Italian vacation
 

Hi,

I want to surprise my family with an 18 day trip to Northern Italy. I would like to show my wife and two sons 8 and 10 Rome, Florence and venice, but do not know how much time to dedicate to each of these cities, and whether I should spend time in any other areas that may be of interest.

I would like to start in Rome, then rent a car and drive to Venice through Florence so that I could drive through the Italian Alps.

Suggestions would be hugely appreciated.

Thank you so much,

Dylan

Well- I think you need to look at a map. The Italian Alps are considerably north of Florence and the Dolomites are north of Venice.

If you want to cover all this in 18 days (total days or days on the ground) you will have to be moving fast.

I would do a minimum of 5 days Rome and 3 days each in Florence and Venice. With a day in between each you have already used 13 days. If you ignore everything between Rome and Florence (Tuscany and all it's adorable small towns) you could go from Venice over to Lago di Stresa (or one of the others) for a couple of days and then up into the alps.

It would make most sense to fly home from Milan.

Actually, I think the boys would enjoy Rome less and Venice more (having done this trip with boys about that age). And hiking in the Dolomites would be great fun.

How about this:
1. Fly into Rome, 3 or 4 nights.

2. To Florence, but stop 3 nights in a little Tuscan town, take day trips. Siena, maybe, or Montepulciano.

3. Florence, 3 nights.

4. Half-day drive to Venice, stay 4 nights. Day trips to the other islands.

5. Then to Bolzano, 3 nights: See the Ice man in Bolzano, visit CastleRotto, and hike in the mountains.

6. Through the Alps to Innsbruck, and then either to Munich, Salzburg or Zurich. Fly home from one of these cities.

Dylan,

With 18 days to visit three cities, then you can have a great trip. In order to allocate days, you need to think about your or your families personal interests (scenery, architecture, churches, montains, etc).

The appenines mountains are between Florence and Venice. The Alps are north of Venice. You do the Alps by train out of Venice.

The area from Rome to Venice offers hundreds of interesting sights. There are lots of good travel books. Thomas Cook (out of England) and Michelin offer good driving ideas and destinations.

It is a good idea to add country-side and small towns into your itinerary. Ask more questions and have a good trip.

Hi D,

I think that I would fly into Rome - 5 nights with a daytrip to Orvieto, train to Florence - 4 nights with a dayteip to Siena or Pisa, train to Venice - 3 nights.

Then rent the car for your journey through the mountains and fly out of Milan.

You will pay a very large drop off fee if you leave the car in another country.

Alternatively, rent the car to drive through Tuscany on your way to Venice.

If you do decide to do Tuscany instead of the mountains, I suggest flying into Venice or Milan and out of Rome.

Enjoy your visit.

((I))

I like Ira's plan. You don't need a car from Rome to Venice unless you're going to visit some Tuscan towns or stay in one. I would do Orvieto on the way from Rome to Florence (you can still do this by train) instead of a daytrip from Rome.

Your surprise trip to Italy is a nice thought, but I would involve your family in the planning. Let them make some choices and read up on the history; they'll be more involved in the trip and enjoy it more. This applies both to your wife and to your boys.

(In our family, I -- the wife -- am the planner. Our son assists me.)

Do include your boys and wife in the planning. The more the boys learn ahead of time about the things they will see, the more interested they will be on the trip and the more they will remember afterwards. They may come up with ideas for the trip that you didn't think of, and your wife may have some special sights she has always wanted to see and not mentioned before.