Dami

Hi All-

My wife, and I are planning to travel to Europe for 2 weeks in second half of September with our daughter who will be 3.5 years old by then. To avoid rushing with a young child, we want to cover just two destinations(and areas around them) in Europe.

I started with Rome and Tuscany for 2 weeks plan a month back but now I feel we might as well try to visit two countries if we're flying all the way over from Seattle. We'd definitely want to go to non-rainy place.

Here are our rough ideas
1) Fly from Seattle into one of Vienna/Munich/Provence
2) Stay for 6 days (possible short trips aside)
3) Take an overnight train to Florence.
4) Spend 6 days over there maybe with day trips to Sienna and Assisi.
5) Fly back to Seattle

I want to spend 6 days in Italy since it seems like a good family friendly place. My daughter would love Pizza/Pasta/Gelato and I love old buildings.

I am not able to decide between Vienna/Munich/Provence probably Swiss cities close to Italy. I can rent a car but would like to avoid it. I'd prefer to rent an apartment but that should be available in all the cases. Any opinions?

Thanks for any tips!

Sassafrass

I would stick with the whole two weeks in Italy.
Your reasoning about flying all the way from Seattle so you should see two countries could just as well apply this way: you are going all the way from Seattle to Italy, so you should see more than one area of Italy while you are there. See Rome and Venice, perhaps the AC. You will be only short train rides away.
You could rent apartments in three very different places and really see Italy.

Haven't been to Munich in years, but love Provence and Vienna. However, you will have just as much variety on your trip by exploring more areas of Italy. Rome and Venice are both about as beautiful as cities can be, yet so different from each other and from Florence that they are endlessly interesting.

Save Provence when you are going to France anyway. The TGV takes you from Paris to Avignon in a couple of hours.

Munich pairs better with other places in Germany.

bobthenavigator

I am a big fan of Munich, the Salzburg area, and the Swiss Alps for a tight geographic trip using all rail travel.

Or, Venice, the Dolomites, and Tuscany that time of year. This would require a car for parts of the trip. no reason to mix Italy with other countries.

Dami

Thank you both for the replies. I'll try to keep it within Italy corridor. One reason I was skipping Venice this time was because I know I'd be nervous in a Gondola with active kid. Maybe I can skip the canal part of the Venice and do other things.

nytraveler

Well - if you want no rain the only place I can think of is southern Spain. Everywhere else there is the possibility - and in 2.5 weeks I would say a strong possibility of at least some rain (europe isn't a desert).

Munich or Vienna depends on if you want to visit mountains (an easy day trip from Munich - longer from Vienna). Either has parks and palaces with fountains (kid friendly for amusement and running around) and would make a nice contrast to florence.

Dami

thanks, nytraveler. I like the contrast part too.

Sassafrass

In Venice, for the most part, the gondola ride is just an expensive, fun thing people do once. You would be using the vaporetto to get around. It is an enclosed boat with seats. If you are concerned anywhere about the little one running free, get one of those cute little backpacks that is also a harness with a leash that you can hold onto. It is nice even just for walking near or crossing busy streets.

FHurdle

I think your worries about Venice are misplaced. Nobody rides on the gondolas, and there are plenty of places where water is nowhere around. Unless your daughter has a propensity to run and jump into swimming pools or lake you shouldn't have any problems. Just hold her hand on those occasions when open water might be nearby.

Sassafrass

Wladecek, if you are legit, you should start your own thread, not hijack so many others. It is annoying to see your same post popping up all over.

Dami

Thanks all for the realistic information on Venice. I am reading up on Venice as well now.