2 nights in Rome after Family Europe Tour 2025

we did a night tour of Vatican and it was lovely with less crowds and lighting was amazing, I think it was a Liv Italy tour. We stayed near Colosseum and walked up there and then I would taxi back.

We did an Underground Colosseum tour that included the Pantheon and Roman Forums, although that is all walkable, if staying nearby you can easily see the Spanish steps and Trevi Fountain and the Victor Emmanuel you cannot miss.

I would check out the Rome Hello for rooms in your price range or AirBNB. You walk a lot in rome and just stop of gelato often:)

Kathy

Hello Meghan and welcome to the forum!

Take the train from Florence to Rome
https://www.trenitalia.com/content/tcom/en.html

Station names:
Firenze SM Novella
Roma Termini

From the station in Rome- take a taxi to your hotel- you’ll need 2 taxis- ( unless there happens to be a taxi van) go outside to the official taxi rank and wait your turn. Have your hotel address on a slip of paper to hand to the driver.
The fare shouldn’t be much more than 10 euros if you are staying in the historic center.
All taxis are required by law to accept credit cards but check with driver to make sure their machine isn’t “broken”
Cash is always fine

Tours- Both Walks of Italy and Tour Guy have Rome in a Day tours that include Vatican, Colosseum, etc. It’s a pretty long day- just be sure you really need all of that!
You can see some of the sights on your own- Trevi, Spanish Steps, Pantheon, etc
The RS Heart of Rome walk is a great first day activity in Rome- safe in the evening and the fountains will all be lit up.

https://www.walksofitaly.com/rome-tours
https://thetourguy.com/tours/rome

Both are mostly well reviewed by members here. As far as hotel pick up- not sure you’ll get that unless you find a private guide- and your hotel will likely be in a pedestrianized area so you'd need to walk out to a pick up point.

Hotels- stay in the historic center near Pantheon/Piazza Navonna/Campo De’Fiori. The area is mostly all pedestrianized and perfectly safe. You can walk to almost all sights from there. Lots of restaurants.

A forum favorite is Hotel Smeraldo.
https://www.smeraldoroma.com/en/

Use booking.com to find more options- use the filters for budget, location, amenities needed like AC, elevator, etc.
You can trust reviews there as they can only be left by folks who have actually stayed at the property.

Departure- taxi to airport is a fixed rate 55 euros but your group would need 2 cars.
Check Rome Cabs (not a taxi- but a driver service) - again highly recommended here- they probably have a van.

https://www.romecabs.com/

Lots of other suggestions here for hotels, etc.
Here is a Search of “Rome hotels” all post from past year:
https://search.ricksteves.com/?button=&date_range=1y&filter=Travel+Forum&query=Rome+hotels&utf8=✓

Enjoy! Rome is our favorite city.

ETA: Many people like to stay near the Termini station- there are several nice hotels there. It's a bit further walk to sights but also close to public transportation. I would still encourage you to stay in the Centro Storico for the best Rome experience.
Hotel Sonya and Hotel Aberdeen are within walking distance of the station. The plus is you don't need a taxi on arrival and you can take the Leonardo Express to FCO (although at 14 euros a person a car service will probably be less expensive for you)

With 2 nights, I would select either the Vatican or ancient Rome things to see. Unless you MUST SEE the Sistine Chapel, I would forget it and concentrate on Ancient Rome. The chapel takes a lot of time, especially if on a tour where you then see a lot of the rest of the Vatican Museum which may not be of much interest to you ( it wasn’t to me )

Hi there and welcome to the forum Meghan! Just out of curiosity, how old are your kids? I think this will make a big difference how much you can / will want to pack into a day touring. One tip- get an idea of where to eat, maybe just grab a slice of pizza, but have a few ideas, consider asking at the hotel, pre-book dinner if you really want a nice sit-down meal the first evening.

Thinking we will arrive in Rome in the afternoon. I would like the hotel to be in area where we can explore on foot day 1. Day 2, we would spend the full day on a tour of Rome highlights.

It sounds like you really have one late afternoon & one full day in Rome - Maybe consider hopping on the train earlier that morning from Florence so you have most of the day in Rome? Personally, I really like being in the heart of the 'centro storico', as the others have said, so I wouldn't stay by the train station (Termini). We loved Hotel Smeraldo, EXCELLENT staff & wonderful breakfast, but not sure when you're going, so might be out of your budget. The evening you arrive, you could do a golf cart tour of the center, they looked like fun & all the monuments are lit up, so you would get fantastic views.

In which case, IMO, I would agree with Stephen, if you can stand skipping the time-consuming Vatican Museums (takes a LONG time to walk from entrance as far as Sistine Chapel, in a line trudging along, with kids), though of course the place is absolutely packed with amazing art. I hope you have a fantastic trip, Rome can be overwhelming but delightful!

We used miles&miles and TheTourGuy when in Rome. Miles&Miles has driver/guide that you can have for the whole day.
Vatican is time consuming, we had a private tour, started early morning and finished by early afternoon.
The Colosseum is out of the old town/Rome/center, lacks the village charms compare to city center, I remember seeing many big hotels in the area.
I would recommend staying around campo de fiori and Pantheon area.