niraj_prasad

Hi All,

I am planning a two week trip to Italy in May with my wife and 12 year old daughter.

6-11 May - Rome (5 nights)

11-14 May - Florence (3 nights)

14-17 May Lake Garda (3 nights)

17-20 May Venice ( 3 nights)

I have few questions regarding the itinerary :-

1. I intend to travel by trains all along. I assume it is doable. I did similar trip last year in Amsterdam by trains where the train network was great. Is Italian train network comparable ?

2. My daughter wants to visit Gardaland and hence the plan for Lake Garda. Can i visit Gardaland staying by extending my stay at Venice and doing a day trip ? Can i swap Gardaland with any other amusement park (One amusement park is a must for my daughter )

3. Are there any suggestion to reduce the number of hotels to 3 instead of 4?

Any other inputs are welcome.

Regards

travelhorizons

Looks like a nice itinerary, and you should be able to do it all by train.

Michael

It might be possible to do Lago di Garda as a day trip from Venice if you are willing to travel 2.15 hr. by train one way.

RonZ

Gardaland is 2 kms from the Peschiera del Garda train station, 1:26 from Venice if you take the 8:20. Train schedules here, tickets 4 months in advance for the best fares [Roma Termini, Firenze SM Novella, Venezia S Lucia]:

http://www.trenitalia.com/tcom-en

neckervd

In May, I would stay at least 1 night at Peschiera del Garda. No only because of Gardaland; Lake Garda is beautiful, so are journeys by boat or bus along the lake.

annhig

We spent a week on Lake Garda with our kids when the oldest one was about he same age as your DD and we all loved it. In order to do it justice I would suggest a 3 night stay minimum - one day to go to Gardaland [not bad a theme parks go and we were there in August when it was heaving so your experience should be better than ours] and another to explore the lake. in fact you need a lot longer than that but one day is better than no days.

it's a relatively short hop on the train to Venice so you'll still have a reasonable amount of time there for a first visit.

I wasn't aware of any other theme parks along your route but this link suggests that there's another one on Garda - Movieland:

https://www.google.co.uk/search?clie...DMGT8QfGpJS4Cg.

There is also apparently something called Magic land just outside Rome but I've never met anyone who's been there:

https://magicland.it/en/how-reach-us.html

have fun!

PalenQ

1. I intend to travel by trains all along. I assume it is doable. I did similar trip last year in Amsterdam by trains where the train network was great. Is Italian train network comparable ?>

even faster trains on the whole- great -and much better than I had in India! (Do you still have steam trains- I loved those!)

Trains go everywhere you are going- even Garda Land as RonZ shows - if just wanting to do that day trip from Venice- but the lake is also nice - a short boat ride or long walk from Peschiera del Garda is Sirmione, a famous Bellagio type former fishing village but one with sterling Roman ruins in a sylvan setting overlooking the lake:

https://www.google.com/search?q=sirm...w=1745&bih=864

So I'd spend at least 2 nights in Lake Garda (well not in the lake!) or a third to take boats all up and down it).

for lots on Italian trains check www.trenitalia.com; www.seat61.com; www.budgeteuropetravel.com and www.ricksteves.com.

Book trains yourself online for nifty discounts but that has to be done very early ASAP to get the limited in number discounted ducats-non-changeable non-refundable I think not positive. there is an Italy Eurailpass but you are not traveling enough to make it worthwhile for your family. 12 yr old may get child's ticket or family ticket at a good price too.

rcz77

I took the train between Florence and Rome and had no issues. It's more of a problem on local trains, but don't forget to get your tickets validated/stamped before going to the train platform.

I ended up spending 4 days in Florence(which included about half a day in Siena), 4 in Rome, and 4 in Naples for my trip, and Florence ended up being my favorite Italian city, so consider taking a day from Rome. I'm not a big fan of art and Uffizi gallery was one of the lowlights of my trip due to just being overwhelming, but I loved the historical medieval city feel of Florence and how much more walkable it was compared to Rome. Plus the best pasta I had in Italy was in Florence, which was the pear pasta at 4 Leoni.

Rome was incredible for all its major famous sights, but once I saw them I didn't feel much desire to stick around for the city itself. To each their own though, you'll have to find out for yourself how you like it.

janisj

Just so you have a full grasp of how long you have in each place - this is your actual itinerary:

6-10 May - Rome 4.5 days

11-13 May - Florence 2.5 days

14-16 May Lake Garda 2.5 days

17-19 May Venice 2.5 days

fly home 20 May.

niraj_prasad

Thanks a lot everyone for your inputs.
Just one thought. Gardaland seems to be mandatory for me.

Should i skip Venice for keep it for next time and spend time in Lake Garda area and probably just do the touristy areas of Venice in a day trip ?

Feedback welcome

RonZ

Gardaland is a couple of kms from Pescheria Del Garda, 1.5 hours from Venice on the fastest train.

mjs

I think the itinerary is quite reasonable. Would not do Venice as a day trip.

bvlenci

There are some amusement parks on the Adriatic coast, but there's more to see and do for the whole family on Lake Garda.

If you want to keep it to three hotels, you could either take a day trip to Venice from Lake Garda, or a daytrip to Florence from Rome. The distances are similar.

I go to Rome often, and love the city. (We returned from a trip to Rome just yesterday.) I don't make repeat visits to the "famous sights". Rome is so much more than the overly crowded Colosseum and Vatican, but most tourists see those and little more.

In particular, there's a lot that would appeal to a child in Rome than in Florence.

StCirq

I would not do Venice as a daytrip. We just spent 5 days there and barely got to see all that we wanted to.

I agree that Rome has a lot more to offer for a child than Florence, unless it's a child who has a fascination for Renaissance art.

rcz77

I wouldn't argue that Florence has more options of things to do for a 12 year old, but there are undoubtedly still plenty of options there. And I was afraid myself before I went to Florence that I wouldn't care for it much because I wasn't that interested in Renaissance art, but I found that there's so much more to the city than that.

Part of the appeal to me was being able to get an affordable and centrally located place to stay and still be able to walk basically everywhere without much hassle. To get to some places in Rome only seemed practical by public transit. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying Rome was bad by any means, I just had a personal preference for Florence and I was surprised I did.

annhig

We spent a week in each of Rome, Florence and Venice when our kids were only a little older than the OPs and we never ran out of things to do in any of them. we found loads of things to entertain us and the kids and if we had to resort to our family game of "find the ugliest baby" in the odd gallery so be it.

I agree that Florence is more walkable than Rome [or Venice] but there's not much hardship in jumping on a bus or a vaporetto.

I also agree that I wouldn't do Venice as a day trip; more than half of its charm is seeing it when all the day -trippers have gone home and being able to spend time exploring the little calle which you can't do if you are just there for a day and trying to cram in all the main sights.

bvlenci

We often go to Florence, as well as Rome. I think both cities are equally walkable. From the Museum of San Marco to Santa Maria del Carmine takes about half an hour on foot, which is about the same as a walk from the Spanish Steps to the Colosseum. The main difference is that Rome has the metro as well as buses. In both cities, a bus will often be the best option.

On our last trip to Rome, we walked almost everywhere. We used two bus/metro tickets apiece.