I am planning a trip to Italy at the end of May 2026 for our family of 5. This will be the first trip to Europe for my three teens. The route I am considering is Rome > Florence > Cinque Terre > Nice. We will only have about 10 days, and I am a little concerned this is too much; I do not want the trip to feel rushed. That being said, my husband and I have seen a lot of Italy, but not Cinque Terre or the south of France, and we were trying to see something new as well. Everything I read about Cinque Terre sounds overcrowded and almost unenjoyable. Should we skip it and go to Lake Como instead? I know nothing of Nice, but thought it would be a good experience for the kids to visit another country, and this seemed like a good location with a major airport to fly home. I assume we will be required to reserve two rooms to accommodate all of us along the trip, but please let me know if you all have any tips for arranging an extra guest in a single room. Is it enough to rely on taxis/rideshare, or should we arrange drivers in advance? Thanks in advance for any input you have to offer!
Posted by
6410 posts
With the needed caveat that I have not been to France yet, there are some gorgeous areas of the French coast that I have high on my list and would consider as alternatives to CT. Look at Verdon and Calanques. You would likely need car but perhaps there are day tours if that is off the table.
I would first flesh out the travel time on your proposed itinerary -- you are losing a lot of time in transit in a ten-day trip. I would consider sticking to smaller area.
I have been throughout Italy but the lakes just don't call to me--I would think teens would find it boring (I'm saying that so parents with experience can contradict me!). If you want to stick to Italy, I would nix Nice and look at some alternatives to CT because the coast in late May is really spectacular! The Camogli-Santa Margarita Ligure area is popular as a CT alternative, but it may end up just as crowded eventually. I don't think it has yet though. You would not need a car.
Posted by
San Diego, California, USA
1848 posts
Hello babbott5, and welcome to the forum,
In my opinion "about 10 days" is enough time for 3 locations tops. Changing countries - unless the border is right there - is generally a task that takes a lot of time. You could do 4 nights Rome, 3 nights Florence 2 nights (somewhere) and then 1 night in the flight city before heading home. That somewhere could be Como flying out of Milan or CT flying out of Pisa/Florence/Bologna. Even this schedule is minimal for these places and does not include France.
You need to determine exactly how many nights you are staying and then plan with 3 nights somewhere providing 2 full days of time in that city bordered by 2 days of packing up, checking out, travel to another city, checking in and unpacking. I would be careful not underestimate the potential time of getting 5 people coordinated, packed and to the train station unless everyone are seasoned travellers.
I hate to be a downer but trust that voice that says it's too much. Plan out how many nights you have somewhere, what you want to see and then the travel time between places. Pruning places off your wish list is hard but if you over plan what you'll probably remember when you get back is the transit system of Italy and your struggles rather than the country itself.
Good luck,
=Tod
Posted by
Alberta
730 posts
I agree that with 9 or 10 nights I would be inclined to do 3 places instead of 4. Personally I would drop Florence this trip as along with Rome it is two very busy, crowded cities You could easily spend all 10 days in Rome with things to see, so why cut it short. A train from Rome to CT is 4 to 5 hours. Same timing for CT to Nice. I don't mind the train rides as a chance to rest, but just something to consider.
I have heard that Lake Como is very busy now too, so can't compare, but the one nice thing of CT is that if you stay overnight the daytrippers have left, and you have the towns more to yourself. There is also lots of other towns on the Italian Riviera to consider instead of the Cinque Terre.
We have travelled with 3 kids before. Many hotels do also have an apartment, or you can book a double and a triple. The only family room for 5 that I found was in a convent in Rome " Suore di Elisabetta. It was fabulous, but they were pretty narrow beds ( and this was many years ago). You will also find many private apartments on booking.com.
Posted by
118 posts
Having travelled with teenagers frequently, I learned to work around the realities I was faced with. Only you know how easy they are to travel with. Are they difficult to wake? Do they require 2 hour showers or prep time? We will be in Florence and Rome in May- 2 of us adults. In my research I found many apartment listings. We don't rent apartments so it isn't something I paid too much attention to. I don't think you will find rideshare an option, as in Uber.