Dear Fodorites,

Discovered this site and this wonderful forum quite by accident. I guess it has come at the right time since I'm in the very early stages of planning for our next holiday.

We are considering Italy. Haven't looked at flights, hotels or anything - so will gather inputs here to help me decide the route and look for flights, hotels, etc.

Planning to visit Italy for a week - can hire a car if needed. Travelling with DH and toddler. We would like to stay for between 5 - 7 days not more. We are into history, natural scenic locations - not too much into art.

What is the best time to visit Italy in terms of price - Sep/Oct - we are pretty flexible and can do it anytime of the year.

What are the places that we should consider - obvious ones are Rome, Pisa, Florence.

Judging by distances, I'm planning to not visit Venice for now so that I can combine with my next holiday with Vienna as it is closer - any thoughts?

Any suggested Itineraries for the above?

Thanks in advance.

JWM

With seven day trip you don't have a lot of options. I would suggest staying in Rome and doing a couple of day trips. Or split time between Florence and Rome. Florence is also doable, not necessarily recommended, as a day trip from Rome. The toddler will slow you down. As you sure grandmother would not like a week of bonding with the toddler?

Agree with fmpden, not enough time to move around a lot. Pisa is not on the same scale as Rome and Florence and isn't a must see on a short trip.

Pisa is an easy day trip by train from Florence (an hour and only about 5€). I would split the time between Florence and Rome and just day trip to Pisa if it's a priority for you.

If you're only going to cities I would take the train rather than rent a car. The car will pose parking problems and within Italian cities there is restricted driving access on the roads.

I would rent an apartment in Rome. This is a better idea for traveling with a toddler than a hotel. You can shops in local markets and keep snacks and beverages handy. You can also get some take out food in case you want to eat in a few nights. If you eat in the apartment, you can sit in a cafe over a glass of wine in the evening.

Rome has enough sights to keep you busy for months so you won't get bored with 5 to 7 days there. You can always take a day trip to Florence, if you want to experience another city.

Late September/October is a good time to visit Rome in terms of crowds and heat.

where are you coming from and can you get a direct flight? if it is too far, even a week (let alone 5 days) would not make sense.

You don't have as much time as you think you do.

I'll lay out a few scenarios that would work, depending on how long you are actually staying:

If you are staying 5 nights:
<b>a)</b> Just stay in Rome and <i>maybe</i> take one day trip.
<b>b)</b> Just stay in Florence and take one or two day trips (Pisa?).

If you are staying 7 nights:
<b>c)</b> Just stay in Rome and take one day, <i>maybe</i> two day trips.
<b>d)</b> Divide your time with 3 nights in Florence and 4 nights in Venice or vice versa - plan on one day trip from <i>one</i> of these bases (and save Rome for a later trip).

This type of inquiry generates all sorts of divergent views on how to structure visits -- whether so many days are enough or not. I would comment on the framework on how to look at this type of trip.

For a visit of this length you either vastly simplify the scope (does not need integration) or consider how pieces integrate into each other; as opposed to optimizing one component at a time. This includes where you fly-in and out. It is good that you have not booked your flight. Many come here after booking their fly just to find out disconnects between where they are arriving and where they want to go -- an integration problem.

I think you are more time limited than distance limited -- if you take trains. So, I think changing the metric from "judging by distance" to "judging by time" is more relevant in your case. For example, Rome to Venice is 3:50 by train.

While others might disagree, Pisa can be a high overhead one attraction destination unless you have thought out what all you intend to do there. I only went Pisa only when I happened to be passing by Pisa between Cinque Terre and Tuscany.

All major Italian cities are historic. Florence may be more art heavy, so it is not clear if it is matching your interest.

Thanks everyone for their responses.

We are currently based in Surrey, UK, so hopefully will not be as jet lagged as flying from outside Europe but as someone said our toddler might slow us down.

Pisa is on our list because of precisely that - a one attraction destination. Is it an option to drive from Rome to Florence via Pisa. Is it advisable to try and drive in Italy at all? We (both me and DH) drive here in UK. I have read a lot of people trying to convince visitors not to in Italy - any truth in that?

So looks like it need to be a split between Rome and Florence with day trips from both or has Rome got too many sights that warrant a seperate trip altogether purely focussing on Rome?

jellsymom,

Since you live in the UK, you have more opportunity for multiple visits than many people on Fodor's do. You need to get a guidebook and decide what you want to see in Rome. Rome has SO MUCH of EVERYTHING that you can easily stay there for 5 days or 7 days. A day trip for a change of scenery would be nice. I wouldn't try a day trip to Florence with a toddler!

Then - decide if you want to split your time. Florence is a major art city, but has other things to offer as well.


Trains are the easiest, but with a toddler and equipment, a car might be best if you decide to go outside Rome into the countryside. If you plan to only visit cities - no car.

Pisa is on the coast west of Florence. Rome is south of Florence. Pisa is not exactly "along the way" between Rome and Florence, but I suppose you could make this roundabout drive if you like. (I think many are questioning your choice of Pisa considering all the other possibilities and your limited time.) It is easy to take the train to Pisa from Florence for a half-day visit. Keep in mind that to climb the tower you need reservations and I suspect your toddler is too young for admittance. One adult won't be able to climb, or you will have to book separate climb times and each take turns minding your child.

The trouble with driving in Italy is figuring out what to do with the car in cities. Many Italian cities have limited-traffic zones (ZTL-Zona Traffica Limitata) monitored by cameras where visitors are unable to drive. We read reports on this forum every week from people who drove into the center of Florence and months later received a series of expensive traffic tickets for violating the ZTL. A car is great if you plan to drive around the countryside from town to town for a series of days. If you just want to get from one city to another, take the train. Even Italians who have cars would take the train if they were traveling from Rome to Florence.

You have to decide what you really want to do and see--YOUR priorities--since both Rome and Florence have plenty to do and see to individually fill your 7 days. What does YOUR family like to do? You might think of this trip as just a taste of Rome and Florence, to set the stage for another more in-depth trip, or more far-reaching trip when you child is older.

I concur with ellenem's last paragraph.

hi jelly's

welcome to fodors - how I wish I'd found it when my kids were toddlers!

I don't know how much travelling you have done with a toddler [from your posts I guess that this is your first one, so not much]. My experience is that staying put is definitely the way to go until the kids are quite old [mine still prefer it and they are 20 and 23, but perhaps they are a bit unusual]. they love the familiar - the cafe where you have breakfast every morning and the waiter brings the baby a croissant, the bar you drink at in the evening where they make a fuss of your offspring, the supermarket where they have the yoghurt that s/he likes....this only happens when you are in a place for more than just a few days, and it can considerably enhance your stay.


Rome of course has enough sites to keep you busy for a lifetime, but with 7 days, you could perhaps do three days in florence and 4 [the minimum, IMHO] in Rome. also, Rome and Florence are considerably more toddler friendly than Venice, with all those bridges and canals.

Personally I would rent an apartment in Rome and perhaps do a day trip, but that's just me.

Thanks everyone for the wonderful suggestions and warm welcome. Now back to the drawing board to sort out the plans.

@annhig - we haven't done much long distance travelling with the toddler - we have focussed on more local sites in the UK. Now that the toddler is more older & manageable we are getting bolder with our plans. We (me and DH) are experienced travellers as we were based in India for a while which enabled us to travel around India and South East Asia quite a bit.

hi again jellys_wondermum [love the screen name, BTW]

of course everyone's experience is different, and you will know from your local trips just what you and your toddler can stand [and what makes him/her most happy!]. after our first was born we tried to carry on with our "grown-up" touring holidays but soon realised that they didn't work for us, so opted for staying put. as they got older, we tried occasionally to break the mould, but it never really seemed to work, and given the choice, they would still prefer to spend longer in fewer places.

this seems to have rubbed off on us as I am now much less fond of touring around than i was, preferring to staying still and explore an area thoroughly, rather than moving on every few days.

good luck with whatever you decide!

We just went to Italy in Sept with our 7 year old and 2 1/2 year old (both girls).
We were also traveling with my senior-citizen parents, and my brother and his wife (who had never been to Italy before) so obviously some decisions of where we went and what we did were based on that as well.

We started in Venice for 4 days. Venice is easy to get to in that you can literally get off the plane, walk to a water taxi and be in Venice within an hour or so! It was a great start to our trip! And Venice is just magical, if you go be sure to wander away from the main sights.... The girls were delighted by Venice. Boats everywhere, amazing views, little canals and charming alleyways and NO CARS to dodge out of the way of with our little one! It was my third time in Venice and I fell in love all over again. If you do not go this trip, be sure to go on the next!

From Venice we went to the Chianti region of Tuscany and spent a week in an amazing villa. We drove to several surrounding hill towns and just explored, ate delicious meals and gelato, slowed down and enjoyed being in Italy. The hardest thing about this part of the trip for the girls was driving in the car along the twisty-turny roads. A little tough to take, even for me. But it was worth it. This trip made us realize they are great little travelers! Tuscany is simply breathtaking.

Our last stop was Rome for 3 days. Rome was incredible, my parents are history buffs and were both blown away by it. The girls loved the fountains and overall atmosphere of Rome. We stayed in a hotel very centrally located and walked to many of the sights. The hardest part in Rome was dodging traffic with the kids.

Hope this info helps a little. Have a wonderful trip!!!

Thanks everyone!

www.ryanair.com cheap flights into Venice/Treviso

booked in advance might consider 3 days Venice

Florence 2 Rome 3 then train back have done this.

Otel.com good hotel values for me like

www.hotelpausania.it for 59euro/nt recently

www.eurocheapo.com good city guides budget lodging.

Have fun,

you can also fly into Rome or Pisa if you like.

unless you are staying out of big cities car

is not advisable but www.tigercarrental.com

for more rural roadtrip is nice have done that.

Parking for Rome Venice etc expensive though

easier better for first timers to hop train

city centre to city centre.

If you are only going for a week and have a small child, I'd suggest you rent a villa or part villa in the Tuscan countryside, hire a car and take as many day trips as you fancy to Florence / Siena / San Gimigiano / other small towns in Tuscany. Pisa is the best airport for a good choice of flights from the UK to that part of Italy, and the sights there don't need more than half a day, so you could do that on your way back to the airport at the end of the holiday.

Driving in the historic centres of Italian cities (especially the larger ones like Rome & Naples) is not advisable but you need a car if you're based in the Tuscan countryside, and on day trips into the likes of Florence there are always places to park outside the city centre from which you can get a bus or train if it's too far to walk - it just needs a bit of planning. Smaller towns like San Gimigiano have parking more or less directly outside the walls.

We don't have children but a couple of our (many) trips to Italy & France from the UK have been with friends with small children, and the villa idea is what works best for them and allows them plenty of downtime relaxing - you won't want to be trudging round large city centres every day and a toddler wouldn't get much out of that anyway. A sample itinerary which I believe should work for you would be something like -

day 1 - fly to Pisa, pick up hire car, drive to villa, pick up basic provisions in local town either en route or after checking in
day 2 - visit historic city
day 3 - more relaxing day, pottering round villa and/or local small town/village
day 4 - as day 2
day 5 - as day 3
day 6 - as day 2
day 7 - as day 3
day 8 - leave villa, drive to Pisa, park just outside centre, easy walk to visit the Field of Miracles, lunch if there's time, drive to airport, drop car, afternoon flight home.