KateLM

We are planning a trip to Europe in Sep/Oct this year with our two sons aged 6 and 8. We expect to spent up to 3 weeks in Italy from late Sept to mid Oct. We are trying to decide between two very different approaches to our time in Italy.

One is to do a 14 day family tour from Rome to Venice which would then leave us about a week before we fly out of Rome. (We thought perhaps travel back to Rome via the East coast but would welcome other suggestions) The tour goes to the places we want to see and the lack of hassle is tempting. It would also be nice for the boys to have some other children for company. However, it is a bit inconvenient regarding timing and would mean cutting the South of France from our overall itinerary. Not to mention the added expense and some general concerns the restriction of tours.

I'm keen to spend time in the countryside with day trips to cities (other than Rome) so my alternative thoughts would be to spend 4-6 nights each at farmstay/country villas in the Veneto and Tuscany areas. We would then plan to finish with a few days in Rome and possibly a trip (maybe day?) to Pompeii.

Any information/ideas/suggestions to help us decide would be most appreciated. Or if you have any better suggestions how to spend 3 weeks in Italy with 2 young boys then please let me know.

bobthenavigator

Kate, Here is a good place in Tuscany that has actvity for kids. Isabella is the best--tell her I sent you.

http://www.cretaiole.it/index.en.php

enewell

My husband and I have stayed at Cretaiole twice, and we only wish we had been able to go there when our two sons were children. I think your boys would absolutely love it there, and it is surrounded by gorgeous villages and sites to visit.

annhig

hi Kate,

we have visited Italy wtih our kids several times, albeit they were rather older than yours, even the first time we went.

based on our experiences, I would be inclined to do more of the activity -type experience such as this lovely agri-tourismo at Cretaiole, and less of the cities.

in 3 weeks, you could do a few days in Venice, move onto Lake Garda and spend a week there, move onto Cretaiole for a week, then finish off in Rome.

alternatively, 4 days in each of Venice and Rome, with a large chunk of Cretaiole in the middle might also work well, given the number of activities you can do there.

jnjfraz

Personally I love the idea of a farm stay or village stay. I think that tours can really wear everyone out.... but that might just be me. Also if you have a place that is more like an apartment than a hotel room, then you get some good down time.

We brought out grandkids to Italy a few years ago.

Some of the parts they loved the most were:

A night or two in Cinque Terre - after the day tourists left Vernazza there were tons of kids playing soccer in the square.
Siena and some of the other towns with good squares have a bunch of kids around at night.

We like long lunches, so we let them take tons of pictures at lunch, (of each other and us or the food) then they helped sort or delete those that didn't work.

Having a home base was invaluable because they could swim in the late afternoon. (would only work in September probably)

Just a warning, if your kids get car sick, you need to take special care because some of these area roads are very twisty.

I pods and hand held games were good for the plane and places like that (in our case the parents restricted those sort of things to just planes and serious boring wait time.

Historical stuff that they knew about was good. Pompeii, Rome attractions, Venice glass or maybe verona for Romeo and Juliet

jujubean

We just came back from our trip with our 8 and 13 year old kids and we loved our stay outside of Parma at a farm you can find it here: http://www.cancabaia.it/ we loved it! the hosts are very informed, the rooms are beautiful, but so reasonable - and you will not find a better breakfast to start your day. Do yourself a favor and stay here.

AtlTravelr

Kate - I would absolutely recommend the agriturismo approach over a tour. My kids loved Italy when we went. We spent 1 week in Tuscany at an agriturismo and another 1 1/2 weeks seeing Rome, Venice, Dolomite region & Lake Como. They loved staying in one place for such a long time - it was great to have a "home" for part of our time. We only stayed one night in the Dolomites and they really did want to stay more - that might be a great place for your second longish stay - so different from the rest of what you will see - the mountains, German language, etc. Great outdoorsy place for the boys.

The only thing I'd personally not do is the "day trip" to Pompeii. I know it is possible, but I think the logistics sound terrible. We skipped Pompeii the first trip but did it with them on our second Italy trip and glad we didn't try to cram it in the first time.

Italy is our kids favorite country - it is VERY family friendly - lots of familiar foods (always important when traveling with kids). Unless you are REALLY overwhelmed at doing the planning for your trip, skip the tour and plan the trip yourself. I think you'll have a great time.

Henry

KateLM,
This may be of use http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...o-and-rome.cfm

KateLM

Thanks for all the helpful ideas. I think we've pretty much decided against the tour. I'll do a bit more research and may have some more questions when I get my head around the options. At least one decision is made!