Rome With Kids: Where To Stay, Eat & Best Things To Do

Welcome to our family-friendly travel guide to Rome, Italy! We’ve pulled together the practical things parents actually need to know before visiting Rome with kids, including where to stay, how to get around, what surprised us most, and the attractions we think are genuinely worth your time as a family.

Rome honestly surprised us. There were moments we absolutely loved, and other moments where the heat, crowds and walking became a lot harder with kids than we expected. But despite that, we’d absolutely return because there’s nowhere else quite like it.

We stayed 3 nights in Rome, which felt like the minimum we’d recommend for families. The city is far bigger, hotter and more exhausting than it first appears, especially in summer. One thing we learned quickly is that trying to do too much in Rome with kids usually backfires, because the concrete, heat, and crowds can be seriously overwhelming if your kids are not used to big cities with lots of people.

Looking for more family-friendly tours and activities in Rome? Browse our Rome activities link below & we also have more details about the activities we enjoyed further down in this post!

Colosseum & Roman Forum

The Colosseum what surprised us most is how huge the entire archaeological area actually is. Between the Colosseum, Roman Forum and Palatine Hill, you can easily spend 3-5 hours walking in direct heat with very little shade.

Standard combined tickets for the Colosseum, Roman Forum and Palatine Hill are around €18 for adults, with EU children under 18 generally free, although booking fees apply online. Skip-the-line tours and guided experiences usually start around €40-€80 AUD per person, depending on inclusions.

We’d strongly recommend booking early-morning entry times because the queues and heat can be brutal by midday in summer. One thing parents probably won’t realise is that younger kids may lose interest quicker than expected because there’s a lot more walking and standing than interactive experiences.

Vatican City

Visiting the Vatican with kids honestly felt more intense than we expected. The scale is incredible, but the crowds inside the Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel become overwhelming very quickly, especially from late morning onwards. Even in the late afternoon, we were waiting in a line for entry with no shelter!

Standard Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel tickets are around €20 for adults plus booking fees, while guided tours usually range between €50-€100 AUD per person depending on the experience. Kids tickets are cheaper depending on age. St Peter’s Basilica itself is free to enter, although expect security queues.

We’d strongly recommend pre-booking the earliest entry time possible. One thing parents probably won’t realise is how long you continuously walk through the museums before reaching the Sistine Chapel, and don’t be like us and get in trouble for taking photos inside!

Trevi Fountain & Spanish Steps

The Trevi Fountain is one of those places that honestly does feel special when you see it in person. The detail and scale is incredible, and despite the crowds, it still ended up being one of our favourite spots to wander through in Rome with kids. Since 2026, there has been a small €2 entry fee to access the lower viewing area closest to the fountain during managed entry periods, although you can still view it from the surrounding streets for free. The Spanish Steps area is great for wandering, shopping, cafés and slower afternoons with gelato stops. Some really good nearby gelato spots for families are Gelateria Valentino, Venchi and Giolitti, all within walking distance of the Trevi Fountain and Spanish Steps area.

Riding Bikes in Rome – THE BEST!

One of the best things we did in Rome with kids was hiring e-bikes from TopBike Rental near the Colosseum and Oppian Hill Park. After days of crowds, heat and constant walking, this honestly became one of the most relaxing experiences of our trip.

They offer both self-guided bike hire and guided tours, including rides through the Appian Way, ancient aqueducts and quieter parts of Rome that most tourists never really see. We’d strongly recommend e-bikes because Rome is hillier, hotter and more exhausting than most expect. Bring a reusable drink bottle as there are water fountains everywhere, plus use Google for bike routes.

The Appian Way honestly feels completely different to central Rome. You ride along ancient Roman roads past ruins, countryside, aqueducts and huge open spaces that don’t even feel like the same city anymore.

E-bike hire is usually around €35-€60, depending on how long you hire them for, while guided tours cost more, depending on the route and inclusions. One thing parents probably won’t realise is that the guided routes avoid most of the chaotic traffic, so it actually feels much safer and easier than you’d expect riding in Rome.

The biggest thing we learnt in Rome is that location matters more than almost anything else with kids. We stayed in Monteverde because we wanted a hotel with a pool, but the trade-off was spending more time and money on taxis and longer walks to restaurants and attractions. If we visited again with kids, we’d stay more centrally in areas like Piazza Navona, Monti, Trastevere or the Pantheon.

Map of Rome