Kids in Tuscany, November trip
 

We are hoping to avoid the crowds by taking our kids (age 7 and 8) to Florence and surrouding areas for two weeks over the Thanksgiving holiday. We try to alternate days to make it fun for all of us, i.e. museums one day, a fun park the next. Does anyone have any specific great kid activities for Florence and Tuscany? We haven't made accomodation plans yet. Having had a great trip to Barcelona, (they have a great zoo, aquarium and amusement park), we're afraid the bar might be set too high - but we're going anyway! Thanks!

I think you should check out the weather in Tuscany at that time of year before making plans. I know that south of Tuscany, the weather in November can be rainy and cold.

Anyway, good luck!

lcthecat,
We did 10-days in Tuscany with out 5-yr old twins in early March this year. After visiting Florence, we rented a car for a week and went to these cities:
- Pisa (kids were very intrigued by the tower)
- Carrara (marble mines were pretty interested - also Carrara is very un-touristy)
- Lucca (consider cycling with kids if the weather is good - else the town may not be very interesting for the kids)
- Siena (IL Campo was a very enjoyable square)
- We did Assisi and Orvieto (Umbria) - Orvieto was a town that had something for all of us - underground Ethruscan caves, St. Patrick's well, Duomo.

Since, like you, we also travelled during off-season, renting a car seemed a vey convenient and practical means of town-hopping. We generally parked right into the middle of the town that we visited with little parking problems, and when it rained, we had added flexibility to change our plans (and the pre-booked hotels were very accomodating).

Topping! Our trip is getting closer! Help!

Hi ic. Here are some kid friendly suggestions:

- make your kids the family photographers.

- let them chase pigeons in piazza della signoria (Florence)and any other place where there are pigeons to chase.

- take them on a horse drawn carriage ride in Florence.

- let them climb the duomo in Florence.

- in museums, rent them english audio guides. At best, they may enjoy the commentary. At worst, they'll have something to play with in the museum.

- visit the town of Collodi, with its beautiful gardens (dont know if they're in bloom)and park dedicated to the memory of the famous character Pinocchio and his author.

- take a small (tennis?) ball and, when you happen upon a park, you'll have something for them to play with.

- let them join the local boys in a soccer game they may happen upon in any piazza.

- visit one or two of the walled cities, such as Monteriggioni, Cortona and San Gimignano. Let them play around the old fountains and wells there.

-let them play computer games at a internet cafe in an acient city while you rest your feet or check your e-mail!

If I think of more, I'll let you know. Have a great trip!

We did a similar trip last year with our 4 year old. I agree with all the above suggestions. One of our daughter's favorite days was spent in Pistoia about 15-20 minutes outside Florence at the zoo there. They have great exhibits, a nice park and a section where you can feed the giraffes and elephants.
She also loved chasing the pigeons wherever we were, the tower in Pisa where we had a great picnic, walking the walls in Lucca and of course the gelato!

PS We had great weather the middle two weeks of Nov. Rain only one day, mostly in the upper 50's lower 60's.

In Florence the science museum sounded cool for kids.