Traveling Europe with a Toddler: A Tentative Itinerary and Questions for Parents

Since I've already been to Florence, we mainly want to stroll over the Ponte Vecchio and enjoy the food. Also, since I've already been to Rome, we only really care about visiting the Colosseum.

I have no children, thus no experience carrying them around. I wonder about those Cinque Terre hikes, though. You may have to go up hundreds of steps, the paths aren't necessarily wide, I don't remember railings, and in some places the drop-offs are steep. It seems a scary idea to me.

Monaco is quite hilly, though I think there are elevators and/or escalators to help you change levels. There wouldn't be safety issues there, I wouldn't think, but it could be a bit of a workout for the person carrying the child.

Day 3 seems like a tall order--stopping for sightseeing in Monaco, Menton and Ventimiglia on the way to Sanremo. Won't you need to find a place to store luggage at each stop?

My plan would be to stay in Vernazza for all three nights, and to explore Riomaggiore and Manarola using the train. The train ride between Vernazza and Riomaggiore takes only about 15 minutes, while the ride between Vernazza and Manarola takes only about 4 minutes (if I researched that correctly).

Once I arrive in Riomaggiore or Manarola, I would take an easy hike such as the Via dell'Amore, which is a flat and easy walk that connects Manarola to Riomaggiore and takes only about 20 minutes to complete.

Alternatively, I may consider taking a boat tour departing from Vernazza, Riomaggiore, and Manarola.

Thanks for your feedback on my itinerary. I appreciate your concern about Day 3 and the logistics of sightseeing in Monaco, Menton, and Ventimiglia on the way to Sanremo.

To address your point about luggage storage, I was thinking that maybe I need to travel light and only bring a small backpack and a baby carrier with me. This will allow me to easily store my belongings in a locker at the train station (if that’s a thing?). Or maybe using a luggage storage service such as Stasher or LuggageHero? Any suggestions anyone?

In terms of the sightseeing itinerary, I understand that it may be a bit ambitious. Can anyone suggest what to cut out? Maybe I can see Monaco and Menton on 9/4 since our stuff will be at the hotel and then on 9/5 I can take the train straight to Sanremo?

I think for the most part it sounds like a good itinerary. I also would wonder about day 3. Is jet leg going to be a factor? Because sometimes that can be a challenge if your 1 year old wants to nap at the wrong moments.

Personally I would skip the stroller, it is just something extra to cart on and off of the train.

Why not see Pisa on your way to Florence? If you don't want 3 days in Florence, add that night to Cinque Terre or Rome.

Day 3 seems a bit ambitious. Does your toddler nap or usually need some quiet/down time? If so, plan for that in your itinerary. When we traveled with our kids when they were toddlers jet lag and getting onto a new time zone was challenging for them. Something to prepare for. Every child is different but I think it helps to anticipate what might be a challenge and be ready.

Where will your baby sleep? When we traveled with our 15 mo old to Paris and Italy, it took 3 adults to carry her stuff-the smaller the child, the more stuff. i can't imagine having enough energy to travel to this many places with a young child. To me, this would be an exhausting itinerary even without a child.

You're moving around too much to be dragging a youngster with you. The logistics of taking all the items that are required to properly take car of the child is just too difficult.

You would do better to stay in a central location for a few days and take day trips by rental car. Then move to another city or region. A rental car would simplify hauling big bags too.

We've never been big on taking very young children on trips to Europe. Our daughter stayed at home with my parents until age 11 when she started traveling with us. She didn't suffer. Now we're traveling with her 11 year old daughter on her 3rd trip to Europe. Our only problem is overdosing on McDonalds--that she requires.

Hey guys, I wanted to thank you all for the great feedback and suggestions for my travel itinerary. After careful consideration, my current plans are to focus on exploring Nice and possibly take an optional day trip to Monaco. If time permits, we may also spend 1-2 days in Genoa. I realized that my original itinerary was quite ambitious, and I want to make sure that my little one can adjust to the jet lag and the new surroundings before we take on too much.

Also, if we do end up going to Cinque Terre, we plan on spending 3-5 days there to really immerse ourselves in the area and explore all the villages. Thank you again for all the help!

Current tentative itinerary:

Day 1-6: Nice (6 days)
- Arrival in Nice
- Explore Nice's Old Town, famous market, and museums
- Visit the nearby city of Monaco

Day 7-11: Cinque Terre (5 days)
- Take a train from Nice to Vernazza (approx. 4 hours with a change in Genoa)
- Spend 5 days exploring the five villages of Cinque Terre, hiking along the scenic trails, and enjoying local cuisine and wine
- Take a train from Vernazza to Genoa (approx. 1 hour)

Day 12-13: Genoa (2 days)
- Spend 2 days exploring Genoa
- Take a train from Genoa to Nice (approx. 2-3 hours)

Day 14: Departure
- Depart from Nice

Thoughts???

I have not been to the places on your new itinerary, but good for you listening to the advice you asked for. We also took our daughter to London, Belgium, and Paris when she was 4. Our trips to Europe with a preschooler went fine(except when she was 15 mo and picked up a piece of bread that people were giving pigeons on a dirty square in Florence and ate it,) but I don't know if that would have been the case if we'd had more than one or a child who didn't travel as well as ours did. Enjoy your trip!

Hi! I see that you already revised your itinerary, which sounds like a good move. I have young kids and we found that more days in a location was preferred. Packing up takes longer with kids and we enjoyed having more time to see each place. We have traveled twice with a 2 year old and used a hiking style baby carrier, which worked well—it allowed us to hike a lot and both my kids napped in it. If you think your child will nap better in a stroller, it might be worth taking. I know there’s a lot of great options for travel strollers that fold up small. We also went to Cinque Terre on our last trip with kids, so let me know if you want any more details and I can link my trip report. Good luck!!

The revised itinerary ( your 5-13 post) is a HUGE improvement and looks to be a manageable trip that can be enjoyed.

Your original idea looked like the best thing you could say when you got home would have been 'we survived'.

I wish you the best on your travels with your child.
It reminds me of a two week cruise that we took with several family members in the MED back in 2010. My Daughter brought her family, including my Granddaughter, about 2 years old. When we dined together my Granddaughter made it difficult for us to enjoy our meal.

Yes, my Daughter and her family clearly lagged behind when we visited ports and did sightseeing. Clearly, having a toddler made it difficult to tour.

Perhaps your toddler isn't as unruly as my Granddaughter. Still, my thoughts would be to save your money and delay travel until the child is older.

I traveled with my kids when the youngest was 5 years old and managed fairly well.

Your revised plan sounds much better. Definitely less is more when it comes to travel with toddlers. Thinking back to travel with my son (who's now in college!) this is what we did the first few years which worked well: Newborn, a week at a resort hotel in Bermuda; one year, a rented house in St. John, USVI (with grandmother also there); years 2-6 (approx), we found cruises to be ideal, as soon as he was old enough for the cruise lines' kids' club (as young as 2 at that time with Carnival). An umbrella stroller was essential; you don't want to be carrying the child plus all your gear. Ages 6-10, various domestic trips such as Arizona. He first went to Europe (Denmark and Norway) at 10, once he was old enough to appreciate it, be on the go all day (or almost all day), and carry his own backpack.

Check out Youtube channel WOLTERSWORLD. He has 64 videos on traveling with children, includng infants. Lots of good, practical info.

I think an umbrella stroller is a must

Will your child be in a carseat on the airplane? When we took our grandchildren to Italy, they had carseats on the plane (both safer and more practical than the baby being on a lap or the 3-year-old using an adult seatbelt). They needed the carseats because we rented a car on arrival, but it was not fun to lug those carseats around once we gave up the car and took a train. Just a thing to think about.