I will be in rome with family (wife and 2 kids 12 and 7 yrs) for 3 days arriving from Pisa at 3 PM (mid June) and leaving after 2 days in evening around 7 ( flight is at 10 PM)
Need help in deciding places to go, daily route and any advance bookings. I am staying in the monti area about 1 km from termini.
mpankaj, advising someone on "what to do" is difficult without knowing what attracted you to Rome and what your family likes to do. Is the Vatican of interest? Does your family love museums or is it best to avoid them? You can spend a month in Rome and not "see it all." (I've been here four years and have not seen it all!)
Rick Steves has some excellent itinerary advice here, but you have to decide which of his recommendations appeal to your family.
I will give you links to a couple of my favorite less-known things-to-do.
Viaggio nei Fori is a nighttime activity consisting of two "tours," one being a walk through Caesar's Forum and the other a stationary multimedia show in the Forum of Augustus. You can do one or both.
Palazzo Valentini must also be reserved in advance and is a unique look into a Roman-era house again using multimedia. Note there are few English tours so reserve well in advance if you and want to fit this in. Something to do in the afternoon when it is hot out.
I always tell our guests to reserve a guided tour of Ancient Rome (Colosseo, Forum, Palatino) and also the Vatican if they want to go there. A guide makes it easier to get around, you get in faster, and you get more out of your time there. They are quite entertaining which is important with kids, especially.
Just thought of another summer experience to tell you about. Starting June 10 is the Lungo il Tevere Roma. A village is set up along the banks of the river with entertainment, shops, and restaurants. Can be fun to stroll through after dark, have a bite to eat, see the scene. It is every night June 10-August 28.
Anything else I should be planning in Rome?
You really have only time for the major highlights so concentrate on those and dedicate as much free time as possible to the ancient historic center (this is not the Colleseum / Forum area but the area near the Pantheon / Trevi Fountain area)
This is where life is happening, a multiple block open air museum and is mostly pedestrian only. The other major sites are near main roads and are basically just busy with cars and tourists trying to avoid each other.
If you want to see the Vatican / St. Peters which most do that takes the good part of a day alone and is the one thing you really must book in advance so choose which day you will do that and try to keep that day otherwise clear.
You can order tickets online and they will be for a specific date and time. The time they are a little flexible on but the day they are not. This ticket purchased in advance will allow you to skip the line and saves hours of your valuable time.
Colleseum and the Roman Forum combine together well. Palatine Hill is definitely not as great as those 2 sites but still interesting. The real value for me of Palatine Hill is the line there is always short, so you can buy your ticket there and that ticket is good for all 3 places: Palatine Hill, Forum and Colleseum. The same ticket will have an hours wait at the Colleseum.
For this reason I would not pre buy my tickets to the Colleseum. Not sure if the underground tours need prebooking or not so might check into that if that was of interest.
Download Rick Steve's podcasts before you go and install on everyone's phone or ipod type device, he does some great free audio tours you can listen to inside the Vatican, St. Peter's, Colleseum, Roman Forum, Pantheon, etc...
They are all good and save you the need to buy any audio tours but the Roman Forum one is fantastic as there is virtually no signage there and the podcast tour brings the place to life.
Basic 3 day plan would be 1 day Vatican/St. Peter's, 1 day Palatine Hill, Colleseum, Roman Forum and 1 day ancient historic center. This leaves hours free each day to get lost and walk around hopefully in the historical center checking out many different piazzas there, enjoying the life of the city in this area, check out the different churches you walk past, venture across the river for dinner in Travestre 1 evening, have much cappuccino in the morning and gelato the rest of the day.
I would use your hotel area as a place to sleep mostly and spend my time in the historic center even if I was not staying there.
