I am thinking we will have 10 days. Rome and Venice are definites.

Original plan was Florence with day trip to Pisa. Going with 2 teen bots so mesueums not really their thing, Science Museum in Florence I had heard was fabulous so thaty and Pisa were real reasons for florence.

Original thought was a day trip to Pompeii from Rome, But I think it is just too much for one day with all the traveling - which is why I am now thinking Naples instead of Rome.

My son would much prefere the ruins to the museums I think. What else is there to do/see in Naples? How many days would I need to spend there?

Thanks

I am so sorry for all the typos - forgot to proof read it. Let me try again
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Message: I am thinking we will have 10 days. Rome and Venice are definites.

Original plan was Florence with day trip to Pisa. Going with 2 teen boys and museums are not really their thing, except I had heard the Science Museum in Florence was fabulous, so that and Pisa were real reasons for Florence.

Original thought was a day trip to Pompeii from Rome, But I think it is just too much for one day with all the traveling - which is why I am now thinking Naples instead of Rome.

I think my sons would much prefer the ruins to the museums. What else is there to do/see in Naples? How many days would I need to spend there?

Thanks

Hi donna,

We spent 3 days in Naples and liked it very much.

See the miniguide to Naples at www.fodors.com.

The Cappelle Sansevero has amazing sculpture that even 2 teens will find awsome.

There is also a castle or two, some funiculars, Mt Vesuvius and the Archaeological Museum.

You might be able to fly Venice/Naples for less than a train from Rome.

Enjoy your trip.

www.volareweb.com

With 10 days, you don't have much time for Rome, Venice and Florence. You will find so much to do in those 3 wonderful cities that Pisa, Pompeii and Naples will be difficult to manage.
I suggest 3 days in Venice, 3 in Florence and 4 in Rome. If you get restless in Florence, a day trip to Pisa is not difficult but not highly recommended.
I definitely recommend Venice, Florence and Naples. There are plenty of ruins in Rome - no need to go all the way to Naples!

If they don't care for art museums, you don't need to spend much time in FLorence (a day or 2 at most).

We did a similar trip with our kids (who also aren't crazy about art museums, even though we drag them through many) in March 01. We started in Venice for 3 nights. Then rented a car, drove to Florence, with a stop in San Gimingnano on the way. We only spent 1 night in FLorence primarily to visit a family friend who was studying abroad there. We walked around the usual sites and went to the science museum. From there we drove to Orvieto where we spent 1 night. We thought our kids would enjoy spending a little time in a small medieval town. Orvieto also has an underground cave tour which is interesting for the entire family. From there we drove to Rome for 4 nights. We took a day trip to Pompeii from Rome (by car onour own) which I really recommend. We returned the car in Rome after the trip to Pompeii. My kids wanted to see both Pompeii & Pisa, but I figured, given our time frame, we could only handle 1 and Pompeii was the preference.

We took a family trip to Italy in June, including my 2 teen daughters and 22-year-old son. They LOVED Rome...they said Rome was "the most fun". (We visited Rome, Pompeii, Vesuvius, amalfi coast area, Venice, and Florence, and Siena.)

We had 4 nights in Rome and I gave my daughters and son guidebooks full of photos and web-sites with pictures on Italy while we were still home and asked for their input. After checking out the web-sites, everyone wanted to see the Vatican Museums, St. Peter's, and the Colosseum.

I left the last day in Rome as free choice day, with the only rule being that my daughters couldn't go off alone. They loved this!

Their favorite things in Rome were:

St. Peter's, which is just an awesome, mind-boggling size, really an eye-popping experience....(and climbing the tower in St. Peter's)..

the Pantheon, which is very ancient and sits in an interesting square, all the more impressive if your hotel is nearby, which ours was, and you can return here several times.

the Colosseum...We had a private licensed tour guide to explain the Colosseum and the Ancient rome area including the Pantheon and the Roman Forum to us which made it more meaningful. Since it was a private guide the teens were able to have a discussion with the tour guide comparing the brutality of the way of life in Ancient Rome with violence in the world today.

dining outside every night in interesting family-run ristorantes in Rome, and being allowed to have some wine with dinner since it's legal in Italy. Practicing a little Italian with the waiters...grazie, acqua, per favore, buona note, buon giorno...

The restaurant in Italy which received a unanimous family vote as the most fun with the best food is the family-run Ristorante der Pallaro in Rome at Largo del Pallaro, 15. It is south of the Pantheon and south of Piazza Navonna, and just east of the Campo de Fiori. You can walk to it from the Pantheon. On the Streetwise Rome map the street is abbreviated as "L. d. Pallaro". We were ushered to sit inside, which really turned out to be the bonus plan because we were closer to the family, watching them running the restaurant, and the regular Italian-speaking customers sat inside too...Papa (Mario?) made us feel like friends of the family. There is outside seating too but we really liked sitting inside.

Florence was the teens least favorite city. They did like seeing Michelangelo's David, which is huge and impressive...I didn't realize it was so big.

Oh, everyone enjoyed the Sistine chapel in the Vatican Museums and we stayed ceiling-gazing, sharing binoculars, for an hour...we were there in the afternoon and although there were many people inthe sistine chapel, there wasn't any line at all so we were allowed to stay as long as we liked. None of our kids compalined about wanting to leave...they all seemed engrossed in gazing about.

Your teens will enjoy the museums more if you get them a guidebook that makes sense to them (we liked Rick Steve's Mona Winks), and let them go ahead of you. Agree on a meeting time and place.

We didn't have much time in Pompeii and didn't have a guide. the teens were eager to see Pompeii and thought it was fairly cool but a private guide would have been better. plus we didn't have enough time there, it's fairly large. You need at least 4 hours and we barely had 2.

To give you an idea of time, we had a driver take us from Rome to Pompeii and Vesuvius, and then drop us off at our new hotel in Sorrento. This was a full 9-hour day.

Have a wonderful family trip.

Oops! Left out the Trevi fountain, another favorite of the teens...If you stay near the Pantheon you can walk to the Trevi fountain, the Pantheon, the spanish steps, Piazza navonna, and a further walk but still doable is walking to the colosseum and the roman forum. You can take the bus back from the colosseum to the Pantheon area to save your tired feet.

I'd skip both Pisa and Naples. Florence is perfect on your jaunt between Rome and Venice. Or skip Florence and add the ruins.

Donna, I wish you hadn't changed the spelling, teen bots is much more descriptive (I have 2 teen bots).

I guess I wasn't too clear - my fault. Venice & Rome are definites. Choice was between Florence or Ruins for stop # 3.

We are going to skip Florence and add the ruins.

Where is the best town to stay in to visit Pompeii and Vesuvius?

Thanks for all the replys.

(Sometimes I wish they were bots - then they'd have power and volume switches!)

>Where is the best town to stay in to visit Pompeii and Vesuvius?<

Naples.

Naples is one of my favorite cities in Italy - so I would opt for Naples with day trips to Pompeii and Vesuvius. The city itself has so much to see and the energy is wonderful.