Help planning multigenerational family Italy tour
 

Hello! I'm in the beginning stages of planning a trip to Italy summer 2017. We'll be traveling with grandparents in their 70's, parents who are 40-something, and kids ranging in age from 11-16. There will be 12 people in our group. Between the age ranges, differing interests, and number of people in our group we are leaning towards taking an organized tour. We'd like a trip lasting 10-14 days. I'm a little overwhelmed about where to start but we are taking this trip to celebrate special occasions including milestone birthdays, anniversaries, and graduations so I want the trip to be wonderful for everyone. I'm thinking a Rome, Tuscany, Florence, Venice trip would be perfect. We have a healthy budget so if we decide on a tour group we'd like one that includes nice hotels in good locations, comfortable transportation, but a relaxed schedule with plenty of opportunity to see things on our own. We'd prefer meals to eat most meals on our own and take our time. Is such a trip possible with some sort of tour...we mainly are hoping it would make the logistics of the trio physically easier on the grandparents.

I'd also be open to other suggestions on how to plan a trip like this...I'm just not even sure where to begin. Is there a way we could comfortably organize a trip like this on our own??
I should add that our grandparents are originally from Italy and are native speakers so that will definitely be helpful...our mother does have knee and hip issues and we'd like to make the trip as enjoyable for her as well. They really are excited to share their home country with their grandchildren! Any suggestions, advice, or insights will be SO appreciated!

I planned a somewhat similar 3 generational two-week trip for our family of 10 to France two years ago. I like to plan trips so I enjoyed doing it, and my daughter, DIL, and I did get together a couple of times in the planning. We chose to stay in one spot in the countryside and do day trips rather than tour large cities. We did it this way because my husband has difficulty walking and also b/c we had younger grandchildren in the mix ( 4 kids, ages 4-11 at the time). We rented a spacious house with a pool, and each family rented a car so that gave everyone some flexibility. It was actually very relaxing because of not having to pack up and move on. The younger generations stayed in Paris a few days after my husband and I came home. I realize that I am not giving much "advice" except maybe to say that it can be done, and it was a dream come true to have us all together in a country we enjoy. I know you and your family will have a wonderful time making memories in Italy, also! Good luck!

So, what I hear is some physical limitations, some youthfulness, an issue about eating together. Just to be clear are we talking Plymouth Bretherin "eating together" , you like large tables in restaurants or just want people to eat at one time rather than rush around all over the place?

You don't have a lot of time to do this trip.

Rome
Tuscany
Florence
Venice

The easy one for Tuscany is to stay somewhere like and agriturismo . it site. In the summer you need a pool and these sort of places are designed to be flexible as to groups.

Transport, you may do best to hire a mini-bus to get between cities.

With a large group, I would definitely not do a tour. I think the key to a group like yours being happy is if you can break into smaller groups and take off in different directions for a few hours or the day.

To make it really simple, and given your expressed interests, I would book, say 4 nights each in Rome, Florence and Venice with train travel between each. It's very easy to do day trips from these cities if you wish. Of course, you could choose other cities as well, such as Bologna, Siena, Lucca, Vicenza - or a thousand others. But I'd stick to three in your timeframe to keep it relaxing.

Check booking.com for accommodation and trenitalia.com (using Italian place name spelling) for trains. Very easily done, especially with the help of people on this forum.

With your size group, you can arrange a custom tour with a tour company that specializes in small size groups, like Classic Journeys, Tauck, Abercrombie and Kent, etc. There are also groups that specialize in Italy only. I have been perusing their brochures and they look like they choose beautiful hotels. I would do this if you are set on seeing the 4 or so locations. A company like that can handle all the hotel bookings, travel while in Italy, outings in specific cities, arrange cooking classes and the like. The people who recommend a villa and staying one place are correct that you can do that, if people are willing to make their own plans on a daily basis. Have a great trip!

I agree with packmybags, that if the budget allows, if you want to tour book a private one for your group and let someone else do the hard work.

if that's not possible book a large villa [with a pool] and give everyone something to organise - don't let it all fall on your shoulders.

Trying to get a group of 12 from one place to another by public transport, especially one of such disparate ages, is going to be a nightmare; you'll just think that you've got them ready then someone will need the loo, another will have forgotten their glasses, someone else will....you get the idea. If they are being organised by a stranger, they will be much better behaved.