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Italy Destinations with Large Family and Young Kids

Our family is spending 10 days in Italy this upcoming spring. It will be with our extended family which totals eight adults and five kids (all under the age of 5). Most of the adults have been to Italy before and seen a majority of the "major" sights.

For the first six nights we have rented a villa outside of Siena, which will be a home base for our time in Tuscany. What we are struggling to decide is where to spend the remaining three days/nights. We'd like to see another area of Italy while making travel to the second location easy with young kids while also being relatively close to an airport for a morning flight back home. We've thought of places like Cinque Terre and Lake Como, but we think it may be difficult to find accommodations for our large group. We're open to a lot of ideas, even staying in towns or cities. Would love to hear recommendations for a group of this size and makeup. Thank you!

Posted by
11232 posts

For a change, go to
Lake Maggiore which is quite near to Milan MXP. Look at both Stresa or Ranco as possible locations.

Posted by
6921 posts

From where would you fly back home, ideally? Milan? Rome?
If Milan, then Lake Como or Lake Maggiore both work - no idea for accommodation though.
If Rome, perhaps you could find a villa around the Castelli Romani, a hilly region near Rome with many picturesque villages and lakes? Or near Lago Bracciano? Tricky for three nights though.
Cinque Terre is far from any airport, so not an option - plus, logistics are difficult without car access in the villages.

Posted by
2530 posts

We found when trying to route back to US from Lake Como that we had to spend a night in Milan. Lake Maggiore is closer to the airport and would be preferable in that sense.

Posted by
274 posts

Have you looked at Padua? It's about 30 minutes from Venice, making it easy to do a day-trip to Venice without having to find accommodations for a larger party on the island. Although it sounds like the adults in your group may have been to Venice already, so you could skip that and focus on Padua. Padua has enough of its own sights to keep busy, or allows for trips to smaller towns nearby.

Posted by
16401 posts

When in spring ar you going? March? April? Early spring is a perfect time to enjoy Venice.

Venice would work if you rent 3 apartments in the same building. This company offers that possibility in the Lion’s House; they have 4 2-bedroom apartments (Lions 1, 2, 3, and 4).

https://www.veniceredhouse.com/apartments-in-venice/the-lions-house-apartment-lion-2/

They offer a discount if you rent several for a group. We stayed in Lions #4 for a month several years ago and the location, on Campo San Lio near the Rialto Bridge, is excellent. And we loved the altana (roof-top terrace), but this is not suitable for small children.

Marco and Caroline, the owners of the agency, are Venetian and speak excellent English, so it is very easy to communicate your needs. So if the Lions House does not work or is not available, they may suggest something else.

Their cancellation policy is very reasonable. We had an a apartment rented from them for March 2020 and of course had to cancel, just weeks ahead of arrival. Refund was immediate.

Another suggestion, more suitable for April than March, would be Lago di Garda. Places on the east side of the lake would be within easy driving distance (under 2 hours) from Marco Polo Airport at Venice. There is a large amusement park (Gardaland) near the south end of the lake, although maybe the children are not old enough for that. The north end of the lake is beautiful—-we loved Malcescine. Or maybe Bardolino would be a better location for access to Venice.

Here again, you should be able to find 3 apartments in the same building to accommodate your group. I found several options in Bardolino with a quick search on booking.com, using 8 adults and 5 children as the filter.

Posted by
2979 posts

Lodging can be expensive in Lake Como and Milan so Lake Maggiore may be best, especially since it’s closer to Malpensa airport. Venice is best if flying into instead of out of if you have an early morning departure.