Where to begin in Nov with kids?

There was a television series called "The Roberts Family Travel with Kids". It used to be available on iTunes for download. It was very good in showing how to make travel fun for the kids while traveling in Europe. The children in the videos, if I remember, were close to the ages of your children. I would get on the Internet and see what videos they produced for Italy.

lorri,

It would help to have more information on your trip. For example.....

• Which cities will you be visiting in Italy?
• How are you planning to get around?
• What is your group most interested in seeing?
• What type of "tours" did you have in mind?

We'll be there for 6-7 days. We haven't decided if we want to take a train or a flight from Paris. The idea of a train sounds relaxing and romantic (well, as romantic as can be with my 2 girls). A flight is obviously quicker and probably cheaper.

We're planning to base out of Rome. We definitely want to see the Colosseum and other ancient Roman sites. Of course, we must also see the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's.

My girls want to see Pompeii, but I'm worried it might be too morbid for them? I really want to see Florence and Venice.

How do these tours work? I see in the RS Rome book he mentions when they are and how much they cost. Is it as easy as that?

You could consider taking the night train from Paris and wake up in Venice. Maybe this is what you are already considering. If not, see the 'Man in Seat 61' for train details. You could spend 2 full days in Venice and then take the train to Rome for 4 full days. I would say you don't have enough time to fit in Florence, Venice and Rome. Take the night train and get a sleeping compartment to yourselves. I think the girls would love it. I haven't grown out of this fun yet! Wray

Most major cities in Europe have "free tours" where your guides work for tips. I've taken their tours many times, and the tour guides are excellent. You can Google them for the city you're visiting for directions and times of the tours.

lorri,

Thanks for the additional information.

If you're going to Italy this November, it's too late to sign up for a RS tour. That has to be done well in advance. Yes, it's generally as easy as that to take the tours. Keep in mind that these do not include air fare, so you'll have to get to the tour departure point on your own. If you'd like to consider a tour on another trip, the group here (which includes some of the RS staff) will be able to help you with all the details.

If you'd like to take a local tour in Rome with an excellent guide, I'd highly recommend Francesca Caruso. She's an outstanding guide!

With such a very short trip duration of 6-7 days, I'd suggest minimizing your transportation times to allow as much time for touring as possible. Using a flight from Paris to Rome will be the quickest option, and you could have a look at easyJet flights from Paris / ORY to Rome / FCO. For flights in November, the prices are going to be higher but a two hour flight is still preferable to taking the train. While a rail journey might seem "romantic", it will likely be a grueling 11-12 hour trip with one or more changes. After the first six hours or so, the trip won't seem so "romantic". One of the quickest rail trips is a departure from Gare de Lyon at 06:28, arriving Roma Termini at 17:55 (time 11H:27M, one change at Milano Porta Garibaldi). One point to note is that most cities in Europe have more than one rail station (Paris has about six), so you'll need to know which stations you're using. The rail tickets probably won't be much (if any) cheaper than the flights. Even with the flights, that will be pretty much a "full" travel day of at least six hours.

Pompeii is certainly possible as a day trip from Rome, but it will be a LONG day. As you've never been before, you might consider booking a local tour from Rome, as it will be easier than taking the train to Naples and then the Circumvesuviana to Pompeii. If you hire a local guide for that (some good ones listed in the Italy guidebook), it will make the history much more interesting and less "morbid" for your group.

With only 6-7 days (and a day trip to Pompeii), I very much doubt that you'll have time to see Venice. Florence is possible as a day trip (again a long day), as it's only about 90 minutes from Rome via high speed train.

If you haven't already picked up a copy of the Italy guidebook, I'd highly recommend packing a copy of that along on the trip as it will help to plan efficient sightseeing and generally make your trip easier.

As you haven't been before, one other point to mention is that there are some potentially expensive "caveats" to be aware of when using trains and other public transit in Italy. For example, if using Regionale trains, buses or metro, tickets MUST be validated prior to boarding on the day of travel, or you'll risk hefty fines which will be collected on the spot. That also applies to the Leonardo Express from FCO into Rome, as it's a Regionale train. With the high speed trains, the tickets are specific to train, date and departure time and can ONLY be used on the one train specified on the ticket. If you board another train by mistake, again hefty fines.

Be sure that your group is wearing money belts as there will be pickpockets and scammers about.

Rather than supporting the insidious practice of people working for tips as David suggests, if you are interested in tours pay for them with a reputable company.

I would highly recommend Pinocchio Tours as they specialise in guiding families with children and are fantastic. www.pinocchiotours.com

We did a tour with our children, of a similar age to yours, of the Colosseum/Forum and of Pompeii. The forum is much more interesting when the ruins are explained and the kids loved Pompeii, as I am sure yours would.

The other things they loved in Rome were palazzovalentini.it where you explore a roman villa 'buried' beneath a palazzo. They also really enjoyed climbing the dome at St Peters, exploring Castel San Angelo and going to an AS Roma football match.

Naturally, wandering around and visiting churches and other sights of less interest to them was helped by gelato stops every so often.

And if you get to Venice you MUST do www.rowvenice.org

THE highlight of Venice for my kids.

YouTube has 5 episodes of "Traveling with Kids"in Italy. I think you will find a lot of useful information in those videos.

Good for you! When we were in Rome last year, we did a night tour of Rome by golf cart. We thought it was so much fun and loved our driver/guide. I have thought since then this would be the perfect thing for an intro tour to Rome if you had preteen kids. No ones feet will hurt, no one will get tired or crabby and, if you did a half day tour early in the trip, you would get a good sense of how Rome is laid out and have seen the big sites from the outside. I neither work for this company not have any interest in it. http://www.mybesttour.com/tours.htm and reviewed, not by me, here http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g187791-d4889714-Reviews-My_Best_Tour_Day_Tours-Rome_Lazio.html

Any thoughts on good neighborhoods? From looking in the Rome travel guide, I'm leaning towards staying near Ancient Rome, the Pantheon neighborhood, or Trastevere.

All of those areas are good though personally I like Trastevere. Our preteen kids are good walkers and from Trastevere they made it to the Vatican (entry to the museums) in around 50mins and in about 40mins to the Colosseum.

Think about an apartment. More comfortable with kids as you can spread out, eat in if you are tired etc.