Budapest to Rome for 3 days with a kid- Black Girl In Budapest

We moved to Budapest, to take budget flights to cool places. So we headed to Rome with our 1 year old.

Here’s what we did, and how we managed.

Stroller vs. baby wearing

Okay I read various blogs about this topic in Rome. Everyone said to babywear because of the amount of stairs there are in Rome. Honestly my stroller is my SUV, and Skyla loves stroller naps and will sleep 2 solid hours in it. So I wasn’t giving that up.

While I did baby wear her in the coliseum, I didn’t have to collapse my stroller because there is an elevator.

Honestly my husband got annoyed with the stroller. He felt like it was in the way. But I personally felt that we are parents with a toddler... who cares.

I even let her run around and get her energy out at the coliseum and she loved it. (minor meltdown pictured below)

Fine, we didn’t climb the Spanish steps because she was just waking from her 2 hour nap, and we were to lazy to walk up them with the baby and our SUV. So we took pictures of it, snuck into a cafe and had the best cappuccinos ever... she was still sleepy so she was calm enough for us to have our stand up coffee like the Italians do.

The Vatican museum would for sure be a place that I would baby wear. The amount of people can be bumper to bumper, and the stairs throughout could get tough.

We had our stroller the whole time. But I did see parents who were just babywearing. But we did 16k steps one day and I couldn’t imagine doing half of that with a baby on my back. So my advice bring the carrier and collapse the stroller if you need to.

Kid Friendly Squares

Every square we visited was an opportunity for Skyla to run around. Except for trevi fountain because it’s always packed, day or night. She did get to splash the water which was her fun.

We would throw her in the stroller to get from square to square which made it possible for us to see all the sites. We would hand her a snack or water for the ride and she was happy. We would let her out to run around and take pictures of the site. We would clean her hands and repeat. This gave her the most time to get her energy out while we took in the sites. Chasing after her is what we do for fun. We loved that most of the squares were walking streets. Just be on the lookout for that random moped bikes 🏍.

Kid Friendly Attractions

After the long line to get into the coliseum... then and only then was it a toddlers playground. Climbing stairs, running around the grounds, and snapping shots of a toddler was fun for her!

The Pantheon Is supposed to be a quiet place. Skyla just ran around again and had a blast. She only let out a few squeals which made other patrons laugh.

We skipped the Vatican museum on this trip since my husband and I have been pre baby. You know your kid and they’re behavior for us we won’t be doing museums for at least 5-6 more years, unless they’re geared towards kids.

Restaurants

Busy little Italian restaurants packed with tourist all had space to park our stroller and pull up a baby chair. While she loves to run around restaurants, none of these were baby friendly. So we asked for WiFi and gave her a little tv action to get her through the meal.

Public Transportation

Uber is available in Rome. Just like in most cities uber is more trustworthy than hoping in a cab. We always opted to take public transportation as it’s the cheapest and fastest way to get around the city.

From the airport we hoped on a shuttle which was about $5 each one way, and then transferred to the metro for $1.50 one way. it took 30 mins to get to the city center in the shuttle. The whole journey took and hour which is wayyyyy cheaper than uber or a private pick up at $50.

We did all of it with a baby. We’ve learned how to pack the entire family in 1 suitcase. My husband handles the suitcase and then I rock the diaper backpack while pushing the baby in the stroller.

Every single time we used public transportation, let it be a bus, tram, or metro it was always packed. We knew this ahead of time. Squeezed in like sardines and put our backpacks in front of us. Pickpocketing is huge in Rome! We didn’t mind squeezing. But hey not for everyone.