Rome - we brought the grandparents.
4 adults, a baby and a dog- a beautiful mix.
Rome is a lot. There's no way around that. It's ancient and loud and overwhelming and magnificent — sometimes all at once, on the same street corner. With Emmy in the stroller, Cali on the leash, and Chris shooting everything in sight, we figured out a rhythm that worked. Two to three days. A hop-on hop-off bus as the backbone. Trastevere for every meal worth remembering. And a small town outside the city to come home to.
01
Getting from the airport to the city
We didn't fly into Rome directly — but if you do, the airport-to-city situation is one of the smoothest in Europe and worth knowing before you land.
The Leonardo Express FIUMICINO → TERMINI
A direct, non-stop train from Fiumicino Airport straight to Roma Termini. €14 per adult, under-4s ride free, and it takes just 32 minutes. Trains run every 15 minutes from roughly 6:23am to 11:23pm. No luggage restrictions, stroller-accessible, and pets are allowed in carriers. You board at the station inside the airport terminal — follow the train signs after baggage claim, validate your ticket before boarding, and you'll be at Termini before the jet lag sets in.
Buy it there by website or kiosk. I think the website is easier: trenitalia.it
ONE THING TO KNOW
Validate your ticket at the small yellow machines before you board — they're easy to miss. There's usually a staff member nearby but don't count on it. An unvalidated ticket is technically invalid even if you paid.
From Termini, you're in the heart of Rome with metro, buses, and taxis all immediately accessible. It's also where the hop-on hop-off buses depart — more on that below.
02
Getting around the city
Rome is a walking city — until it isn't. The distances between sights are real, the cobblestones are brutal on a stroller, and the heat (if you're there in summer) is not to be underestimated. Here's how we navigated it.
City Sightseeing Hop-On Hop-Off Bus. OUR BACKBONE
This was our primary mode of transport and it was the right call. Pick it up directly from Termini station — the buses depart from Via Marsala right outside. The open-top deck is perfect for Chris to shoot from as you move through the city. You can get off anywhere you like, spend as long as you want, and hop back on without thinking about it. All 8 major stops are covered: Colosseum, Vatican, Trevi Fountain, Piazza di Spagna, and more. Runs daily 8:30am to around 6:40pm (seasonal). Tickets for 24, 48, or 72 hours — with Emmy and Cali's size it was seamless.
The City Train (Metro). SPLIT YOUR DAYS
Rome's metro is simple — just two main lines (A and B) and they drop you at most of the major sights. If you want to split your days between neighbourhoods, the metro is the fastest way to get there and back. Don't try to do everything at once — Rome is a lot of walking and a lot to take in. Two or three focused half-days beats one exhausting full sweep every time.
03
Where to eat — and what to avoid
Trastevere. That's the short answer. The old neighbourhood across the river, with narrow winding lanes and trattorias that have been there longer than the tourists. It's probably your best bet for food in Rome — not because it's secret, but because the density of genuinely good options is higher there than almost anywhere else.
The hidden place rule. DO THIS
In Trastevere — and really anywhere in Rome — look for the entranceways. The little archways and alleys that lead somewhere you weren't expecting. Duck through them. Wander. The places that don't have a Google review page, that feel like they're serving the neighbourhood not the tourists, that have a handwritten menu and two tables outside. Those are the ones. You'll feel lucky when you find them, because you are.
If someone's pulling you in off the street. FAIR WARNING
The aggressive doorstep solicitation in the tourist centre is a reliable signal. It won't be a disaster — the food is probably fine, maybe even good — but it'll be expensive for what you get, it'll be geared toward tourists, and there's a real chance the pasta is coming out of a microwave. You can do better. Keep walking.
Gelato: Grom, near Piazza Navona. GET THIS
Piazza Navona is one of the great Roman squares — and Grom nearby was our gelato of the trip. Delicious. But the wider tip is this: look for the gelaterie where the gelato is stored in sealed metal containers, not piled high in colourful mounds in the display case. The mounds are for show. The enclosed gelato is made properly. It's a little harder to find, but when you do — you'll feel lucky. That's part of the fun.
04
Where we stayed — and what we'd recommend
Rome is expensive to stay in. We made a deliberate choice to base ourselves outside the city entirely — in Tivoli, about 30–40 minutes by train. Better food, slower pace, a fraction of the cost, and a genuinely lovely place to decompress after a day in the chaos. We'd do it again.
Tivoli ✓
Where we stayed. 30–40 min by train, great food, real town energy, affordable.
Frascati
Castelli Romani hills, famous for local white wine, about 40 min from Termini.
Orvieto
Stunning hilltop town, ~1hr by train, dramatically beautiful and quiet at night.
Viterbo
Medieval walled city, ~1hr north, authentic and much slower pace than Rome.
If you'd rather stay in Rome, the chill but vibey neighbourhoods on a budget are Trastevere(atmospheric, walkable, great food on your doorstep) and Trieste(residential, less touristy, easy metro access). Either is a better base than the area around Termini, which is functional but not charming.
05
Keep your eyes open
Rome is safe. But the tourist areas — Colosseum, Trevi Fountain, the main piazzas — are exactly where pickpockets operate. Not aggressive, not scary. Just practiced and fast.
REAL STORY — FLORENCE AIRPORT TRAIN
We watched two people working together on the train from Florence's airport to the city. One creates a distraction, one moves in. It was smooth — you wouldn't notice unless you were watching. That experience sharpened our awareness for the rest of Italy. Keep your bag in front of you, zip it, and be alert on busy trains and in crowded squares.
Main tourist spots are the highest risk: Colosseum area, Trevi Fountain, Piazza Navona, busy metro cars.
Two-person teams are common — one distracts, one takes. If something feels off, it probably is.
Crossbody bags worn in front. Zip your pockets. Keep your phone in your hand or a front pocket, not a back one.
Airport trains (Rome and Florence both) are a known spot. Stay aware when boarding and alighting — that's when bags move.
This shouldn't scare you off Rome. It's one of the great cities. Just stay switched on.
06
The hill you should absolutely die on
We didn't plan any of this stretch. We just followed the Aventine Hill and kept finding things — and it turned into one of the best slow hours of our entire trip.
It starts with a little pocket park just before you reach the piazza — the kind of green pause that doesn't have a sign demanding your attention. Shaded, calm, with glimpses of the Vatican appearing between the trees. Emmy could breathe. We could breathe. A good omen for what came next.
Then Piazzale Fiorenzo Fiorentini opens up ahead of you — a quiet, hedge-lined piazza that somehow manages to feel both grand and completely unhurried. The hedges arch overhead and frame the space into something almost theatrical, and then you realize: the backdrop isn't staged. It's the Vatican. St. Peter's dome sitting right there on the horizon, perfectly centered in the natural arch of the greenery like it was always meant to be seen this way.
And here's the thing — the closer you walk toward it, the smaller it appears to get. It's a full optical illusion, the dome seeming to shrink as you approach, which makes no sense and yet you can't stop testing it.
The Aventine Keyhole ✦ TRENDY ALERT
Steps away on the same hill is one of Rome's most quietly famous secrets: a small opening in the door of the Villa del Priorato di Malta. You queue up, crouch down, look through — and perfectly framed at the end of a long corridor of garden hedges is St. Peter's Basilica. The whole dome, centered exactly, like someone engineered it on purpose. Two perfect frames of the same view, one natural and one deliberate, within steps of each other. The queue moves fast, and the moment you look through is genuinely one of those Rome memories that sticks.
WHAT WE'D DO DIFFERENTLY NEXT TIME
"Find the little park. Slow down in the piazza. Walk toward the Vatican and watch it shrink. Then go find the keyhole."
The walk up is a proper hill — worth knowing if you're pushing a stroller. Doable, but you'll feel it. The reward is a Rome that feels like yours rather than everyone else's.
