Best places to travel with teens in Italy

I was surprised that our 12 yr old really enjoyed visits to the Vatican Museums and Uffizi on guided tours. She commented that she really liked the guide for the one at the Vatican.

I've taken 13, 16 and 19 year old teens to Italy at various times. My daughters loved shopping markets (the mercado in Florence, and walking the pedestrian shopping streets of Florence and Rome) and one daughter really loves museums. (She is now a professional museum educator!) With my son, we were all happier travelers if he got a chance to do something quite physically active every day - especially climbing something! When planning our travels, I booked him climbs up the Leaning Tower of Pisa, and to the top of the Duomo in Florence. He also climbed down the well in Orvieto and scampered around the walls of Orvieto, and another day hiked the entire main trail of the Cinque Terre (back before it became Cruise Ship Central). I did not take any of my kiddos to Lucca, but having walked the walls around Lucca on my own recently, I can imagine that a good bike ride around the walls of Lucca might be a great family activity.

Hi Lisa and welcome to the forum.

It would help us if we new how many nights you have for your trip and a general idea of your family's interest.

Probably 7-10 days. We love good food and cooking. My older son loves history & both of my sons & husband like to build things and see how things work. We all love beautiful scenery and meeting the locals. We’re looking into some organized tours as well as doing our own thing.

If you hire a private guide explaining things they will enjoy museums too. At least I did at their age during our monthly museum visits with my school growing up in Florence. We used to carry foldable chairs in some large museums like the Uffizi when I was in middle school. Then sit down like in a classroom while our teachers explained the artwork. Not sure they still allow foldable chairs, but nowadays they make super small foldable chairs that fit in your pocket. Standing up for too long is the biggest disincentive for visiting museums.

Does 1-10 days include travel to and from Italy?

Probably...

With a 7 day trip you have 5 nights on the ground. Spend it in one location. With a 10 day trip, 8 nights. I'd do 2 locations, with a possible day trip from each.

Every time you change the place you lay your head you in all reality loose a half day, packing up, getting to the train, finding your lodging and checking in. Sometimes less is more, allowing you to enjoy a place instead of just seeing it.

Hope this helps.

We just spent 2 weeks in Italy (Venice, Florence and Rome) with our 14 and 17 year old granddaughters. Highlights for them we’re cooking classes in Florence and Rome, MaMaFlorence and Cook with us in Rome respectively. They even took a bike & cook class with MaMaFlorence.

They also enjoyed a rowing lesson in Venice with Row Venice. They enjoyed shopping for clothing in Florence, a food tour in Rome and gelato comparison in every city. We had some great 2-3 bedroom and 2 bath apartments booked through Homeaway in all three cities.

EDIT: I might add that we debated about Florence, a Tuscan hilltown or an agriturismo. We’d actually booked an agriturismo but then found out they weren’t doing cooking classes on site and would need to go into Florence for a cooking class. I’m glad we ended up in Florence, such a vibrant place with these 2 granddaughters who loved to explore and quickly knew their way around the city. It was a perfect size and comfort level for active teens day and night.

If your sons and husbands like to see how things work, I suggest that you look into the Galileo Museum in Florence.

We just did two weeks in Italy in July 2019 with our sons who were 13 and 14 at the time. They were reluctant travellers and spent a year telling us they did not want to go! But, they LOVED the trip. Here's what we did and the highlights:

Rome (4 nights)
- Private tour of the Colosseum and the Forum with https://www.crisromanguide.com (as recommended by RS). This was a huge highlight for the boys.
- Walks of Italy Tour of the Vatican
- The Pantheon
- finding the best gelato

Sorrento (2 nights)
- Swimming in the Mediterrean was a big highlight
- Private tour of Pompeii with Antonio who was AMAZING (as recommended by RS). http://www.pompeitour.com

Florence (3 nights)
- Bike tour with https://www.florencetown.com
- Duomo, Campanile, Piazzale Michaelangelo
- Cooking class with https://www.accidentaltourist.com. They picked us up in Florence and drove us 20 minutes into the countryside for our amazing pasta making class. This was the best meal we ate in Italy!

Cinque Terre - Monterosso (4 nights)
- The boys were completely ready for a break from being tourist by the time we got here. All we did was swim and explore the towns. But mostly we just went to the beach and swam.

Venice - (2 nights)
- Gondola ride was a hit
- toured St. Mark's square and church on our own
- Guided tour of the Doge's Palace
- wandering around the streets away from the crowds is mostly how we spent our time. It is easy to avoid the crowds and provides an amazing experience of Venice

My most reluctant traveller gave the trip 1000 out of 10 so it was a huge success and a trip of a lifetime for our family!

hey hey lisa
how fun to take the family to italy. you are going during a busy season, all the places you want will be very busy and crowded since it's summer time. you don't have many days, so i would stay in one place.you can do day trip from there.
check out lucca. it's a walled city, kids can ride bikes around the area, you can roa around the city, stop for lunch or dinner, shop, people watch, enjoy.
apartmentslucca.com
come&seeitaly.com if any tours you want (check out barga and garfagnana, up in the hills and devils bridge.
take the train to pisa, if they wanna climb tower make sure you reserve, only online. (opapisa.it)
extravirginlucca.com has a cooking class
cucina-italiana.com is another cooking class with chef paolo. he does half day classes.
fattoriaalmotto.com (click to english) take a bus or taxi to the area. do some wine tasting.
tahe a train to viareggio, beaches for the kids to enjoy, walk along the boardwalk, have a seafood lunch within the restaurants and shops around. take train to other villages within cinqueterre if need be,
the town of collodi is the mome to pinocchio, has an amusement park for the kids, also garzoni gardens and butterfly house to visit.
lots of thing to do with you and the family. check out the areas and enjoy your time. you don't want to be moving between places, it takes at least half a day to pack up travel, get to new place, check in after 2-3pm for checkin time. stay in one place and day trip or enjoy the area,
have fun and have fun wherever you decide.
aloha

I second the Galileo Museum. It was fascinating.

Since your guys like to build things, they might enjoy this Leonardo di Vinci Museum in Vinci Italy.

https://www.discovertuscany.com/what-to-see-in-tuscany/birthplace-of-leonardo-da-vinci.html

Or this one in Florence.

https://www.mostredileonardo.com/en/

Stay in Tuscany and do a day trip to Florence.
Rent a villa with a pool. We did this with four teens and it was a great success. We toured during the day and when we returned to the villa, into the pool!