LisaE

We are thinking of taking our family of 9-6 adults and 3 granddaughters who will be 14, 12 & 8-to Tuscany next summer to celebrate our 50th anniversary. We would rent a villa but how to plan the rest of the trip is giving me a headache. I don't want to schlep this group to Italy just to have everyone sit by the pool for a week. We can do that at home. But how to plan activities that will interest everyone? Anyone done this? All suggestions welcome. We are usually independent travelers but if we can't make this work, I think we'll take a Tauck Bridges River cruise.

HappyTrvlr

We rented a villa and three cars for our extended family. Each night we planned the next day's trip. Have a list ready of the various hill towns and a brief description of them.One day was for Florence and museum tickets were purchased well in advance. We spent a full day in Siena too. Otherwise, over hill and dale to various hill towns. Activities? Some shopping for the kids. Exploring. They loved the hill towns. Pool time was saved for the end of the day. Then dinner out or in. Easy and relaxing. Rent a villa that isn't isolated. We chose one where the kids could walk into town.

LisaE

Thanks. How old were the kids when you went? Would you be able to let me know the villa you rented? Not sure about a day in Florence for the 8 year-old but maybe she could do something with her parents that day.

Jean

Obviously I don't know your family, but be prepared that not everyone will want to do the same things every day no matter how much effort you put into involving everyone's interests.

We were part of a large-family Tuscan villa rental a few years back, although the age range wasn't as broad as your family. Despite all the advance conversations and planning about the wonderful things we were going to do and see together, alternative plans and "just a little detour" seemed to creep into each day's itinerary. Some last-minute ideas were great, but eventually we tossed the schedule and decided each morning who was going to do what, go where and with whom. We had one car for each married couple.

greg

I am planning one right now but no not the 50th. The planning consideration would be different for each family. Some issues I have encountered:

People differ in what they like to do in actuality. Some just expect you to plan and happy to go along. Others expect you to plan, saying ok, but when it comes time to execute, they would like do something else that totally fouls up your plan. Others might have specific ideas of their own from the beginning, etc. So I realized it would be a bad idea to have them locked up in a remote villa.

Some are gun ho in renting their own car, while others don't care to drive or don't care to do it at their own expense. A remote villa or a city core location would both restrict options.

I have quickly dropped a notion that I can find activities that would interest all. There needs to be opt out opportunities.

You might have to deal with maddening situations like buying non-refundable tickets with their consent, only to find that they didn't not realize that meant not having time in the afternoon at a pool, etc. This is just a part of the package.

Some families are open in expressing their feelings to find out what might work better. Other families might repress their feelings to preserve outward harmony only to blow up at inopportune moments. A wise words from "Anna Karenina" <i>Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.</i>