Up in the trees
The cheapest way to buy a family a whole afternoon, and the one everybody remembers.
21 things to book10 placesthe nearest is a 33 min drive from Rome
An adventure park is a series of rope bridges, cables and platforms strung between trees, in courses graded by difficulty and height. You are in a harness attached to a line the whole way, which is the part that reassures the parents, and the children stop needing you within about ten minutes.
There are several in the woods around Rome, and one strange and excellent variant at Narni, where the course is strung inside a thirteenth-century cistern underground rather than up in trees.
The ziplines are the other half of this page: single long cables across a valley, over in less than a minute, and worth the drive for the run-up rather than the ride. The Lepini line goes out over the edge of the mountain above the Pontine plain.
A park is a half day and it is priced by course rather than by hour, so the thing that decides how long you stay is stamina rather than a clock. Expect the first course to take longer than you thought and the third to take half as long, because by then everybody has worked out how the carabiner works and stopped looking down.
Where they are matters as much as what they are. These parks sit in woods next to something else — Lake Vico, the Rieti hills, the Castelli above Rome, the falls at Papigno — which is why the second grid below exists. An afternoon in the trees plus a swim, a cellar or a lake shore is the whole day, and the driving is already done.
Courses in the trees, ropes underground and single cables across a valley. Minimum heights and ages are the operator's and are on the card — height usually matters more than age, because it decides whether a child can reach the line. The Narni course is the odd one out and the one to pick if you want the story as well: it is strung inside a thirteenth-century cistern, underground.
Best fit for this section first, then whatever you can book today. Closest to Rome breaks a tie. Never by who pays us.
On the trailClip into a harness and cross the trees: from age four there is a course to do.
€5 per person
Books on ViviAvventura
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In the airA 2,225-metre steel cable strung between two pylons above Rocca Massima, up to 310 metres off the ground, with a 350-metre drop.
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In the airA two-kilometre zipline descent from Rocca Massima at over 110 km/h, over olive groves and karst country down towards Monte Sant'Angelo, packaged with a guided cellar visit and …
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In the airFourteen rope courses strung through an oak wood inside the Lake Vico nature reserve: six for children from ninety centimetres tall, eight for adults, the last four of them high…
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Under the groundInside the Lacus, a vaulted thirteenth-century room under Piazza Garibaldi, an indoor adventure course with rope bridges, a zip line and an artificial climbing wall, built with …
A sports club — you join them for the day
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On the trailAn acrobatic course between trees at Colle San Mauro, the wooded hill inside Rieti at 400 m.
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In the airAn outdoor centre at Caprarola by Lake Vico offering archery, free climbing on an artificial wall, a Tibetan rope bridge and zip line, tree climbing, an agility course and orien…
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On the trailA climbing session with instructors on the crags near the Marmore falls.
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On the trailDay one walks from Castel Gandolfo to Nemi between the two lakes, with a brunch stop at a farm bistrot and a floating aperitivo on the lake at the end; the night is spent in ten…
See the dayMost of these parks are in woods next to a lake or a hill town, so the afternoon does not have to end when the harness comes off. This is what is within a few minutes of them: a lake to paddle, an abbey, a cellar, a museum, or a road worth riding.
Best fit for this section first, then whatever you can book today. Closest to Rome breaks a tie. Never by who pays us.
On the waterThree hours paddling across Lake Albano, gear included, children from six up.
€42.40 per person
Books on ckacademy.it
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On the trailA Greek-rite abbey founded in 1004 by monks from southern Italy led by St Nilus of Rossano, the last of the Byzantine monasteries that were once spread across southern Italy and…
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On the trailThe Apostolic Palace at Castel Gandolfo was opened to the public in 2014.
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On the waterKayak rental on Lake Albano below Castel Gandolfo.
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On two wheelsThe train tickets are in the price. You ride the Castelli, Castel Gandolfo to Nemi.
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Off roadA guided Vespa ride out of Rome into the Castelli Romani.
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On two wheelsAn eight-hour private e-bike day out of Rome: Caffarella park, the Park of the Aqueducts, then a 30-minute train ride from Capannelle station up to the Castelli Romani.
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On horsebackAn hour on horseback in the Parco dei Castelli Romani with a certified guide, leaving from Via Sicilia at Rocca di Papa.
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On the trailThe museum was built between 1933 and 1939 to hold two enormous ships of the emperor Caligula recovered from Lake Nemi, destroyed by fire in 1944.
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With your handsA family farm below Caprarola on the Cimini hills that grows hazelnuts and makes creams, spreads, mostarde and biscuits in its own laboratory.
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Under the groundA guided visit to the rooms under the former convent of San Domenico: a frescoed church, a Roman cistern and the cell used by the Holy Office, whose graffiti are still being res…
A sports club — you join them for the day
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On the trailVisitors wear headsets for a mixed-reality tour through the piano nobile and the Pannini Gallery of Villa Grazioli, one of the Tuscolan villas.
See the dayDriving time from the middle of Rome, on the road network and without traffic. It tells you whether the day stands up; it is not a timetable.
Getting there
The day stays yours: you leave when you want, stop where you want, and come back when the light goes.
Affiliate link — you pay their price, never more, and they pay us. You book with Localrent, and anything about that booking goes through them.
See prices on LocalrentNo parking to find, no wrong turns, and you leave when the day is done.
Affiliate link — you pay their price, never more, and they pay us. You book with Welcome Pickups, and anything about that booking goes through them.
See prices on Welcome PickupsMost have a children's course from around four or five and harder ones going up from there, measured by height as much as by age. The operator sets it and the card carries it where they publish it.
At weekends and in the school holidays, yes. Midweek you can often turn up. The phone number on the card is the quick way to check.
The high courses are, pleasantly. You are on a continuous safety line throughout, and every park has a low course for people who would like to discover this gradually.
Closed shoes, clothes that move, hair tied back. Gloves are usually provided or sold at the desk.
In the woods above Grottaferrata and Castel Gandolfo in the Castelli, on the shore of Lake Vico north of the city, in the hills above Rieti, and at Narni, where the course runs underground inside a medieval cistern. The ziplines are separate and go out over the Lepini escarpment.
Half a day is the usual shape, and it is sold by course rather than by the hour. Two or three courses is most people's afternoon. It leaves enough of the day for a lake or a lunch afterwards, which is what the second grid on this page is for.
On its own it is a minute of flying and an hour of getting to the launch, so most people pair it with something. One of the Lepini lines is sold with a cellar tasting at the other end, which tells you how the locals think about it.
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