Itinerary Help - Agriturismo Booked, causing me to change plans

Hey Drew,

Venice will be very hot late in the summer plus you have to deal with large tourist crowds. Do option 2 so you can see Venice in early June and kids won't have to miss end of school year. Are you renting a car from Venice to travel to the Agriturismo on June 14? Which Tuscan town is your Agriturismo based? For your visit to Florence, no need to drive. Take train or bus to Florence. However, when you are prepared to head to Rome, you can drive to Florence's main train terminal to return the rental car. There are many rental car agencies around the station. You can take a train directly to Rome from there.

I would recommend using autoeurope for car rental.

https://www.autoeurope.com/

How about option 4 -- find another agriturismo ? We enjoyed staying at a "country house" with pool and nice restaurant in Castelnuovo Bergardegna, very restful and located near Siena and other towns.

Some thoughts.

Maybe it's different renting a car in northern Italy, but on our 2-week trip to southern Italy last spring, we had to rent a 9-passenger van for the six of us (including a 3-year-old and a baby both in car seats) --- there was nothing like a minivan to rent.

If you are going to rent a car, think through very carefully how you are going to park outside (sometimes WAY outside) places like Florence and Siena, and then get your family into the center of town. This sounds like the opposite of relaxing to me. Likewise, where will you drop off the rental car, when you do.

In my opinion, you can never be too worried about the heat. Be sure that every place you stay has real air conditioning not just a fan. Usually there are no screens on windows so you can't open your bedroom windows at night due to mosquitoes. With just adults, you can beat the heat by doing things very early in the morning and late at night, but this is hard to do with kids.

Think about skipping Rome. Fly into Venice and out of Florence (a nice small airport 15 minute outisde of town and easily reachable by public transportation or taxi). I love Rome, but you have two weeks and four kids.

In Venice, stay in an untouristy neighborhood like Castello but near a vaporetto stop. I support you in wanting to visit Venice. If I were you, with your kids, I would only go to Piazza San Marco early or late, and only to experience the square itself, the interesting column tops on the Doges Palace, and the outside of the basilica and the bell tower --- I would not try to fight the crowds going INTO any of the buildings. There are so many more interesting (in my opinion) things to see in Venice and they are not so crowded.

I love a good agriturismo, but consider finding a B&B in a town instead --- then you can just walk out your door and start experiencing the town. So easy. There are B&Bs in towns with rooftop terraces or gardens and maybe even pools. Plus, if you stay in a town, your family can split up and some stay in the B&B for a while and some go out exploring and then meet later in the day --- at an agriturismo, if you split up it pretty much has to be for the whole day since only one part of the family will have the car. Also, you can easily run back to the B&B if you've forgotten something. Lucca (within the walls) is a fun town for kids. So is Siena, but the main square and the streets around it and also the Duomo area will be crowded during the day. I am sure that your chosen agriturismo is enchanting and the kids would love it, but think about what the hidden problems are, like the time and hassle of transportation to and from it.

One more thought.

If your 3-year-old is like our grandson was, it will take him or her at least three days to get over jet-lag. Like, awake at night and needing his parents almost like a newborn baby because he was in an unfamiliar place. Exhausting for them. Venice is a great place to get over jet-lag, so I would want to stay there for at least 5 nights.

With kids, I think you'll all be happier if you stay longer in fewer places.

Thanks for the great thoughts so far. A few answers...

Several questions about the Agriturismo. We are planning to stay at Villa il Paradisino, which is in Sesto Fiorentino. It is a 5 minute walk from the train station, and then from there a 15 minute train ride into Florence. So, once we get to our Agriturismo, we won't need to worry about driving into Florence. The 20 minute commute into town via train is very appealing. Sesto Fiorentino is also near the interstate, so we can easily hop on the interstate to get to Lucca, Siena, etc. From my view, this is the perfect fit for an Agriturismo in that it's a beautiful farm, family run, every review is glowing, but it's also not way out in the middle of nowhere where the travel to and from would be a pain - as nancyscherer8 mentioned some of them are.. You mentioned a B&B in a town, and our Agriturismo is basically in a town. A 5 minute walk to shops, restaurants, gelato, and the train station. Felt like the best of both worlds.

nancyscherer8 -

you also mentioned several things about Venice which we will do. Plan to stay in an airbnb in either Castello or Canneregio. Will only head to the square and Doges palace at night or early in the morning. Plan to explore our area and get lost in the lesser traveled areas. You mentioned my Toddler and adjusting, and while I know it will be tough, he's my most flexible kid so I'm not toooo terribly worried about him. We only have a limited number of time, so 5 days in Venice feels like a lot. I agree with your theory of less places to stay, less moving around. I thought that 3 places to stay over 15 days was doing just that - as many people try to do 2 nights here, 2 nights there, etc...

I can't imagine skipping Rome. Never really thought of or considered that. In fact I was considering going from 4 nights in Rome to 5 nights. Something like 3 Venice, 7 Florence/Agriturismo, 5 Rome.

I love your idea of a B&B in a town, and I've thought long and hard about that and I still can't decide. Lucca looks amazing, and we will definitely day trip there from our Agriturismo. I just can't see cutting out 1 of our other three stays. I don't want to skip Venice (as you agreed). I don't want to skip Rome. So that would mean having a long stay in Lucca and having to day trip to Florence. While Lucca looks great, I think staying there for 5-7 nights we would be doing a disservice to Florence.

Oh, good! I am deeply impressed by how much thought you gave to choosing this agriturismo and it does sound perfect! Maybe whoever grabbed up "your" dates will cancel! People cancel all the time. Be sure to email the agriturismo and tell them how much you prefer the dates you originally wanted and you'd like to book the dates if they open up.

I'm glad your youngest is flexible --- either of our own two boys would have been fine with the jet-lag or anything else they had to deal with, but our grandson's personality made me want to mention the possible jet-lag nightmare. Kids are just different.

Sure, keep Rome! Your kids will be seasoned travelers by the time you get there. Grandson loved Rome even though it rained all day every day we were there and we hardly went anywhere.