Hotel in Rome and Venice - traveling with 7 month old baby

I don’t have a specific hotel - just a general thought. In Venice you will have a very hard time with a stroller. All the bridges have stairs up and down, and Venice is all bridges. I’d suggest some sort of wearable baby carrier (like an ergo or a baby backpack). If you can’t do that at least make sure your stroller is light enough to lift up stairs often! Go to google street view and “Walk” around Venice to see what I mean.

Staying near the train station will minimize bridges on arrival (with luggage) but to get to the things you want to see you will have to walk. You can take your stroller on the vaporetto (water bus) to the nearest stop, then walk the rest of the way.

And yes, no car! Impossible in Venice (there are no cars or roads!) and just a very bad idea in Rome (no parking, crazy drivers, lots of restricted zones).

Crystal, you might want to rethink Venice. Most of the bridges over the canals have stairs, some of them long and steep. That won't be as much of a problem in Rome, unless you plan to use the Metro often.

Both cities are definitely walkable, especially Venice, where cars are not allowed.

Edit to add: Whoops! Mira posted while I was typing!

Two nights somewhere means one full day, so you are short changing both locations and are going to spend as long in transit as visiting places.

Venice really isn’t practical with a 7 month old, so I would just stay in Rome for all 4 nights.

Venetians have babies and live there, so you will certainly be able to visit Venice with a baby in a stroller. You will just need to plan around the bridges.

We went last summer with my son (age 13, special needs) in a stroller and had a wonderful time. We used vaporettos extensively (wheeled the stroller right on to the boat) and planned our walking to avoid bridges as much as possible. It can be done. Note that some of the more traveled bridges do have ramps.

That being the case, if I had a 7-month-old, I’d do like Mira said and use a carrier. Just simpler.

I don’t have a hotel recommendation for you (we stayed in an apartment on the Zattere), but consider finding one near a vaporetto stop if you will be using the stroller.

Have fun; Venice is magical. Try and stay longer if you can — one full day won’t let you sink into the atmosphere.

Crystal,
Good variety of recommendations. Yes, I can see some challenges especially in Venice. That said both a wearable carrier and stroller should suffice. There are a couple hotels with limited steps, bridges from the Vaporetto. One being Hotel Flora or Hotel Ala. We stayed at Hotel Flora last year. Hotel Ala has also been highly recommended on this Forum. Both hotels are 2 mins. apart. I have no idea if they have an age restriction for children. Both hotels are in walking distance to major attractions. They have elevators.
As for Rome, we have stayed in the Termini area twice and once in Trastevere. We are headed back next fall and will be staying 2 nights in a quiet hotel centrally located (near Pantheon) It’s called Hotel due Torri. Great reviews, & elevator.
It would be nice if you had at least 3 nights in both of these wonderful cities. All the best.

Janis and Crystal, we stayed at Hotel Due Torri in Rome for four nights in May. Enjoyed the hotel: it’s quiet, the staff is very helpful and the hotel is walking distance to the major sights. We walked 8 to 10 miles per day—colosseum, Vatican, Jewish Ghetto, rose garden.
However, be advised that to get to the elevator, you walk up two stairs to a small hallway. We never used the elevator since our room was on the first floor (aka US 2nd floor) and we only had carry on luggage.

Horsewoofie! Thanks for the details on Hotel Due Torri. Very helpful to know about the two steps leading up to the elevator especially for Crystal's needs. Did you find that it was quiet on your floor? We may request a lower floor as well. One of our main concerns is getting enough rest upon arrival before heading to Sicily. I really like the location for our short stay. We just love walking and revisiting our favorite areas! Glad it worked out well for you.

Thanks to everyone who had tips and suggestions. I just ordered a baby carrier so we will definitely be taking that. Also I’m thankful for the tip on Hotel Due Torri and I am now looking into booking a room there. Now I am trying to see if we can extend Rome to 3 days from 2 days. I’m not sure if I can extend Venice to a third day though.

Follow up question, if you only have 5 days for Italy, how would you split them between Rome and Venice? Would you spend most the days in Rome or Venice? I’m a fist time visitor to Italy so I’m not sure which city will demand more of my time.

Crystal,
When we were researching Venice a year and a half ago, the consensus here was to spend a minimum of 3 nights. We ended up staying there a week. We wanted time to explore my husband's ancestry. Most posters here and the guidebooks recommend more nights in Rome. If you don't have your heart set on Venice, perhaps devote 5 nights to Rome? Plenty to see there. Another thought; we found flying into Venice first was conducive to recovering from jet lag. Also, I will add that it was 3 visits to Italy before going to Venice. Lots to contemplate.

Crystal-
It would be helpful if you could post your whole itinerary- hard to give advice when we don't see the whole picture.
Are any flights already booked?

And I think I answered your hotel question in another post but I highly recommend Hotel Ala in Venice- excellent location with super easy access- no steps, bridges, stairs or canals from the vaporetto stop. IIRC there was only 1 bridge with a few steps on the walk from Ala to P San Marco.
I think their website has some notice about "adult oriented" I don't believe that is actually true in that they don't allow children. We've stayed there and there have been kids, they also offer a few family rooms- so don't let that put you off.
Last visit we had the room on top floor which was more of a suite- but it did mean a few steps after the elevator up.

Hotel Due Torri in Rome is very nice, great location.

Crystal, are you counting arrival and/or departure days in your 5 days? If so, I would choose either Venice or Rome. Travel, settling into hotels, checking out, travel ... all that really eats into your available time. How are you getting from Rome to Venice? Are you flying into and out of the same city, or "open jaw?"

I'd give serious thought to picking one city and settling in there for the entire time even if you have 4 full days. Easier, less hectic, less stress.

Crystal. If I had 5 days I’d only do Rome OR Venice. We spent 4 full days in Rome before joining our RS South of Italy tour. Afterwards the original plan was to spent 5 days in Venice but that got changed to 2 1/2 so we could drive from Naples to Calabria to see the ancestral village. I want to go back to Venice to really see the city.

Crystal,
We were in Venice in October and stayed near Piazzle Roma; close to the Tronchetto, rental car office, vaporetto stop and train station; www.hotelarlecchino.net
The rooms were a good size, great breakfast, and a very helpful staff. I would stay again.