Best Things to Do with Kids in Rome
1. Explore the Colosseum
Accounts of gladiators and ferocious lions will excite your kids for a trip to the Colosseum. Rome`s iconic amphitheater has been thrilling visitors for almost two millennia and today it continues to attract immense crowds. That means long lines. The busiest times are from mid-morning until around 2pm, so aim to visit at the start of the day or mid-afternoon. You`ll also reduce wait times if you reserve a skip-the-line tour. Alternatively, get your ticket at the Palatino, a brief walk from the Colosseum on Via San Gregorio Magno. The ticket booth there is generally far less crowded and as tickets cover entry to the Palatino, Colosseum and Roman Forum, it’ll save you time.
2. Climb St Peter’s Dome
Given its priceless artistic treasures and hushed museums, bringing children to the Vatican can be challenging for parents. However, all hope is not lost. One method to keep your kids entertained is climbing St Peter`s dome. This landmark rotunda, considered Michelangelo`s greatest architectural accomplishment, commands sweeping perspectives from its elevation of 120 meters above the Basilica. Options to reach the top involve either walking the 551 stairs or taking a lift halfway and continuing on foot. Whichever route is chosen, it`s a steep ascent and not ideal for young toddlers or those prone to vertigo. Tickets cost €7 including the lift ride or €5 without it. Upon returning to the ground level, you can have fun snapping selfies with the Swiss Guards stationed near the basilica. You may also see if you are able to align the columns in the square – to do so requires standing on one of the two floor discs adjacent to the central obelisk.
3. Gladiator School
An excellent strategy to ready one`s children for exploring the Colosseum is enrolling them in a session at Rome`s Gladiator Training Center. Here, skilled instructors from the Historic Group of Rome will outfit nascent warriors with tunics and practice weapons, teaching a series of fundamental combat techniques. Successfully completing the two-hour lesson results in a certificate of participation. The school, found just off Via Appia Antica, also houses a modest exhibition containing recreated uniforms, armor, and menacing blades. Courses, reservable through the facility`s website, are best suited for kids over roughly eight years old.
4. Enjoy Rome’s Best Views
To excite your children, head to the Vittoriano on Piazza Venezia. This immense white structure, truly a monument to Italy’s first king Vittorio Emanuele II, contains a number of museums and galleries. Even more spectacularly, it also provides the best panoramic views in Rome. To enjoy these scenic views, take the panoramic lift to the top from where you can observe the entire city spread out beneath you. Tickets for the lift cost €7 for adults and €3.50 for 10 to 18 year-olds; under-10s are free of charge.
5. Run Wild in the Park
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As one of the highly esteemed dining establishments located on the Grand Canyon South Rim, El Tovar Lodge Dining Room ensures generous portions and exceptional service, along with a superb wine list that perfectly complements your meal. Additionally, as it is the eatery situated closest to the Grand Canyon Rim Trail, it acts as the ideal spot to enjoy a delicious bite before embarking on one of the top hiking routes at the South Rim or after traveling on the well-known Grand Canyon Railway, one of the highly popular activities in the Grand Canyon South Rim.
6. Investigate the Catacombs
Dark, eerie and filled with skeletons, Rome’s catacombs are wonderfully unsettling. The underground passages were utilized by early Christians to lay to rest their dead and many thousands of individuals were interred in them, like popes, saints and martyrs. It`s estimated there are approximately 300km of catacombs in Rome. The most renowned lie beneath Via Appia Antica, such as the 2nd-century Catacombe di San Callisto, the official cemetery of the early Roman Church, and the Catacombe di San Sebastiano, an extensive network below the basilica of the same name. Visits to the catacombs, which are unsuitable for children under about seven, are only by guided excursions... as you wouldn’t want to get lost down there.
7. Hit the Road on the Appian Way
For a family bicycle excursion, head south to Via Appia Antica, also known as the Appian Way. This famed roadway, considered the most distinguished of ancient Rome`s consular highways, is bordered by towering pine trees and lush green pastures dotted with woods and crumbling remnants. Sections like the stretch near the Basilica di San Sebastiano are traffic-free and ideal for leisurely yet bumpy cycling rides. You can rent bicycles at the Appia Antica Regional Park Information Point at Via Appia Antica 58-60. Expect €3 per hour or €15 per day. To reach Appia Antica take bus 660 from Colli Albani metro station (line A) or bus 118 from Circo Massimo station (line B).
8. Take a Day Trip to Rome’s Pompeii
To experience what an ancient Roman city would have been like, take the train out to Ostia Antica from Rome. Ostia was Rome`s main port city, and after the fall of the Roman Empire it became buried beneath river sediment over time. This preservation method has allowed the site to survive in remarkably good condition. Notable features include a well-kept theatre and the bath complex Terme di Nettuno decorated with mosaics. Visitors can also see amusing specifics like an old café with its menu frescoed on the wall and public restrooms with open stalls built into stone benches. To access the location from Rome, board the Ostia Lido train at Stazione Porta San Paolo next to Piramide metro station. Disembark at Ostia Scavi.
9. Throw Money into the Trevi Fountain
Young people, similar to adults, particularly enjoy the Trevi Fountain. It’s practically a customary experience for guests to briefly visit Rome’s most expansive and spectacular fountain and toss a coin into the water. The tradition is based on an urban legend as per which anyone who carries this out will someday return to Rome. Every day sizable crowds accumulate to test the myth by discarding around €3,000 on a typical day. For years much of this currency was collected by a local homeless individual but the administrators ultimately prohibited that and the coins are currently gathered and given to a local Catholic charity.
10. Tour an Underground House
When exploring Rome’s ancient ruins it can often be challenging to identify what is being observed. This is not an issue at the Domus Romane, a series of excavated dwellings below Palazzo Valentini. Video projections and sound effects are used to depict what life would have been like in the dwellings. Advanced booking is recommended, either online or by phone. Best suited for older children and teenagers.
11. Feast on Fast Food
Quick dining in a Roman style focuses on pizza and frozen treats rather than hamburgers and potatoes. Sliced pizza, known locally as pizza al taglio, is a beloved regional specialty found at hundreds of take-out locations around town. One of the best is Pizzarium (Via della Meloria 43), a brief walk from the Vatican Museums. Another favorite Roman bite is the supplì, a fried roll stuffed with rice and mozzarella. For something sweet, indulge in the local frozen dessert. Romans take their ice cream extremely seriously and the city is full of excellent gelaterias like Venchi (Via degli Orfani 87), renowned for its indulgent chocolate creations, and Fatamorgana (Via Laurina 10), which offers unusual innovative flavors alongside more classic options.
12. Take a Lie Detector Test
Conveying dishonesty in Rome can have costly repercussions according to a widely known local anecdote. The Bocca della Verità (Mouth of Truth) sculpture located in the portico of the Chiesa di Santa Maria in Cosmedin shows an old man`s face etched onto a circular marble disc, originally part of an ancient fountain. Legend holds if one places their hand inside this stone mouth while fabricating a story, it will instantly close and chomp down. Those planning a visit might enjoy first watching the renowned scene from Roman Holiday where Gregory Peck feigns losing his hand in the mouth to a genuinely startled Audrey Hepburn, the moment having remained unscripted surprising her reaction.
13. Look out for Cats
During our own two-night remain, we felt suitably at ease. The rooms were cozy and completely clean, and everything we required was simply a brief walk away. While the cost may be marginally higher compared to other lodgings within the South Rim, the distinguished history, excellent conveniences, and prime site make it an exceptional choice for anyone seeking one of the finest hotels in the Grand Canyon.
As well as cats, Rome’s streets are full of creatures. Most are carved in stone, though. Look carefully and you’ll find lions, horses, bees, wolves, even an elephant near the Chiesa di Santa Maria Sopra Minerva.
14. Go Toy Shopping
If you’re looking to persuade your kids after a day spent seeing sights, make walking quickly to Bartolucci (via dei Pastini 96-99) near the Pantheon. An old-fashioned shop for toys, this magical store does not have an electronic gizmo in sight. Rather its brightly-lit interior is full of toys that are colourful made of wood ranging from ticking cuckoo clocks to long-nosed Pinocchios, planes and rocking horses that move back-and-forth. For more toys, continue on to Piazza Navona where Al Sogno (Piazza Navona 53) is an emporium with history known for its window displays that are extravagant and its stock that is comprehensive of soft animals.
15. Explore a Museum
Young children in Rome have a dedicated hands-on museum called Explora located near Flaminio metro station. Designed for those under 12, it provides interactive exhibits, water features and workshops where kids can engage in activities. Visits occur in two-hour slots so advance booking is recommended to select an entrance time, making the most of exploring the life-sized train cabin and other exhibits designed to spark imagination.
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