Do as the Romans Do

If you haven’t been following along, the Oliver family set off on a two-week adventure to Europe in early summer 2026. Up to the publication of this post, the trip had taken us to Venice, Barcelona, Disneyland Paris, and Paris. With Paris complete, it was time for the final chapter of our journey: rounding out the vacation in Rome.

Accommodations

Before we dive into our trip, we have to spotlight the incredible AirBnB we stayed at just steps away from the Colosseum. Our host met us at the apartment, gave us a tour, and then left us to settle in. We didn’t need long, though. Within minutes, we wandered out the door, walked two minutes down the street, and found ourselves sitting on the wall right outside the Colosseum.

Day 1

Before we arrived in Rome, we got a message from our tour operator that entry into the Colosseum changed, and they were no longer allowed to get us in. They were extremely apologetic, offered to give us a free refund, and offered to still give us a free tour of the Colosseum and the Roman Forum. We took them up on the offer for a 10 AM tour.

Early the next morning, Austen got up early to wait in the long line to get tickets to the Colosseum since we no longer had tickets to get in through the tour operator. He waited over an hour in line only to find out all people in the party needed to be there with their identification in order to purchase the tickets. When he found this out when he got to the front of the line, they kindly let him step to the side temporarily while he waited for us to arrive. Since he was buying tickets for both families, one family that was already out exploring, we were all rushing to get to him. If you ask him, it was a very stressful situation, but when it was all said and done, we all arrived and were able to purchase tickets for 11 AM which just so happened to be right in the middle of our scheduled tour.

The Colosseum Tour

At 10:00 AM, we met our tour guide right outside the Colosseum for Colosseum Forum Ancient Rome Small Group Tour for Kids Families. He brought us to the fence line where visitors queue for the Colosseum and began the tour by pulling the kids in with questions, illustrations from his book, and little reenactments of gladiator fights. Unfortunately, by the time he took the tour over to the Roman Forum, we had to line up at the Colosseum for our timed entry. However, the partial tour we did make ended up being the highlight of the entire vacation. Our girls were still talking about it when we made it back home and could not stop talking about how much they loved the Colosseum.

The Colosseum

Once we were in the Colosseum, we were on our own. If you haven’t gone inside before, we highly recommend it even if you aren’t apart of a tour. Seeing the ancient amphitheater in person is indescribable. Even with damage from earthquakes and stone removal, the arches and the exposed Hypogeum from nearly 2,000 years ago are incredible to witness.

The Roman Forum

We all worked up an appetite with the tour and visit to the Colosseum, so we hit up Angelino “Ai Fori” Dal 1947 for lunch.

After lunch, we ventured over to the Roman Forum for a self-guided exploration through the ruins. Given we had four kids ages 8 and under, they did pretty well, entertaining themselves with racing each other down hills, spotting various statues, and trying to pull up pieces of stone.

Pantheon

After the forum, we walked as quickly as we possibly could to try to get to the Pantheon before it closed. Unfortunately, we got there one minute too late so only got to view it from the outside. It ended up working out in our favor though because we were able to see a male ballet dancer perform for a short period of time before the local police shooed him away.

Spanish Steps

After the Pantheon, we walked another 15 minutes to get to the Spanish Steps. With all of the exploring we had done throughout the day, promises had to be made to the kids to keep them going so there were whispers of dinner immediately following the next landmark. The kids rallied and made it to the Spanish Steps where we sat down, relaxed, and people watched for about 10 minutes.

Trevi Fountain

Immediately following the Spanish Steps, we ventured over to Il Ristoro dal Patriota for dinner. We managed to get the last two tables side by side, and the waiter was great about letting us divide them so the adults sat at one and the kids at the other. We all had a wonderful time with great food and great company. Us adults got a mini double date, while the kids felt a little bit of independence being at a table without parents.

After dinner, we walked over to the Trevi Fountain. We were all pretty worn out, so we just took it in from afar and didn’t bother with the traditional coin toss.

Day 2

Vatican City

The following morning, we ate breakfast near our AirBnB and scheduled a taxi to pick us up to take us to our scheduled tour, Private Family-Friendly Vatican and Sistine Chapel Tour through The Tour Guy. The tour guide was knowledgeable and kept all of the kids engaged throughout, which is often difficult when showing kids paintings and sculptures throughout a museum.

After visiting the Vatican, we stopped at Pizzeria Ristorante Marcantonio for lunch. This was another restaurant that was brave enough to allow the adults and kids to sit at separate tables from each other. However, the kids knocked it out of the park again by behaving throughout the entire meal.

With bellies full and a much-needed rest after a long day at the museums, we were off to visit more of Rome. Along the way, the kids decided to partake in another race down a hill which kept them entertained throughout the 30-minute walk over to Piazza Navona. During our walk, we passed Castel Sant’Angelo and crossed over Ponte Sant’Angelo.

45-minutes later because let’s face it, there’s no way a 30-minute walk with four kids 8 and under is actually going to just be 30 minutes, we made it to the square which was originally built in 80 AD for chariot races and athletic competitions. Today, it is a beautiful square with stunning fountains and architecture.

Due to the hill running and sculpture viewing, the kids built up an appetite (again). What better way to feed their hunger? If you haven’t guessed where we’re going with this by now, then I’m a little disappointed. Gelato, of course.

Since we failed in making the entry times at the Pantheon the day before, we walked back over to that area in an attempt to gain entry on day 2. However, just our luck, they ran out of entry tickets for the day, so we just went to the highly rated gelato place one block away: Venchi. Ratings were more than well deserved. The gelato was a complete masterpiece and tasted just as good as it looked!

As we finished our gelato, we started to make our way back to the apartment. On the way back, we walked by the Victor Emmanuel II Monument which gave us one of our very last looks at the beautiful Roman architecture before departing for home.

After some down time at the apartment, our friend waited in line at the restaurant we had scoped out when we first arrived in Rome. Thanks to his patience, we were able to get a table of eight at La Nuova Piazzetta, again splitting into an adults’ table and a kids’ table and ended our time in Europe with the best meal of the entire trip.

To round out the evening, the girls requested one last visit to the Colosseum. We had purchased massive lollipops from Disneyland Paris several days earlier so we figured lollies in front of the Colosseum would be pretty special. What a sweet treat for all. Literally!

Overall opinion of Rome

The history. The food. The architecture. Everything about this leg of the trip was special. Even though it was our second time in Rome, I didn’t expect to walk away loving it more than our first visit. The Colosseum tour alone, despite only completing half of it and not gaining entry to the grounds, ended up being the highlight of the entire trip for our girls. Whether it was recency bias or not, 48 hours later they were still talking about the tour and our youngest even came home and painted the Colosseum.

We hope you enjoyed following along on our 2026 Euro Trip. We loved every city, but Rome topped the list. We will be seeing you again, Rome! Ci vediamo di nuovo, Roma!