Itinerary for 8 night Northern Italy trip for active, outdoorsy family

Two ideas for Florence: You could rent kayaks, and paddle them on the Arno River. You could take a bus up to the nearby town of Fiesole, then hike through the woods to a monument commemorating Da Vinci’s test flight of his glider.

While searching for things to do around Lucca, I've found canyoning & rafting (lucca rafting), horseback riding...
Worth a look!

…and when in Lucca, you can walk, run, and or bicycle on top of the city wall.

With just 8 nights I would try to stay close to Florence so you don’t waste your short time traveling.
Figure out how many nights you want in Florence and put all those nights at end of trip so you don’t have a split stay.

It is going to be crowded everywhere and I doubt the water is warm enough for swimming.

Maybe head to Lucca on arrival- it’s easy to get to from FLR.
Spend 2 or 3 nights there.
Then head to CT for 2 or 3 nights.
Then back to Florence for remainder of trip so you are in departure city before flight.

Heart of Tuscany will require a car- and you will need a big one for 5 passengers plus luggage.

Florence- Lucca- CT does not require a car, all easily done by train.
You could slot in a stop in Pisa along the way. We were pleasantly surprised by how much we enjoyed the Field of Miracles.

What negatives are you hearing about CT? I think it can be overwhelming for a day trip but it empties out at night. Have been twice once with family and once without. Happy to answer any questions you might have.

Christine,

These are great ideas -- thank you!

Patty

Andrew,
Many comments on CT being too crowded and over-visited. We were hoping to mitigate that by staying there and not day-tripping. As it has a lot of hiking, kayaking and other things we enjoy, it seems like an awesome destination for us, outside of the crowds. So I appreciate hearing your more positive comments about CT.
Patty

We went in 2022 in late May and the weather and sea temp were really enjoyable. We stayed in old town Monterosso and only noticed crowds from lunch to about 6pm and it cleared out. Vernazza was the most crowded IMO as it is the most condensed. The popular trails are Monterosso to Vernazza as everyone wants the famous overlook into Vernazza view. So many other hiking options though that are easily accessible. In late May 2023 we didn’t have any issues getting 4 beach loungers together but I recommend doing that early in the day or the day before for piece of mind. We loved to just lounge on the beach with drinks will the kids got gelato. As long as we had our chairs…. The crowds did not matter to us. If you have been to any other European city or even popular US tourist spots the crowds are no different IMO.