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Itinerary Help :)

Posted by (Nashville, TN) on

We are traveling to Italy September 1-16. It will be me, my husband, our 15 month son and his au pair. I'm thinking some slower days just roaming, but we will be able to leave the baby with the AP some. For price purposes we are flying in and out of Rome (could not justify open-jaw as much as I wanted). I've tried to use a home base as much as possible as we won't be traveling as light as when it was just the two of us. Here's what I'm thinking!

1-Depart America
2-Arrive Rome early
3-Rome
4-Rome to Florence
5-Florence
6-Florence to San Gimignano
6-11 San Gimignano is our home base in Tuscany to see some hill towns, do a cooking class, etc.
11- train Florence to Sorrento (long travel day)
11-14 Use these days to see Amalfi Coast, Naples, Capri
15- Early return to Rome and finish what we missed there
16-Flight home

I really wanted to do a day trip to Venice from Florence, but I think it might be too much with a small child. Any thoughts would be appreciated! :)

Posted by
5687 posts

Unless you had planned to go to Venice or Milan, there was no need to book an open jaw ticket, anyway. But sometimes, they are not more expensive than a round trip ticket, FYI. All depends on where you are departing from/going back to and when. Sometimes an open jaw ticket is cheaper than a round trip. The trick is to book as one "multi-city" ticket not two one-ways.

I would consider not starting the trip in Rome - do your days in Rome all at the end. That way, you won't have to spend that final night in Rome and split your days. Instead, take the train from the airport and just connect to another train to Florence, San Gimignano, Sorrento, etc., whatever is the most practical. But you are definitely going to have to backtrack if going north to Florence then south to Sorrento.

See Venice and northern Italy on your next trip.

Posted by
7 posts

We've used the open jaw before for Europe with great success. For some reason it just doesn't compare this trip. I'm not sure why I didn't think of just traveling straight to Florence. Maybe I thought it would be too exhausting? But yes, probably better overall.

Adjusted:

1-Depart America
2-Arrive Rome early, immediately to Florence
3-Florence
4-Florence to San Gimignano
4-9 San Gimignano is our home base in Tuscany to see some hill towns, do a cooking class, etc.
9- Train Florence to Sorrento (long travel day)
9-12 Use these days to see Amalfi Coast, Naples, Capri, etc
13- Early to Rome
13-15 Rome
16-Flight home

Posted by
5687 posts

We all have different travel preferences. Some people don't mind splitting up their time and/or just want to get to the hotel as soon as they can after they land after a long trip, without tacking on another 2-3 hour travel time on to Florence. But, that's how I would do it (on my first trip to Italy, I flew into Rome and took the train immediately to Venice. I didn't have a kid with me, though.)

Posted by
143 posts

I really liked Venice with my toddlers, because it is car free, they love all the bridges, it is visually stimulating, it is just a really fun city to be in. That said, no I would not do a day trip to Venice: that is when you see the worst of Venice, all the day trippers and the cruisers will be there. The best times in Venice are in the morning and the evenings.

If you want to see it, you could just train from Rome to Venice that first day (it is only 3h30 min). Spend at least 2 nights before moving to Florence.

Rome, Venice, Florence are easily connected by trains.

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