Italy with kids 2u2

I love to travel overseas and did so with elementary age and teenage kids. Sorry, traveling with a toddler and baby would just be too much.
Why not save your travel money and want until the kids are older and you won't have to change diapers on your trip. Also, how would you manage visiting an art museum or even a place like St. Peter's Basilica with kids that could start crying?

We have already visited all the big historic sights before having kids (Rome, Florence, Venice), which is why we now chose Puglia or Sicily that can be considered more like a « beach holiday » with no obligation to do any of those historic sightseeings.

We want to travel while we are young and have energy instead of waiting years for our kids to grow older. We are willing to slow our travel pace and adapt our itinerary to suit young kids.

Thanks

Good morning,

Italy is probably the best place to go with young children bc of the admiration Italians have for families.

We are looking at a similar trip to Sicily for the summer of 2027 (our son will be 8). Having travelled internationally yearly since he was a baby (minus COVID), it basically depends on your stamina. We have driven up to 3 hours after a flight & it’s torture (assuming you’re coming from the states). Our son slept the entire drive, so that was a win!

If you decide on Puglia, stay in Naples your first night to get over the jet lag & start fresh the next day. This way you’re not depleted upon arrival while the kids are full of energy.

I would also look at the places you want to see and how much traffic surrounds it. With a 2 yr old, he/she may want to be independent and walk a bit, which can be stressful in a big city. They could be like my son who wants to chase pigeons in every piazza! An ergo or similar carrier will be great for the 3mo old, allows them to sleep comfortably with good airflow, especially given the summer temps.

Unfortunately, that is all I can suggest as we have spent most of our time in Tuscany, Umbria & the cities of Rome/Venice. I wish you the best of luck in your planning!

Amanda

@Amanda thank you for the encouragement! We traveled with our oldest twice to Europe (once at 2,5 months and once at 6 months) and it was very manageable. We’re a bit scared of doing it now with two kids and with the time change now that his sleep has been well established. However I know that kids can adapt easily, and both my husband and I are motivated enough to make it happen.

We were considering Tuscany, up until we saw that direct flights exist to and from Catania, which is a game changer with kids.

Have you started planning your Sicily trip yet? Taormina seems like the most popular place to visit but it also has a lot of stairs which is complicated with strollers.

We have started tentatively planning. We are going to Prague in October, so my mind is focused on that at the moment. I really want to visit Palermo & all of the Ancient Greek sites on the western side of the island. My husband wants to golf at Rocco Vedura, so we will most likely fly into Palermo, but it will mostly depend on which airport is the cheapest.

Highly recommend the Fly Away bed! It’s pricey but made a world of a difference in helping my son sleep. The website lists which airlines approve its use.

We love Tuscany with our son. The villages are compact, so he can run. We have stayed in both Pienza and Monticchiello, which were a perfect size for him.

Hello! A while back we traveled to Amsterdam and then to Tuscany with our 6 month old and 3 year old. It was fine. The 3 year old was a great age for travel (admittedly I don’t know what he would have been like during the hellish 18-24mos) and the 6 month old was a perfect little potato who I carried the whole way. We found it manageable. You may already have this down, but always, ALWAYS, and I mean ALWAYSSSS have a fresh shirt for mom and a fresh change of clothes handy for each kid. One time I was caught without a backup for the 6 month old and was lucky to stop in a random village in Tuscany to a shop to get him something to wear, and the second time was my 3 year old in Amsterdam where NO SHOPS were open and my son had to travel with us for 45 minutes on foot and trains through rain and wind essentially naked, wrapped in a cloth we had.

Thank you everyone!

We are considering 6 nights in Taormina, 7 nights in Ortigia and 1 night in Catania before our flight home.

I am mostly worried about the stairs in Taormina with having two strollers with two young kids. Since we want to limit driving, I couldn’t find an option as interesting as Ortigia other than Taormina to visit that area.

Anyone has experience with kids in Taormina?

You might try the Italy forum for info about Taormina re kids.

Do you have to use strollers for the kids? We used soft sided carriers for our children at that age (never got into strollers except for running (jogging stroller).

We do use carriers but for a full day out, we like having the option of having a stroller in case the baby wants to burn some energy / sleep and for toddler naps while we’re out. What carrier did you use for the toddler?

We used Becco carriers. We had one child and did wear her then when she was 4 we had twins so with the Beccos I could put one twin on my back and one on my front. We did that for long time. Probably not good for our backs but we were definitely using them for toddlers.