If you are planning a trip to Rome with kids I highly recommend the BioParco, Rome’s “Zoo” located in the stunning Villa Borghese public gardens.

It is very easy to get to with public transit (there are multiple tram stops at various BioParco entrances) and if you are visiting with young kids and strollers (or even multiple strollers) then public transportation or a taxi is a better option than parking.

We’ve parked at the Villa Borghese multiple times in the past and have never been able to use the so called “elevator” that is ALWAYS out of order. At least they say it’s out of order but truthfully I’ve never even seen it.

My husband and my friend Nicola lifted the strollers (and kids) up this many stairs and then down again when we had to go home. Not fun, not safe and not mobility challenged friendly.

Il Parco di Villa Borghese

The BioPark is located in the North East corner of the historic Villa Borghese Public Gardens of Rome. A beautiful and immense green space that, in 1605 was the vineyard of Cardinal Scipione Borghese and later turned into his garden. It was bought by the city of Rome in 1903 and given to the public and is now the third largest public garden in the city.

You can even reach it by going up the Spanish Steps and the view from the Garden out onto the city is stunning. It houses a gallery, cafes, bike and segway rentals, a pond with paddle boats and of course, the Bio Park!

At the BioParco we had a great time. I’ve been to plenty of zoos (I’ll get into zoos a bit more in another post), but there is just something about the Rome BioParco that makes it so much more pleasurable. The spaces are so antique, well-curated and beautiful ,with stunning architecture, over-hanging trees and thriving flower gardens at every turn.

It felt much more like a Park than a Zoo and I highly recommend brining a packed lunch and having a picnic where the tables are surrounded by peacocks putting on a show for visitors! Oh…and if you bring a lunch you’ll spare your wallets the 4 Euro EACH hotdogs!

Some of the highlights were the temporary butterfly exhibit, my son LOVES butterflies and in this exhibit you enter a room and are surrounded by them flying all around you! Another highlight were the brown bears that we caught in a moment of ….um….intimacy…..that lasted for half an hour!

Tomorrow I’ll introduce you to my dear friend Gillian and her awesome style. Her husband Nicola is a pretty amazing photographer and in a moment of inspiration I wanted to take photos like him but ended up touching some button on my new camera and imposing some art effect on the pictures.

Here are some of the pictures I took and you’ll note that some of them are overly “artistic”!

The forecast called for rain on this particular day but we were very lucky to have missed the few moments of downpour. All in all the BioParco was an excellent way to spend the day with our young kids and gave them plenty of time to walk around and explore, we were all really tired after a day of exploring this beautiful space in the Eternal City!

For more great ideas on what to do with young kids in Rome my friend Katrina has written this great list!

Rome’s Bio Park – il BioParco di Roma

Website - http://www.bioparco.it/

Open every day of the year aside from Christmas day!

Opening hours:

January 1st – March 28th – 9:30 am – 5 pm (last entry is at 4 pm)

March 29th – October 26th – 9:30 am- 6 pm (last entry is at 5 pm)

October 27th – December 31st – 9:30 am – 5 pm (last entry is at 4 pm)

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