Traveling to Italy with kids

No first hand experience, but we have something similar planned for next summer with our boys, 9 and 11. A few days in Rome, a few in venice, a 2 night stopover between them in Lucca to hit that and Pisa. We are staying in vrbo apartments for Venice and Rome, and a small B&B in Lucca. Not sure about booking, I like to book early and already did everything for June 2014. :) I will say the vrbos I wanted were starting to get filled up for summer. have fun!
Kim

I'd probably make it 3 days in Florence (including the day trip to Pisa and/or Siena), and 4 days in Rome. Kids can only handle so many museums. Consider a day trip to Pompeii if you can squeeze it in. And don't forget, lots of gelato! Start looking at airfares, they can change so quickly. If you find a fare and itinerary that seems like a good deal to you, don't hesitate because it will disappear just as quickly.

Of course, you know your kids better than we do, and you should involve them in the planning and take their interests into account (if they're not happy, nobody's happy). But speaking generally, Venice and Rome will have more to interest kids than Florence will. Pisa is only a half day, so you don't need to allot too much time for this side trip (unless you see Lucca in the morning and then see Pisa that afternoon, which is a great day). So, I agree with allotting less time to Florence than to Rome. In addition, remember that the day of arrival is often a jet lagged haze, and so you shouldn't plan any heavy "sightseeing" for that day (walking around Venice, fine; going into museums and hearing lots of facts, not so fine). As for booking, you can certainly wait on hotels (some may not even take bookings yet for next year). For airfare, that's trickier. The old advice was to wait until 2-3 months before departure to book, but now it seems that people have paid more by doing this. So, start looking right now, on http://www.kayak.com or http://matrix.itasoftware.com/. You want to fly open jaw (Nashville to Venice, and then Rome to Nashville), which is called "multi city" on the booking sites. Don't look at two one-ways, as that's much more expensive. And even if an open-jaw ticket is more expensive than a simple round trip (and it may not be), you will save time and money by not having to backtrack - especially important on a short trip and with kids. BTW, it's easiest to do this order rather than the reverse, as getting to the Venice airport early in the morning (often required for connections back to the US) is much harder than getting to the Rome airport early. Also, Venice is an easier place to adjust to jet lag.

I agree with a previous comment: Florence might not be too interesting for children of those ages. They would definitely enjoy the Roman Coliseum underground tour. In Venice, they will like the dungeons in the Doge's Palace. Pompeii is too far from Rome as a daytrip. Go ahead and book everything now, especially if you plan to travel during Spring break. A one night stay in Pisa would be a good idea when travelling between Venice and Rome.

I have taken a 9 year old boys to Italy and while we enjoyed Venice, Rome & Florence, we also had a great time in some smaller villages as well as CT. I think if we had only done the cities, he would have missed a lot of the 'heart of Italy'. I would do the Venice and Rome part, but then I would take a few days and stay in a village in Tuscany, rent a car and do Pisa on your own as well as a little exploring of some smaller towns. Maybe take a day trip to Florence, but it is not necessary to stay there to enjoy it. We stayed in a tiny village of San Donato overlooking a vineyard, and it was really magical. A lot more freedom and a bit of downtime for some family bonding:) The one request my grandson had was the tower of Pisa... and he loved it.
It was also very hot and crowded when we were there, so breaking up the chaos and high energy of the cities with some quiet countryside was a nice relief.

Penny, how exciting for all of you! I strongly recommend cutting out one of the big cities. I would cut out Venice because of its location. I would fly into Rome and you will have them all excited they wont mind the Bigness of it all for 3 days. You may consider a local guide to be more efficient with your time since you are bringing kids. try to mix up the big sites with small more quiet places. Then catch a train to La Spezia and get the local train to the Cinque Terre. you will need to spend 2 nights to unwind and its the most beautiful place on earth the hike and eat and just relax while soaking up sun and culture with no hurry. then finish in Florence. Fly into rome and fly out of Florence. I hope this helps. I've been to all of these places twice.
Bill

Thanks everyone for your suggestions! I've never posted on a message board before, and you all have been so helpful. After considering your posts, I think we should reconsider going to Florence. My kids are definitely not into lots of art and museums. We have our heart set on Venice and Rome, so we still want to visit there. Maybe Siena would be a better place to stop between those 2. We would like to do a day trip to Assisi from there. Is it too far to do a day trip to Pisa/Luca from Siena? The kids would love to see the leaning tower if possible. We could do a day trip to Florence, or we may even skip Florence this trip.

We took our kids to Italy when they were 8 and 11. I think we spent 2 days in Florence, which was plenty. They did enjoy seeing the statue of David, but we all got museum'd out after 2 days. If you have a car, you could explore the Tuscany countryside a bit. Montepulciano is beautiful. My kids LOVED Civita di Bagnoregio, especially walking across the gorge. I think the smaller hill towns are more interesting to kids than Siena. Montepulciano, maybe Orvieto, or Pienza. Your kids will love both Venice and Rome. Have fun!!!

We took our 16 and 13 year old to Italy this summer. You are smart to go in March - less people and not hot! We started off in Rome. With kids I also recommend guided tours. It takes a lot of pressure off you. Mine liked the underground coliseum tour. Biggest thing I learned in Rome is to take taxis not buses. With 5 people the cost is not much more and definitely worth the convenience. My husband and I always have taken public transportation in the past but in Rome - taxis are best. Anything that reduces lines and waiting or being lost is a great idea with kids. The apartment is a great idea. You can make great meals from the grocery store and pizzeria take out. My kids liked the countryside but they hated hill towns. And if it is rainy when you go the countryside is very boring. I don't think you need to skip Florence just shorten the time. We even left our kids in the apartment once when they were cranky from sightseeing and there were still things we wanted to see. Have fun!

I think what you have is fine. Make a list of things you have to see, being reallistic because you have kids in tow. There will be a lot of walking involved, especially in Venice. You may not get to everything. Consider funds for public transportation where its available, this way they dont get pooped. I think there are things in each city that will keep them entertained. I personally wouldve liked to have one more day in Rome, and one less day in Venice. But as I said, what you have is fine. We did Pisa in an afternoon no problem, but we didnt bring the kids with us. With kids, it may be better to take your time. Another day trip to consider is Siena, but thats another post. I would book early for plane and hotels. As you get closer, hotel rates can go up, and sometimes they are no longer available. A lot of the hotels are not that big, and rooms get booked up quick.

I agree with those that said to take a day from Florence and spend it in Rome. Also, Pompeii is a doable day trip from Rome. We did it as a day trip with our 8 year old and it worked out great, as long as you take a somewhat early train from Rome. I think ours was at 9am or so and we got back in the evening.

Hi Penney, we took our then 10 y/o girls to Italy 3 years ago and did Rome, CT, Tuscany & Venice. We did Pisa enroute from CT to Tuscany and that was perfect. 3 or 4 hours there is plenty. Their favorites were Rome, down time in Tuscany where we had an apt and spent most of the time at the pool with a few hours a day day tripping to nearby hill towns. Venice was a big winner for all 4 of us and the CT. Their least favorite was Florence, but we did it as a day trip which I would NOT recommend. With kids, you really need to plan some down time, which was much appreciated by all of us. You probably don't need two down time stops like we had, but I would not recommend all cities as in your current itinerary. I think they are old enough to have some input as to what they would like to see. Whatever you do, you will have a blast!
Joann

Hi, Penny. We have gone to Italy twice with our three kids, to Rome and Venice in 2010 and in August of this year to Florence (with a day in Siena, Pisa and a Tuscan hill town) and Varenna. The kids were 13,12, 10 for our first trip in 2010. (We did France with them the year before.) Venice - our kids LOVED it. We didn't do any "sights" as the city itself is the sight, strolling, eating, watching the boats, looking at the buildings and taking a vaporetto. We went to mass at St. Mark's on Sunday - free - and closed to tourists. That was sort of the only "inside" thing we did. Stayed at a B&B called Locanda Orseolo and it kind of made the trip for the kids because they were so nice. http://www.locandaorseolo.com/. TIP: If you arrive by air, take a water taxi from airport into town. I saw that posted here and our whole family still talks about how neat that was. Rome. Stayed at Albergo Del Senato on the Piazza della Rotunda, overlooking the Pantheon. We did more sightseeing in Rome, e.g.the Vatican with Sistine Chapel, the Forum and ancient sites - lots of walking, lots of gelato. TIP: Don't do too much at a time - all the "stuff" gets overwhelming. Book a tour or make other arrangements to avoid waiting in lines. Florence 2013. Stayed at Antica Torre di via Tornabuoni in an apartment overlooking Arno. Kids are a little older now. Did a day of sightseeing with a guide which I like because my kids are more engaged and will ask questions. Went on a day trip out to Tuscany. Siena - they didn't rave about it. Pisa - was fun because most kids recognize it and we did the goofy pics of holding up the tower, etc. Book those flights now, just my two cents. I take it that's Spring Break for your kids? Yep - I would start shopping as they don't tend to drop in price in my experience. And book your hotels too.
Have fun!

Penny, Just a P.S. to my earlier comment. With regard to doing all three cities in the time you have, I would probably recommend just doing two cities. We used the trains to go between Venice and Rome and it was easy. My kids liked the train rides too because they don't ride them here at home. You know your kids the best, but in our experience, the kids are better rested and more engaged if there is less moving around. Plus it's less stressful for mom and dad not to be changing hotels another time, checking under the beds for forgotten socks, etc!

I have taken our kids to Italy about 8 times. I know all kids are different, but mine needed a break from all the cultural sightseeing. The parts they (and my husband) enjoyed the most was in the small towns. We always stayed for a few days in an agriturismo with a pool (we always were there in the summer) We would make trips to gorgeous little hill towns in the earlier part of the day, come back late afternoon for a rest and a swim and head out in the evening unless we had arranged dinner at the agriturismo. My kids have seen a Renaissance festival, a jousting event, rode a funivia to a mountain top, dipped in the hot, smelly (and free) springs of Saturnia, a medieval parade with all the magnificent costumes, seen farm animals, and much more during our time in the countryside.
If possible, I would try to include some time out of the cities.