We are going to Italy in April- staying 3 nights in Amsterdam en route, and then onto Italy. We may then fly to Rome for 3 nights (but open to great ideas!) and then high speed train to Florence where we would pick up a rental car- and meet the grandparents for a 5 night stay in Tuscany. We would then return car to Florence- and either stay there for 3 nights before heading back to the U.S. or had considered visiting Ravenna, Cinque Terra or Venice before heading out. OUr kids are 4 and 9, so in my opinion quite young to go from museum to museum to famous statue to old building and so on. I say it with the words they would end up using. "not another old building!" I saw there was an amusement park in Ravenna- is that crazy to go all the way to Italy and ride roller coasters?!?! Looking for some fresh ideas to mix in with all the historical sites. And any input on where to go because we haven't booked yet and I feel the pressure to square away the details
Posted by
752 posts
Be sure to check if that Amusement Park at Ravenna is open in April. I spend a lot of time just south of there in Le Marche, and the Adriatic coastline wakes up slowly in the Springtime, hopping fully in the summer months.
Be sure to travel with kiddie cart transports so the little ones can ride when you get out and walk. Soon many Forum readers will share wonderful places of fun for children at the places you will visit. I can say that kiddies also went everyplace I went too.
About the rollercoaster, if you want to go to Ravenna, then it makes sense. If it's open.
Posted by
Tucson
4151 posts
The kids might enjoy the carousel at the Piazza della Repubblica in Florence. Our 5-year-old granddaughter sure did. She also loved stretching her legs in the Boboli Gardens. I'm sure there are many other kid friendly places in town. I hope Roberto, who grew up there, will chime in here.
Posted by
Vienna, Austria
5370 posts
I also have two similarly aged kids and we travel frequently. We just avoid museums, find a nice square/piazza/etc. and let them run around for a while. We also ate a lot of gelato in Florence. Maybe a day trip to Pisa or Lucca? The standard of amusement parks in Europe, generally, is much lower than in the US. Do not expect a Six Flags.
Posted by
Portland, Oregon, United States
906 posts
We were in Italy (Umbria and Tuscany) with our family which had three 8 year old's and a 5 year old. We made time for them. We had villas with a swimming pool which really helped. We went to the beach in Viareggio one day. The Monster Park at Bomarzo is fun for kids (Bosco dei Mostri). We had pretty good weather for these outside activities, hope you do too.
Depending on where you stay in Tuscany (or Umbria) you can visit the Roman ruins of Carsulae. Our kids had a ball there just running around in 2,000 year old buildings and ruins. They even put on a play in the Carsulae collessium! Quite fun. The park is not crowded at all and is much less pretentious than the famous ruins.
We spent time in Venice and the kids had fun there too, riding the Vaporetti and eating gelato.
I drove in Florence once, never again. I use the airport to pick up and drop rental cars.