In 2022 we decided to visit Rome during the Easter break. At the time the kids were 14, 11 and 7 year old twins.
We wanted to see all of the main tourist attractions in the city itself but also have some time to relax and spend quality time together, so it was an easy decision to stay on a campsite just outside the city but on a main bus route. Being out of the central area also helped keep the costs down with a week’s stay only around £400. We found a great site halfway between Rome and the coastal town of Ostia and booked a three bed mobile home through Eurocamp.
Top Tips for Rome with kids
- Buy a Rome travel pass for affordable public transport.
- Pre-book tickets to the main attractions
- Consider staying outside of the city on a main bus route or train line.
- Buy or borrow a good travel guide before the trip.
- Visit the Roman ruins at Ostia Antica 20 mins by train from the city.
Where we stayed
We stayed at Camping Village Fabulous, a large campsite approximately 10 miles south west of Rome city centre and 8 miles from the coastal town of Ostia. The campsite has good public transport links with a regular bus service into Rome in one direction and to the beach in the other, with a bus stop just outside the campsite entrance.
https://fabulous.huopenair.com – the campsite’s own website. We would probably look at booking directly next time.
Getting around
We pre-booked a private transfer to and from the airport which was definitely worth it with the driver waiting for us in the airport arrival hall and helping us with our cases to the vehicle which turned out to be a luxury Mercedes mini-bus. The driver offered us complimentary bottles of water and it was great starting the holiday off in style.
To get around during the week we pre-booked Rome travel passes which are only 24 euros each for 7 days (per adult) and include bus travel, the metro / underground and local trains. With a bus stop outside the campsite entrance it was easy to hop on the bus which took us directly to the Metro station for travel into the city centre.
We also used the bus and train to travel to Ostia Antica Roman ruins and the beach at Ostia.
Top attractions
Ostia Antica
For our first full day in Italy we decided not to travel into Rome as we thought that it would be too busy, being Easter Sunday. We took the short bus ride to the train station and then a train to Ostia Antica which is a large archaeological site 19 miles west of Rome.
In Roman times, Ostia was the main port on the River Tiber for the city. Ostia was home to 100,000 people and was essential in the supply of grain and other foodstuffs to feed the people of Rome which had a population of around 1 million.
Before visiting we didn’t know what to expect but were impressed with the size of the site and the state of the Roman buildings with many 2 and 3 storey buildings still standing which you can walk around. The most impressive part of the site is the large Roman amphitheatre.
Colosseum and Roman Forum
For me this was the main attraction of the whole trip and the most iconic site of the city. We pre-booked a time and tickets in order to miss the long queues of tourists who hadn’t pre-booked. The entry tickets included both the Colosseum and Forum Romana which are next to each other. Both are large sites and there is a lot of walking and stairs so would have been difficult with younger children or with a buggy.
Having a good travel guide really helped us to understand what we were looking at.
We took the DK Eyewitness Top 10 Rome travel guide which was really useful and came with a pull out laminated map of the city and other public transport maps.
For a guide to the ancient sites we took a book that we purchased on our first visit to Rome back in 2004, prior to getting married or having children – Rome Monuments Past and Present – a guide with reconstructions of Ancient Rome. This is a really good guide particularly for kids as it contains photos of the ruins and over-lay pages with artists impressions of what they would have looked like in the past.
The Pantheon and Piazza Navona
The Pantheon is free to visit and can’t be pre-booked. There was a long queue when we arrived but this moved really quickly and it is well worth the wait to see the inside of the building, the famous oculus and Europe’s widest masonry dome. Originally a Roman Temple designed by the Emperor Hadrian in AD 118-125 the Pantheon is now the Christian church of Santa Maria ad Martyres and also contains the tomb of Renaissance Master Raphael.
The large Piazza Navona is in the same district as the Pantheon and within close walking distance. This was well worth a visit for the large Baroque fountains and statues, street entertainers, restaurants, cafes and ice cream parlours.
The Vatican City
You can’t got to Rome and miss the opportunity to visit the smallest country in the world – the Vatican City. We pre-booked tickets for the Vatican Museum, including the Sistine Chapel. The museum is huge and a little overwhelming with so many exhibits. We spent a few hours walking through the museum and were quite glad to get to the end – there are only so many priceless pieces of art you can look at with four children in tow before they want an ice cream! Our favourite area was the long gallery of maps which we all enjoyed. The kids also liked the idea of sending a post card home from the Vatican Post Office.
We decided not to go inside St Peters Basilica as the queues were really long, and we were getting hungry. From past experience we also remembered it was a fairly long climb to the top with uneven stairs! Even if you don’t visit the museum or St Peters Basilica, a visit to St Peters Square in front of the Basilica is worth it. We took the kids to the exact lamp post in the square where we got engaged back in 2004 (they weren’t that impressed!).
The Spanish Steps and the Trevi Fountain
Two of the other main attractions that Rome is famous for are the Spanish Steps and the Trevi Fountain. These were both very busy with other tourists but well worth the effort. We walked up and down the steps, took a few photos and then moved on to the Trevi Fountain which was even busier. We managed to jostle to the edge of the fountain pool and throw in a few coins so that we will hopefully one day return as the tradition promises.
Our eldest daughter had found on TikTok about a small attraction which she wanted to take us to – the Vicus Caprarius – an archaeological site 9m below road level. It took us a little while to find the entrance on a back street close to the fountain but it was only a small entrance fee and nice to get out of the heat and hustle and bustle of streets for 45 minutes or so in the cool catacombs. The museum holds many Roman era artefacts and the underground ruins of Roman street level, homes and cisterns of water which come from one of the 11 aqueducts the Romans built and which serve the Trevi Fountain itself. https://www.vicuscaprarius.com/en/
Holiday Run
When away from home I love to get out and go for a run around the sites or local countryside. I run a lot at home around the same few routes so it is really good to go for a run with more interesting sites to see along the way. A few years ago I was given the Lonely Planet’s Epic Runs of the World book and was not going to miss the chance to tick off my first of the 50 runs. Its unlikely that I’ll complete many of the other runs in the book which includes several marathons or ultra marathons but the Quiet Run in Rome appeared manageable at 6.2 miles.
The run is ‘quiet’ as you are supposed to start at dawn and see the sunrise over the River Tiber halfway round the 6 miles. The difficulty for me was that the start of the run was in the centre of Rome and sunrise was about 06:20. Nevertheless, I was determined to tick off this Epic Run from my book so set the alarm for 05:00 and left the campsite in time for the first bus of the day into Rome at about 05:20. After travelling in my shorts and t-shirt with the local commuters wrapped up against the early morning chill giving me quizzical glances, I connected with the underground train and got to the start of the route close to the Circus Maximus at about 06:00.
Despite the early rise, it was definitely worth it as there were very few people on the streets and it was so quiet compared to the hustle and bustle of traffic and tourists later in the day. The route took me past many of the main sites including the River Tiber, Vatican City, Castel St Angelo, the Pantheon, the Colosseum, ending back at the Circus Maximus. Doing a few laps of this ancient Roman Chariot Racing stadium at the end of the run was quite special, imagining how the sloping, turf covered sides of the stadium would have been full of Roman spectators cheering their favourite chariot teams 2000 years ago.
After my victory laps of the Circus Maximus I enjoyed an espresso and headed back to the underground station for my journey back to the campsite. I was home for about 08:30 just as the rest of the family were waking up and just in time for a large breakfast!
You can check out the route on my Strava page by following this link –https://strava.app.link/KqkLZfefuHb
Would we visit again?
Absolutely, it was a great holiday. Staying at the campsite gave us the flexibility of a city break combined with space to chill and relax on the decking of our caravan on the site which was covered with tall pine trees and was safe for the children to play outside. We combined some really busy days site-seeing in Rome, the Vatican and Ostia Antica and delicious restaurant meals, with time on the campsite in the large outdoor pool, playing ball games outside and having barbeques and breakfasts in the caravan.
We might not travel back to Rome for many years but will look into visiting other European cities as a family of six staying in similar accommodation (we have since visited Paris for 2 nights on the way home from a summer holiday in Aquitaine, staying in a campsite on the River Seine).
Click on the link below to read about another school holiday adventure that we enjoyed in Italy on the Almalfi Coast and Pompeii:
About Us
After the shock of finding out that we were expecting twins in 2015, one of the first things that we realised was that …we’re gonna need a bigger car!
We’re a family of six with two girls and two boys aged 16, 13 and 9 year old twins.
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