We have 12 days in May for our trip. My husband and I,and 2 children(7 & 9).
We are flying to Milan and departing from Rome. How many days in Milan?Venice? Florence? We would like to stay in Rome 4-5 days. Also would like to go to Siena,Naples,.Thinking to take a train from Milan to Venice,then Florence or should we rent a car?

I think that including both Naples and Venice is a bit much. They are geographically not compatible.

How many actual nights do you have in Italy? Do you land in the morning?

Here is one possibility:

Day 1: arrive Milan, stay in the center, spend the night. This gives you jetlag relief and gets the kids out walking around and in fresh air.

Day 2: train to Venice. Spend 2 nights.

Day 4: train to Florence. Spend 3 nights, with a daytrip to Siena. You can do this by bus. It is easy and done all the time.

Day 7: train to Rome. If you are leaving on the 12th day, you would have 5 nights in Rome.

If you are staying on the 12th day, departing on the 13th, you could easily add a day to Milan or Venice.

4 different bases is plenty. You are asking the kids to pack up and spend a half day getting in and out of places several times.

In Rome, you can do a daytrip to Ostia Antica, which is a great place to take kids for ancient ruins. It's green, not too hot, and has plenty of space.

If you really want to cut down moves, you could land in Milan and go straight to Venice.

Thank you for suggestion.I thought to take a train from Rome to Naples or rent a car for 2 days? We have 2 weeks (May 22-June6)We do land in the morning.

If you are spending 5 days in Rome, I would strongly recommend leaving out either Florence or Venice. Doing all 3 art cities in so short a time with two elementary school children risks teaching them to hate art forever and exhausting yourselves on overdose of beauty. Venice is a great place for children, so I would probably eliminate Florence for this trip. Milan is a great city for grown ups. Naples I have never been to, but would probably add on time in Venice. Remember also each time you move you lose a whole day no matter how many actual hours of travel are involved. I know it's not logical but it's real.

Buon viaggio.

Hi lada,

>How many days in Milan?Venice? Florence? We would like to stay in Rome 4-5 days. Also would like to go to Siena,Naples,<

I haven't been to Milan, but there are those who say it is worth 2 nights.

add 3 nights in Venice, 3 nights in Florence (take the bus to Siena for the day), 5 nights in Rome.

You could do a daytrip to Naples from Rome - take a night away from Milan - but I think that it is at its best at night.

I think that the kids would be happier with a visit to Orvieto from Rome.
http://www.orvietoonline.com/

Enjoy your visit.