Hi courshel - we were in Rome last summer with four teenagers in our group (our two and my two nephews). We stayed at the Albergo del Senato. https://www.albergodelsenato.it/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI_p_UlOHf9QIVoMmUCR2FDg_vEAAYAiAAEgLhqfD_BwE The location is outstanding. Some of our rooms looked directly onto the Pantheon (we were a total group of 9). We had most of our dinners down in the square or very nearby. The breakfast here is fine, but not the best I’ve ever had. I’d say it’s your fairly typical European breakfast - pastries, cheese, fruit, hard boiled eggs, juice, coffee, hot chocolate. With that said, it was adequate to meet the needs of our teenagers (3 of the 4 are boys, and one, the tallest and skinniest of the group, has a bottomless stomach 😁).
Our time in Rome was a short two days at the tail end of a three week adventure, so our activities there were fairly limited. The two favorite activities for our kids were the Colosseum, and as much as I may hate to admit it, zipping around on the rental scooters. I know those scooters can be a bit controversial, but I have to be honest - the kids loved them. We picked them up near the Colosseum and rode them back to the Pantheon, and then tootled over to the Trevi Fountain. We were careful not to ride in pedestrian walkways, and stuck to side streets/alleys as much as we could. It was blazing hot when we were there (105 degrees on the hottest day), and the kids frankly needed something that was simply “fun.” This fit the bill and we still managed to “see some sights.” We used the Byrd scooters - it was easy to set up the app on my phone, and then link all the scooters on the app. I knew nothing about it ahead of time - the sticker on the scooter told me which app to download and the app did the rest. I did find myself wishing we had helmets. If I were to go again, I may even consider either bringing cheap helmets that we’d leave behind (if necessary for luggage space), or buying cheap helmets there.
Lastly, while we did not do this in Rome, we did a similar tour in Paris: motorcycle sidecar tour. It was a total blast. I saw them in Rome, and if we’d had more time, I would have loved to try it there too. Here’s one I found with a quick search: https://vespasidecartour.com/. If you ask ANY member of our party (ranging in age from teenager to grandparent) for their top memories from our trip, our motorcycle sidecar tour would be at or near the top of everyone’s list. In Paris, our guides were local young men who had a love of their city. They drove very safely, yet it was still exhilarating! I would hope the groups in Rome would be similar (but obviously some TripAdvisor sleuthing is in order if you consider it!).
Have a wonderful trip with your teenagers!
