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February 2025 Rome Itinerary - Advice

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I will be traveling to Rome with my wife and 2 kids (ages 9 & 14). We will be landing in the AM hours on Monday, Feb 10th. Departing AM hours Sunday, Feb 16th. (So we will have most of Monday / Tue / Wed / Thu / Fri / Sat) We will be staying in an AirBnB apartment right near the Tiber River, near the Ponte Umberto. Just across the river from the Palazzo di Giustizia and Castel Sant Angelo.

Since we arrive early in the day on Monday, I will need to find a place to store our luggage for a few hours. I plan to reach out to the AirBnB host soon and see if there is anything nearby, or in the building, that they recommend. But I am wondering if anyone has any suggestions in case the host can't assist.

I visited Rome in 2000 (the last Jubilee year, coincidentally), and loved it. But this will be the first time for my wife and kids.

I would like to get 2 day trips in during the week. The 3 top options that I am looking at are Orvieto, Ostia Antica and Pompeii (I did Pompeii in 2000). My wife really wants to see Pompeii. I figure that we can put aside a specific day and then decide once we arrive whether we want to make the trek to Pompeii and back, or do Ostia Antica instead. I wouldn't think either of those need to be booked far in advance.

I have booked the Vatican Museums & Sistine Chapel for Thursday the 13th, starting at 8am. The plan would be to do both of those, find a place for lunch, maybe a possible short siesta at the AirBnB, and then maybe go back and try to tackle St. Peter's and the dome in the early or mid-afternoon. I chose this day because it is closed on Tuesday the 11th as this is the anniversary of the establishment of Vatican City, and Wednesday will be when the Pope has his audience in the square.

I have no idea what we should do on Monday since it's a travel day and we have to deal with the luggage. Since we will be coming off the overnight flight, I'm sure we'll need to so some walking to get fresh air and stay awake. But I don't want to get too bogged down in major sightseeing until the next day.

Tuesday thinking of doing Rick's Heart of Rome Walk. And possibly looping in the Colosseum/Forum after lunch. (Or should we try to hit the Colosseum first thing in the morning?)

Wednesday would be a day we put aside for a day trip. Pompeii/Ostia Antica OR Orvieto

Thursday - Vatican museums, Sistene Chapel, St. Peter's etc.

Friday - Day trip? Orvieto OR Pompeii/Ostia Antica

Saturday?

We don't need to fill every minute with sightseeing. My kids will need breaks of course. And we are also happy to just wander a bit, find a neat place for lunch and have some time in the afternoons to recharge and relax at the AirBnB before stepping out for dinner and an evening stroll to see the city and sights under the lights.

My kids have done a few trips to Europe (England, Tuscany, Dubrovnik, Bosnia and Montenegro) and are familiar with the routine of getting an early start, doing some sightseeing or museum visit followed by lunch and a break before some more. Also some long day trips with a lot of time in a car or train.

Thanks in advance for any advice or feedback.

Posted by
80 posts

If you went to Rome in 2000 and you are taking your family there for this years Jubilee you could make a new family tradition out of it. There are four Basilicas in Rome that will open what are called Holy Doors. You could visit these on your trip. Then 25 years from now when your kids are in their thirties and early forties they could visit in 2050 with their kids and do the same thing again. Or you and your wife could visit again and reminisce your visit back in 2025. Or you take your kids, their families if they have them in 2050. Think how cool it will be that you witness three Jubilees in your lifetime.
What if you take a family picture of you guys in front of the doors then 25 or 50 years later you set up the same picture. Who knows how long you can keep the tradition going. The Jubilee isn't going away anytime soon that's for sure. Now you have a family tradition to do every 25 years. And the good thing about the Jubilee lasting a year you can find sometime in that 12 months to visit.
You could do this on Monday your first day there as long as you don't try to see them at St Peter's. You may be able to see the doors at St Peter's when you see the Pope audience.

Posted by
28290 posts

For the potential day trip to Pompeii, you can save considerable money on the express trains between Rome and Naples by purchasing those tickets well in advance. That would mean committing to a specific departure day and time, which could be somewhat risky in terms of weather and your energy level. You won't have to worry about summer heat, but that is a long trip. I'd take a look at fares on trenitalia.com and italotreno.it for travel today and on one of your potential travel days to see what the difference is and decide whether you consider the fare for a day-of-travel purchase to be acceptable.

I visited Pompeii in March 2023 and there was no line at the ticket counter. I think your experience would probably be similar, but you should be able to buy online tickets when you make the decision to go.

The security line for St. Peter's was very long even at 4 PM in March 2023. I suspect early afternoon during the Holy Year could be considerably worse. One option would be to show up early, before the Basilica opens (which I think is at 7 AM). That would have to be on a different day.

Posted by
54 posts

Thanks ACRAVEN !

There is indeed a HUGE price difference in the train from Rome to Naples if I book now for February, compared to if I booked something a few days in advance or less.

The express train is faster than I expected. Only 1 hour 13 min or so. Of course that is balanced out by the fact that we need to get over to the other train line once in Naples, buy a ticket and wait for the next train to Pompeii, which I understand should extend the total trip time to about 2.5 hours. Still not too bad, and certainly manageable with careful planning.

Thanks for the tip on the long security line for St. Peter's. We might need to try to do that first thing one morning instead, especially since it's not a far walk from our AirBnB.

Posted by
28290 posts

The cobblestones on some of the streets in Pompeii are unbelievable large and difficult to walk on. I can't imagine dealing with them in the rain; there'd be a slight risk of needing to do that with train tickets purchased well in advance. I'm glad you don't have older folks in your travel party.

I avoided the weather risk by seeing Pompeii while I was staying in Naples, so there was no need to get the train tickets ahead of time.

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