Hello
We will be spening 5 nights in Florence. . Was wondering what things are fun to do with 2 kids ages 9 and 8.. We are thinking of booking a tour to Cinque Terre for one day besides that we have nothing else in mind.. maybe Chianti? I saw a fun cooking class (pizza and gelato) that might be fun.. Any suggestions?
Thanking you in advance...
We took a tour of Sienna, San Gimignano, and more importantly for the kids, Pisa. Nothing like staged photos of the kids "holding" up the Leaning Tower. It included lunch at a local vineyard, don't recall where. The tour departed from the Florence railroad station, walkable from Hotel La Scaletta, right across the river a block from Ponte Vecchio. The staff at our hotel put us onto many great places overlooked by tourists, i.e. where they and their families get gelato and pizza and take their kids. They can also tell you the nearest/best cooking class. Our college-age son took one and was in there with Florence housewives and no other tourists. I think La Scaletta still has a chat function on their website.
I second going to Pisa and ‘holding up’ the tower. In Florence, have them rub the pig’s nose
Some great options in Florence with kids that age (I have two myself, age 7 and 13), aside from the biggies (Ufizzi, Accademia, Ponte Vecchio, etc.) include: Galileo Museum, Stibbert Museum (medieval armor), rooftop lunch or late afternoon/sunset snack at the National Library (great view), the Anthropology and Ethnology museum, and the Museum of Natural History’s wax models collection are just a few.
I'd consider going to Siena with the kids - it's fairly compact and has a lot of bang for the buck, and is home to an interesting Torture Museum.
I should have added we did Pisa 2 years ago.
We don't have kids, but you might want to consider the Palazzo Vecchio's 'Secret Passages' tour. It's only about 75 minutes, an inexpensive add-on to the entry for the Palazzo Vecchio. You go behind the walls - literally - at one point you go in the 'map room', they open a map that is hiding a door, and go behind it into the walls. And the climb up to the top of the tower gives you a great view across the Arno to the Duomo.
The kids might also like to ride rental bikes atop the city walls of Lucca. Combine Pisa and Lucca on a day trip. You’ll love it and so would the kids. I’m not a big fan of the overcrowded and overhyped CT. San Gimignano, Sienna so much closer. Also take the kids to the huge market in Venice. Watch pasta being made, look at the butcher shops, grab a quick bite at one of the snack bars - memorable experience.
