My husband and I are planning a two week trip to Italy this August along with our three kids (ages 11, 7 and 3). We are considering two options: fly into Milan, spend a week in the Emilia Romagna region, then fly to Sardinia for a week and back to Milan for a couple of nights. OR fly into Rome, then do a Southern Italian roadtrip and hit up places like Naples, Alberobello, Matera, and a beach town in Puglia then back to Rome. The question is: which do you think is going to be more pleasant with kids? Also, from what we can tell Sardinia has better beaches, but Puglia may have more in the way of overall culture. Which do you prefer, Sardinia or Puglia? Thanks!
Posted by
Washington DC
28971 posts
I don't have children and I haven't been to Sardinia. I know Sardinia has beautiful beaches. I have been to Puglia twice and like it a lot, but I wouldn't recommend it in August. It's likely to be very hot all the time, and I think you'd be inclined to spend less time beachgoing there than in Sardinia.
Posted by
San Francisco Bay Area (USA)
16575 posts
Both are great places for a beach vacation. Obviously Sardinia’s beaches have no rivals, but Puglia has great ones as well, plenty of them. For what you want to do you will need to rent a car, especially considering you are traveling with kids. The issue is car seats, which are required for kids less than 150cm tall. Of course in August you will pay through the nose in both places, and you might even have a hard time finding vacancies in many places.
Posted by
5785 posts
I’d go with Sardinia, but car is mandatory to get the culture aspect. It is there, maybe less obvious than Puglia—just very different and unique.
I couldn’t do the south in August because of the crowds more than the heat. Emilia Romagna and the Dolomites maybe?!?
Posted by
la rioja
663 posts
Hey, I´m the opposite of acraven, I´ve never been to Puglia but I have children and visited Sardinia with them.
First, your timing might need to be cleared up. You say it´s a two week trip, with a week in Emilia Romagna then a week in Sardinia, then a couple of nights in Milan. If you go to Sardinia I would plan 6 or 7 days, the day you arrive and leave inclusive.
As Roberto mentioned, you should be aware of the car seat issue. I know people who bring their seats with them as extra luggage.
When I was planning my trip the biggest part to deal with is getting to the island and back. We had a car and took the ferry from Barcelona, so we had to plan how long and where to stay to fit the ferry ride in. I don´t know how this would work for you, but you might see if you could rent a car in Rome or Genoa then take the car to Sardina.
That said, the beaches are fantastic. We were there the last week in August, and on the west coast, where we stayed, there were very few tourist. If you want a few days of relax you can do that too.
Posted by
San Francisco Bay Area (USA)
16575 posts
If you go to Sardinia rent the car at the airport after you get there. Don’t rent in the mainland to ferry it across. First of all some rental companies do not allow to ferry the cars in their contract. Also it makes no sense to do so. The cost of ferrying a car in August is well over 100€ from Civitavecchia (more from Genoa) and you need reservations well in advance in August. It’s different for a European who ferries their car across. By taking their own car, they don’t need to rent a car at all, so the cost of the car ferry will be offset by the rental savings. But in your case you need to rent a car regardless so you might as well do it on the island. Also flying there is way faster than the boat (6-7 hours) and you don’t seem to have a lot of time (one week is a very short time for Sardinia). Carrying child seats from the US may or may not work. There are new requirements enacted due to new EU standards, and I don’t know if seats sold in the U.S. are compatible with those standards.