Our detailed review of the the kid friendly Golf Cart Tour of Rome by Livtours. What to expect, why we loved it, why we recommend it!
One of the most enjoyable, efficient and least tiring ways to see Rome’s highlights with kids, is to book a golf cart tour.
I am from Rome and have been observing golf carts zipping around the city carting around happy tourists for several years now; my initial though about them was that they were a touristy thing to do, something as a local I would never try or enjoy. However, I recently had a change of heart!
After seeing countless enthusiastic reviews of the experience from more families than I can recall, I decided to treat my kids to it and wow, what a fun day we had!
Even already knowing Rome, like we do, we can only say good things about this experience.
The golf cart is comfortable, fun, can go into a lot of areas standard cars and buses are not allowed to drive into, covers A LOT of ground, and the guide we had was super fun and nice.
He was even able to tailor the tour to me (from Rome, Roman history graduate, author of this site…) and make it interesting to me. This is not an easy feat!
Today, I want to share with you exactly what our experience looked like and give you my best tips on how and when to book it. I hope you find it useful!
Disclaimer: on this occasion, we were guests of LivTours who asked us for out input to the design of a kid centred version of this tour, now available to the public. Please note: this post contains affiliate links. Should you make a purchase, we might make a small commission.
Rome Golf Cart Tour with kids by LivTours TL;DR
- We booked our Golf Cart Tour with Livtours, an excellent and family friendly provider of tours in Rome I know very well and trust
- We opted for a private golf cart experience, so it was fully tailored to our family. Click here to get the exact one we got, specific for kids who get a special booklet with games and facts! It is ideal for kids age 6 to 10 especially
- Our guide was Brando – excellent, we highly recommend him!
- We opted for a 9am start and it worked perfectly, as we finished on time for an early lunch
Good to know!
LivTours also has additional golf cart tour portions: a private golf cart tour for younger / older kids which doesn’t come with the booklet and is tailored to the specific ages of the participants. In the case of babies, the tour is for the parents but they have car seats and adapt the pace to your needs.
A semi private one, in which you share the cart with up to 5 more people. A great way to meet others or keep the cost a little lower, which can be fun with older teens.
And this shared option in the evening, which also includes drinks and can be perfect if you want to mix sightseeing, and socialising (also available as a private option, should you have your own group), if you are traveling with grown up kids.
Who I recommend this tour for
I recommend this tour to families with kids of an age between about 5 and 12 (give or take, depending on the child).
I recommend golf cart tours by LivTours in general to all visitors, especially:
- People with mobility issues, as it doesn’t require much walking at all
- Families with kids – because the tour is not tiring and the golf cart a fun vehicle
- People looking for a low effort activity on arrival, for instance when battling jet lag
Top Tip! This is a fantastic tour to get a sense of what is where in Rome. It works amazingly well as a first activity to get the lay of the land and also as a last day activity, in case you have missed something or want to ‘recap’ your visit.
Why I recommend LivTours specifically
I especially recommend LivTours as I find their customer care, quality of guides and the specific itinerary of the tour of being of exceptional quality.
I have used and worked with them for many years and only have positive things to say about them in Rome and all the destinations they cover – they are a very family friendly company, which is how I first got to know them, but excellent for all sort of travelers, including demanding adults like me!
This tour in particular is lovely for kids as it has fun guides, a really cute booklet with facts and games and some special stops for them (gelato!).
Top tip! This tour stops in Largo Argentina which is historically significant but is also a cool place to spot Rome cats, should you have a cat lover with you. Make sure you tell them you love them if you want special time here! If you don’t love cats do not worry, you don’t have to be exposed to them if you don’t want to.
Kid-friendly Golf cart tour of Rome with LivTours: our exact experience
Booking experience
We booked our golf cart tour of Rome for a morning in late March.
The booking process is very easy: LivTours has a well designed site that gave a clear description of the tour, transparent pricing and easy confirmation options. This is what their site looks like:
As soon as our booking was complete, we received email confirmation.
This included a link to download the LivTours app, which came in handy to keep our bookings on hand and had clear instructions about the time, meeting point as well as some handy tips about visiting Rome.
Meeting our guide
We met our guide in Piazza Esedra / Piazza della Repubblica, one of the main squares in Rome and an easy to one reach from pretty much anywhere in the city.
We were early, so we waited in front of Palazzo Naiadi Hotel which is nice as the area is protected from traffic. Plus, if you are early like us, you can people watch: this is a five star hotel so between fancy cars and fancy outfits, it kept up busy!
Our guide was right on time and we quickly bucked up and off we went!
The stops
We opted for a private tour and this meant that Brando tailor made the stops to please the hardest pleasing members of our family: the kids and me!
However, I wanted to experience the tour also for its standard offering, as this would be the most useful to most of my dear readers, so we also saw top sites.
Our day included (These were highlights):
- Trevi Fountain – the golf cart can get very close to the fountain, but not right beside it. Brando stopped it about 30 seconds walk off the square and we walked the short distance to the fountains. Since we went in the morning, there were not many people and it was lovely!
He told the kids and us about the fountain and its story, took inspiration from the statue of Oceanus to talk to the kids about Rome Gods and Goddesses and showed them the relevant game on the booklet, which my kids liked.
He of course got a family photo from us and we naturally also threw a coin in: you just have to, when in in Rome!
- Colosseum – The Golf cart shows you the outside of the Colosseum (you can also book to go inside the Colosseum via LivTours, separately) and this is a lovely opportunity to take cool photos with it in the background.
Again, Brando parked close to the viewing point so no walking was involved and told the kids and us a lot of fun facts. Again their handy booklet was a fun addition to the stop!
- The Capitoline Hill and The Roman Forum – The Golf cart got us to the bottom of the Capitoline Hill, which is the one part of the tour that required a tiny bit of walking,as there are (low) steps to go up. If this is a problem, I recommend you tell them in advance as they may be able to park to avoid them or adapt the itinerary as needed.
I absolutely loved this part of the tour. Piazza del Campidoglio and the view over the forum from here is one of my favorite spots in Rome and Brando also made sure of bringing us inside Santa Maria in Ara Caeli (church) which is absolutely stunning.
- Other stops – at this point of the tour Brando asked me what we wanted to see, as the standard tours bring you to some of Romes’ best known places: Spanish Steps, Pantheon, etc. If you are a first time visitors, I recommend sticking with the standard itinerary.
In our case, we added a couple of lesser known stops, which satisfied my craving for something I hadn’t seen before but that quite niche 🙂 We did however go to the Janiculum which is always worth it!
As we started getting close to the end of the tour, Brando asked us if we had plans for lunch as since didn’t, he recommended a restaurant in Piazza Navona, which we agreed he’d then book for us.
This was a lovely gesture and a great recommendation (Brando knows food even hosts a food experience himself!): the restaurant is Camillo and it is right on the piazza – before you tell me that restaurants on main piazzas are touristy, give this one a chance, it will positively surprise you!
The golf cart stopped right at the piazza so once again, we hardly had to walk at all!
Our delicious carbonara was the perfect end to a perfect day. Thank you Brando and Livtours!
Answer to common questions I get about this golf car tour
The golf cart is not flimsy and doesn’t feel unsafe in Rome traffic. It is a pretty sturdy vehicle and of a we’ll visible size, so cars see it no problem
The golf cart has seatbelt that go across your lap or crossbody, depending on the exact seat you take on the cart. LivTours does have baby seats for small kids you can add to your booking for free.
The golf cart has open sides but plastic, see-through coverings in case of rain
I don’t believe there is a ‘best time’ to do the tour – all times are good!
The golf cart is very different from a bus in terms of experience and where it brings you.
Because it is small, it can get close to attractions such as the Pantheon or Trevi in a way a bus simply cannot achieve. It also comes with a live guide and not a prerecorded audio tours, so you get a lot more
The tour come with a fun booklet for kids with info, quizzes and trivia. We used the booklet during the visit but also as something to do during lunch and on subsequent days, to keep the memory and the interest up.
If you wanted to add things such as a colosseum visit, it is possible but this would have to be booked separately and would happen before or after the tour – or on on a separate day of course. My favorite colosseum tour by LivTours for kids is this one which, just like the golf cart one, it tailored to them and comes with the booklet and trivia.
I hope this quick review was useful and may have given you an idea for something fun to do in Rome with kids, or without! Safe travels!