Italy with a 5 Year Old
 

My Husband and I are planning a trip in early June with our 5 year old and could use some itinerary help. We have friends in Milian who we plan to visit for a few days and family in Lisbon Portugal that we will visit as well. We also would like to see Venice and Rome. We plan to fly in to either Rome or Lisbon and then fly home from the other.

We would like to go somewhere between Venice and Rome. We have talked about Florence or Umbira but are totally open to suggestions. We would also like to see the leaning tower of Pisa.

We are considering doing this in a 2-3 week period.

Any suggestions are appreciated.

First, decide how many days you will sleep in Europe---how else can you plan?

What you are suggesting so far looks something like:
Day 1 Departure
Day 2,3,4,5 Lisbon
Day 6 Travel to Milan
Day 7, 8 Milan
Day 9 Travel to Venice
Day 10, 11, 12 Venice
Day 13 Travel to Florence
Day 14,15,16 Florence with day trip to Pisa
Day 17 Travel to Rome
Day 18,19, 20 Rome
Day 21 Depart

As you can see, a three week trip is pretty packed. Given that you are traveling with a 5 year old, that is a lot of moving from place to place in a short period of time. You do not want a grumpy kid! I think you all will be happier staying longer at your top spots and not rushing around too much. If you want to cut the trip shorter, you will have to decide which places to cut.

I think you trip is doable in 3 weeks - but you will be mocing fairly fast. In 2 weeks - and wanting to visit 2 different sets of friends and family something will have to give.

You need to remember that you use most of a day every time you go from one place to another - so from Rome to Florence to Venice to Milan and then Portugal - you need to allow 4 full days for travel - leaving you only 10 days from a 2 week trip - so not really enough time.

Hi love2 -

I agree with nyt that you are overloading your itinerary by quite a lot.

assuming that you have 3 weeks, and want to fit in Milan, and Lisbon, Milan is not IMO the best place to start, neither is Rome necessarily a good place to go.

According to the easyjet website, you can fly to or from Lisbon from Venice, Milan and/or Rome.

With a child of 5, Rome would be a place I'd miss, ditto Florence. you could fly into Venice, stay for 4 nights, then hire a car and drive through the lakes, spending a few days there before heading for northern Tuscany - Lucca would be lovely and you could day trip to Pisa and Florence. Then visit your friends in Milan before flying to Lisbon.

another option would be flying into Lisbon, then going onto Venice and ending your trip in Milan.

I just spoke to out friends from Milan and they said they would meet and travel with us for a few days which is great. But they want us to come up to their place after Venice for dinner. So I think we would leave Venice, have dinner in Milan and then fly out to Lisbon in the morning. So that shortens up the Milan leg of the trip.

We have never been to Italy and I am still just beginning to read and figure out where we should go other than Rome and Venice (and Lisbon and our overnight in Milan). I was reading about Verona and Cinque Terre, both sound terrific. I think we need a few months to explore :) but, since we only have 3 weeks... We have to narrow it down to the must see places. I am going to read up on Lucca now!

Thank you

Cinque Terre with a 5 year old - OMG! It is terrific, but do yourself a favor and wait until he is old enough to hike the rocky, steep trails between the towns. Many paths don't have guard rails in some places, often just a steep drop off one side. Everything is a climb with either steep paths or millions of stairs (only a slight exaggeration). Talk about a grumpy child!

Lucca, on the other hand, would be nice. A calm town with a wonderful bike path on top of the wall encircling the old section. It's easy to rent a bike and the town is small enough to easily get back to your hotel in case a rest is needed.

Ok, another question. Our friends have a house in Lake Como, that from the map looks North of Milan. Traveling with out 5 year old, what do you think would be more enjoyable? Lake Como or more time in Cental Italy? I am thinking g trying to fit in Lake Como just makes it to crazy.

Love2 - Como works in very well with your plans, as it's still in the same rough area.

Venice, como, Milan and Lisbon ought to be enough for anyone! what a fab trip!

I'm still researching... Question on Lucca. If we stayed here would we want to be in the city walls with our 5 year old? I was seeing a lot of apartments for rent.

Here is our most current version. Feels kind of packed. Are we staying long enough in Rome and Venice?

Day 1 Departure
Day 2,3,4 Rome
Day 5 Travel to Lucca
Day 6, 7, 8, 9 Lucca with day trips to Pisa and Florence
Day 10 Travel to Venice
Day 11, 12 Venice
Day 13 Travel to Lake Como
Day 14,15 Lake Como
Day 16 Travel to Milan - Dinner with Friends
Day 17 Travel to Lisbon
Day 18,19, 20 Lisbon
Day 21 Depart

Did I miss where you are coming from? If it's the US, you won't arrive until day 2. You'll need time to get to Rome, get to the hotel and check in. Everything will take more time with a 5 year old.

Your child will enjoy the cat sanctuary in Rome. see how many cats he can find.

I would at the very least drop Venice or Lake Como and add the time to Rome.

If it were me, I'd stay inside the walls in Lucca. That is the older area you want to see and that way you can easily take a walk or get back to the apt to rest. Research the free parking areas and stay closer to those if you'll have a car or stay closer to the train station if you won't.

"We have friends in Milan who we plan to visit for a few days"
You only have dinner with them.

Thank you so much for all your help. I am amazed by the amount of knowledge and time you all are willing to share.

Kwren - we are flying in from NY to Rome.

Our friends from Milan emailed to say that for a first time visit they thought we should skip Milan (except for dinner and to fly to Lisbon - so one overnight). They plan to meet us for part of our travels, we are just not sure which yet. They are the same family that owns the Lake Como place, so we will spend time with them there as well.

How long do you think we need in Rome?

I don't think we are willing to give up Rome, Venice or Lisbon so if we have to cut, it will need to be elsewhere.

Our 5 year old is a pretty good traveler... Although this is the most ambitious trip yet. She (girl) has no issues with sleeping in different places. I think our biggest issue with her will be the walking (although she is big for a stroller, I thought we would bring one).

We just flew JFK to Rome 2 weeks ago! We took Air Berlin and stopped in Berlin on the way. How are you getting there? Do you live in NYC? I grew up on LI but am in PA now.

There are a few ways to get from the airport into Rome:

The one I read the most about was the train - I heard it's a 10 - 15 minute walk to the train station from the airport and about 14 E to get to Rome Termini station.

Of course there is a car service or taxi - about 55 Euros if I remember correctly from last year.

And our new favorite - the bus! It leaves right from the international arrivals terminal, there are signs everywhere to direct you to the ticket kiosk, the bus leaves every 30 minutes, only costs 5 E and drops you off at the train station. It's a big comfy coach and you store your luggage in the compartments underneath. We just used it 4 times (it's only 4 E to go back to the airport) and so much easier than trekking to the train station with luggage. The ride is about 15 minutes longer, but you don't have that 15 minute walk to begin with. Win-win!

We easily spent a week in Rome a few years ago, and have been back a few times since, each time doing different things. I think the first few days would be nice to have the option to kick back and relax a bit given jet lag. I'd personally add an extra day there if I had the time.

A stroller might be a good idea. If you have the choice, bigger wheels are better considering the many cobblestone streets.

Hi again, love2,

well i think you're going in the right direction but I'm sorry to say that I think that Venice ought to go. you have just too much travelling around, especially with a 5 year old in tow. don't get me wrong, i love Venice, but IMO 6 different places in 21 days is at least 1 too many.

if you drop Venice you can add a day to Rome, one to Como, and even one to Milan if you wanted to. it also cuts out a substantial part of your travelling, which is a GOOD THING.