We are planning a trip next summer for our family of four (2 adults, 2 children ages 12, 14) to Italy. We will arrive in Rome on Monday morning June 20. We will have the next 5 nights/6 days to tour/travel before going to Tuscany for a weeks stay beginning on Saturday, June 25. Any suggestions for making the most of our time? Venice is a possibility but can we do both Rome and Venice before arriving in Tuscany? Also, what would be the best way to travel? We will definitely rent a car for the Tuscany leg of the trip but thougth it would not be necessary prior to that. We welcome all advice!

Stay in Rome for most of the time and take two days to get to Tuscany. There are plenty of things to see between Rome and Tuscany.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mksfca/...7622914974923/

Give your children a map of central Italy and they can locate most of the pictures in this set. They might express special interest in some locations.

www.trenitalia.it should help, click on the english if you need it. Rome should fill 4 to 5 days but you can also do smll trips from there, Naples and Pompei might be a more logical route from Rome than Venice

I would stay the 5 nights in Rome, with a day trip to Ostia Antica and maybe one other day trip. There is so much to do in Rome that I would take every day possible there! You could then train to Chiusi and pick up the car for your drive to Tuscany.

Thanks for the great ideas. While we wish we could see more of this wonderful country, sounds like conventional wisdom suggests we stay in Rome and the surrounding areas. What about Pompeii? My daughter is a studying the city and would love to go there. Can we train it there? Also, love the idea of training to Chiusi to get the car. Thanks so much.

Venice is really too far out of the way to fit into your itinerary. Take a look at a map of Italy and you will see what we mean.

Five days in Rome with a trip to Ostia Antica to see some ruins similar to Pompeii is a good plan. Or you could go to Tivoli by bus to see Villa d'Este, which has a garden filled with hundreds of fantastic fountains that are fun to see. (It also has lots of cats.) Also in Tivoli is Villa Adriana (Hadrian's villa) which is the ruins of an ancient Roman emperor's enormous castle, covering many acres. But there is so much to do in Rome that you may not make it out of town.

Where are you going in Tuscany? It's a big place. Do you know where to go with kids and what to do that will be fun for them? I ask this because some people say they are "going to Tuscany" as though it was a single place, and don't know what's there aside from wine. If that is your situation, I would suggest you consider spending your time in Venice and its surroundings instead, as I think the kids would enjoy it more. (If you have a definite place in mind, that's fine, and stick with your plan.)

Love your ideas and you question, Charnees. We are staying the chianti region about 4 miles from San Donato in Poggio. We are planning on day trips with the kids to Florence, Pisa, Siena, Assisi, etc

We are also doing some research on family that may still be in the area. My great-grandfather was from Caldorola. Any suggestions about traveling with kids is always appreciated : )

I'm leaning towards the camp that says spend the time in Rome. It seems there's never enough time to see/do all the things in the city that I want to! And having an apartment/steady base from which to explore is a very good introduction to a new place, enables you to slow things down a bit and really absorb the culture.

But if your daughter wants to see Pompeii, it is certainly possible to do as a day trip from Rome. (And it really is so amazing to see the place itself after learning about it in school, in a way that IMO is similar but not the same as seeing other ruins from that time in history.)

You could always have the information handy, but play it by ear once you're on the ground. (It might be that the ancient ruins in Rome are enough for her - they certainly are grand in their own right! - or that after a few days in Rome you all decide a coastal location like Naples would be a good change of pace. ...I have no idea how warm it gets in Rome in June!)

If you decide to do a day (or two) trip to Pompeii (and Naples):

- There is a lot of good advice on the forum about seeing Pompeii - I know that zeppole has posted some fairly recently.

- There are frequent trains between Rome and Naples, and switching to the <i>Circumvesuviana</i> at Naples <i>termini</i> is straightforward. Since it's a commuter train, there are frequent trains on this line as well.

- This is GAC's post on a daytrip to Pompeii from Rome: http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...n-a-budget.cfm

- And to get your bearings, A_Brit_In_Ischia posted a great walkthrough of Naples termini: http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...-or-pompei.cfm

Have fun!

Your itinerary sounds fine. But if you want to see Venice, you certainly could catch an early train out of Florence one day. You'd be in Venice in about 2 hrs. I think it would be a great day trip. Better, spend the night and train back the next day. Trust me, one day in Venice just won't be enough. But a day and a half and a night are better than nothing.

all of this sounds great. makes me wish we could stay longer but alas 14 days is the max. Perhaps I should start thinking of accommodations in Rome for 5 nights. Ideas? Apartment or hotel? Recommendations for either??

Irma, we always stay in apartments. It's really great with kids, as you can have a living/dining room, separate bedrooms, and maybe two bathrooms. look at sleepinitaly.com for lots of choices. Since you are new to Rome, try to get something in the historic center, around piazza Navona or the Pantheon. Look at the location on the map provided on the website to be sure.

some things to look for in apartments:

What floor is it on? (the first floor in Italy is what Americans call the second floor. Etc.). If it's several stories up, does it have an elevator, or lift? This affects the price considerably. also check for air conditioning. sometimes there's only a small unit in the bedrooms, which means the sitting area may not be comfortable on hot days. Does it have a shower or a tub or a combo. Often tub-showers don't have shower curtains so water gets all over the floor. Don't know why. I find it annoying.

Look for windows in the place and where they open to. Some ground floor or lower apts. don't have any windows or only a small one somewhere. It can be dark and claustrophobic that way. Or if the windows on the ground floor open directly onto the street it can be noisy and not very private.

Staying in tuscany you need pool for the kids in June.

In Rome you will want air-con

Irmaloney - we took a very similar trip to Italy with our similarly-aged kids five years ago. Maybe our trip report can answer some of your questions and give you some ideas: http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...rip-report.cfm If you have only half the fun that we did, it will be a fantastic trip.

Congrats on your trip.

Lots of fun stuff for kids to do in Rome area just stay there.

Hop the double decker buses tour around.

www.ostia-antica.org intact Roman Harbor town

is amazing better than Pompeii close to Rome

in the Ostiense area/station take them there also.

www.eurocheapo.com Rome great budget city guides/food

Then hop an intercity train from 5 euro per hour to Tuscany

very easy to do at Termini station.

Venice is wonderful too but too far...find some time

to do www.venice-tourism.com from Tuscany if you can

Have fun,

I can't argue with any of the recommendations/suggestions. Just a few of my own:

Apartment in Rome? My vote is a definite "yes," with two kids. Realize, however, that you won't have the services and guidance you'd normally get from a hotel, so that means you'll have to do more planning and preparation on your own.

Venice: Given your itinerary, I'd probably skip it, even though I'm one who says Venice is a must. As a day trip from Tuscany/Florence, you're talking about 5 hours of travel total. Unless you're willing to alter your plans and stay in Venice a few nights, maybe you should just save it for the next time.

Day trip to Pompei: Consider renting a car. Of course, you don't want to drive in Rome -- no one does. But you might want to rent a car for the day, particularly if it's a weekend day, when traffic getting out of the city is lighter and less hectic. If I were doing it, I'd pay extra and have the rental agency deliver the car to your site (apt. or hotel). That's going to be a fairly expensive deal, but when you consider the cost of a train for four, plus the back-and-forth hassle of taking the train, it might be worth it.

If you want to go to Pompeii on your own, take the train to Naples Centrale. Then go downstairs inside the station and catch the Circumvesuviana commuter train to Pompei Scavi. Alternatively, there are one-day bus tours to Pompeii from Rome. It's a long day and the bus may stop at some carpet factory owned by the tour guide's brother-in-law. But you won't have to find your way.

I don't see renting a car for one day just to go to Pompeii. For one thing, it's hard to rent a car for just one day. When we wanted to drive to DH's ancestral village near Rome, we had to get a car for a minimum 2 days. And driving in Italy, especially in cities, requires a learning curve. Pompei town is pretty dense itself. The driver would be dropped in at the deep end.

But I think Pompeii is better than Ostia Antica, especially if your daughter has been studying Pompeii. Without the car option, you could decide on the spot, depending on how you feel, the weather etc.

>>I don't see renting a car for one day just to go to Pompeii. For one thing, it's hard to rent a car for just one day.<<

I did it twice, no problem. It is expensive, however. But you have to compare the cost and convenience with taking the train.

I have never driven in Rome, and thank my lucky stars I never have. It's too insane. We drive a lot in Italy outside the cities and think nothing of it. In cities, it's a whole different thing. Taking the train to Pompeii may be less convenient, but it is far less stress and is more comfortable as you can move around, etc. Be sure to take a picnic for on the train as there is very little food and drink and what there is costs an arm and a leg is is not very good. (Bread, good salami and cheese, fruit and water/wine make a good meal.) Do take bottled water with you at least.