Rome
We stayed at the Crown Plaza St Peters which was €10-15 by taxi to get into the main areas of Rome. The hotel also runs a shuttle bus to and from which is €1.50 per person. The hotel was clean and modern but not traditional. The outdoor pool was a welcome sight after walking in the August 34 degree heat. I was in Rome for one week but if I was staying 2-4 days I would stay in the centre.
We visited all the main sites – the Coliseum, Roman Forum, Vatican and its museums, St Peters Square, Pantheon. My top tips are to do a guided tour, book the skip the line and go as early as you can! The queues can be huge but skip the line does exactly that and we didn't have to wait to get in to any of the sites. As the day goes on it does get busier inside but it is well worth it.
We also visited the Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain and Borghese Gardens where we hired an electric bike to get around which was great fun way to get around. There are many incredibly beautiful churches to look at. Your shoulders, back and knees need to be covered to go in, I carried a shawl around which was light enough to carry all day and did the trick when I needed to cover up.
The taxis are quite cheap, but the best way is to walk around. This way you get to find wonderful streets and squares packed full of traditional Italian restaurants and cafes. I have a few favourites and recommendations, please get in touch if you would like any!
My children are 17 and 15 and they loved everything about Rome. They never complained once about all the walking as around every corner there is something else to see, a fabulous view or more importantly a Gelato! One of them had 150 flavours to choose from - we were there a while! I would 100% go back to Rome, even though we saw a lot of it there is so much history and wonder to take in, many more restaurants to try and many more squares to sit in and watch the world go by.