kerrylou

I'm travelling to Italy in June and hoping to do a whirlwind tour with my 14 year old granddaughter. We hope to spend 2 days in Rome, 2 days in Florence and 2 days in Venice, then back to Rome, then home. I've been to Italy before and have been studying some beginner's Italian so I'm hoping to be able to navigate us through all the ticket offices (we're taking the train) but could use some help on interspersing a few ideas specifically for her age group. Not sure which hotels or B&B's are close to the train stations or if we should take a cab and stay right in the heart of the city. Any suggestions would be most helpful. Thank you for taking the time to read this.

sandralist

You might get better answers if you provided some clues about the 14-year-old's strongest interests. I once traveled in Italy with a girl only a bit younger than 14 and she liked to make her own clothes, so seeing a lace-making shop was a real highlight for her.

Music? Sports? Food? Does she like making things (a cooking class?) or growing things (the food markets? a farm tour from Florence)? Does she love crowds and nighttime entertainment (fun piazza with jugglers?) or is she really impressed by old, old things -- how about some Roman baths?

Paintings, mosaics, scupture -- all attract different people for different reasons -- while still others are taken with the cat sanctuary amid the ancient ruins or the bustling food markets (just as old, many of them).

Anway, I know a huge family where all the children are girls, and when each on of them turned 14, she was interested in something the others weren't. All had varying talents and personalities.

sandralist

I was also going to suggest that for such short stops in each city, that you plan one major event for the morning -- perhaps even a walking tour aimed at younger people -- and then gauge the reaction. Maybe more of the same, maybe something different for the afternoon.

Also, before you hit with an onslaught of "make HER do the research", that only works, in my view, if the 14 year old has time, and the interest. Some 14 year olds today have much busier schedules than adults do. I wouldn't force anything. Also, I have met teens who never once would have picked a trip to italy for a vacation, and while they were generally happy campers on the trip, the adults did best when they realized the teen was not to beaten into evincing an interest. Again, no forcing on kids just because they are kids and don't have the same rights!

I'm sure you and your travel companion can find loads of delightful things to do. It's great you've been before so that pressure for "must dos" is off.

sandralist

sorry for the verb deficit in the above post! Meant to write

"Before you get hit with an onslaught"..

and

"adults did best when they realized teen was not to be beaten"

Lexma90

With such a short trip, and needing to return back to Rome for your flight out, you might want to skip either Venice or Florence (as wonderful as each of them is), so you don't end up feeling like most of your trip was spent on a train.

Also, consider heading to Venice directly upon arriving in Rome, then you can can have all of your time in Rome at the end of the trip; it would mean one less change of lodging.

I've never had great success with getting my teens to do their own research. Lucky for them, I love to plan travel, and have a good idea of their interests. Then I get their attention for 10 minutes, run some ideas by them, maybe look at a couple of websites.

When we took our 10yo DD to Italy, she pretty much liked the same activities as we did - art, museums, history of all eras. And gelato!