Roma

We kicked off our family trip to Italy in Rome! With a mix of first time visitors and return travelers, we planned a mix of tours to hit up Roman highlights and free time for exploring on our own! And lots of food and spritz exploration as we celebrated Dave’s 50th birthday and Gavin and Avery graduating from the University of Maryland (Go Terps!).

We stayed at the Iconic Pantheon, a Bonvoy Autograph property steps from the Pantheon. This was a great home base for exploring because pretty much everything was walkable. Plus, by booking a Stars & Luminous rate at the hotel, we had free breakfast, property credits and other amenities that made our stay extra special. The hotel had a great rooftop bar which made an excellent spot for aperitifs after a long day of sightseeing.

As for tours, we had pre-booked a few tours to make sure we could see the Colosseum, the Vatican, and the Pantheon with ease. Plus, we had a fabulous evening walking food tour booked with Jana from the well-known Katie Parla Food Tours.

For the Colosseum, we booked a private Signature Colosseum Tour with Roman Forum and Palatine Hill through Context Travel. This private tour gave us skip the line access to all of the Roman Forum areas and our tour guide Guilia was fantastic. As a trained archeologist, she had participated in ongoing digs at the Roman Forum and had so much insider knowledge that made the tour feel like we were walking through the Roman Forum alongside Julius Cesar.