Things to do

Rome · Italy · Landmark

The Colosseum

The amphitheatre built with the spoils of the Churban, and the arch beside it that shows the Menorah being carried out of the Beis HaMikdash.

• The Arch of Titus stands a few minutes away at the edge of the Forum, on the same ticket. Its relief of the Menorah and the Temple vessels being carried in triumph is the reason many Jews come to this corner of Rome at all — and for centuries the kehilla here would not walk under it.
• About 2.5 km from the Jewish quarter by the Portico d'Ottavia, which is a comfortable walk or one bus.
• Timed entry, booked online. It sells out in season; this is the one thing in Rome worth booking before you fly.

Shabbos — Open on Shabbos, but it is ticketed and the ticket is scanned — not something to plan for Shabbos itself.

Piazza del Colosseo 1, 00184 Roma

Rome · Italy · Jewish heritage

The Ghetto and the Great Synagogue

The oldest Jewish community in Europe, in the streets it has lived in since before the Churban, with the Great Synagogue and the Jewish Museum at its centre.

• This is also where the kosher restaurants are, so it is the natural base for a Rome trip rather than a stop on one.
• The Great Synagogue can only be entered on a museum ticket and with security checks; bring passports.
• The Portico d'Ottavia ruins are in the middle of the quarter, so the sightseeing and the eating are the same few streets.

Shabbos — The museum and synagogue tours are closed on Shabbos and yom tov. The quarter itself is where you will be anyway.

Via Catalana, 00186 Roma

Rome · Italy · Museum

Vatican Museums

Among the largest art collections in the world. Some frum travelers visit and some do not; it is listed so the choice is made deliberately rather than by surprise.

• Ask your rov. This is a church complex and the collection is largely religious art; people hold differently about going in, and the site is not the place to decide it for you.
• About 4 km from the Jewish quarter — the far side of the river, not a walk.

Viale Vaticano, 00165 Roma

Venice · Italy · Jewish heritage

The Venetian Ghetto

The first place in the world to be called a ghetto, in 1516, with five shuls built one above another because there was nowhere else to build.

• The shuls are reached only on the museum's guided tour — they are upper floors of ordinary buildings and there is no other way in.
• The tallest buildings in Venice are here, because the community could build up and not out.
• Kosher food in Venice is limited and often needs ordering ahead. Do not arrive on a Friday assuming you will find something.

Shabbos — Museum and tours closed Shabbos and yom tov. Venice is a walking city, so a Shabbos here works well once food is arranged.

Campo di Ghetto Nuovo, 30121 Venezia

Venice · Italy · Landmark

Piazza San Marco and the Grand Canal

The square and the water that Venice is, walkable end to end from the Ghetto in about forty minutes.

• The walk from the Ghetto crosses most of the city and is the sightseeing, not the commute.
• Vaporetto tickets are bought in advance or from machines — worth sorting before Shabbos if you are staying past it.

Piazza San Marco, 30124 Venezia

Florence · Italy · Jewish heritage

Great Synagogue of Florence

A Moorish-revival shul of 1882 with a green copper dome, still the kehilla's, with a museum upstairs and a garden around it.

• Ten minutes' walk from the Duomo, so it fits into a normal Florence day rather than needing one of its own.
• Security at the door; bring passports.

Shabbos — Museum closed Shabbos and yom tov; there are minyanim.

Via Luigi Carlo Farini 6, 50121 Firenze

Florence · Italy · Museum

Uffizi Gallery

The Renaissance collection, in the building the Medici built for it.

• Timed tickets, and the queue without one is long enough to lose a morning.
• Fifteen minutes' walk from the shul, so the two go together in a day.

Piazzale degli Uffizi 6, 50122 Firenze

Milan · Italy · Viewpoint

Duomo rooftop terraces

Walking on the roof of the cathedral, among the spires, with the Alps visible on a clear day.

• The roof is reached by its own ticket, stairs or lift, and is outdoors — it is the terraces people come for rather than the interior.
• Milan has the largest kosher infrastructure in Italy, mostly around Via Sally Mayer and the Via Eupili shul, roughly 3 km from the Duomo.

Piazza del Duomo, 20122 Milano

Naples · Italy · Landmark

Pompeii

A Roman town stopped in 79 CE — streets, houses and shops, walkable for a full day.

• It is a whole town and mostly unshaded. Water, hats and real shoes; a summer afternoon here is punishing.
• About 40 minutes by train from Naples. Kosher food in Naples is very limited — bring the day's food with you.

Via Villa dei Misteri 2, 80045 Pompei

Paris · France · Landmark

The Eiffel Tower

The one thing everybody wants to have done, best booked for a timed slot and left at that.

• Book the lift slot online. Turning up wastes an afternoon in a queue.
• About 5 km from the kosher streets of the 4th and the Marais, and a similar distance from the 19th — a metro ride either way, not a walk.

Champ de Mars, 5 Avenue Anatole France, 75007 Paris

Paris · France · Jewish heritage

The Pletzl — Jewish Marais

Rue des Rosiers and the streets around it: the old Jewish quarter, the Agudath Hakehilot shul, and most of central Paris's kosher food in a few blocks.

• This is the practical centre of a kosher Paris trip — food, minyanim and walking distance to the Seine and Notre-Dame.
• The Agudath Hakehilot shul on rue Pavée was built by Hector Guimard, who designed the Métro entrances, and is a listed building.
• The Shoah Memorial with its Wall of Names is a few minutes away on rue Geoffroy-l'Asnier.

Shabbos — The whole quarter is walkable, which is why people stay here for Shabbos rather than near the sights.

Rue des Rosiers, 75004 Paris

Paris · France · Museum

The Louvre

Too big for one visit; pick two or three wings and accept that.

• Twenty-five minutes' walk from the Pletzl along the river, which is a pleasant part of the day in itself.
• Timed tickets. Closed one day a week — check before building a day around it.

Rue de Rivoli, 75001 Paris

Versailles · France · Landmark

Palace of Versailles

The palace and, more to the point, the gardens — a full day out of Paris.

• About an hour from central Paris on the RER C. Take the day's food; there is nothing kosher there.
• The gardens are most of the visit and are largely free; the fountains run only on certain days.

Place d'Armes, 78000 Versailles

Nice · France · Nature

Promenade des Anglais and Vieux Nice

The seafront and the old town, with a real kosher community behind them.

• Nice has a substantial kosher scene, which makes the Côte d'Azur workable for a family in a way most of the French coast is not.
• The beaches are pebble, not sand. Bring shoes for the water.

Promenade des Anglais, 06000 Nice

Carcassonne · France · Landmark

Cité de Carcassonne

A walled medieval city you walk into and around, which children take to more than any museum.

• The walls and the streets are free; the castle and the ramparts walk are ticketed.
• No kosher food locally — this is a day trip you carry food for.

1 Rue Viollet le Duc, 11000 Carcassonne

Interlaken · Switzerland · Viewpoint

Jungfraujoch — Top of Europe

The highest railway station in Europe, at 3,454 m, reached by cog railway through the inside of the Eiger.

• Expensive and weather-dependent. Check the summit webcam the morning you go — in cloud you pay a great deal to stand inside a white room.
• Altitude is real at 3,454 m. Go slowly at the top, and think twice with very young children.
• Interlaken and Grindelwald are the usual bases, and both have kosher hotels operating in season. Out of season, bring food.

Jungfraujoch, 3801 Fieschertal

Lucerne · Switzerland · Landmark

Chapel Bridge and Lake Lucerne

The covered wooden bridge of 1333 and the lake behind it — the postcard, and genuinely worth the stop.

• Walkable from the station, so it works as a half-day between trains.
• The lake boats run from beside it, and a short crossing is the cheapest way to see the mountains from the water.

Kapellbrücke, 6002 Luzern

Schaffhausen · Switzerland · Nature

Rhine Falls

The largest waterfall in Europe by volume, with walkways right down to the water.

• About 50 minutes by train from Zurich, so it is an easy half day from a Zurich base.
• The lower walkways get you wet. That is the point, but dress for it.

Rheinfallquai, 8212 Neuhausen am Rheinfall

Zurich · Switzerland · Landmark

Zurich old town and the lake

The old streets, the river and the lakefront, in the city with Switzerland's largest kosher infrastructure.

• Zurich is the practical base for a Swiss trip: the kosher shops and restaurants are around Wiedikon, roughly 2 km from the old town, and the mountains are all day trips from here.
• Swiss Travel Pass or a regional pass usually beats buying tickets one at a time once you are doing day trips.

Shabbos — Wiedikon is where to stay for Shabbos — the shuls, the food and the eruv are there, not in the old town.

Altstadt, 8001 Zürich

Lucerne · Switzerland · Viewpoint

Mount Pilatus

Cable car up and the world's steepest cogwheel railway down, in a round trip from Lucerne.

• The classic golden round trip runs boat, cogwheel, cable car and bus. The cogwheel railway runs only in the warmer months.
• A gentler and much cheaper alternative to Jungfraujoch, and better with small children.

Schlossweg 1, 6010 Kriens

Lauterbrunnen · Switzerland · Nature

Lauterbrunnen valley

A flat valley floor with seventy-two waterfalls coming off the cliffs on both sides — the walking is easy and the scenery is not.

• The valley floor walk is level and pushchair-friendly, which makes it one of the few genuinely easy days in the Alps.
• Staubbach Falls drops almost 300 m right beside the village.
• Twenty minutes by train from Interlaken, and on the way up to Jungfraujoch, so the two combine.

3822 Lauterbrunnen

Como · Italy · Nature

Lake Como

Mountains straight down into the water, with boats between the villages — the walking is flat and the scenery does the work.

• About an hour by train from Milan, so it is a day trip from the largest kosher base in Italy rather than a place to stay.
• The lake boats are the sightseeing. Varenna and Bellagio are the usual stops and both are walkable villages.
• Take the day's food from Milan — there is nothing kosher on the lake.

Como, Lombardy

La Spezia · Italy · Nature

Cinque Terre

Five villages stacked on cliffs above the sea, joined by a train and by footpaths.

• The train between the villages runs every few minutes and is the easy way to do it; the coastal footpaths are the harder and better way.
• Very steep and very stepped. Not a day for a pushchair or for anybody who cannot manage stairs.
• The beaches are not the point here and are not what to plan around — the villages and the paths are.

Cinque Terre National Park, Liguria

Verona · Italy · Landmark

The Verona Arena

A Roman amphitheatre older than the Colosseum and still standing almost whole, in the middle of a walkable town.

• Smaller and far less crowded than the Colosseum, and you can walk the tiers.
• Verona sits between Milan and Venice on the fast line, so it works as a stop rather than a detour.

Piazza Bra 1, 37121 Verona