Hi All - this is my first post so please be gentle! I am a recent lurker and appreciated all of the wonderful advice and answers to queries as we planned our trip. I wanted to share our some highlights of our experience and hope it may help a future planner or two (especially if travelling with young ones!)
We flew into Milan and had planned to take the express train to Milan Central and then a train to Venice. However, I underbaked how much time we would need for that transfer. I would say you need at least four hours from scheduled landing before you could comfortably catch the express train to central train station. As it was, we noticed the time crush (slight delay on landing, over an hour in immigration, very long walk to the airport train terminal) and had to grab a taxi. We made our train with about five minutes to spare!
After that smooth sailing to Venice and we booked a water taxi transfer to our hotel, the Hotel American in Dorsoduro. The hotel was simply wonderful. They had the best mix (in reviews) of good breakfast, quiet rooms, comfortable beds, and space for the kids. Our family room hit each of these. And the location was just perfect. A few steps from the Guggenheim in one direction and a few more steps to the Accademia bridge in the other direction. Rec: if coming with kids is to book the water taxi arrival and hopefully a hotel with a small pier - they were in awe of Venice and the shock of pulling up to the hotel was a site to see!
We did mask making for the kids at Ca Macana, the Secret Itineraries Doge's Palace tour, and pre-reserved tickets for clock tower. Everything else was just walking around or ferrying around and we did this for 2 1/2 days. Kids favorite gelato by far was Suso. For meals we really loved Al Covo though the kids were slightly young.
Best thing I did in Venice: Wife and son wanted to sleep in last morning, so daughter and I left at about 6:30 am, had cornettos and espresso/hot chocolate at two different cafes, walked across Rialto with nary a soul on the bridge, saw the opening of the Rialto market, then grabbed a Vaporetto back to our hotel from Rialto Market. The boat ride was glorious, beautiful light, front of boat seats all by ourselves, city waking up on both shores of the canal. Priceless memory.
Our next stop was a brief overnight in Garda to visit Gardaland. My son is a huge amusement park fan. It's a great park and easy one day stop. Kids loved it. April a great time to go - not a single line at any ride. We also managed to squeeze in a tour of the castle in Sirmione. My wife and I have done the lake country previously and hopefully will be able to explore more with the kids when they are older.
We next caught the train to Florence and spent five nights (two days in Florence and then two day trips into Tuscany) - For Florence we did one of the kids adventure guided walks, the behind the scenes Duomo discussion and dome climb and timed entry for Accademia. We also did the Da Vinci 'workshop' museum. Each of those are must dos with kids but the Duomo climb did tire them out. The rest of our Florence time was spent wandering (and eating).
Must eats while in Florence: All'Antico is an absolute must do if you have the time. the line is there for a reason! I will dream about those sandwiches. Eduardo gelato was the kids favorite. And then the butter chicken at Sostanza. Wife and I really enjoyed cocktails at Locale (highly recommend), and dinner at Osteria del Pavone.
For Tuscany - we did Tours by Roberto for Siena - I know I'm not the first to say this but incredible value, incredible entertaining guidance by Roberto himself. A man who loves his city and shares that with you. Then lunch and wine at his farm. I was honestly not that excited about the meal in advance but it was a highlight of our trip. Great (great!) food and conversation and a lovely staff. In a beautiful setting. What more could you ask?
Part 2 soon!