My husband and I are traveling to Rome and Venice this June with our 7 year old son. I have booked 3 nights in Rome. We will take the train up to Venice. How many night do we need in Venice? Any suggestions on traveling with kids would be great!
Thanks,
Cindy
There are some guides with titles like"Italy with Kids." If you look on Amazon, you'll see them. I gave my daughter one for Christmas before she and her husband took their son to Rome, when he was 6. They found a walking tour specifically designed for kids and a cooking class, both of which my grandson really enjoyed.
Thank you! I will check out Amazon. I've also read about kids specific tours which I plan on doing.
The great thing about Venice for kids is that they can play freely in the public squares with no worries about cars - perhaps you could get him a ball to kick around, or a scooter or something, and just let him have at it. I'd bet he'd also love taking the vaparetto to visit the islands of the lagoon (Murano, Burano, Torcello). You would probably want at least 4 nights, maybe more. Have a great time!
In Venice, row your own boat with rowvenice.org
Really really fun!
Our boys were 8 and 10 when we went. We carried a mini size 1 soccer ball around with us everywhere... they had a couple pick up games in the campos with some other kids. :)
Thanks for the recommendation! I am planning on taking a soccer ball or buying one over there. :)
Definitely take your little one down to St Elena at the tip of Venice Island. There are playgrounds dotted all around along with picnic tables. If you time your visit in the evening around 5:00 pm or so you'll see tons of local families out socializing. There will also be tons of kids playing around. There will ALWAYS be a friendly game(s) of football (soccer) being kicked around. I think 2 nights is not enough, personally. But I do love going to the out-of-the-way places in Venice.
There's a small take away pizza place with tables set up outside...you can sit there or take the pizza to one of the public picnic tables or just sit on one of the park benches. St Elena evening family social time is really a heartwarming thing to see. You'll probably get a few stares because not that many tourists ever venture down that far. Most of the tourists never leave San Marco because they think that's "Venice".
We love Venice and especially St. Elena.
I would get the ball from Italy. Something your son can pick out, use and return with and share with his friends when he returns.
We stayed a week in Venice with our 5 year old. We were out of the touristy area in a flat. I had a pack of kid-stuff including small books, paper, pencils, and small toys but his favorite was sidewalk chalk. He drew on the ground everywhere in Venice, Rome, and Florence. He also did some busking in Florence and made a bit of money. We also hit all the toy stores we could find and he got some neat souvenirs. We rented bikes, ate lots of gelato and pizza and did lots of strolling. He did make it up to the Duomo in Florence. We made up stories about all the art that we saw, he loved that. We took the water bus but never made a gondola ride or glass blowing demo. We had a pretty loose schedule and that worked for us. We were able to head back to the flat and relax when our kid got tired. He loved seeing huge trucks on barges. We also sought out playgrounds and let him climb around.
