First Trip to Italy - Please Help!!

First you need to do is get the DVDs, CDs, tour books, etc. from the library and have the family review everything so that you can make a priority list of what everyone wants to see and do. Be careful of trying to do to much. Ten days is not a long time. Consider flying open jaw - into Rome and home from Venice or Milan. You are hitting prime time so don't waste a lot of time hoping for cheap fares. The day of the week will influence what you do. It would nice to be in Rome over Sunday so you can take advantage of the limited traffic on the Appian Way. Mondays can be a problem because many sites that were open on the weekend are closed on Monday. So Monday can be a good travel day. With 10 days it is easy to say 3,4,3. Rome is a tough place to start for a new traveler since it can be very intense. Perhaps you should start in Milan/Venice and finish in Rome. Florence is not a bad place to park for day trips. We find excellent guides, especially walking, through the local TI. Pompei is easily done on your own. Just hire a guide at the front door. You don't have to worry about US style hotels unless you opt for five star hotels. Two and three stars always worked well for our family of four. As you refine your trip, come back with specific questions.

I don't usually weigh in on itinerary questions, mostly because I don't want to rain on anyone's parade. To start, ten or eleven days isn't much. Time is like money, you get to spend it once. Each thing you schedule will consume a piece of your valuable vacation time. Each travel day will consume at least half the day to pack, check out, get to the train station, catch your train, get off, get to the hotel, check in, and unpack. That said, it's possible to have a nice time and cover much of what you have in mind. I'd suggest saving time by flying into Rome and out of Venice or vice versa rather than round trip. It will cost more but think of the value of adding at least one extra day on the ground during your trip. On first blush I'd say two days (three nights gives you two full days with a travel day on either side) in Venice. At least two days for Florence plus two day trip days (with rental car and GPS) to visit other places in Tuscany. The rest leave for Rome (you still will only get a small taste of Rome. So far that's: Arrival day 1, sleep Venice, Venice day 2, sleep Venice, Venice day 3, sleep Venice, travel day 4, sleep Florence, Florence day 5, sleep Florence, Florence day 6, sleep Florence, Tuscany day 7, sleep (?), Tuscany day 8, sleep Rome/Orvieto, Rome day 9, sleep Rome, Rome day 10, sleep Rome, Pompei day 11 (sleep Rome, very demanding day trip), Fly home day. You can see how quickly your time disappears when you start mapping it out. Ten to eleven days works out to be two days each in Venice, Florence, Rome plus three day trips. Lastly, Lucca would be on the bottom of my list unless you have family/friends you need to visit. In an area of enchanting hill towns, Lucca is flat (a plus if someone is mobility challenged). I would choose a true hill town instead.

Hi Allison,
A few years ago while in Venice I stayed in Pensione Guerrato. It is a couple minutes walk to the Rialto Bridge and right above a produce market. RS rents it for his tours, you can find more information in the guide book. Good luck and have fun, you will love Italy!!

First, I agree with Frank that if you can, flying into one city and flying out another is best. If you are flying into Rome and you end up in Italy, it will cost a lot of transportation dollars and an extra night in Rome to get back to Rome. If the "Open Jaw" flight as it is known is more expensive, you might factor in the extra transportation dollars to get back to Rome. Next, you can easily do a day trip to Pompei from Rome. You will need to take the Trenitalia train from Rome to Naples and then go downstairs at Naple Centrale to the Circumvesuviana train that will take you to the Pompei Scavi stop. The fare on the CV train is extra cheap (i.e. 5-6Euro round trip). Next, you might look into www.VRBO.com for vacation rentals. These are places that are rented by owner. Many, many kid-firendly places. The high-speed trains between Rome/Naples, Rome/Florence and Florence/Venice can be a bit pricey. You can see these fares on www.trenitalia.com. Two hints. 1) buy 90 days in advance if you are comfortable in locking in a departure date and time. You can get the mini-fares. 2) On these runs, you can take the Regional trains to save money. Same tracks but these are the locals. They make every stop. The journey takes double the time but the fare is 50% less than the high-speeds. If you are spending a bit of time in Tuscany, I would suggest taking the Reginale train to Orvieto (1hr. trip from Rome) and renting a car. Then, stay in an agri-tourismo if you can. Driving around Tuscany is great. Turn in the car and head for Florence.

To answer part of your question on where to stay in Tuscany. There is a great b&b right outside San Gimingnano. Very reasonable and lovely hosts. You can also take a cooking class while staying there. The name of the b&b is Il Vicario. You can check it out on Trip Advisor or just google the website. It's worth a visit. You will need a car while touring Tuscany.

Allison, what a great opportunity for your kids........ bound to be memories of a lifetime!! You've already received some great advice from all of the posters. I second that Lucca was not a stand-out location for us (kids might enjoy riding bikes on the top of the walls, but other than that, other hill towns are prettier/more charming). Check out the Best of Italy (specifically the one for families) on this site under the 2012 Tours icon. It spends about 6 1/2 days in Italy.........not suggesting you all sign up for that tour, but it will give you a feel for what Rick's guided group tours consider highlights for families w/ kids and how much time they spend in each place. I think your kids could love riding the boat/ferry from village to village in the Cinque Terre,so if you have time a stay in one of the CT villages for two nights, maybe? Definitely take in the Vatican and St.Peter's, as well as seeing the David in Florence. See the Forum and Collseum in Rome, too. Kids might enjoy the little train looking shuttle ride around the Borghese Park, just to break up time between museums, etc. Haven't been to Orvieto (where one poster suggested), but have heard great reviews from others who have...train stops there,too. Haven't been to Venice, but would consider it a not-to-be-missed w/ your 10 day time frame. Pompeii is great, best to see it early in the morning before the sun gets too hot. Impossible to see it all in a day, so maybe have a guide show you the highlights...one sample of each type building.

I really think apartments are the way to go for a family of four. I've had very good luck on vrbo.com so you might want to look there. If museums aren't at the top of your list, you might want to take a day or two away from Florence and spend it in Siena. I think your kids would love the town and Il Campo.

We are spending 14 days in Italy next spring and only moving hotels once for the reasons mentioned above about time lost traveling. We chose Sorrento & Rome for homebases for this visit. Our hope is that we will return and will focus north for that next trip. "Time is like money, you get to spend it once" really hit home for me! Great quote! I'll be borrowing that one Brad!

Returned last month from my 10th trip to Italy and my 8th with my kids. I have always mixed our time in the city with time at an agriturismo with a pool. Tuscany is more difficult to visit without a car, so i would consider renting a car for just that portion of the trip. If you decide to base in Florence, i can rec the Hotel Casci. We stayed in their quad room and were very comfortable.
Also, I think your itinerary is a little too packed, esp with kids.

Planning your first trip is overwhelming initially but get's easier. There is endless information available. Just wait till you start Google Mapping stuff, your head will explode! I ended up just sticking to the RS guides when possible and it worked out well. The recommended hotels fill in advance so book those now. Hotel cancellation policies are usually easy two weeks in advance so start locking in rooms now knowing you can change your mind. Overbook your stay and narrow it down later. Some flexibility in airline travel will keep costs down, once those dates are finalized you will be able to make other reservations. Then you can address all the other issues one at a time.... Side trips, sights, packing, money, communications home, emergencies......... Once you get there, carry the RS guide section with you for sights and restaurants. Have fun with it. The more planning you do the more it will pay off while traveling. As for your trip itinerary..... For that amount of time with the family, I would do Rome and Tuscany.

Many thanks to you all for your comments. They are all extremely helpful, and yes, my head feels like it will explode.

I suggest you start with these two pieces by the Rickster himself: http://www.ricksteves.com/plan/tips/kids.htm and http://www.ricksteves.com/plan/destinations/italy/02kidsrome.htm