Rome and Levanto with Kids: A Two-Hour Colosseum Dash, Then Our First Day in Cinque Terre

We only booked two nights in Naples, and made the most of that time with a pizza class and Pompeii, because the real plan was to get to Levanto for the weekend to see friends driving down from Milan. We caught an early train out and built in a four-hour stop in Rome since we had to connect there anyway, figuring that would be plenty of time for the Colosseum. The train ran late getting in, and the line for the luggage storage kiosk at Termini was long enough that our four hours had shrunk to two before we'd even left the station.

Two hours in Rome, rain included

We left the station only to walk straight into a sudden downpour, and ended up standing under an awning with the kids waiting out the worst of it. Once it let up we ducked into a pasta shop for lunch, since a table beat standing around, then finally made our way to the Colosseum. We took our photos and traced our way back by metro to Termini with just enough time to grab our bags and catch the onward train.

We never had a Colosseum ticket or a tour booked to lose, only the experience of a new city to gain, so we stayed positive and the kids did too. It's all part of the fun of travel.

Bags, platforms, and three more train legs

We joined the crowd carrying out two backpacks each down the platform toward our connecting train, plus Arlo's stroller, which was already more than any of us wanted to be carrying by that point in the day. Three more train legs got us all the way to Levanto, and they went smoothly.

Remi found a spot on the floor of the station to wait out one of the connections, cross-legged and grinning in front of a pile of our bags, and looked more ready for the rest of the day than the parents carrying it all. We reached Levanto that night, found our Airbnb and our friends waiting, and sat down to another good pasta dinner at Pasta de-e SÖE before everyone collapsed.

A slower morning in Levanto

We woke up the next morning refreshed and ready for our first full day in Cinque Terre, with nothing more urgent on the agenda than finding coffee. Remi and Arlo made fast friends with Mel and Markus's son River, who's six, and the three of them explored the beach together while the grown-ups got their bearings.

We wandered through the town square and a small local playground, and since this part of Italy is focaccia country, we stopped at a bakery on the way home for a sampler spread. Once everyone was fed and caffeinated, we headed out for the day's main event: a train two stops down the coast to Vernazza.

Vernazza, busier than we expected

Vernazza is one of the main hotspots in Cinque Terre, and even in shoulder season it was busier than I'd pictured, with crowds off the trains and the ferries colliding in the cafes and narrow streets. The colorful buildings stacked up toward the water are as good as the photos promise, and the harbor below the old fishing town is worth the climb up to see from above.

The hike we didn't finish, and the castle we did

We started up the trail toward Monterosso just to get a taste of it, since the whole route runs about two hours, more than the kids, or the parents carrying them, were up for in the middle of the day. We got some good views for photos before turning back at the point where through-hikers start paying to access the trail, €15 one way or a one-, two-, or three-day pass.

We climbed the other side of town instead, up to Castello Doria, and paid about €2.50 a person for panoramic views over the whole bay and a look at the tower's spiral staircase, which the kids loved climbing. It's an 11th-century watchtower, small enough to see in twenty minutes, but the view alone made it the best stop of the day.

Octopus, rocky beaches, and Arlo's fastest bowl of gelato

Back down in Vernazza we grabbed a cone of fried octopus and shrimp with french fries, a popular local snack, before taking the train on to Monterosso instead of finishing the hike on foot. We found a spot on Monterosso's public beach to cool off, which is rocky enough to notice on bare feet but endlessly entertaining for kids, so nobody minded.

After the beach we got gelato for the kids, and Arlo finished his cup faster than I've seen him eat anything else on this trip. He's never met a dessert he didn't love, but this one didn't stand a chance.

Water, and a dinner worth planning around

Between the heat and the miles of walking, we were refilling water bottles at every fountain we passed, which Vernazza has plenty of tucked into its stone walls. Arlo took over bottle duty at one of them, working the tap himself while we filled the rest of our bottles around him.

Back in Levanto that evening, Mel had booked us a table at Antica Trattoria Centro, a Ligurian trattoria that makes its pasta in-house, and it was a good thing she had, since we watched people get turned away the whole night for not having a reservation. We had fish ravioli with lobster, monkfish in a green sauce, pesto, and Remi's pick of rabbit, which she wanted after watching enough of the survival show Alone to know she'd probably like it, and she did.

Two heavy travel days back to back is a lot to ask of a 7- and 2-year-old, and they both came through it better than the adults carrying the bags. We still have more of Levanto and Cinque Terre to slowly enjoy, and after a day like this, slow is exactly what we're planning on.