Hi, my family of 5 (all adolescents/adults) will be travelling to Rome in September 2020 to watch my daughter compete at Laghetto dell'EUR / Lake EUR. Will most likely book vrbo / air bnb for accommodations, just wondering if anyone has stayed in the area and can recommend specific units. Also, we want to do all the touristy things and hopefully find some hidden treasures too. Would love to hear your tips & tricks for travelling in Rome, your "must sees/dos," and your favourite places to eat - bonus if restaurants have vegan options! TIA!!!

Felicity Gingras
TR, you’ll have to pick my brain more when I’m back at work.
My tips:
-have really good walking shoes
-pre-book entry to all the touristy spots
-unless you want to see the Pope speak, I wouldn’t recommend going to St. Peters Basillica/Square on Wednesday
-utilize transit to get around quicker
-keep an eye on the weather. It was smokin hot when we were there in Sept.

I know, K will be playing polo in it

Following.
My husband and I are going to Rome and Barcelona in October and hoping to get some ins and outs as well

Purchase the Omnia pass! You get unlimited rides on the tour busses that run on a very convenient schedule to all major attractions. As well as entrance into many of the attractions with front of the line access. We were able to bypass many large lines as a group of 6. We purchased ours through their website directly because then you were able to book timed tours ahead of time (especially important at the Vatican). One friend purchased hers through a third party site like expedia and she was not able to schedule a time slot with us. We picked up our passes once we arrived in Rome, they send very easy and clear directions over email!

Did you check this out.
https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowForum-g187791-i22-Rome...

We stayed here in Rome! Very clean, comfortable penthouse with a view of the basilica. Close to the train station to get around. Rome is a lot of walking. They will treat you well and provide you information. Buy any tour tickets long ahead of time.

Yes we did a vrbo in Rome near the Spanish Steps and it was the perfect location. Was magnificent and central and everything so walkable. We waked everywhere and wanted some of the big icons near us. Was fantastic. Rome for Dummies was great but if Rick Steeves has a book on Rome I would buy and read that cover to cover. Rome was everything and more. We went in April and went all over Italy. Rome was 5 nights. Best wishes!

We stayed at Townhouse Fontana di Trevi. Only 1/2 block from Trevi Fountain, included a beautiful breakfast and we walked everywhere from there. Highly recommend it! They also arranged for our pickup from the airport.

We ate many times at La Taverna dei Fori Imperiali. Excellent food and ambience. Close to the colosseum. When we got back to Edmonton, we saw that it had even been written up in the Edmonton Journal. La Taverna dei Fori Imperiali

I recommend sleepinitaly.com for apartment accommodations, Da Francesco for fantastic food, and Frigidarium for the best gelato.

The Travestre area was super convenient, not too crazy and was close to a ton of restaurants and shops

Tracy Check out this website https://www.romewise.com/. It has lots of helpful info, the blogger herself lives in Rome. She has info on vegan restaurants, what to do, what not to do, etc. When in Rome, try their popular dish- Cacio E Pepe. I personally liked this restaurant few meters away from Trevi Fountain, it's called Piccolo Arancio. Do the Vatican museum tours if you like history and arts. And if you're going to the Colosseum, go there first thing in the morning or after 5 pm to avoid too much crowd.

Basilica San Giovanni in Laterano was our favourite church.

BBPlanet.it was where we found accommodations

We got the Roma pass which sounds like the omni pass. It was 3 days free transit, entrance to the coliseum & paletine hill, a few museums, and 1 extra tourist destination of our choice. We chose Termini Del Caracalla, or the baths of Caracalla. It’s the remains of a bathhouse. There are INCREDIBLE preserved mosaics in place, (a LOT) of mosaics, ruins, and a beautiful quiet park that you can picnic in. It was such a relief after all the busy busy tourist attractions to walk a few blocks south (1 train stop from coliseum) and find this gorgeous verdant beautiful site that was practically empty and so stunning. Bring your lunch or breakfast to picnic and make sure it’s open before you go...I think it’s closed mondays

1st get that omni card. You can get it for $145 at Costco. Best because you get skip the line entry to the Vatican and bacilla and the colessuem. You get other tours and the big thing is the hop on off bus for the day's you have this card. You will redeem your card at an amazing church, there you book your tours. Also with this card is borgouise house, if you're into art. David in motion is here. Book it with your colessuem tour and your Vatican tour.
Definitely need good walking shoes.
For places to stay, I was looking for something near the pantheon area. Seems like a nice busy touristy area. But that also means higher costs. I used air bnb and decided we will go stay near the colessuem, cause I know the bus drops off and picks up there. Staying with a super host.
I booked a hotel before and honestly they are over priced. Our doors didnt lock and almost every morning my daughter and I woke up to the door wide opened. Annoying.
Heading back with my son this sept. Will be my 4th visit to this perfect city!
Ps.....I love Roma tours is located in Rome. Excellent for a day tour to the Amalfi coast. This time we are going to head to Pompeii.

We relied heavily on Rick Steves free audio walking tours (https://www.ricksteves.com/europe/italy/rome - then click on 'listen' and scroll down to download the different walking tours). My teen and tween liked that we could listen on phones or headphone splitters, then stop and talk and listen and look. They are like self-guided tours that allow you to go at your own pace. Otherwise, bring good walking shoes, plan to get lost and found, and eat lots (and lots and lots) of gelato. Enjoy!

http://www.basilicasanclemente.com/ita/
My son and I really enjoyed San Clemente Basilica. They have excavated a church below the present church and a village below that. It was very impressive.