First family trip to Italy

With 15 full days on the ground, you have 6 lodging changes- too many IMO. Your Florence stop could also cover Sienna & Sorrento. Add 1 more CT night. This will lessen your need to change rooms (always more involved then one thinks).

Have a great trip & make some lasting family memories!

kln,
Wanted to share with you our itinerary for our first family trip to Italy this coming summer. We also have two children, ages 13 and 11, going too. This is what we have planned based on the incredible and helpful feedback acquired on this forum. We also have based our trip on giving our preteens down time and transition time. We have booked lodging in apartments, in all but Cinque Terre, in order to give us laundry, space, and a better budget. We are not traveling to Sorrento, but maybe this will help you.
Venice - Sleep 3 nights
Train to Florence - Sleep 4 nights (with side trips to Lucca and whatever suits our mood!)
Train to Cinque Terre - Sleep 2 nights in Monterosso
Train to Rome - Sleep 4 nights in Rome
As I said, this will be our first trip, so I cannot comment on the success of our itinerary. However, if you are interested in our apartment or hotel selections, you are welcome to PM me.
Best of everything, and enjoy the planning.

A first trip is always hard to plan. Looks like you are doing something similar to what I did - modify a RS tour itinerary. Here are some tips to help. Try to determine what activities you will do in each place to allot appropriate time. Personally, I think 2 nights in Venice is okay. You can stay in both Florence and Siena or you can day trip to Siena and remain in Florence - whatever works for you. I did not go to CT or Sorrento, so I can't help you there. You may want to consider one or the other for a coastal view. I would lean toward Sorrento based on what others have told me. You can do Siena with kids in one full day - City Tower, Cathedral Complex. Trattoria Papei - behind city tower is family friendly. Feel free to ask more questions.

I think this would be a great itinerary if you had more time but I agree with the others that it is a lot for 15 days. Some thoughts:
-Most people will say not to spend one night in a city. You end up spending most of your time in transit and not enjoying the locale.

-I agree with Barb about picking the Cinque Terre or Sorrento. They are both different areas but provide a beautiful experience of the Italian Coast. I think with kids, Sorrento might be a better option. You are in close proximity to Pompeii, Herculaneum, the Archaeological museum in Naples. I don't have kids but I would think kids that age would really enjoy that.
-Italy in July/August is hot. Hot hot. Unless you are from a southern state where you spend your summers outside all of the time, this will affect you. This means you will move slower and tire out quicker. You can still have a fantastic trip but you have to plan for the heat. Plan more down time than you think you will need. Summers in Italy, I like to get going early, head back to my air conditioned hotel around mid afternoon for a shower and a siesta, and head back out for dinner when it has cooled down some.
- For 16 nights, I would pick maximum 4 cities but preferably 3. Pisa and Siena can be day trips from Florence. You can see Pompeii/Herculaneum from Rome. Does it do them justice? Absolutely not. But you can spend more time for your next trip!

Enjoy your trip with your family! I am 33 and I still love taking trips to Europe with my parents!!!

I would skip the CT if all you have is one night. it is a lot of travel time to-and-from for one night. As someone said, with kids the Amalfi Coast is probably a better choice. Add that night to Venezia as you will be tired and it may be challenging to get the kids out of bed for a couple of days, which may cause you to miss a lot in Venezia. The kids will love the vaporetto, a day trip to Murano and Burano.

You probably know this but 2 nights = one full day of touring. Every time you change locations you lose at least half a day so changing locations is expensive, especially in terms of time utilization. And I know that traveling with young people is slower. It's hard to get 4 people out the door and especially hard to do it early in the day when the weather is cooler and the sites less crowded. So you need to allow for downtime in the afternoons to compensate for early mornings and late evenings.

I would personally combine Firenze and Siena and stay a total of 5 nights in Firenze. Day trip to Pisa and Siena. Siena is nice to see, but after years of hearing how people "luuuvvv" Siena, I have to disagree. I LOVE Firenze. Add the 6th night from Tuscany to Sorrento. It's a long way south for 3 nights; 4 is better. Take a day to Pompeii, a day down the Amalfi Coast to Amalfi town and Positano, then decide on a day in Sorrento relaxing or a trip perhaps to Ischia or Procida.

You will have fun but try not to exhaust everyone by moving around too much.

kln,

To begin with, it would help to have some idea where you're flying from? I assume you've allowed for the fact that you'll arrive in Europe the day after you depart. Also, you'll be jet lagged for the first few days, so won't be up to full "touring speed".

Your plan is reasonable, but I'd suggest a few changes, as shown below. Would something like this work.....

• Jul.18 - D1/N1 - arrive at VCE, take Alilaguna from airport to stop closest to your hotel (you likely won't have much time or energy for touring, but can do a brief walkabout anyway)
• Jul.19 - D2/N2 - Venice, touring
• Jul.20 - D3/N3 - Venice, touring
• Jul.21 - D4/N1 - Train to Florence (try to arrive early afternoon, as your hotel room should have been serviced by then).
• Jul.22 - D5/N2 - Florence, touring
• Jul.23 - D6/N3 - Florence, touring
• Jul.24 - D7/N4 - Florence, possible day trip to Lucca
• Jul.25 - D8/N1 -Train to Cinque Terre - which of the five towns are you planning to stay in? Stop in Pisa on the way if desired (keep in mind that you'll be hauling luggage) - you could also visit Pisa as a half day trip from Florence. Spending one night in the C.T. is not advisable as that only allows a few hours for actual touring (especially if you stop in Pisa).
• Jul.26 - D9/N2 - Cinque Terre, touring
• Jul.27 - D10/N1 - Train to Siena
• Jul.28 - D11/N2 - Siena, touring
• Jul.29 - D12/N1 - Train to Rome
• Jul.30 - D13/N2 - Rome, touring
• Jul.31 - D14/N3 - Rome, possible day trip to Orvieto (about an hour each way)
• Aug.1 - D15/N4 - Rome, possible day trip to Pompeii (it's a long day, but possible - you'll have to use Trenitalia to Napoli Centrale and then Circumvesuviana to Pompeii).
• Aug.2 - D16/N5 - Rome, touring
• Aug.3 - Flight home (take Leonardo Express, Taxi or Shuttle to airport.

You can obtain all the details on the rail trips you'll be taking from the Trenitalia website. Note that there are some potentially expensive "caveats" to be aware of when using trains or other public transit in Italy. If you need more information, post another note.

IMHO, it would be better to skip Sorrento on this visit in order to reduce the number of city changes for such a short itinerary. The Cinque Terre is a better "fit" for the other places you want to see.

If you haven't booked accommodations in the Cinque Terre, I would suggest doing that SOON! Monterosso is the largest of the five towns, and therefore has the greatest number of accommodation choices, so that would probably be your best bet. There are listings for accommodations in all the C.T. towns in the RS Italy guidebook (which I would recommend packing along, as it's excellent reference during trips). Pre-booking accommodations would be a good idea for each of your stops, as July will likely be hot and crowded in Italy.

My first question is if you've traveled long distances with the kids before? How do they deal with time changes? How organized/efficient are they with packing, etc. If they adapt easily and can move quickly, that's great and you can see a lot. If you are going to have slow mornings - dawdling in bathrooms, over breakfast, leaving things behind, you should plan to slow down more. After all, the idea is to have a great family vacation. Just keep thinking "less is more." if mornings will be slow, consider leaving your bags in storage at the hotel, sightseeing for the day, then picking up the bags and taking late afternoon or evening trains to your next destination. You can pick up food and drink for picnic suppers on the train, if you've left anything behind in the room, the maids will have found it, everyone can rest and relax on the train after a busy day.

I do agree with the others here that you should drop either the Cinque Terre or Sorrento, preferably Sorrento because of the distance.

Venice is a great place to start. Allow 2 full days there.

Pisa can be a 1/2 day trip from Florence or a stop on the way to the CT. As Ken noted, if you stop en route, you'll have your bags with you. You can store them at the train station. You'll pay by the piece, but it will probably about the same as round-trip tickets from Florence. If you want to climb the tower, you should reserve places in advance. The climb is in groups with a guide and the places are limited. It's a ramp up, not stairs. It's a strange experience because of the tilt. Most kids enjoy it, but if anyone has vertigo issues . . . Little known is that the accompanying church is beautiful and the baptistry is better - terrific acoustics.

Instead of a really long tiring daytrip to Pompeii, you could see Ostia Antica instead. While it's not as impressive or extensive, it's still an ancient Roman town. You'll walk on 2,000 year old paved streets with wheel ruts, see shops, mosaics, well worth the easy train ride.

Hi kln1971 -
Just agreeing with the above that you look to have too many moves for the amount of days you have - especially with young people in tow. I'll throw my vote in with Chani to take Sorrento off the list and add more time to the CT and other locations north of Rome to cut down on the amount of moves/distance, and because it doesn't make any sense to do Pisa and the CT on the same day. I'd give the CT at least two nights if you're going to do that one.

Ostia Antica is a great alternative to Pompeii: a surprising amount of tourists have found that they actually preferred that one, after the fact.

We did a week in Italy with our boys last summer who were 9 and 11.

I would definitely add a night to Venice. And take out the one night CT... we only stopped at CT as a cruise stop (before our Italy week) - but it's not so great for kids IMO and I think it's too much hassle to go there for 1 night.

If you are looking to add a stop, we all really enjoyed Lucca. But I think you are better to just add to Venice and skip CT. Arriving there you only have 1 day in Venice... you will want more.

In Venice, please do this - it was so fun! rowvenice.org
They teach you to row a batello (I think that was the name of the boat) - similar to gondola but more stable!

Kim

Thanks everyone for all your helpful comments. We have revised our trip to the following
Venice 3 nights
Florence 3 nights (day trip to Pisa)
Siena 2 nights
Sorrento 3 nights (Day trips to Capri and Almalfi Coast)
Rome 5 nights (include a day trip to Orvieto and Civeta)
We are planning to use trains to move from City to City. We are planning to take the first train in the morning. Question...Would it be better to take late evening train?

Some things you need to check as far as taking the first morning train...

Time of check in for hotels, apartments. Will your lodging allow you to drop off your bags
before check in?

Will the rail station have a luggage check? You don't want to be wandering around with
suitcases or backpacks.

Everyone is a little different but I prefer to take whatever train will allow me to be there between early afternoon to late afternoon/early evening. This generally allows me to check into the hotel right away and then go get something to eat. Navigating a new city seems a little more difficult (to me) in the dark. But only you know the best schedule for your family. If part of your concern about travelling at night is about safety, don't worry about that.

Also, know that Sorrento is not accessible by the same train line as the other major cities. You take the train to Naples and then take the subway (Circumvesuviana) to Sorrento. I just mention this because that line can be very crowded, standing room only, and hot. That might be a situation where you aim to be there pretty early in the morning or in the evening when the crowds are thinning. Or there are private car transfers from the Naples train station. In my opinion, hiring a car transfer from Naples to Sorrento when you have kids and luggage, is worth the extra money.

Siena 2 nights . . . Sorrento 3 nights (Day trips to Capri and Almalfi Coast)

I think it will take you almost the entire day to get from Siena to Sorrento. Bus to Rome, train to Naples, local train to Sorrento. Or bus/train to Florence, train to Naples, local train to Sorrento. Then you'll use half a day to get from Sorrento to Rome. I urge you to reconsider. With at best 2.5 days in Sorrento, is it worthwhile to shlep with the kids and the luggage? An alternative that might work is to hire a private car and driver from Siena to Sorrento and you could work in a stop or two along the way.

Rome 5 nights (include a day trip to Orvieto and Civeta)
Orvieto is a long day trip. While it's only 1-1.25 hours on the train, you have to get to the Rome station, then from the Orvieto station, you take wait for the funicular up to the town. I don't know how you'd get from Orvieto to Civita or what there is to see in Civita, but you'll barely have time to see some of Orvieto's sights and have lunch before you're headed back to Rome - unless your group has a lot of stamina for a really long day in summer's heat.

We are planning to take the first train in the morning. Question...Would it be better to take late evening train?

Whatever you think will be better for your family. If it's easy to get everyone up, organized, fed and out first thing in the morning, it might be better for you. I like to spend the morning and afternoon sightseeing, then go back to the hotel to get my luggage and take a late afternoon or early evening train. That way I get a little more sightseeing time, and I'm relaxing when I'm tired out. You can take food along and have a picnic meal on the train. Sometimes it just depends on the train times or the itinerary.

The amount of time it'll take to get to Sorrento from Siena is another reason I'd choose the CT instead: it'll take so much less time and hassle to get to, and the coast is every bit as scenic. It'll be very busy, of course, but Sorrento will be as well. The beauty of the CT is the ease of moving between the villages as - with the exception of getting up to Corniglia - it take just minutes to get from one to another. And you can also take a ferries, just as on the Sorrentine Coast. Depending on which of the Blue Trail routes are open, the kids might enjoy a trek on one of the those.

The ease of travel between villages also allows for a relatively quick trip back to your hotel should the kids need a break, weather threatens, etc.

I'm curious why some of the members found Sorrento more kid-friendly than the CT as I can't think of any real difference there between the two but maybe they'll kindly elaborate a little more?

Most hotels will cheerfully store luggage so I don't think that's an issue in any case.

Personally, I think private transfer from Siena to Sorrento would be cost prohibitive : that is a VERY long way but everyone's budget and preferences are different so there's no wrong answer there. But how to take public transit abroad is a teachable moment for the kids as they'll be absorbing the experience of the journey and well as the destination. If they've never done train travel, that may end up being some of the more exciting and memorable moments of the trip - as it was for me when I was youngster. But any way you do it, getting to Sorrento from Siena is going to be a loooong day.

With kids, even if they're GOOD kids, I'd cut the full-bag travel days down even more, and go the 'home base' route:

Since you're flying into Venice, start there, stay 2 nights. Train to Florence, stay 5 nights. In that time, you can take full-daytrips by train (Firenze SMN station is a hub & very efficient) to Cinque Terre & Siena, and still have plenty of time to see Florence. Train to Sorrento (around 6 hrs on the road) or to Salerno (3.5 hrs) which is centrally located to Sorrento & Amalfi Coast, also Pompeii, Paestum & Naples. Stay 4 nights. Then train to Rome, stay 5 nights. Fly out of Rome.

Agree with the poster above me. I think that's the best itinerary for your trip. I'd definitely base in Florence for at least 5 days and do day trips to Pisa and Siena. I'd also recommend an apartment for that five day span because you have two kids with you. I've found that kids really enjoy the flexibility of having food around when they like it -- and hotels make this a little more difficult, but less so in Italy. I've stayed in VRBO 68776 twice and loved it (in Florence). It's two bedrooms/two bathrooms, and while it's in a residential area, it's within walking distance to all of Florence's beautiful sites, and there are restaurants nearby.

What a coincidence as I first approach this Italian forum looking for help on our itinerary to Italy! Our family of 4, two boys (ages 13, 11) will also be travelling to Italy during Spring Break this coming March-April. This will be our 3rd annual European Spring Break vacation (2013 - we did Switzerland; 2014 - Barcelona, Paris, Rhein region/Füssen, fly back from Zurich). It was a bit exhausting, but we visited friends on every city (although we booked our own hotels) and my kids loved it, they handled it pretty well!... This year, we will concentrate in Italy only. We will fly to Rome and return via Zurich, for a total of 13 nights. We WILL not be travelling to Venice on this trip.
This is our initial tentative itinerary, although I haven't booked any hotels/apartments yet. There's plenty of availability in Rome with airbnb and/or homeaway, which is the way we'll book our stays.
Rome - 3 nights
Florence - 4 nights (rent a car and visit nearby hill towns too if possible).
Cinque Terre - 2 nights (we thought of 3 days initially but based from the responses I've read, 2 nights might work best. We love the ocean and we could do lots of hiking in the area).
Lake Como region - 2 nights (I’m starting to have 2nd thoughts on this one, it may be just “too relaxing” for a couple of energetic boys hanging out with us).
Zürich - 2 nights
Ideally I’d like to stay in 3 cities while in Italy, but there is so much to choose from, I’m having a very hard time deciding… We love nature and sightseeing…
As you can see, it's more of a "relaxing" itinerary, the kids are pretty exhausted of museum visiting, history learning, etc... Any tweeks to our tentative itinerary? Thanks in advance for any feedback!
Alex

Alex--

It's a good itinerary. Agree that Lake Como is something that you can pass on, but only from the standpoint of you'd be better off only staying in three places in Italy rather than four, unless you really can minimize your 'stuff' & travel like champions. Maybe given your family's past experience, you can do exactly that!

If I were tweaking, I'd delete Lake Como & add a night to Rome to either just hang around Campo de' Fiori or to daytrip it one day to Pompeii or Naples from Rome Termini station. And because you love nature & hiking, I'd add a night to the Cinque Terre. Only caveat there is that it might be a little chilly. If you still want to hike, have beautiful vistas but have it (in theory) warmer, consider the Amalfi Coast instead of Cinque Terre. That time of year ( FYI about 2 weeks after we'll be there!) should be great and it's just ahead of tourist season, so you should still have the run of Sorrento, Positano or any of the little towns in between before the crowds descend. From what I hear, the hiking is magnificent there. In that case, you would do Rome-->Amalfi-->Florence-->Zurich--and by train it's totally doable.

Thanks egbdf13579,

I'll definitely look into it and will discuss it over with my wife... I have not read the Amalfi Coast section from Rick Steves' book, time to continue my "homework"... Thanks again!

Alex

Kathy- I suggested Sorrento over the Cinque Terre with kids because of the nearby sites (Pompeii/museums in Naples) would be interesting to kids. I know they both have great hiking and water front. But I was not aware of another "site" per se in the Cinque Terre that kids would want to see. But maybe I am wrong. And maybe it doesn't matter if they are only going to go for a couple of days. They might just be looking for some down time on the coast.

Ah. Thanks for that, Kristin.
Guess I was working off an earlier suggestion to see Ostia Antica from Rome as an alternate to Pompeii when there was some tossing about of scrapping the Sorrentine.

I did Pompeii in July many years ago (have done it twice) and the most vivid memory of that first time was the heat. Phew… !!!

Personally I prefer morning trains, but Chani's suggestion for afternoon trains is excellent. It's also a way to save money on meals, pick up whatever you need at the station.

If you are planning a daytrip to Pisa, you might want to stop in Lucca as well. You can rent bikes or walk the walls (about 4 kilometers, I think), and there is lots to see.

Kathy- I know what you mean about the heat in Pompeii! We chose to not do a tour and use the map and I was completely unprepared for just how big the city is. There was also a lot of construction (excavating?) so a lot of the streets were shut down which made go us lost. It was a great day but we were definitely ready for some shade and a big bottle of water at the end of it.

Kristin, I haven't done a tour there either but it's very easy to underestimate the size of the site, isn't it? It's huge: much, much larger than I'm guessing most first-visitors imagine it to be. A good map/guidebook (bought ours at the entrance) is a MUST, as is plenty of water and something to discretely nibble on if one gets peckish hours into the thing. :O)

Well, that sounds pretty cool to me. We'll be going to Pompeii on a daytrip from Salerno, middle of March. Might have to pack a picnic lunch to eat among the ruins. Bread, salsiccia, cheese. A couple water bottles, I hear that there are water fountains throughout for refills. Great idea!