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Italy in April - best places to go?

Posted by (San Jose, CA, USA) on

SHORT QUESTION:

If you were taking a 14-day trip to Italy with 11 and 8-year-old children from mid-April to late April, where would you go?

Keep in mind that we generally prefer small towns & countryside to urban areas and we want to split our two weeks among no more than four towns/cities. We already have air tickets, flying into & out of Milan.

LONG, DETAILED VERSION:

We are taking a 14-day trip to Italy from mid-April to late April with our two elementary-school-aged children. This will be the kids' first trip to Europe and probably the only one for several years.

Since we are flying into/out of Milan, we tend to prefer small towns/countryside, and I have never been to Venice, we had worked out the following rough itinerary:

Varenna on Lake Como: 3 nights/2 full days
Cinque Terre: 3 nights/2 full days
Lucca, including a quick visit to Pisa and a day trip to Florence: 4 nights/3 full days
Venice: 4 nights/3 full days

Rather than try to cover many different places, we would rather settle in to a smaller number of towns and get to relax, explore and enjoy them. For context, my husband and I took a kid-free trip to Italy in which we split a week between Orvieto (4 nights) and another small town in Umbria (3 nights) and we found that pace to be perfect for us. We wouldn't have wanted less time in either place.

However, here are my concerns about our current plan:

1) WEATHER

It's one thing to be in Florence, going to museums when it's cold and rainy outside. But our itinerary has two places (Lake Como & Cinque Terre) where being outside, admiring the natural beauty and hiking will be the main purpose in being there. I'm wondering if mid-late April is too early to really enjoy these places. I would hate to get to the Cinque Terre and find that the hiking trails are closed due to rain, for example, since that would be our main reason for going. And I have heard that Italy has been getting tons of rain this winter.

Rather than select the places in Italy where we most want to go (the itinerary above), I am starting to think that we should think about WHEN we're going to be there and design a trip around that. In which case, perhaps Sicily, Sardinia, or other southern/warmer destinations would make more sense. I believe we can get inexpensive Ryan Air flights from Milan to Sicily or Sardinia, so that's not a big concern. And Sicily IS on our bucket list...

2) EASTER and APRIL 25

We unwittingly booked our trip over both Easter and Liberation Day (the whole country)/ St. Mark's Day (in Venice). So that's why the flights were so reasonably priced! We can't change the dates at this point, so I'm wondering where in Italy would be the least crowded or affected by these holidays. I've heard, for example, that Rome is a zoo on Easter. Is that also true of Lucca (where we're expecting to be on Easter)? And how crazy is it to be in Venice on April 25, which we have planned?

In order to maximize travel efficiency (and avoid having to spend any nights in Milan), we were planning to start in Varenna and end in Venice. But perhaps because of weather and St. Mark's festival concerns we should reverse the order? Or should we forget this northern Italy itinerary and head to the south for these dates?

Other than the flight, we have no reservations yet, so are totally open. Advice & suggestions from experienced travelers welcome. Thank you!

Posted by
11852 posts

I like your itinerary. Flying into Milan, stay in the north. Sicily might not be any better. :-) We went there last March, expecting spring-like conditions and froze! But we had a good time anyway, making the most of having a car and seeing what we could. The good news was, the weather was even worse in Rome, where we live!

You cannot control the weather, you can only make the best of it. If it rains, and you were intending outdoor activities, you have to have a back up plan. In the CT, for example, you can get on a train and go to Genoa for a rainy day. If Trail #2 is closed, head for Trail #1. Go to Santa Margherita Ligure, Carerra, even Pisa for the day.

Don't over think the holidays. Venice is going to be crowded with or without a national holiday. My only worry would be whether or not you can get rooms at this point.

Posted by
11613 posts

Lucca probably will not be affected by holiday crowds. It's a great town and your kids will like walking/biking along the wall surrounding the old city.

If you reconsider Milano - it's probanly easiest to spend the night there before your flight home, there are good hotels within sight of the train station, and if you have a few hours, there's the Castello Sforzesco and the elevator to the roof of the Duomo ( weather permitting) - your kids might enjoy some face time with the gargoyles. then you can get to the airport the next morning.

Posted by
3648 posts

Many years ago, we landed in Milan early in the morning on April 25, totally unaware that it was a national holiday. The ever increasing crowds as we drove away from the city soon clued us in that something major was happening. Many of the vehicles had surfboards on their roofs. It was definitely not the usual morning rush hour. It took us nine hours to do what should have been a five hour drive to our rental near Lake Trasimeno.* From that experience, I'd say that crowds in resort areas might be more of a concern than in cities. However, with Easter coming so late, there may be hordes of tourists from other European countries. I would nail down reservations NOW. When you are in Lucca, you might consider an excursion to Collodi, the birthplace of the author of Pinocchio, and site of Parco di Pinocchio. There's a fine castle there, too.

*Travel wisdom learned: Check to see what national holidays will come up during your trip. Even local events may seriously impact your ability to find lodging. I suggest you search on booking.com - - - whether or not you actually reserve through them - - - to see which itinerary allows you the best choices for accommodations.

Posted by
5 posts

Thank you, everyone, for your replies! We have decided to stick with our original itinerary and hope for the best when it comes to weather. Thanks for the advice to make hotel reservations right away -- we were lucky to find hotel reservations over the long Easter weekend and are now working on the rest of the dates.

Regarding spending a night in Milan, we are arriving at 6 pm, but are hoping to get out to Varenna to sleep that night. We are even considering taking a taxi from MXP to Varenna to avoid having to overnight in Milan. We would rather get settled where we want to be if at all possible. Does anyone think this is a dumb plan? If so, please let me know!

When we depart, we are not doing so until 7 pm, so no need to sleep in Milan the night before -- we will train over from Venice well in advance of the flight.

If anyone has any more advice/suggestions, please feel free to share it! I appreciate all of this input.

Stephanie

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