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Hey RJ,

The itinerary can be set up like this.

Day 1 Travel day

Day 2 Venice

Day 3 Venice

Day 4 Venice (Day trip to Padua Italy) https://www.italymagazine.com/featured-story/5-things-not-miss-day-trip-padua

Day 5 Venice/Florence

Day 6 Florence

Day 7 Florence (Day trip to Siena) https://www.discovertuscany.com/siena/

Day 8 Florence/Rome

Day 9 Rome

Day 10 Rome

Day 11 Rome (Day trip out of Rome?) Tuscan Hill Town of Orvieto https://notaboutthemiles.com/one-day-in-the-charming-umbrian-hill-town-of-orvieto/

Day 12 Rome

Day 13 Rome/Amalfi Coast - AC Towns for base can be Sorrento or Ravello https://www.positano.com/en/s/ravello-4

Day 14 Amalfi Coast

Day 15 Amalfi Coast

Day 16 Amalfi Coast

Day 17 Amalfi Coast to Paris (Fly from Naples to Caen Normandy)

Day 18 Normandy

Day 19 Normandy

Day 20 Paris

Day 21 Paris

Day 22 Versaille/Paris or Fontainebleau

Day 23 Paris

Day 24 Travel Day

Reserve Airbnbs at least 6 months in advance for all the cities.

Tread with caution concerning Airbnb and similar types of lodgings in Paris. The city has been cracking down hard on short-term rentals. Any listing should include the property's 13-digit registration number. If there's no number, you're looking at an illegal rental. If the authorities uncover it, the owner will receive a massive fine and pull the property off the market immediately. That could leave you without a place to stay at the last minute.

I think the general pace of your trip is good. You're smart to have realized that--aside from the Amalfi Coast-- it's heavily weighted toward major tourist destinations and to wish for a bit more variety of environment. It's often tough to accomplish that when you're covering so much ground.

Orvieto is a nice day-trip from Rome; it's also great for a night or two, having a lot to see. It seems to be very popular with Italian visitors as well as foreign tourists, so I think you might find it a bit more laid back on a weekday.

From Florence you can easily visit Siena or Lucca. Both get lots of tourists, but they are smaller than Florence. There are also many very attractive smaller Tuscan towns not far from Florence, but they are often challenging via public transportation.

I don't know exactly what route the train takes between Venice and Florence, but Padua, Vicenza and Verona are good possibilities located west of Venice. I believe Verona is the most touristy of the three by a considerable margin.

The express trains you'll almost certainly be using for your major hops (because they're much faster than regional trains) require seat reservations, so you can't buy a ticket from (for example) Venice to Florence and hop off the train to spend time in Padua.

For your invasion-site touring I highly recommend one of the small-group (van) tours, most of which are operated out of Bayeux. Unless one of your group is a a WWII historian or a very serious hobbyist, I'm afraid you'll otherwise be staring at a lot of sand and chunks of concrete without understanding their importance. There are a lot of invasion-related museums in the area (including a very good one in Bayeux). That's something you can easily do on your own.

Bayeux, incidentally, does get a lot of tourists, but it has an attractive historic center as well as the aforementioned museum, the Bayeux Tapestry and an important cathedral. The tourist office offers walking tours. The town is, and feels, small. It's a very good place to stay.

I'll be honest - given the age range of your children and that it's your first trip to Europe, I think this is an overly ambitious plan. I don't think you've really considered the logistics involved in the itinerary you've proposed. This is a challenging pace even for adults let alone kids. Every move will require anywhere from 1/2 to 3/4 of a day to accomplish when you factor in packing, tidying up the airbnb, traveling to your departure point, travel time, and then travel time to your accommodations. In addition, bear in mind that not everyone speaks English and so asking for directions, the bathroom, etc., etc. can be a little challenging. In short, you cannot travel as quickly in Europe as you do at home your first time there so you will need to budget more time than you would for a similar trip in the U.S. Add to this sleeping in a strange bed and unfamiliar food and schedule all take there toll. I'm not suggesting you shouldn't go to Europe, but I'm suggesting that you change the itinerary to something more manageable.

I would recommend you minimize the number of location changes to minimize travel time, logistics and stress.
I'd suggest:
Week 1 in Paris In my experience, Paris is far easier to navigate than Italy for a first timer so I would start there. From Paris, there are quite a number of day trips you can easily do and plenty to keep everyone occupied for a week. Week 2 - Fly to Naples and base yourself in Sorrento for a week - you can do a number of day trips from there using public transportation so you don't need a car.
Week 3 - Train from Naples to Florence. I would look at staying at an Agritourismo for a week somewhere in Tuscany. You may need to rent a car for this portion, but depending upon where you stayed, there are a number of day trips you could do including Florence.
From there, travel to Venice and overnight in Venice before your flight home. This would give you a variety of experiences while minimizing the logistics and still include almost everything on your list. Good luck with the planning!

On the other hand.... Whether or not this trip is doable rests in large part on the flexibility and strength of your kiddos. Have they traveled much, before, even if it's just a few hours by plane to visit out-of-state family? Can they each (except for maybe the 6-year-old) carry their own backpack/day bag and pull a carry-on wheeled suitcase? Can they swing with new foods, new schedules, unfamiliar bathrooms and beds? Are they adventurous, not particularly whiny, and adaptable? If the answer is "yes, mostly, more or less," then I for one think you may have a doable plan. Your nights of 3, 3, 5, 5, 2, and 5 could probably work, especially if they get enough rest and "down time" during the first part of the trip. The success of the trip may also lie in part in getting some serious "buy in" from the kids for the trip: watching videos and TV shows about where they are going, together; reading children's and juvenile books set in those locations; creating collages, drawing pictures, creating family games to build anticipation. There was a very recent trip report on this forum entitled "Italy and Paris with teenage granddaughters" in which the poster described the many ways that she got "buy in" from the girls during the months prior to the trip: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/italy-and-paris-with-teenage-granddaughters. Yes, those girls are mostly older than yours, but her plan was brilliant! You may already be much of this, but my main thought is this: I think you all can do it, if the kids are flexible travelers and are invested in the trip, too!

Another thought, re. doing "stop offs" when traveling between two cities by train. The trip between Venice and Florence and then between Florence and Rome are much smoother, faster, pleasant trip when done on a "freccia" train, which is a high speed train between major cities with very limited stops in between. If you decide that you want to make a stop between, say, Florence and Rome (like in Orvieto), you will have to take a much slower train; your travel time will be longer, and your crew may be much more tired by the time that they finally arrive in Rome. Thus, I suggest taking day trips FROM your cities, once you are there, rather than stopping off mid-way. You also may want to go ahead and pre-book and pre-pay for your train tickets between Venice-Florence and Florence-Rome, at least, a couple of months (or more) before your trip. Do so on trenitalia.com. You will save bunches of money, and the seats are preassigned.

I like how your trip seems to be at a slower pace than many plans I see. The success of the trip with your kids depends almost entirely on their personalities and your willingness to change things up on the spot if they need some down time or if something different peaks their interest. I travel regularly with groups of kids, ages ranging 11-18, for 10 days (which is certainly not 24 days). But most of them are champion travelers, if the plan mixes in non-regimented sightseeing. That might mean regular gelato stops or being able to stop for park time if they need to unwind. It also might mean being willing to split up occasionally. And just as they are not all happy 100%of the time at home, they likely won’t be so on your trip either. And that’s ok.

Must Sees are very relative. So pick your top choices in small numbers, see what interests them, research more options in case things are going well, and feel free to drop things if you need to. It looks like a wonderful family experience to me!

I've never traveled with kids (except my brother when we both were kids so that doesn't count), so I can't be much use to you there. But I think you're wise to allow multiple nights at your destinations. There are a lot of destinations, but you're spending more than three weeks.

RJean has added some great suggestions. The idea of flying from Naples to Caen is very appealing, but if you look up the specifics maybe less so. Of course there are no nonstops, and the only one-stop I found involved a 7-hour layover in Lyon. Others seem to have two layovers, pretty stressful, and all take 8-10 hours total. Rome2rio.com is a good way to look for options, though it's wiser to do bookings directly with the airline or rail system or whatever.

Your kids will have a great adventure, and I hope it works out for all of you.

you're going the right direction in terms of pacing. Just remember on a trip that long you want to block time for grocery shopping, laundry, and a couple hours here and there spent in a local park feeding the ducks.

Salerno is a good choice for you. It has a large sandy beach; the rest of the AC has small beaches, most are pebbles, not sand. It's connected to Naples/Rome by high-speed train.

Each of you are so very kind to take time and provide me with your valuable insight. As I mentioned before, we are booking flights with award miles and we're working within the airlines system to find the best open jaw tickets. While we've changed up our entry point (no longer Venice, but Rome) we will still end in Paris. With Venice off the list, we will have more time at our remaining destinations.

RJean - Thank you very much for the day trip recommendations. We are starting to research them now. Our plan is to go ahead and book our AirBnBs for the beginning of the trip and end and the rest as we solidify our plans, thank you.
Acraven - Thank you for the Paris Airbnb tip and your day trip advice is greatly appreciated. We have a lot of research to do on how to schedule our time in Normandy. With 5 of us, the tours are very expensive. So we will either split up to reduce costs or take on a self guided tour. And Bayeaux sounds amazing.
Nancy - trying to do too much is something we certainly want to avoid and your advice is greatly appreciated.
Jmauldinuu - our kids do have some travel experiences (Mexico, Ireland, domestic travel) and we wil be mindful of their limitations. Your suggestions on getting their "buy-in" is very helpful. I've asked my oldest to start researching where she would like to visit and we talk to the younger two regularly about the trip. Your advice on how to accomplish visits to smaller cities is also appreciated.
Travelmom - We certainly want to have a leasurely pace during our days. A few early museum visits but mostly exploring neighborhoods. Thank you for the advice.
Dick - we found the same issues on flights. Florence to Paris looks to be much easier.

A lingering question we have is whether or not we should fly from Florence to Paris, or add a destination in between and take the train. Obviously, this would add another destination and travel day to the itinerary, but it's worth considering as we are slated to only visit Paris and Normandy.

So the new plan is Rome - Amalfi - Florence - Normandy - Paris? The only flights I see are from Bologna to Caen. You could spend a few days in Bologna and, tour the oldest university, day trip to small towns by train.

If you take the train, the obvious stop is Lyon. I haven't been there, maybe others will weigh in.

The new itinerary looks like this:

Day 1 Travel day

Day 2 Rome Arrival

Day 3 Rome

Day 4 Rome

Day 5 Rome (day trip)

Day 6 Rome

Day 7 Rome/Sorrento

Day 8 Sorrento

Day 9 Sorrento

Day 10 Sorrento

Day 11 Sorrento/Florence

Day 12 Florence

Day 13 Florence (day trip)

Day 14 Florence

Day 15 Florence to Normandy

Day 16 Normandy

Day 17 Normandy
Day 18 Paris

Day 19 Paris

Day 20 Paris

Day 21 Versaille/Paris

Day 22 Paris

Day 23 Travel Day

We changed our arrival point as well as the days we will travel - now June rather than May/June. The length of stay in each location is still up in the air, but as it stands we will have 5 different Airbnbs which sounds like a lot but the pace seems reasonable. We're not set on Sorrento, but it seems like a good base to explore the AC, as does Salerno. i expect that portion of the trip to be the most relaxing. We intend to pack very light (kids and I in carry-on sized backpacks and my wife with a rolling carry-on. The current prices on Airbnbs are very reasonable, so i plan to start locking those in as the itinerary solidifies. We still have flights on hold, so they could change slightly.

I may post this question in the Italy section, but wondered if anyone could tell me about the Italian Airbnb charges that are paid directly? i saw a few reviewers that said they were surprised by a per day head tax that was significant. Is this to be expected across Italy? I appreciate any additional thoughts on the near-final itinerary.

I have usually had to pay a per-night tax in Italy, in cash. I'm a solo traveler and have considered the amounts not worth worrying about. I think the per-night tax is often higher in fancier lodgings; it definitely varies by city. If the tax is per-person (including children??), l can see that it wouldn't be so inconsequential for a family.

RJ - You have a good updated Itinerary. However, I do have a few pointers to add. When you're visiting Versailles, go on a Wednesday or Thursday morning. Monday the chateau is closed and Tuesday the Louvre is closed so you will get plenty of crowd that day. Plan to arrive at the chateau and in line to the entrance about 30 min before it opens. This way, you will be one of the first people inside the chateau, and will be finishing up the interior/moving on to the gorgeous grounds.

Do you even consider planning this route:

Rome > Florence > Sorrento > Normandy > Paris

acraven - thanks for the insight. I'll plan to reach out to each host and ask about the tax.

RJean - I appreciate the Versaille recommendations. We will be sure to be there early on a Wednesday or Thursday. I appreciated your thoughts on the order of our trip. In your experience, what would be the benefits of going Rome > Florence > Sorrento? I suppose either way I'm backtracking a short distance. Should flight options to Caen/Paris be the determining factor or are there other items to consider? I don't know the pros/cons of the Florence and Naples airports.

In this order RJ : Rome > Florence > Sorrento > Normandy > Paris

The traveling distances from Rome to Florence and Sorrento are not that long. It can be done via train. From Sorrento, you can trek to Naples and fly to Caen. After that, you can train to Paris from Normandy. The only portion of flying you will do is from AC to Normandy.

RJean - I'm researching the logistics of the approach you mentioned. I would love to fly from Italy directly to Caen, but it appears that Air France is the only feasible airline to get us to Caen. Their ticket prices are much higher than EasyJet and others that can take us to Paris.

I would consider Salerno rather than Sorrento for the Amalfi coast. We went to Sorrento from Naples (where we flew into) and then made our way to Amalfi after a few days. My understanding is you can go directly to Salerno by train from Rome (you have to change trains in Naples to a slower train to Sorrento). Sorrento does not have a very nice beach and it is on a totally different plain from the town. My understanding is that Salerno has a sandy beach which the rest of the Amalfi coast does not. From Salerno, there is a ferry you could take to other towns on the coast. The ferry is lovely. The buses, in our experience, were very crowded and a bit tortuous. Now we were there in July which is the peak of the tourist season....

I am just thinking that your gang may want some down time after seeing Rome and my experience the beach is the best place to take it. My husband and I went this past summer to the UK and by the end of two weeks we were really dragging and ready to go home. The year before we went with a family group of seven to Greece and were not ready to go home after two weeks. But in retrospect I realized we slowed down more--it was very hot and we spent three different afternoons of our 14 days at various beaches. I think it made a huge difference in our energy level and we were all adults (albeit some of us older than the others). With young children and a longer trip, some down time at the beach will make everyone happier.

Beth - thanks for sharing. we are definitely still up in the air on the AC location. My wife loves the photos she's seen of Positano and Salerno.

RJ- Don't forget to make a visit to Ravello too. It's a gem in the Amalfi coast.

https://www.positano.com/en/s/ravello-4

You can take a ferry I think from Salerno to Positano. We did it from Amalfi. It is really a lovely ride. Positano has hills and steps every where and we didn't like it as well as Amalfi where also stayed. (we stayed 2 nights Sorrento, 2 nights Amalfi, 2 nights Positano which I would not recommend!) But Positano is certainly worth a visit. Some have suggested Atrani as less touristed which is very close (like a 10 minute walk) from Amalfi. But none of these have a sandy beach. We sat on the beach in Positano which I think cost us 15 Euros for a chair for the day. It was rocks and pebbles everywhere. We brought water shoes so we were OK. We were happy in our chairs but for a family that would be a lot of money. There were young people laying on the rocks but my kids anyway would have really complained as they associate beach with sand.

What is the most economical ferry to get from Salerno to other AC cities? Looking for day trip options

I spent 5 days in Salerno as a base for the AC a couple years ago. Salerno has a well-preserved medieval historic center, excellent restaurants, a large sandy beach and a long seaside promenade. It's mostly level, easy to get around on foot. You can also day trip by bus or train south to Paestum (ancient Greek temples and very good archaeology museum). Positano is the most expensive place to stay, Salerno is the least, lower than Sorrento, and meals are cheaper too.

From the train station, you can take the SITA bus route from Salerno to Amalfi and then the SITA bus from Amalfi to Sorrento that stops in Positano. (BTW if you stay in Sorrento, you'd have to change in Amalfi to get to the rest of the AC). From the train station, it's an easy 7-10 minute walk to the ferry pier. The ferries weren't running when I was there, so I don't know specifics, but there are routes that stop at all the AC towns that have piers. Views from the road are different than views from the sea - worthwhile to do both.

Check out Salerno Centro Bed & Breakfast. I stayed there after a recommendation from another RS forum member. They only have 3 rooms, so that might be ideal for your family. I have only great things to say about it, the personal attention, the welcoming atmosphere, the location, the comfort and charm. And they are budget-priced.

Chani - thank you so much for the recommendation and sharing the specifics of your visit to Salerno. It sounds like the right place for us. I have found many reasonably priced Airbnbs in Salerno that would accommodate our family.

Glad I could be a little helpful. After I wrote about the beach, I had second thoughts and want to clarify - "big" beach is relative to the Amalfi Coast (and the Cinque Terre). It's a decent size, but beaches on the French Riviera as well as most places in the US are bigger.

What is the most economical ferry to get from Salerno to other AC
cities? Looking for day trip options

Rural, the ferries are priced what they are - by distance more than anything else - and those prices vary very little between one company or another. Just noodling here, Positano is especially nice seen from the water but otherwise doesn't offer young people a lot to do. You could take the ferry there (12 euros per adult 2019 pricing) have a look about and then use the SITA buses to Amalfi and back to Salerno. Capri offers some fun hiking around the island but ferry prices are quite high and it's a long trip there from Salerno.

Here are a couple of sites you can use to browse trips around the coast by water. A lot of this info is the same, just presented in different forms:

https://www.travelmar.it/downloads/orari_travelmar.pdf
https://www.capri.net/en/ferry-schedule?from=capri&to=amalfi#
https://www.livesalerno.com/ferry-connections

While not by boat, it goes without saying that Pompeii is one of the top - if not THE top - day trips from the Sorrentine or Amalfi Coast locations.

Versailles... I wouldn't put this one on the must-do list without doing some visiting reading-up first +ask for pointers over on the France forum.. Honestly, the long security queues to get in - even with pre-purchased tickets - and density of crowds inside the chateau has been the topic of much discussion, and that mob could be difficult for your youngest, shortest people to handle.

I've wondered if Pompeii and Versaille are appropriate for a 6 year old. Based on what I've heard about crowds at Versaille, i'd likely end up holding them the entire time as we flow with the crowd.

I also appreciate thoughts on whether we should travel in one direction (Rome to Paris) rather than visiting the AC. Is there a city along the French Riviera with similar characteristics to Salerno - less expensive, sandy beaches, suitable for families. in theory, this approach would keep us from backtracking, let us train rather than fly from Italy to northern France, and see more of France.

A quick scan of the France forum under the topic of Versaille with Kids quickly disabused me of the idea of making a day trip to Versaille except maybe to enjoy the grounds. That very well could work, but touring inside the palace is off the list.

There are stretches of beach in every seaside town from the Italian border to Nice and farther west. Some are larger than others. Antibes has only a little beach by the historic center. Most are pebbly, but sandy beach can be found. I'm not a beach person and my trip was in March, so I didn't pay much attention.

Pompeii is a whole lot of walking and some of it is difficult because of the ancient paving. Herculaneum is a better choice, not as extensive, easier to walk around. The problem is that it's not easy to get to from Salerno on public transportation.

In France, near Nice there is a nice sandy beach at Villefranche-sur-Mer. All easy to get to by train from Italy.

The beach I saw at Villefranche was just below the train station. It looked like a mix of very coarse sand, lots of shell fragments and large pebbles (or small stones depending on whether you're a half-full or half-empty person).

We've made a few changes to the itinerary and plan to book accommodations tomorrow. Here is the current plan. I appreciate any final comments you're willing to provide:

Day 1 Travel day

Day 2 Rome Arrival

Day 3 Rome

Day 4 Rome

Day 5 Rome

Day 6 Rome

Day 7 Rome/Florence

Day 8 Florence

Day 9 Florence Day Trip

Day 10 Florence

Day 11 Florence/Nice

Day 12 Nice (stay in Villafranche-sur-Mer)

Day 13 Nice

Day 14 Nice

Day 15 Nice/Paris

Day 16 Paris

Day 17 Paris

Day 18 Paris

Day 19 Paris/Normandy - We will rent a car in Caen

Day 20 Normandy/Paris

Day 21 Paris

Day 22 Paris

Day 23 Travel day

Your help has been very helpful and I appreciate any additional thoughts you have on our plans.

I like your itinerary for the most part, except for:

Day 18 Paris
Day 19 Paris/Normandy - We will rent a car in Caen
Day 20 Normandy/Paris

I think you won’t gave much time in Normandy. You have a half day on the 19th and half day on the 20th. I think you should add a night, so you have a full day for touring.

Just thinking of the 19: assuming you take a late morning train from Paris, arrive in Caen by 2:00, rent the car, drive 30 minutes to Bayeux check in to apartment. This puts you close to 4:00 by the time you’re ready to start “touring”. Many museums close at 6:00 or 6:30, with last admission 45 minutes prior. But maybe your family are early-birds and manage to check out of hotels earlier than my teens!

Then on the 20th you would need to pack up, load up the car, tour a little. Maybe see a museum. Get lunch, tour a little more. Return the car to Caen and take the train to Paris. Seems rushed.

Just a note about apartments. We are a family of 4 and prefer apartments so we can do laundry. Most apartment list a dryer, but this is often a drying rack, not a machine. Makes doing laundry a much longer process, especially with VERY small washers. If there is a drying machine, a dry cycle usually takes over 2 hours.

hey hey rural juror
sounds like fun family trip. all i'm sure are excited about it.
when looking for airbnb's, especially paris, make sure it has a 13 digit license number, starting with 75, to be legal. it will be under description "read more about this place"
there has been a big crackdown on illegal apartments in lots of european cities, stay within airbnb guidelines, if not legal you may not have a place to go to after your payment.
read the fine print, early checkin and if not where do you store luggage or pull around with you until checkin, how many keys, let person show you how things work/instructions, look at map exactly where apt is it. be very diligent with what you find and the rules.
check train schedules, with correct names in each country, buy early for cheaper deals (maybe about 3 months)
have a great trip and enjoy.
aloha

Travel4fun - Your warning is well taken. Our plan is to take an early train to Caen and rent a car by 11am with the remainder of the day to explore. We will check in late and leave early from our Airbnb outside Bayeux for more exploring prior to dropping off the car and catching a late train from Caen to Paris. Our itinerary for Normandy is very simple (Omaha beach, Gold Beach, and the American Cemetery) so I'm hopeful about 16 hours of touring time would be an acceptable amount of time. That's just our plan, obviously having not done this, it may be more difficult than it sounds.

Princess - thank you for the advice. We've checked numbers and have focused on accomodations with great reviews (4.8 and above) and none of the automated cancellation notices. My biggest fear is that someone will cancel our reservation prior to the trip.

I wouldn’t break up Paris and double pay for lodging on the 19th day, but would put Normandy at the end. That way you check out of your Airbnb, go to Normandy either by train or drive, and at the end drive directly to CDG to turn in the car and spend the night at an airport hotel before your flight the next day.