April Trip to Italy with kids
 

My family and I are planning a trip it Rome. Florence & Venice in April 2004. We are taking our kids, ages 9 & 12. Any suggestions on how to book it. We are think 2-3 days in each city traveling between each via train. Has any one used General Tours Italy by Rail? Are independent packages better than booking your own? Any hotel suggestions?

We did a similar trip in March '01 with our kids, about that age at the time. We spent 9 nights in Italy. We flew into Venice, spent 3 nights there. Then headed towards Rome. We rented a car and spent 2 nights on the road (Orvieto and Florence). We spent the last 4 night in Rome (where we returned the car). Our flight home was out of Rome.

Have you been to Italy before? We had been there and have driven (before kids) so we were comfortable with this plan with our kids. How long of a trip to you expect to take? The 2 to 3 days, do they include travel days? If they do, that's rushing it a bit. You need at least 2 to 3 full days at those places.

Hotels with quads/family rooms:
Rome - Santa Chiara
FLorence - Hotel Casci
Venice - Hotel FLora
Orvieto - Palazzo Piccolomini

Do a text search on "Italy AND Kids" or "Rome AND Kids" and other variations to get more ideas. Italy is a great place to take children.

The Hotel Casci in Florence is great...they are so friendly there and were fantastic towards our children.

In Rome we stayed at Hotel Miami. Again a great staff, very friendly, etc.

Would definitely stay at both hotels again without a doubt.

We did a trip like yours last February. Our kids were 15 and 12. We flew into Rome, spent 3 nights in Rome, then took the train to Florence, 2 nights in Florence, then the train to Venice and spent 3 night in Venice. We flew out of Venice. I planned our trip myself, using this web site (you can look up my posts and see the all of the questions I posed - and the answers) and the Rick Steves guides. I think that it is best to book it all yourself. I managed to get good rates when I communicated directly, via email, with the hotels. We stayed at Albergo Santa Chiara in Rome, Hotel Casci in Florence and Hotel Ala in Venice. We loved the Santa Chiara and Hotel Ala. Hotel Casci was fine, but I would have preferred a "prettier" place. That being said, the staff at Casci was wonderful and the place was spotless, I would just have preferred a nicer/prettier room.

Hi Tim,

I suggest that you slow down. Travel can be very stressful for youngsters.

Try two cities instead of 3. Unless your kids are really, really interested in great art.

I would also suggest that for such a standard trip you do a text search on this board for where to stay and what to do, a tour can be too confining with kids.

Leave plenty of time for gelato and pizza breaks.

I think you planned yout trip well enough, and yes, packages leave nothing to surprise and improvisation in case something goes wrong, so that would be a good solution. If I was you I would also spend one or two days in the aquatic parks near Ravenna, for the kids of course, but that's not a must-do of course