taxi in rome

Some might but the majority is four. For short distances you might slip in five if one is small. For the most part, once in center Rome we find little use for taxis since most areas are very walkable.

Some are minivans, also some use the FIAT Multipla, which seats 6. So when you talk to the taxi attendant at the airport tell them there is 5 of you and he will hail a minivan taxi for you. You will need the taxi only from the airport to the hotel (and viceversa), especially if you have a lot of luggage. Once in the city center, as explained above, nearly everything is within walking distance. The Vatican and the Colosseum is a longer walk, in that case you may use the Metro or a bus if you don't feel like walking.

This is a great question, Donna. My family of 5 will be there too and I had the same question. To the wonderful responders... we will be staying in the Vatican area. To places like the Pantheon, do you still recommend walking?

I stayed a block from the entrance to the Vatican Museums on my last trip and it took me about 30 minutes to walk to the Pantheon at a relaxed pace.

It may be a couple of miles max, depending on where you are "in the Vatican area". Or you can take a bus. Just go to the ATAC website (Rome City Bus Agency) and calculate itinerary from your address to any place in Rome: http://www.atac.roma.it/index.asp?lingua=ENG The Metro can take you to Piazza di Spagna (Spanish Steps) but then you need to back track to the Pantheon. The Metro in Rome is not that useful for the Historical Center, except for Piazza di Spagna area.

Everything is usually within about a 30 minute walk -- the trick is whether your feet are up to it. Since Rome was at the end of our 16-day trip, we were pretty exhausted, so we wound up using taxis (and didn't in any other city) to get to the longer distances. As others said, there are larger vehicles available, but it may just take longer to get one. It's also harder to flag a taxi down on the street. We usually had to find one at a Taxi stand or had a waiter call for us (we stayed in an apartment, so there was no concierge).

Thank you for all your responses. It certainly helps