First Trip to Italy - Realistic or Crazy? Advice Welcomed.

We took our two sons to Italy when they were 12 and 8 years old and they LOVED it. You can certainly do this trip for $15k even less in my opinion. Actually this is a Very Generous Budget! Food (especially pizza) is less expensive than anywhere in Europe. When we went to Spain, where lodgings were so much less expensive, we found that because of the price of food, we actually spent way more.

Italy is very safe. There's virtually NO violent crime in Italy.

There is pickpocketing, which you can avoid with a few precautions.

With boys that age, I'd spend more time in Rome. They will love all that Rome has to offer, especially the Colloseum area.. They
even have a "gladiator school" which your boys, if young enough may enjoy.

If your family is "into" hiking, then the Cinque Terre will be fun. We took ours to the beach at Riccioni. Get your Italy map out, it's an easy train ride from Venice. From there we took day trips to San Leo and San Marino and they loved it. Google these two places, They're actually countries within Italy. Kind of off the beaten track for Americans, but very, very nice.

There is no where on earth where people like kids more than Italy! We had a chef even take our budding "foodie" into the kitchen to see how the pizzas were made! I will watch this thread, and post more later. DO IT!

If you base in Florence, I've used VRBO 68776 several times, it's 2 beds/2baths and would be perfect for your family.

1. The time allocation is good. Budget depends in your lifestyle. Airfare is about $1500 pp in June (+- $300 depending on which airport or deals). Accommodations for 4 can be had for €100 to 150 per day. Food at €25/day pp if you are parsimonious or €50/day if you splurge a bit sometimes. Museum Admissions are not expensive. Ground transportation about €200 pp for your proposed itinerary (for trains, buses and vaporetti.

2. Maybe 2 to 5 months prior to travel for airfare. Sooner for apartments if you want the best choices.

3. No unsafe areas in the city center of any of those cities.

4. Good itinerary for a first timer.

5. Lake Garda would be easier to access between Venice and Milan. Also the greatest water park in Italy is there if you have kids. But Cunque Terre is nice and Monterosso has a beach.

6. Beaches are near Rome, near Venice, Cinque Terre and any lake. In Italy you are never over 2 hours from a beach, no matter where you are.

we did* Florence/Pisa, thru Milan on the train*, Varenna on lake Como and to Venice this summer......not including plane tickets we averaged 100 euros per day......we were four adults, two rooms most places, apt in Varenna.......I'd be happy to share our lodging info with you.....
Varenna has a small free sand beach.......and ducks to feed by the ferry docks.......

Sounds like a good, fast-paced trip. Note that Riccione, San Leo (a provincial capital within Italy, not a separate country) and San Marino are on the opposite coast from Cinque Terre, so you may want to choose one seaside town. Since you'll be in Venice anyway, you might want to have beach time on the Adriatic coast.

Your budget seems more than adequate.

With so many changes of location, you may want to have a couple of B&B/hotel stays mixed in with the apartments. Checking in and out of apartments can take more time than hotels. and having on-site staff can be useful. On the other hand, so can the washing machine in an apartment.

All the areas you mention are good, safe and centrally located.

I love Lake Como, and if you take the ferry to some of the towns along the shore, you will have lots of opportunities for walks/hikes. The Como area is a little more than an hour from Milano. In Milano, the kids might like going up to the roof of the Duomo and getting close to the gargoyles.

Lots of kid-friendly activities everywhere.

Depending on the price, you could fly home from Venice rather than Milan. That would give you an extra day not wasted going to Milan.
Rome - 4
Florence area - 4
Siena - 2 (nice town for preteens & cheaper than Florence)
Cinque Terre - 2 (it's good to be there in the evening after the crowds are gone & more time for beach areas)
Venice - 3

If your family happens to like hiking, there's some fantastic locations in the Dolomites, too. Are you planning to rent a car or take train/bus transportation? We could give you better advice if you specified.

You have chosen a pretty good itinerary. We traveled with one 9 year old. Gelato is always a hit with everyone, but diabetics. Your biggest single expense will be plane fares. Watch prices, but also number of connections and length of time between connections. Sometimes, it's worth paying more to minimize time gaps between connections. Dorsoduro/San Polo area is good in Venice. You could even do 2 nights for Venice. Florence is compact and easy to walk. So, there are many good neighborhoods from which to choose. You can easily bus trip to Siena as a day trip from Florence.
Cinque Terre is a bit of a stretch from Florence. Maybe others can chime in on this. Maybe eliminate Milan and fly back to USA from MArco Polo airport in Venice. Two weeks is good, but there is just too much in Italy to stuff it all into a 2 week period.

15K is very generous.

if you are travelling by train check out seat61.com (google it for exact name)
it shows you how to book tickets and when.

we used italiarail

We as a family of 4 did a 16 day trip of italy for 10K.
7 cities - all hotels - no cooking.
kids were younger than yours.

young boys and museums are a tough combination.
we had a simple rule ( only one museum a city for the kids)
the adults alternated on tours

25pp for food is good amount - use alimentaris to buy food - gives you a good cultural experience in how to shop.

please book last supper the earliest possible - otherwise tickets sell out ( even november is busy)

also check out reidsitaly - he is pretty good in terms of itineraries ( google it)

In my experience you want to book your airline tickets now. June is prime tourist season. Same advice regarding lodging.

I would ask your boys what they liked. At that age I liked castles and ruins and hikes in the woods and water sports such as canoes and rowboats and sailboats. There's a lot to do in Italy, so you can find just about anything you want, but why don't you have a conversation lasting several days with the boys to see what their real interests are. Maybe they'd like military museums such as the Stibbert rather than the Uffizi? They might like the sculpture at the Bargello.

To save lots of money and do this trip for much less than $15K, you will probably find an apartment rental much preferable to a hotel, B&B or pension. Plus you can usually find an apartment with a washer/dryer and you'll need that. You can also buy food in grocery stores and make your own breakfast and then pack a lunch. If you do all this, you will cut your daily costs in half. If you think you can stick to a schedule, you should also book your train trips about a month in advance, and this can also save you lots of money.

I favor public transportation, and I also favor small towns. Sienna and Lucca are incredibly charming, while Florence can be very crowded in June. Same with Venice. Maybe you'd like to stay in Padua instead and just take day trips from there to Venice, Verona, Vicenza and the Lago de Garda?

On a final note, the Cinque Terra are tiny towns and the boys might not find much to do that interests them. There are trails in the foothills, but sometimes these are closed and it's an exposed slope without much shade. Could be tough in June. Also the trains are just jammed with hordes of tourists from all over the world. You can actually go to Pisa on a day trip from Florence, and they might like that better.

Keeping the Florence home base might be a good option if you find a great price. As far enjoying the Cinque Terre, though, that destination becomes less relaxing and you see less of it when you have a train ride 3 hours each way. You also would only be there alongside other day-trippers. Staying overnight in the Cinque Terre or other coastal town gives you a quieter ambiance.

Thank you for the great advice and will welcome even more.
We never thought of the idea of staying outside of the main cities. We will definitely weigh the pros and cons, and then look into the ones suggested as a more relaxing alternative, especially since it is the busy tourist time of year. I also am glad to hear that many of you have had experience with staying in apartments. For us, it seems to make sense. Now, we need to find some good ones in the 100-150 Euro range. Thank you also for the budget numbers. We hope to book our flight, but are wondering if we should wait another month or so because the prices still seem high. Any advice there?
Thanks to you, wonderful responders. This is our first time using the forum and am so glad we have found it useful. I will probably keep posting questions as they arise.

Everyone has his/her own preferences, but commuting into the city from a smaller town outside of it would not be my preference. So weigh in the pros and cons.

For example, if you want to visit New York City for 3 days, would you rather be in the middle of everything in Manhattan or commute from Port Elizabeth, NJ or from Jamaica, NY? I would much prefer be in Manhattan, even if hotels cost more, because when you travel time is money, and the time wasted commuting into the city by train or bus is wasted time (=wasted money) and inconvenient.

So if I want to visit Venice, I don't want to stay in Porto Marghera or Portogruaro. Even Mestre, which is within the city limits of Venice, would be bad enough.
If I want to visit Florence, I don't want to stay in Empoli or Siena or Prato or not even Scandicci (yuk!) which is closer.
And if I want to see Rome, I don't want to stay in Torvaianica or Pomezia, even if they have a beach.
That is even more true if I have to rely on public transportation during commute time.

I agree completely with Roberto. Plus, if you have an apartment in the city, you can dash back during the day for an emergency, a nap, a meltdown, whatever. And, if you have a car, you may have to park it far from the center anyway (spending more time and money).

Roberto, thank you for a great analogy on staying outside the city. Great and fantastic point! Especially with two preteen boys!

I agree with Roberto,

Public transportation during commute hours is definitely not a good idea!!!

We've been in buses during these times & they are so crowded that sometimes there's not even standing room
available!

I agree about staying in the city. We loved Oltrarno in Florence, Trastevere in Rome. Still in the city but not so mobbed with people. When I took my son to Paris when he was 9, I gave him the guidebook, told him what I wanted to see and he figured out an itinerary, including restaurants that he would like (he was a picky eater with food allergies). It was a good opportunity to expose him to art, science and all (well almost all) that Paris had to offer. So, the Louvre and the zoo, the Musee d'Orsay and the Science museum. He didn't get bored, he learned to eat Moules et Frites and he can spot a Caravaggio from across the room. But it may be different with 2 boys, a different dynamic.

Oh what fun! Planning is a big job, but do a little at a time and have fun!

We went last July for 2 weeks. Our first trip to Italy. Warning: you will become addicted to this sight!

We mixed apartments and hotels. Threw in apartments often enough to keep up with laundry. But I was on vacation so NO cooking! I also feel that staying in apartments also gave us a much more authentic experience. But if... I mean WHEN, we go again we'll plan three nights minimum at each place...it really is more relaxing then.

We flew into Venice and out of Rome. Flight schedules were much more accommodating. Also I heard Venice was a great place to work through jet-lag, which was very true. (And it's a multi-transportation process to get to/from the Venice airport...something I preferred to do AFTER a flight- not trying to make it to one!)

We debated between Como and Cinque Terre too! (We picked Cinque Terre and loved it)

I gave my daughter and husband a list of towns/areas I was considering and asked them to research a bit and make a list of what they'd like to see in those areas. Good to keep everyone happy!

This forum is fabulous....make full use of it! Use the search tool to find specific info that may have been asked already. (Note: if using an iPad this doesn't show up)

Have fun planning!

Peg