We were on Capri and it was fine but I wouldn’t go back (maybe something chaged in 25 years and I missed smth.)
I am sure kids would love Pompeii, and I hardly can imagine better shopping and walking than Sorrento. Again I maybe wrong.
Since there is no direct train from Sorrento to Florence. I think ferry to Naples maybe fun transportation option. Thoughts?
A couple of years ago we took an Italian trip based out of Florence. Did an overnight in Venice, which we loved many years ago. Still was nice, and we’ve learned to avoid the cruise ship crowds. Murano was a bit sad, because of the gas costs not a lot was going on in the factories. Still, I’ll put Venice in my Italy must see list.
On a different trip based out of Sorrento we went to Pompeii. I studied Pompeii in college art/architectural history classes and it was at the top of my must-do list. Came away disappointed because all the “good stuff” has been moved to the British Museum and other museums.
Oh, I forgot to mention Pompeii. i loved it. My favorite part of my first trip to Italy.
We are really averse to over scheduling and that is a ton of travel days and a lot of just 2-3 days somewhere. Italy is decently big, so prioritizing may make everyone less grumpy. We took our college kids a couple summers ago. Now they’re mythology buffs, so that might have swayed their interest in Rome, but it was HUGE for them. Sure it’s touristy, but they really loved it. We did 3 full days and then took off for Tuscany. We did Florence, but also spent some time just chilling after the tourist heavy Rome time - soaking up the little hill towns. We’d done Venice when they were younger, so skipped on this trip.
We then went down to Positano, and honestly wish we’d had more time down there. Pompeii was not to be missed and we also went to Capri. I will say that May was still pretty slow season for the Amalfi coast - and pretty chilly the year we went. It was nice to not have the huge crowds, but it was just too cool to really do the beach stuff.
All in we did 14 full days with 3 bases. We really wanted to hit the Lake region, but just didn’t have enough time - an excuse to go back! You know your family dynamics, but think a lot about scheduling some down time - particularly if you’re going right after the semester ends (which is what we did as well). Our kids definitely wanted to time to just relax.
3 Likes
I would stick with an itinerary that starts in Rome and moves north. Rome for 3/4 days and Tuscany for 3/4 days and Venice for 1/2/3 nights is a logistically efficient journey. And they all have a wealth of options of things to do, sights to see, food to eat…
I’d recommend a cooking class at some stage - fun for all ages. Leave time for shopping if they enjoy that - vintage clothing, art, ceramics, gourmet food items etc. An engaging private tour guide can also be cost efficient and make a big difference fun-wise, so ask around for specific recos.
4 Likes
Here are some of my thoughts:
Consider changing you flights to round trip Rome. Or in to Rome out of Bologna/Florence/Milan. In these cases, skip Venice this time.
Consider landing in Rome and immediately going to Sorento. Then Sorrento for few days, Rome, Florence and out of Venice. I would actually consider skipping Rome altogether as well and doing Sorrento, Florence and Venice.
Another option is land in Rome, go immediately to Sorrento, then backtrack to Rome, Florence and instead of Venice, go to Padua (Giotto murals) and Verona (Coliseum and Romeo and Juliets Balcony) the day prior to your flight home then skip Venice but fly out of Venice if you cannot change your tickets. Those are easy stops to visit from the train station.
When you go to Florence, book times and tickets in advance to Uffizi and David and any other sites and tours if you don’t want to wait hours in line to see. Same with Vatican. Also Vatican is really only 3-4 hours even if you take your time. Book tickets to Villa Borghese with 1 hour tour in English- one of my all time favorite museums!
Your kids are young and can always return to Italy down the road. You can’t see everything but you also don’t want to spend 5 days lugging suitcases around train stations and cobbled roads. If you do chose to see everything on your list, you will have a wonderful trip but you can also downsize and spend a bit more time enjoying each destination. There is no wrong way to do it.
Have an amazing trip!
2 Likes
My family is rather mellow/slow when we travel. We are early morning people, so we would do one sightseeing in the morning, have a big leisurely lunch, take a nap, go out again around 4 to do another event, cocktail at 6 and dinner around 7, and then bed by 10 or 11. Now that we travel with little kids, our pace is even slower. We only move once in 7-8 days.
5 Likes
Nope. I can’t change 4 tickets. That is impossible. Plus DD wanted Venice…
My D LOVED the Biennale when she was in Venice. (Frankly it was too avant guard-ish for my taste but D was in college when she went and said it was one of the best things she did in Venice). I believe it starts on May 10th this year. You’d need to get tickets in advance if that would be something your people would want to do.
Sounds great. Unfortunately my DD is not into art. She is more into shopping, eating and cooking.
I also sure she would be fed up by the end from paintings and architecture(Rome + Florence). Actually the goal with tours make her appreciate art more (not sure it would work. )
1 Like
I would recommend doing a deep dive into restaurants (at least for dinner) and make reservations. The non touristy restaurants are small and often don’t have space for walk-ins.
https://www.collineemiliane.com (this is one of our favorites in Rome)
Food tours are a great way to get some good restaurant tips as well as seeing parts of cities you might not otherwise venture into (residential neighborhoods). We often will do a food tour on our 1st or 2nd day of arrival to get the lay of the land and have some places we can hit again for lunch/snacks.
If your daughter is into shoes, my favorite shoe store in the whole world is in Venice -
Vladi
Rio Terà de la Maddalena, 2340 Cannaregio, 30121, Venezia VE
It’s away from the touristy sites and there are tons of great shops out that way.
And if food is important, try the ciccheti in Venice (appetizers) at All’Arco
2 Likes
If you decide to skip Southern Italy but still want to see some water and coastal towns, and are up around Tuscany/Florence, then you could visit Cinque Terre. Unfortunately I don’t think there’s a high speed train to get there, but it’s not a long ride. You might even be able to do it as a long day trip from Florence. We had some pretty amazing seafood during our stay there. I’ll caveat that by saying if you’re bringing full-size suitcases then those small local trains can be quite packed when they get crowded.
Our style of travel is pretty mellow and in line with @oldfort - most days we do one outing for a few hours, then chill and eat. Actually these days our trips tend to be centered around eating and restaurants tbh. We mix in full day guided tours every few days, and generally prefer to stay at least 3-4 nights per hotel. We’ve settled on a pattern of one week per major city, and we’ll switch hotels to a different part of the city halfway through.
3 Likes
My favorite thing in Rome was the Borghese, I thought it was amazing even for people who don’t like museums, the Bernini sculptures are so beautiful. We made a reservation and did the audio tour, it was easy to do.
The Scavi tour in the Vatican was very special. You have to request tickets from the Vatican, they will tell you when you can come. It’s not expensive. Not sure what the availability will be this year.
http://www.scavi.va/content/scavi/en/prenotazione.html
We also liked the tour of the catacombs. A kinda different thing to do.
5 Likes
My favorite parts of what you are proposing are the Venice part and the Sorrento/Amalfi/Pompeii part. These would also be my choice if I was taking young adults who are not so interested in art , museums, and monuments (and maybe have seen them already ?). Also this year the bigger cities are predicted to be very crowded for the Italy Jubilee.
I would spend 3 nights in Venice, 4-5 nights in Sorrento, with day trips to Amalfi, ravello, Positano, Pompeii, maybe Naples and capri (some can be two in one day). I would hire a tour guide or join a small group tour at least a couple of those Sorrento area days for the efficiency and ease of navigation for getting around and learning about the area. Then just about 1 extra night in crowded Rome.
We have learned that home base in one-two spots in that amount of time plus hiring guides for selected days are pluses for us.
2 Likes
We are all into shoes. I came with boots/shoes from Spain and Portugal. Thanks!
1 Like
With a family of 4, it might be cost effective to have a car and driver for some of the city to city travelling (instead of rail). We did a lovely car drive from Rome to Florence stopping in a couple of places in Tuscany, and really enjoying the scenic drive. It didn’t take much longer then the train would have (if you don’t count the stopping).
2 Likes
If you are into shoes, check out the Ferragamo museum in Florence. Very fun!
I’m in favor of slightly slower travel with some time to just enjoy/explore places, so I’d figure out what you absolutely want to do (sounds like Pompeii), what you would like to do, and then pare away. Train travel in Italy is easy and comfortable but travel days require a level of organization and stress and will be less “fun” so minimizing those can make the trip feel more relaxed.
You can pack in a ton of sightseeing or you can leave room to hang in a cafe, wander, shop, etc. But you may need to be intentional about it!
Florence is an incredible place (and a Firenze pass can make it easy to sample the less frequented museums and site) but it is a bit of a Disneyland in that it’s all geared to tourists. If you’re looking for a more authentic feel, you’ll do better in some of the smaller towns.
What I’m saying is that there are an infinite ways to construct this trip but there will be trade-offs in any of them. Sorting through that upfront will leave you happier.
2 Likes
One other thought about the Pompeii/Vesuvius day is to check with your kids about their interests. If they really want to see Vesuvius and the crater then do it, but the majority of the artifacts from Pompeii are at the Archaeological Museum in Naples. And if you go to Naples you can have pizza at Pizzeria Trianon which is the best pizza I’ve ever had! (Although some prefer L’Antica Pizzeria da Michele down the street, where by some accounts pizza was invented.) So maybe they’d prefer that day to the volcano.
I recommend going on a guided tour in Pompeii. We did it on our own once using a guidebook, then a decade later with a guide. Night and day! We got so much more out of having a person there enthusiastic about what they were showing us and happy to answer questions. Avoid using Viator and Get-Your-Guide which are resellers with often a big markup, find a guide company directly. We used Mondo tours, although this early in the year they may not have the public tours up yet.
5 Likes