CherylA

I am in the beginning stages of planning a spring break trip to Italy with my family of 4, including 2 kids ages 9 and 12. We are going to be flying out of Philadelphia and into Rome. Is is worth doing a multi-city flight and fly out of Venice? I would like to spend time in Rome, Venice, and maybe Florence? We will be spending 9/10 nights in Italy. Any ideas of a good itinerary that would keep the kids interested? Are there any other cities you would recommend visiting in addition to Rome and Venice? I would like to explore these cities and have an enjoyable, educational vacation without rushing around and being over scheduled. Please keep in mind this will be taking place around Easter. Thank you for any insight you may be able to offer.

HappyTrvlr

Yes, do a multi-city flight into Rome, out of Venice rather than wasting time and money backtracking.

Lexma90

With only 9 or 10 nights in Italy, you may want to consider visiting only two cities (though all three, plus many more are worth visiting, of course).

What do your kids (and you) enjoy doing on your vacations? Do you like beaches and sun, or museums, culture and history?

We took our daughter to all three of those locations when she was 10yo, and she loved all of them, though said she liked Venice and Rome the best. She (like us) really enjoys museums, and we visited a lot of them.

I have never been to Italy at Easter-time, but I would imagine the holiday would affect the crowds and your schedule.

Jean

Nine nights is only 8 full days. If you split your time with another city, you'll lose nearly a half day to travel and changing hotels. A third city means losing a total of one day which really reduces your actual/overall sightseeing time.

I'd pick only 2 destinations, and I wouldn't necessarily limit the thinking to only the 3 big cities you've mentioned. You could pick just one and then do some easy day (or overnight) trips using public transportation. Experience the contrasts of a big city to smaller towns, large tourist crowds to a quieter atmosphere.

dfourh

For a smaller place, consider Lucca between Rome and Venice. Rome will be impressive but maybe a bit disorienting or even daunting for them; Venice will ultimately be a remarkable, and delightful playground; Florence is not the child-friendliest place, so if you do Lucca instead (with a daytrip to Florence) you've got bike riding atop the city wall, and a small but really manageable town that is your oyster - - gorgeous sites, but doing it by bike really lets you explore out of the way places, and feel totally free, and totally owning this lovely place. You can get a hotel right by the train station for easy in/out and daytrips (Florence; Pisa) with bike rental.

bvlenci

Once you've ridden bikes around the park on top of the wall, there's not much else to interest kids in Lucca.

I think Rome and Venice are your best options. Both have lots of things the whole family would enjoy. I would fly into Venice and out of Rome, because Rome usually has friendlier flight departure hours back to the US than Venice does.

If you'd like a quick look at Florence, you could leave Venice early, on a train to Florence. Drop your luggage at the left-luggage facility at the station, and take a walk that includes passing the Duomo, Piazza della Signoria, and the Ponte Vecchio. You could spend five or six hours in Florence before getting a train to Rome. You would have time for a few visits. I would recommend going into the Baptistery, which has beautiful gold mosaics on its vaulted ceiling. The Duomo usually has a long line, and there's not much to see inside; just admire it from the outside.

Near the station, the Basilica of Santa Maria Novella is well worth a visit. It has half a dozen great art masterpieces inside, and a nice cloister. The Tornabuoni Chapel is covered with frescoes painted by the Ghirlandaio workshop, where the young Michaelangelo was an apprentice. It's thought that he painted one of the figures in the foreground.

ellenem

One idea for a spring break itinerary:

Fri - depart home
Sat - arrive Venice
Sun - Venice
Mon - Venice
Tue - train to Florence; store luggage at station; have lunch and wander Florence for a few hours; train to Rome
Wed - Rome
Thu - Rome
Fri - Rome (day trip by train to charming hill town of Orvieto if weather is good)
Sat - Rome
Sun - fly home

I actually did this very trip with my college-age niece. It gives enough time to see sights but also relax and explore.

MissMandy

Depending on the sites you want to see and your pace of sightseeing versus relaxation time, I'd suggest you can probably condense Venice into two full days especially if you pre-book tours for the St. Mark’s Basilica, Terrace & Doge’s Palace. I think 5 days in Rome is too much and so another city - perhaps Verona, Pisa or Florence is possible.