ibwriter

I am in the process of planning a trip for our family (kids aged 8 & 12) to Italy and France from mid June to early July. Having never been to Europe myself, I have lots of questions. We are planning on splitting our time in France between Paris for 3 nights and the French Riviera for 3 nights. I am trying to determine the best spot to stay in the Riviera (Nice, Cannes, Cap Ferrat...). Ideally I'd like to stay near a nice beach as we love water activities and I think it could offer the kids some balance from sightseeing. We'd also like to visit Monte Carlo while we're there. Any ideas on a good location? Also, I'm finding that most European hotels cannot accommodate a family of 4 in one room and getting two rooms can get pricey. Any suggestions of family friendly places, either in the Riviera or Paris?

In Italy, we will be staying in Florence for a week and hope to take day trips from there to see Rome and Venice. Does this seem feasible or will it take too much time traveling to those spots to allow time to do much while we're there? Our plan (which is not set in stone) is to then spend 2 nights in Lake Como before heading to Paris. Would Venice be a better idea than Lake Como? Also, any hotel suggestions in Como? I'm open to any suggestions and appreciate any input.
Thanks...Kristi

nessundorma

Will you have a car? If so, I'd check out Menton as a possible base for your family. Plenty of beach and ice cream, and so easy day trips. If not, you probably should stick to Nice.

Almost everybody on the Fodor's board seems to agree that Monte Carlo is a very disappointing destination.

Venice would be the better idea than Florence. Kids usually like Venice quite a bit. Rome and Venice are NOT a daytrip from Firenze.

If you plan on traveling from the Cote d'Azur into Italy by train, consider breaking up the journey with an overnight somewhere. If you end up with only 3 days in Venice and two in Lago di Como, that would probably be enough. You could add whatever days are left over to your stay in France.

On the Italian Riviera, you might consider stopping in Genoa to take in the aquarium. Then switching trains. If you can't find what looks like a suitable hotel in Genoa, take a look at what's available in the seaside village of Camogli just 25 minutes south of Genoa on the train line. You could also consider Nervi (also south of Genova).

Mimar

On the Riviera you could check out Villefranche-sur-Mer. It's a small town just east of Nice and west of Cap Ferrat. It's on the trainline to Monte Carlo.

In Italy, a daytrip from Florence to Venice is just possible, but I don't think it advisable. It's 3 hours one way by train. Rome is a little better, 1 hour 30 minutes by the fast train. But it's hard to think of Rome as a daytrip destination; there's so much to see there.

Do you have to stay in Florence? It's not a particularly kid-friendly place. Maybe someplace in Tuscany would work better. You could also look into the Italian Riviera.

I do think Venice is better than Lake Como. And there are many other places to stay on Lake Como than Como..

Finally do you already have your air tickets? If not look into open jaws tickets, say into Paris and out of Venice. So you don't have to backtrack.

jgg

We travelled last March with our kids (aged 9 & 12 at the time) to Italy. Here is a link to my trip report which you may find helpful :http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34599242.

As others have suggested I would not recommend Florence as a base to see Venice and Rome. As a matter of fact Florence was the least favorite of the big 3 for our family. Doesn't mean we didn't like it, just preferred Venice and Rome over Florence.

We had a great quad room at the Albergo Cesari in Rome, in Florence and Venice we had two rooms. You might want to consider renting apartments as that will give you more room for the 4 of you.

I haven't been to Lake Como, but I suspect your kids would really love Venice. I realize you are trying to mix sightseeing with relaxing, but don't shortchange your kids or think they won't like the cities. Our kids loved the cities particularly Rome - they were delighted to just eat gelato and sit and sip their cappuccinos.

Can't comment on Paris yet.....but we leave in a week for a week in London and a week in Paris, so will be able to give more info. then. We will be staying in apartments in both cities, so will see what that is like as well.

ibwriter

Thanks for your input. We are actually staying in Tuscany in a villa near Florence. That is the only part of our itinerary that can't be changed. We will definitely be using open jaw tickets.

Thanks for sharing your trip report. It was so reassuring to me. So many people have asked whether we are bringing our kids on the trip that it had me second guessing the idea. Each day of your trip seemed so well planned out. What books or resources did you use to plan your activities? I can't wait to have our destination itinerary set so I can start making our plans for things to do in each location. Have a fabulous time in London and Paris. (We'll be going both places on our trip as well so I'll look forward to reading your trip report on that!)

Doble_Vergasser

Don't hesitate to take the kids (especially considering their ages. Old enough to remember, too young to be a major pain). Our son is eleven, when I might this year's teacher, she commented on how much our son talked our travels at school.

We have traveled in Venice, Lake Como area. Both would probably be good for the children. I am currently researching coastal France.

I have been to Monte Carlo. Since your children probably won't be going to the gaming tables you can probably put that time and money to better use.

jgg

Glad you found my trip report helpful. Now, stop second guessing your decision to bring your kids. Assumng they are well behaved, they are definitely old enough to travel and really start appreciating the culture and history.

To be honest, my main sources of information for our trip were this site and Slowtrav.com. Although, I did find the Fodors books "68 Great Things to do Together " interesting. These books are done for several major European cities. I also started my planning by reading "Italy with Kids" by Barbara Pape & Michael Calabrese from cover to cover. I also like the DK Eyewitness Top 10 Travel Guides. But, again, the best resources I found were people on this site who had travelled, particularly with their kids.

Also, we found the Streetwise maps were excellent. Laminated so don't tear and easy to carry around. I used them before the trip to familiarize myself with the cities and plan our days so we were not constantly criscrossing the city. I think this will be particularly helpful for London and Paris.

Spending a week in Tuscany in a villa should be great. We will actually be in Tuscany for 5 days this June (Castellina in Chianti).

I have to reiterate that we LOVED Rome, but I'm not sure I would do it in a daytrip. As I said, I haven't been to Lake Como, but from what others have said on this board I would probably skip Lake Como and do 2 nights in Venice.

Just curious, how many days for the whole trip? Just my two cents, but our kids really enjoyed staying in places a little longer. Gave them a chance to really know their way around and feel comfortable in each city.