Please review my 9 day Italy Itinerary!
 

Hello all,
Need your expert advice. I am traveling to italy with my husband, 2 boys (ages 5 and 2.5), my mom and brother in May:

May 4: depart NYC to Rome
May 5: land in Rome and take train straight to Florence
May 6: Florence sightseeing
May 7: Rent car - Day trip to Siena and San Gimignano (Banfi winery) - considering going to Pisa to see Leaning Tower but is it worth it?
May 8: Florence to Rome by train
May 9: Rome sightseeing
May 10: Rome sightseeing
May 11: Cooking Class/Vatican
May 12: Day trip - please advise (a winery, or a 'must see' town that's close by
May 13: Last day in Rome (shopping, etc.)
May 14: Fly back to NYC

I have the following questions.

Do you think we need to go to Pisa? I thought the kids would like to see the leaning tower

Cooking class - any recommendations for a kid friendly cooking class for pizza/pasta (vegetarian friendly)

Olive Oil farm - should we do this?

Open air concert/Opera- I thought I would book something like this for my and my mom - any recommendations?

Should we buy the ROMA pass?

We are in Florence for 4 days and then Rome for 5 days - do you think we should do a night in another city to break things up? Or are we being too ambitious to think that?

Any restaurant recommendations in Rome/Florence that is kid friendly and vegetarian friendly would be great!

THANK YOU!!! :)

May 7 is two days---just visit the 2 cities.

Have a look at www.happycow.com for vegetarian and vegan options.

Pisa is less than 1,5 hrs from Florence on a regional train (get of at Pisa S. Rossore station, from where it's a ten-minute walk). »The« tower takes a quarter of an hour to wonder at, but don't forget the Baptistery and the Duomo. They are real beauties (and make the trip worthwhile).
For the rest of the day Siena is a better destination than San Gimignano. The trip is best done by bus from Florence (leaving from the bus station in the Via Santa Caterina da Siena, just across the street from the main train station).
From Rome there are some easy daytrips to be done. Tivoli is famous for the gardens of the Villa d'Este. Orvieto is a beautiful hill-town, famous for its Duomo (the »funicolare« across the railway station brings you to the town). Both are a little bit over one hour from Termini Station.

This sounds awfully busy for a family that includes two very young kids. How do they do with jet lag and the time change? Do they still need afternoon naps?

I'll probably be in the minority here, but I much prefer Venice to Florence. I enjoyed Sienna and Pisa, but would never consider them destination locations. Any chance you could cut out the day trips from Florence and perhaps one of your days in Roame....and add a couple of days in Venice? It really is an AMAZING place. And May would be a great time to visit....warm, but before tourist season kicks in. I second tonfromleiden's Villa d'Este recommendation. Also consider the Catacombs of St Sebastian.

Maybe 2-3 days in Florence, 2-3 days in Venice, 4-5 days in Rome? And again, I may be in the minority here....but I don't think that is too much with nine full days available (high speed rail makes it easy).

Keep in mind that Rome is very walkable...but there will be a LOT of walking. Make plans ahead of time for your mother and young children. Definitely recommend the Roma Pass if you can swing it. Waiting in huge ticket lines (particulary at the Vatican) wastes precious time. Also, don't underestimate the jetlag on that first day. It's pretty rough.

Have fun!

Exchange Rome with anywhere else:

http://wikitravel.org/en/Rome

With Florence and Rome i count 7 full days on the ground, plus a half day on the travel day in Rome if you leave in the AM.

My concern with this itinerary is that it is so very hectic & busy especially moving 6 people (of such wide age range) around all over the place. I would streamline your wish list.

Maybe skip the various "day trips" and just do Rome, Florence, maybe even add Venice?

I agree with much of the above. Once on the ground I think you are going to realize you've bitten off more than you can chew with this group and will need to slow down.

I just can't imagine a cooking class that would be appropriate for a 5-year-old and a 2.5-year-old, though I suppose some might exist. I think you are going at this backwards - trying to take kids along to things YOU (and your mom and brother) would enjoy rather than let THEM dictate the pace and the options, which is, frankly, the way it has to be on a far-flung adventure like this with very young people - or else everyone ends up disappointed and cranky.

IMO the kids will absolutely hate, or be utterly bored by, the Vatican and the winery and the olive oil "farm," and won't really even notice the tower in Pisa for anything other than a warped pile of rocks, though you'll probably get a nice photo out of it.

I agree that Siena and San Gim might be too much for one day. Maybe combine one with Tower. Leaning Tower and Duomo for sure. See if your hotel folks can get a reservation to climb the tower as soon as you arrive.

The Vatican Museum has some cool sculptures your kids might like. I dunno, StCirq, there are some awesome little cooks these days. 2.5 may need a sitter though.

Don't plan another city until you see how much time you end up with.

Have a super time!

Thank you everyone! @StCirq, your response cracked me up. I think you all got me back down to reality. I will reconsider perhaps adding Venice and removing the day trips, OR slowing it down a bit. Thing is, when we are in Rome, there is really no plan, just to go with the flow.

I appreciate everyone's input.

Thanks!
Ami

<will reconsider perhaps adding Venice and removing the day trips, OR slowing it down a bit>

Yeah!!!

I also was thinking after reading... what do a 2 and 5 year old care about the Vatican, cooking class, winery, Pisa, sightseeing?? :-)

I'd suggest more focus on neighborhoods, parks, playgrounds, maybe even find a beach or public pool, etc. Things like boat rides. I could imagine kids would get a kick out of the vaporetto and gondola in Venice, for example.

What is your budget for restaurants? Il Palagio in Florence has a great vegetarian menu, and I think Winter Garden does too. You might need a reservation though considering it is May. Ora d'Aria had one of the most kid friendly restaurants I've seen and there were a few kids there (older than 2.5 though). Aroma/Imago/La Pergola in Rome are good choices as well. Though I can't see a 2.5/5 year old at Imago, it is a great restaurant otherwise

You can check what's playing in the Rome Opera Theatre on their website/through your concierge when you get to Rome. I quite liked the theatre itself

I personally love wineries and olive oil farms and all that but I remember going to a vineyard in southern France when I was 4 and cry my eyes out (I remember saying, "we took 3 hours to get here to look at leaves" in Arabic)

I would keep it 4/5 Florence/Rome since you will probably lose a few days travelling/jetlagged

I agree with suze the gondola rides in Venice and pizza were the highlights of my first Italy trip

I'm no Italy expert but was thinking things I've seen in other cities like... a carousel ride, ferris wheel, the pond at Luxembourg Gardens where kids sail little boats, stuff like that.

Still not seeing kids caring about a day trip by car to an 'olive farm' unless maybe there are animals to see or an activity to do?

You've got a good sense of humor, aks043. I wasn't intending to be harsh, but I did dozens of trips with babies and toddlers and young kids in Europe over many years and learned my lessons the hard way. It's ALL about them, not about you.

I still vote for Venice : )

Make a beeline for the first gelato stand you find and get your kids hooked on it early. The ultimate pacifier.

I'd try to do the major sites early in the morning, when everyone has energy. The kids will have many days where they crash and burn after lunch....so it's likely an adult will have to stay behind to watch them. So save the stuff that's not of interest to everyone (ie. museums) for the afternoons.

I completely agree with StCirq about not forcing your agenda on the kids. I remember quite clearly watching my (at the time) eight year-old daughter SIT in the middle of St Marks Place...screaming in protest...as I attempted to march my kids over to the old CBGB location in NYC. They could have cared less....and they made it clear.

The kids are going to be much more enamored with hotel room cards and elevators, train and boat rides, fountains, octopus tentacles, pizza....and gelato.

I absolutely wouldn't dream of taking such young children to the Vatican Museums. It's insanely crowded, and in warm weather almost suffocatingly hot inside, with no air conditioning in a good part of the museum. I myself wouldn't go there in May, which is the height of high season.

I accompanied some American cousins to Rome last June. They had a tour of the Vatican Museums scheduled and invited me to join them, but I declined, because I knew it would be unbearable. Even though they had paid in advance for a rather expensive private tour, when they got inside and saw the crowds, they turned around and left without even meeting the tour guide.

Small children would see absolutely nothing unless you carry them on your shoulders the whole time, and it's a big museum. I would actually worry that they would be crushed in the crowd.

We took our 2-year-old grandson (and his parents) to Paris...and I can definitely tell you, it's different than a normal adult trip. Lots and lots of fun...but different.

Make your plans designed to keep the little ones entertained, and you'll have a great time.

My own opinion is that Venice will be better than Florence for kids, mainly because it is a great city for wandering.

ssander

One quick word of warning if you do decide to go to Venice. There is still time, but your hotel options will be limited since you leave in a couple of weeks. You will need to map the hotel locations vs. the water bus (vaporetto) stops. There are no taxi's in Venice. Once the Vaporetto drops you off, you will have to carry your luggage all the way to your hotel....which could be blocks and blocks if you don't plan properly.

Venice is very walkable....so don't be intimidated by all of the boats. I didn't get in a boat once after the water bus dropped us off at our hotel during my last visit. You can walk everywhere.

And...be aware that there are two train stations in Venice. One in the modern downtown on the mainland....and one by the Grand Canal. You want the latter.