Thoughts on Family Rome Itinerary - May 2017

Ostia Lido is very near Ostia Antica, if you still want some beach time.

Edit: the above can be done in one day. There are some good restaurants near the tower at Ostia Antica.

On your day around Piazza Navona, you can include the Panrtheon and a couple of other churches along the way.

I am doubtful about going into the water in early May. I arrived in Rome on May 25, 2015, and was told that it had been quite chilly until just shortly before that, and I believe it takes quite a while for the water to warm up. (But I don't do beaches, so I could be wrong.)

Although you could have an unbroken string of extremely pleasant, dry days, that will not necessarily be the case (I had two rainy days out of four). I'd suggest keeping some flexibility in your schedule to the extent that you can.

From the descriptions of the crowds in the Vatican Museums, I'd skip them with such young children unless you're prepared to pay for one of the rather pricey early-access tours to get in before the masses--and even then, I'm not sure of the appeal. With general entry, I doubt that they'll be able to see much unless you carry them.

The other thing that popped out at me was the Context tour. They have a very good reputation, but I wonder whether that sort of thing will hold any interest for the children (unless it's a tour specifically for families).

I just came back from Rome and already having withdrawals. Me and my mom took a guided tour of the Vatican and loved it. However, I can't imagine two young kids being able to get through it. I am a big planner and while I was doing research for my trip, I stumbled upon a vatican tour geared towards children. http://www.walksinsiderome.com/en/tour/treasure-hunt-at-the-vatican-for-kids.html

It looks great and very engaging. It may be something to look into. Hope you have a great trip!

We just returned from Italy last night, and had our 9 year old son with us. I have a couple of thoughts about traveling with young kids:
1. If you'd like to go to the Vatican, it is completely worth hiring a private guide so you can skip all the lines. The endless waiting and all the crowds are hard for young kids to endure, and it was completely worth the cost for us to do this.
2. You have a very well-planned an thoughtful itinerary. My only caution is to make sure that you have some breathing room built in -- there were days that my son wanted to eat early, and days where he wanted a snack or gelato in the late afternoon so we did later dinners. The flexibility was key for us.

If you're going to the Appian Way, you may want to look into Gladiator School. I don't know if your young girls would like it, but we did it & it was a highlight for our son. It was very close to Appian Way. There's also some books in the "Who Was" series that may be good for your 7 year old to read before hand (Who Was Julius Caesar and Where was the Colosseum) -- my son loves reading about places before he goes. Another thought is to create a scavenger hunt, especially as you go through museums, to make it more interesting to them -- that way, you still get to see things you would like to see, but it entertains them as well! Have fun!!! (P.S. We did a mask making class at Ca' Macana in Venice that my son rated as a 25 on a scale of 1-10!)