First Time Italy Itinerary Advice (June, Family of 4) – Rome, Florence, Ligurian Coast, Venice

For such a short trip I recommend skipping Lerici and adding one night to each of the other three cities. Also don’t stay out on Murano. You’ll waste a lot of time getting into Venice. Monti neighborhood is a great choice in Rome but choose a hotel that’s locally owned not an Airbnb. Also your children will probably like Rome and Florence better than Venice so if you are committed to Lerici (I’ve never been there) skip Venice or cut it back to 2 nights in Venice not Murano. If what you want to see is CT area but not necessarily the five villages consider Levanto and Santa Margherita Ligure.

I'm going to agree that your current itinerary is agressive; especially with 4 children in tow. I would also recommend deleting one of your places if you can't add extra days. Remember that every time you travel to new locations you lose at least half a day of sightseeing. In the case of Lerici to Venice, you would essentially lose a whole day.

While I understand the desire for an apartment, with 4 children, I can't say I love the idea of staying in Murano. Again, with a very short stay already, you are losing a lot of sightseeing time just getting to and from Venice. 2 nights, with 2 full days in Venice might be sufficient. But with a late day arrival because of the transit from Lerici, not to mention the time it will take to get out to Murano, you currently only have one day to visit one of the most unique cities in the world. So my answer to that question is no, 2 nights is not enough.

Hi!

Sounds like a wonderful trip with your family.

Generally, we like to settle in to fewer locations and potentially add some day trips so my first thought would be to stick to Rome, Florence, and Venice as two nights will really only give you one full day in a location.

Venice is our favorite city so I am admittedly biased, but I don’t know that two nights is enough. I know many people on here have also recommended Row Venice as a fun activity for kids around the age of your children, but it would be hard to add in such an activity with limited time there if you still wanted to visit the main attractions. I would highly recommend staying in Venice (Cannaregio is less crowded and easy if you are arriving by train). Murano is beautiful, but you will waste a lot of time going back and forth to the hotel. Venice is beautiful in the evening so you might enjoy being able to wander without having to catch a vaporetto back to Murano.

I am not sure where you are headed post-Italy, but if you are headed directly to the US it might be worth seeing if you can reverse the order of your trip to end in Rome. Flights to the US are often early and getting o the Venice airport for early flights can be a little tricky.

If well planned, Rome would be tight but doable in my opinion. Of course, some of that depends on your travel style.

We enjoy train only travel, but I defer to others who have rented cars in Tuscany chime in.

Enjoy your travels!

@CJean
Thanks for the thoughtful reply — really appreciate it. Just to clarify, we’re traveling with two kids (11 & 14), not four, so that may change some of the logistics a bit.

Your point about losing time on travel days is well taken, especially Lerici → Venice. That’s exactly what we’re trying to balance — keeping the coast without shortchanging Venice too much.

Based on feedback here, we’re leaning toward keeping Venice at 3 nights if we include Lerici, so we still have enough time to explore without feeling rushed.

@Travler2015

Thank you — this is really helpful, and I appreciate you calling out your Venice bias 😊

The evening point is a great one, and that’s something we’ve been weighing with Murano vs staying on the main islands. We’re now leaning toward 3 nights in Venice if we keep Murano, so evenings don’t feel rushed.

We do want some coastal downtime for the kids, which is why we started looking at Lerici instead of Cinque Terre, but we’re trying hard not to overpack the itinerary.

Lots to think about — thank you again for the perspective.

I agree with the above posters about not staying in Murano. You will waste so much time. Although I am on the Rick Steves forum, and I sometimes use his guidebooks, I don't always follow his advice. In addition to Cannaregio, another awesome location and less crowded is Dorsoduro, where we stayed last May. We stayed at a hotel about a one-minute walk from the Accademia bridge. It was about a 20-minute walk to St. Mark's Square. We loved staying in Dorsoduro.

I don't necessarily agree that your children won't like Venice. Even though I haven't been there with children, I think they would like and enjoy seeing the canals, riding on the vaporettos and taking a gondola ride. And walking across the bridges. Venice is so unique and really is like no other, IMO. We picked up our gondola ride at Campo S. Barnaba in Dorsoduro. Told the gondolier to take us down the back canals that are quiet and less crowded rather than spending a lot of time on the Grand Canal.

Two nights is not sufficient in Venice, IMO. I would spend 3 or 4 nights in Venice. You won't be enjoying the food and neighborhoods with 2 nights. Don't forget that 2 nights essentially gives you one full day, and perhaps 1/2 day when you arrive or when you depart.

I really believe that 4 destinations in 10 nights is too much especially traveling with children. You need to slow down. I would add an extra night to Rome. I think you will be very frustrated with your current itinerary. Don't forget that June will be hot so that will slow you down, too. You'll want to stop more often for cold drinks, gelato, etc.

If you are set on the coast for your children, I would delete Florence. While we loved Florence, it was the most crowded city we visited on our 5-week trip last May/June. The art is amazing but we have no desire to return. I would return to Venice in a heartbeat. Obviously I am biased towards Venice :-)

Please consider Cannaregio or Dorsoduro instead of Murano for Venice.

One of my friends took her three children to Venice and they loved it. They took a gondola ride I know. They visited Murano but did not stay in it. They spent 4 nights there.

I have been to Venice twice. You want to stay in Venice proper not Murano. You can stay outside the tourist areas and still stay in Venice. I do not think two nights are sufficient. We spent 4 nights our first visit with our young adult children and 3 nights returning on our own. 2 nights only gives you one full day. I would spend at least 3 nights. I actually think your children might like Venice the most of the three cities you are visiting.

Too many locations for 10 nights only.
Venice: 3 nights
Florence: 3 nights
Rome 4 nights
is all you have time to do. Skip Liguria unless you can prolong your vacation.
I wouldn’t stay in Murano unless you have several nights (like 4 nights) in Venice. The ferry transfers will add time, which you don’t seem to have. There are lots of neighborhoods in Venice that are quiet. Crowds tend to concentrate on the sestiere of San Marco and on the main walking routes (celli) connecting the main spots: San Marco, Rialto, Accademia, Ferrovia (train station), Piazzale Roma, Frari.
You can see the map of the walking tourists in the image below (based on mobile phone data):
https://share.google/a76f4TMSIUgclG6MS

Stay away from those paths and nobody is around.

What about doing 4 nights Rome, 3 nights Lerici, and 3 nights Venice and remove Florence?

We’ll be arriving in Rome from Paris and departing Italy on either
June 21 or June 22.

Can you tell us how long you have been in Paris before this and where you are going when you leave Italy?
Are your flights booked?

Please stay in Venice, not Murano. Give it 3 nights minimum. There is nowhere else like it in the world. Kids usually love it. There are lots of areas to stay in Venice.
Avoid flying to US from Venice if possible, usually early morning flights. Have your transport to VCE worked out.

I would choose 3 locations on a 10 night trip. I do love Florence but it will be crowded and hot- are you there for the art? It will be very crowded. You’ve only given it 2 nights-1 full day.

I would choose between Florence and a coast or lake location.
Lerici probably requires a car

Have you considered a lake location instead of west coast?
It just takes a long time to get from Lerici to Venice.
Lake Garda is a possibility.

Rome 3 or 4
Garda or Verona with day trip
Venice 3 or 4

All easily done by train.

Can you fly from Paris to Venice?

If so
Venice 3- stay in Venice not Murano
Garda or Florence 3
Rome 4
Fly to?