Tuscany hill towns with children ages 8,11,15..

Knowing the ages of your children might help.

I really liked the town of Lucca. There are tons of places to rent bikes and ride around the city. There are also really good places to eat around the square. Orvieto was also really cool. You can go on tours of the underground caves which might interest your kids!

Certaldo has a funicular that kids seem to like and a view to San Gimignano on clear days - and I think Montepulciano has tunnels that can be visited also.
Also south of Siena there is a neat little town with a large "pool" in the middle of it and thermal springs nearby which could be great for kids - Bagno Vignoni

Wow, GREAT IDEAS!!!! Thank you. Keep sending them!

Lola

Lola,
I really appreciate you posting this question because we will be traveling with our two boys, 12 and 14, in the spring, and have the same question. I have not been to Italy yet, but we plan to go to Bomarzo Gardens (or Grove of Monsters)http://www.unmuseum.org/bomarzo.htm. It is just south of Orvieto. Happy travels!

Lola,
When I was in Montalcino with a nine and ten year old I took the girls on a tour of the rocca (castle) while my wife and sister-in-law drank wine in the lower level of the rocca.

I just returned from our wonderful vacation with our 12, 10 & 8 year old daughters. They loved climbing the Duomo in Florence, climbing down the well in Orvieto, the water-taxi ride to the airport in Venice, swimming at the hotel in Rome, swimming (???) in Lake Como, eating gelatto, running around Ostia Antica and Villa d'Este, the Secret Itinerary tour in Venice, and lots more of course. The general theme was physical. They really liked physically exploring/touching.

You didn't ask about food, but I was really worried about food and how much it was all going to cost. The girls lived on spaghetti with tomato sauce, which at some point turned into spaghetti with meat sauce. Both of which cost about 8-10 euros. My 10 & 8 yo usually shared and it was fine. My oldest was into the pizza, the presentation of which varied from restaurant to restaurant. Usually 9 euros. Sometimes a sandwich, which was about 5. My husband and I both ordered one thing each, plus wine, and we spent about 50 euros a meal.

Enjoy!

Have you booked your accommodations yet? I'd suggest to rent an appartment/villa with a pool. Your kids will be easier to do some daytime sightseeing if they can jump into the pool at the end of the day - especially in such a hot month like July. Most agriturismo actually have a pool and it can be cheaper than staying at a hotel in siena.

In Siena, our kids liked the torture museum. And my then 12 year old daughter loved looking at shoe stores together with her aunt;-)

And sipping a glass of wine is no problem when the kids can sip a glass of freshly squeezed lemonade at the same time or have a gelato. We found street side cafes to do that in San Giminiano, Florence, Siena ...

Thank you so much for the great ideas. I am definitely taking a note of all suggestions. We are for sure going to enjoy pools in Siena and Lucca areas so that will be kid pleasing and hopefully counterbalance all the museums and architecture that we look at too. Our itinerary is Florence, Siena, Lucca, Venice. We are renting a car in Siena and having it that time through our stay in Lucca to explore the hill towns and countryside. Thanks for the suggestions of biking the ramparts in Lucca. That is definitely on the to do list as well as San Gimignano and the torture museum sounds right up my kid's alley!

Hi Lola,

Just got back from 2 weeks in Italy with my 4 year old..went to Rome, Cinque Terre, and Lucca. We extended our stay in Lucca rather than going to Siena as we fell in love with Lucca. Biking the ramparts is great..lots of parks if your 8 year is interested. Paladino of Chronos bike shop (http://www.chronobikes.com/rent-bikes/) was very helpful. Sounds like you have a car, so getting outside of the walls for a drive around the countryside is also worth it. A great beach town (Viareggio) is only a 20 minute train ride from Lucca. Monterosso (Cinque Terre) was also a fantastic beach resort town..and great hiking. We did the hike from Monterosso to Vernasa, which took us 2.5 hours but we had our 4 year old daughter with us. It was quite challenging in sections.

Good luck! Happy travels!
Nicole

I think the towers or San Gimignano and the tunnels in Orvieto were highlights for our kids that age. They also enjoyed Verona center and the Roman ampitheater. Siena seemed to capture their imagination also.