Please sign in to post.

Italy 11 days in July with kids - critique my itinirary

Posted by on

Hello
We are flying into Milan (MXP) the afternoon of July 2 from NYC with two kids (ages 3 and 9). This forum has already given me some really great advise and with it I've sketched out this plan but looking for tweaks.
We will immediately rent a car in MXP (just easier than train with luggage and kids) for the whole trip, and I"ve made sure our lodging has parking.

Nights 1-3: Staying in Cannero Rivera (Lake Maggiore)
Nights 4-6: Staying just outside of Camogli (Ligurian coast)
Nights 7-10: Staying in Chianti (outside of Siena)
Last night: Up in the air. Was going to stay in Milan but now considering Bologna or Castell d'Arquato or some Emilia-Romagna town since we don't have to return our car until the last day and our flight out isn't until 4 p.m.
My main dilemna is if we are doing too much. The only thing I can see cutting is cutting the coast and adding a day to Lake Maggiore and two days to Tuscany. But I think the children might enjoy the beach time and may get sick of the castles/churches/wineries of Tuscany. Are there are other more outdoorsy stuff we could do in Tuscany? Is this doable plan doable? Def. changing accomodations more than I would like and I'm not sure how exhausting the driving will be. On the plus side it will give the kids a chance to nap/rest
Any suggestions would be appreciated!

Posted by
1008 posts

I haven;t been to those places, but on the map each drive looks to be around 3 hours? I don;t think that is bad at all. And you have 3 nights per place, which I think is fine as well.

The thing I do agree with, no matter the location, is that the kids will enjoy some down time at the beach... mine get a little grumpy at "looking at stuff"..... so we always like to plan in kid-centric things too. :) And it is probably going to be hot!

Have fun!
Kim

Posted by
8371 posts

Your itinerary is just fine. You can do some day trips out of where you're staying.
You might consider staying a little closer to Milan the last night than Bologna, however.

Posted by
65 posts

Thank you! Is there another town between Siena and MXP that you would recommend close to Milan? Castell d'Arquato? Parma or Modena? Ferrara?

Posted by
12112 posts

I think last night in Greater Milan area is better than some other city ( e.g.Bologna).

You have a 4PM flt. If to another Schengen country, getting at airport by 2PM should be OK. ( that's after dropping car). If going to Britain or some other non-Schengen country suggest 3 hours early (1PM) for the extra processing. So, if you are a 3+ hour or so drive away, that's hitting road no later than 10AM.

It might be nice to be closer, have an unrushed breakfast and get everything packed for flight without going into "panic" mode. (Where is the ___ charger?) Less frenzy probably leave kids in better travel mood

Posted by
65 posts

The main reason I am rethinking staying in Milan the last night is because then we would have to go to MXP the day before to return the car and take the train into Milan Centrale (one hour), spend the night, and take the one-hour train again the next afternoon. I don't think we want to drive to Milan and have the car overnight there.

We could also just stay at a hotel near the airport but I try to avoid that.

This topic has been automatically closed due to a period of inactivity.