It's going to be hot in most places you mention, so how well does your family handle high temps? It's also going to be crowded in the cities (including Siena), so how much of that do you want to deal with?

Do you know how well your kids will handle jet lag?

Whether Venice is a 'must-do' on this particular trip depends on your family. Your kids would likely find the city quite mysterious (no streets, no cars), but perhaps Rome would be more interesting or a beach or mountains more enjoyable.

Lucca is doable but a bit far for a day trip from Siena. It would take between 1.5 and 2 hours each way. And I assume you want to include a stop in Pisa, which is even farther from Siena. Trying to see all of the towns/cities you mention would make for a busy week (and perhaps hard to do if it's really hot). How much time do you want to spend in a car on any given day and how many days in a row do you want to be on the road?

Personally, I would stay north of Rome on this trip, but you need to think more about your family, how much you can realistically see in 2 weeks, how busy an itinerary you want, etc.

Your children are much too young for Pompeii. It's rough walking and there is little shade.

July will be hot no matter where you go so Sorrento won't be any worse than any place else and should be better as it's on the coast. You can take day trips to Capri and the Amalfi Coast from Sorrento.

Consider Lerici on the Italian Riviera instead of going all the way south to Sorrento or the Amalfi. From Lerici you can take lots of boat rides to le Cinque Terre and other colorful towns, plus visit the marble quarries of Carrara.

However, I think you might overall do better to be in the area around Lucca in a place with a pool for the entire 2 weeks of your stay. You can use a combination of trains and a rental car to go to the seaside some days and take boat rides, and on other days you can visit small towns like San Gimiganano (include Montecatini Alto, where your kids would probably live the funicular), and on other days you can go to Pisa or Florence, and of course go into Lucca and bike around. Not relocating might be nice.

If you do decide to go south, I don't think your kids would have any trouble at all handling the uneven walkways of Pompei. I've seen plenty of kids the age of yours in Pompei having fun, and you can look up past trip reports from people who took six-year-olds to Pompei and it was fine. But you would need to be mindful of the blazing sun and heat. Sorrento is a nice choice for families (check out Meta di Sorrento if you want some beach).

Please post what you decide to do and any links for apartments as we ate also trying to figure this out with our 2yr old and 4 yr old

Thanks all. This is very helpful. I like the idea of staying near Lucca and also going to Lerici.

If we had to pick just a few towns to visit which are the highlights (with kids)? I presume Siena and Pisa?

One more question: We will be coming from France where our last stop there is Nice.

Any views on whether we should fly from Nice to Florence or Pisa or drive from Nice? We could maybe spend the night near Genoa.

The flying time (with mandatory stop in Rome) is 5 hours. Driving time seems to be the same (we could keep our rental car from France).

Grazie!

You might enjoy the Villa Rinascimento, half way between Lucca and Pisa, on a hillside. It has an amazing infinity pool, play area, and kitchen facilities in the annex room. Vineyards, and lots of space for kids to run around. The annex is kind of a rustic family-camp place, the hotel proper more upscale. Up on a hillside with nice breezes.

But I wouldn't call Lucca/Pisa ``central'' to the rest of Tuscany -- its more like in the upper left corner, while Siena and such are south of Florence. Something to think about if you want to avoid long hours in the car.

Before deciding to drive from France, check whether there are extra fees for dropping car off in a different country.

Kids in Italy: the rule is, gelato twice a day.

Kids in Lucca: the wall around the city can be walked or biked. There is a tree growing out of the top of a tower. I'm not a fan of the place (kind of boring imho) but others disagree.

Kids in Pisa: they have this cool tower that kid of leans over which you can climb if you can get tickets. Also don't miss the Dom and the Baptistry. Pisa has a university section that is pleasant to walk around in, with nice arcaded shops and a world-class chocolate store.

Kids in Siena: there is piazza with a fountain, and a tower to climb, and a Duomo with an amazing interior.

Kids in Florence: visit the statues outside the Accademia; climb up into the Dom, or up the bell tower (easier); visit the straw market and/or the Mercato Centrale. Inside the Dom you can take an underground tour of the ancient part of the city. The doors of the baptistry are pretty neat, as is the interiour.

Forte dei Marmi (on the coast) is also nice. You may already know Italian beaches are kind of disappointing to many (no splashy waves, and the beach is covered with beach chairs that you have to pay for), the town has some nice walking-around areas and you can get gelato.

If it were me (and my kids were little again), I would spend half a week in Venice and the other half in the Dolomites, maybe Bolzano. Venice would be hot but unforgettable, and the Dolomites would be cool and breezy. There is an old castle in Castlerotto, Utzi the ice-man, and hikes in the hills.

<<we could keep our rental car from France).>>

Yup, if you wanted to pay an extra $500 or even 500 euro, you could. You can't just pick up a car in Country X and drop it in Country Y without a whopping extra charge. Also, there are mandatory charges on Italian car rentals that don't exist in France (like theft and CDW), so be prepared for hefty extra charges if you decide to go that route.

Tuscany is 9000 square miles. You need either to...

(1) pick the lodging you like and see places within a reasonable drive or

(2) decide what you want to see and find lodging within a reasonable drive of your wish list.

Everyone has their preference, and I would rather spend time in central to southern Tuscany than the Pisa/Lucca area. Disclosure: I'm not a big fan of Lucca.

Climbing to the lantern (top) of the Duomo in Florence is fascinating, but I'm not sure a 6-year-old (or even possibly an 8-year-old) would enjoy it. It's more than 450 steps and could be quite taxing in the heat of summer. Perhaps parents of small children could comment on this... I'd be looking for things like a pizza-cooking or gelato-making class instead. There's also a children's museum (Il Museo dei Ragazzi) at the Piazza della Signoria.

http://www.palazzovecchio-familymuseum.it/

Hi jacolis,

You wrote:

"Any views on whether we should fly from Nice to Florence or Pisa or drive from Nice?"

There are no flights from Nice to central Italy. Flying to Rome and taking a train to Pisa is your best option if you don't want to drive from France. Call the car rental company and find out what the drop-off fee and insurance costs would be. It might be cheaper than plane and train tix for you entire family.

If you drive, don't stay in Genoa to break up the trip. Stay instead in Camogli. If you end up splitting your stay, go to Lerici (or neighboring Fiascherino) first, and then go to somewhere near Lucca. If you base around Lucca, Siena is much too far for a reasonable day trip with kids.

In Italy, there is always a density of interest right in your immediate locale, wherever you find your villa. Don't fall into the trap of thinking that Pisa or Siena are the most thrilling places to be, especially in July with kids and al the tourist crowds. Your kids will be interested in smaller things they can examine with their hands and smaller places without cars where they can around without you having a grip on them. You too will find that more relaxing, but also don't underestimate the artistic interest and beauty of towns like Pietrasanta, Montecatini Alta, San Miniato, Pistoai, Pescia, Tellaro -- never heard of them? All the more fun to be surprised at how beautiful they are and blessedly free of tourist mobs. Sprinkle in some of those towns or others you see nearby on a map plus Pisa and Lucca, or find some near Siena if you end up around there. See on or two BIG art sights but otherwise enjoy the small side of Italy, which is quite rich and layered.

Sorry for some typos above: Montecatini Alto, Pistoia

Thank you so much, all. Molto grazie!

As requested by one poster, I wanted to provide the link to the place we ended up renting. Our first choice (near Siena) was booked (I will provide the link below). So, we ended up going with this place which is 10 miles west of Florence (we are renting the villa with another family).

http://www.vrbo.com/33143

This was the place we also liked near Siena:
http://www.vrbo.com/411914ha

Lastly, a colleague had recommended this place (it has a family suite for rent in addition to a villa that can accomodate 10 people):
http://www.chianticortine.it/

jacolis, the Florence area villa looks fabulous. For other interested parties, this villa is a short drive to/from the Lastra a Signa train station with hourly service to Florence S.M.N. (17 minutes, 2,50 euros). The Lastra a Signa station has a parking lot.

Hi all,

I am back with a further question. I didn't realize that there are no direct flights from Nice to Pisa/Florence (we have to go through Rome). With the connections, it is like a 5 hour day. According to Google maps the driving time from Nice to Florence is 4 hours. This seems faster than flying (and has the advantage of allowing us to drive along the coast and see the French/Italian rivieras.

We checked the price for car rentals (leaving the car in Italy and flying back to Paris for our flight back to North America) and it is not too bad.

Is this a better option than flying? I noticed that the aquarium in Monaco got very good reviews with kids. And, we could stop in Camogli or Lerici as suggested by another poster for a few days for some beach time.

A futher other option would be to fly to Rome and get our rental car there and drive up to Florence.

Any views on what would be better in terms of sights: 1)driving from French to Italian riviera; or 2) sightseeing from Rome up to florence (to see the south/central part of Tuscany).

I should note that we are used to driving long-ish distances (regularly make the 5 hour drive to visit in-laws).

Grazie!