Planning our first family trip to Italy with 2 kids ages 9 & 12. We will be hitting Rome and Venice. We have 2 or 3 more days and I am trying to decide between Tuscany & Cinque Terre. I would LOVE not to rent a car, and from what I gather from the book, we can get to and navigate thru CT without a car. My concern is my kids will not do the full 5 town hike (maybe 1 or 2 parts) so will there be enough to do there? As always, all input is appreciated!!
Allison
Posted by
Santa Clara, CA
252 posts
Easy answer would be to let the kids decide, making them part of the decision making process will get them more interested (and possibly complain less). Getting them to read Rick's books might be tough so have them watch the TV shows and go from there.
Posted by
Bellevue, WA, USA
811 posts
2 or 3 days are enough for florence and siena. if you haven't been to italy and not planning to go very often, i'd go with tuscany. CT is nice but somewhat over rated in my opinion - it's about the same as amalfi coast with great views, but for the best art and architecture in the world you have to go to tuscany - there is only one tuscany, but you can find similar little fishing villages like CT elsewhere.
Posted by
Calgary
2297 posts
We took our kids on a 3 week Italy trip that included Rome, Pompeii, Amalfi coast, Tuscany and CT. If you ask them they don't hesitate to nominate Tuscany as their favourite part and would tell you they hated hiking in CT. And we only did 2 parts of the trail. They really enjoyed the opportunity to have a few more leisurely days with time spent at the pool of our agriturismo in Chianti. That made the other days of sightseeing and museums more palatable.
Posted by
Ann Arbor, Mi
3696 posts
After Rome and Venice I would think two kids would prefer a little down time rather than be trooped around to see more sights, so a place in Tuscany with a pool might be just the ticket. If they like hiking and the sea, then CT would be great, but if they would rather just have some time to hang out they might like a pool. When you say 'is there enough to do'...what kinds of activities are you looking for? There is eating and shopping and hiking and hanging out by the sea and a boat trip or two and taking the train to see the other villages, but thats about it. If you do go there it might be a good time to do some art (sketching or painting) or some journal writing so the kids can remember everything they have seen.
Posted by
Fort Lauderdale, FL
1233 posts
I would do CT, stay in Vernazza, where you have the harbor and kids can swim/snorkel. Hike if you want, take the train to the other towns. Tuscany is great, but unless you stay just in Florence, you will need a car to get to other towns. After seeing the sights in Rome and Venice the kids might appreciate doing nothing but having fun.
Posted by
Catadupa Alamere, CA
515 posts
Just put the kids in front of their computers (as though they are not there all the time) and ask them to find things in CT and Central Tuscany that they would like to do. Then just stand back. In a short time they will have used YouTube, Hulu (RS shows are on both) plus Facebook and web sources that us non-kids do not even know exist, to form opinions about what they want to do. And they will do this without skipping a beat in replacing the OS with Linux, upgrading to the latest nVidia gaming chip, sending thousands of texts and sharing music videos.
Posted by
Sacramento, California U.S.A.
10228 posts
What time of year do you plan to take this trip? The Cinque Terre is a good weather kind of place. If it is cold or rainy there isn't much to do. You could easily do Tuscany without a car. Remember that a 2 night stay is only one full day. When I look at it that way I find it easier to figure out my time in each location. How much time will you actually have?