Family Travel, Italy, Florence, Rome

Florence and Rome with Kids: Our Real 4-Night Trip (and What We'd Change)

A real Florence and Rome trip with an 8-year-old and grandparents: what worked, what was too much and what we would change.

In June 2025 we took seven people and one big van to Florence and Rome: an 8-year-old, his parents, his grandparents, and an aunt and uncle. We came back full of good food, art and stories. We also came back with a list of things we would do differently.
This is the honest version: what worked, what was too much and what we would change.

Our route at a glance

Friday night: Land in Rome, collect the van, drive to Florence
Saturday: Florence, with the Duomo complex, the Uffizi and the city squares
Sunday: Florence in the morning, then the drive to Rome
Monday: Rome on foot: Trevi, Colosseum, Sant'Ignazio, Pantheon
Tuesday: The Vatican in the morning, then the airport

Rule one: plan less

Queues are everywhere in Italy: museums, restaurants, cafés, even gelato shops. A tight plan breaks. We learned to leave slack, especially with a child and grandparents. If you plan two big things a day, you will probably manage them. If you plan four, you will see the insides of queues.

Friday night: do not plan the next morning

We landed in Rome at 21:00. Collecting the bags took almost two hours, and getting the van and leaving the airport was hard. We reached our Florence hotel at about 02:30, two and a half hours later than planned.
Next time we would keep the first day completely empty, tell the hotel we would arrive late and plan nothing early on day two.

Florence: the Duomo, the museum and a gelato

The Florence cathedral dome and its striped marble façade — The cathedral of Florence

Go to the Duomo complex first thing, when it is cooler and the queues are shorter. The dome has 463 steps and the bell tower 414, which is a great challenge for kids who like numbers and a lot in the heat. Entering the cathedral itself is free.

The best stories are in the Opera del Duomo museum, which is also calmer than the square.

Our son's mission was to count the story panels on the golden doors and pick his favorite. Wooden models of the dome show how it was planned and built, and they help children understand the huge building outside.

Florence is small enough to walk, and it rewards kids who like looking up. We found a "wine window" in a palace wall, a little door where wine was once sold to passers-by. Our son loved it.

A small arched wine window in a stone wall with a brass plaque above it — A "wine window" in a Florence wall

After the museum, a cappuccino and a gelato became our daily reward.

A cappuccino in a cup with the Vivoli name on the saucer — Coffee at Vivoli

The Uffizi and the squares

At the Uffizi, start outside. The statues in the niches are famous Tuscans with names on the bases, and kids can tick them off like a collection. Inside, the long corridor is the museum's main street. Look at the painted ceiling, then look high up on the walls for rows of portraits, some of rulers in turbans.
Michelangelo's round Holy Family is easy for children to spot because of its gold frame.

A marble statue of Leonardo da Vinci in a niche outside the Uffizi, with his name carved on the base — Leonardo, one of the famous Tuscans outside the Uffizi

In the Piazza della Signoria, Perseus holds up the head of Medusa in the Loggia dei Lanzi. Ask your child to find the head. The David at the palace door is a copy. The real David is at the Accademia.

A bronze statue of Perseus holding up Medusa's head under an arched loggia — Perseus in the Loggia dei Lanzi

The copy of Michelangelo's David standing at the door of the Palazzo Vecchio — The copy of David outside the Palazzo Vecchio

For dinner we went to Trattoria ZaZa, and it was one of the best meals of the trip. Book ahead.

Sunday: David, a palace and a garden

The courtyard of the Pitti Palace in Florence with its rough stone arches — The courtyard of the Pitti Palace

At the Accademia, David is much bigger than children expect. Give them a minute to stand and look up. We also visited the Pitti Palace, which is huge, with red velvet rooms and surprising statues, and the Boboli Gardens, a good place to let kids walk and run. Bring water and a hat in summer.

If you have the energy in the evening, go up to Piazzale Michelangelo for the view over the Duomo and the river. It is free, and children love it.

A view over Florence at sunset with the Duomo in the distance — Florence at sunset from Piazzale Michelangelo

We had Siena on our list, but the days were too full, so we cannot tell you what it is like. It is on our "next time" list.

Rome: the car and the hotel

We picked up the van at Rome airport and returned it there. In Florence a van for seven was easy. In Rome it was not. We would not take a car into Rome again.

We dropped the bags at the hotel, then drove to a paid car park, and the walk back to the hotel took about 30 minutes. Someone walked to the car every morning and back every evening. Parking over the whole trip cost about €200.

One thing we would keep: a van for seven made the driving days fun. We listened to the history together on the road and told each other what we had seen.

The hotel's location was excellent, a few minutes from the Spanish Steps. The hotel was under renovation, the rooms were old and the beds were poor. We would pay a little more for a hotel we know by name. A great location does not make up for a bad night's sleep.

The Spanish Steps in Rome at night — The Spanish Steps at night, a few minutes from our hotel

One more honest note: the hotel offered about 10 percent off for paying cash, so we cancelled our online booking and paid at the hotel. That can save money, but booking outside the platform means no platform protection if something goes wrong. If you do it, get the terms in writing.

Rome on foot

The Trevi Fountain in the evening light — The Trevi Fountain. Go early.

The Trevi Fountain is best early, before the crowds. The Colosseum was our son's favorite. Expect a queue, heat and stone steps on the upper levels. The arena floor and the underground part are not in the standard ticket: they cost extra and need their own ticket. We chose not to go down, because we liked the view from the upper levels better. Decide before you book. A kid mission: count the rows of arches on the outside.

The Colosseum arches under a bright sun — The Colosseum

The inside of the Colosseum with the arena floor and rows of stone seating — Inside the Colosseum

The church of Sant'Ignazio has a ceiling that looks like it opens into the sky. It is a painting, and a very clever one.

At the Pantheon, read the name carved above the columns. Our son's mission was to find Agrippa's name.

The Pantheon portico with the inscription above its columns — The Pantheon

Dinner in Rome was a lesson. Our first night we ate at a restaurant in a side street with a good rating, and it was disappointing and expensive. A pizza night later in the trip was one of the best meals of our lives, but with seven people we could not sit at one table and we queued about an hour. Read recent reviews, not just the score, and arrive early or split into two tables.

The Vatican, and why departure day should be short

The facade and dome of St. Peter's Basilica under a blue sky — St. Peter's Basilica

Arrive early. St. Peter's has a long queue, and the museum and basilica entrances are about ten minutes apart on foot. Plan two to three hours inside the museums. After the heat and the crowds we were close to exhausted. Cover your shoulders and knees.

We turned the Vatican into a treasure hunt: the twisting bronze columns, the skeleton holding an hourglass on a Bernini tomb, Laocoön and the snakes, and a gilded bronze Hercules.

The obelisk and colonnade of St. Peter's Square with a fountain at the right — St. Peter's Square

We left the Vatican around midday and went straight to the airport for a 19:10 flight. With a rental van to return, airports need three to four hours. Do not plan a long visit on your departure day.

What we would change

Go in spring or autumn, not June
Plan less and leave slack for queues
No car in Rome, or park once at the edge of the city
Choose a hotel you know by name, not just a good location
Check recent reviews for dinner and book early for a big group
Keep day one empty if you land late, and keep the departure day short
Give your child a mission. It worked every time

Planning your own trip

Opening hours, ticket prices and rules change, so check the official sites before you go. We turned this trip into a printable family kit: a 14-page PDF with a day-by-day plan, direct links to the official ticket sites, honest notes on the car and hotel, and two printable kid mission sheets.

Get the Florence and Rome with Kids kit on Etsy

Want the free Family Europe Packing Checklist too?
https://thelittlegrandtour.com/free-family-europe-packing-checklist/