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Venice/Tuscany itinerary
Hi ladies! I'm hoping you can help me come up with a Venice/Tuscany itinerary. I'm working with 7 -10 days at the beginning of February (trying to get OUT of Venice by Carnivale, which starts on the 11th of February this year). DH and I would be traveling with our two kids, so staying in one place for at least two or three nights is ideal - with a toddler and infant, we have to move at a slower pace. It generally means we see fewer places, but we get to stay in one location a little longer.
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Re: Venice/Tuscany itinerary
That's a good idea. I live in Sicily right now, but am pretty unfamiliar with Northern Italy. Do you prefer Florence to Siena? I was thinking maybe we could stay at an agriturismo in one of the smaller hill towns; or do we need more time in Florence itself and should base ourselves there?
I am a little set on Venice. I've heard some give it not such rave reviews, but I took a Baroque and Classical Venetian music class in grad school and have been wanting to see the birthplace of public opera every since. I am though, absolutely set on NOT being there during Carnivale (which starts on Feb. 11 this year) - I think we'll fly into Venice, and probably fly out of Florence or Pisa.
i actually like both florence and siena. i suggested staying in florence just because of the convenience with your kids though-and the ease of getting to things there. the agritourismos are usually outside of the towns. if you're looking for a town though dh and i stayed in Radda in Chianti (about 40 mins south of florence) for a week and it was a great base for exploring tuscany. we stayed at the palazzo leopoldo. it was great, nice large rooms (we had one of the downstairs ones and it was HUGE), a nice restaurant on site, a heated pool, we took a cooking class in the hotel and the town is great, really nice to walk around and explore. tiny but super clean, great paths through the walls etc. on our last trip to italy we did 4 nights in florence and then a week in radda. worked out great. we had considered renting a villa but then opted to stay in a town for the options of a few restuarants and place to explore.
I only spent 2 nights in Venice on my trip to Italy, but I loved it, especially at night. Yes, it's super crowded (mostly during the day) and expensive, but it's also a very unique, interesting place.
I only spent one night in Florence and our hotel was tiny, characterless, and in a bad location, so I didn't get the best image of Florence. I'm sure I need to go back and try it again though. Siena, on the other hand, I absolutely loved. I didn't get to any smaller hill towns, unfortunately. Next time...
my food blog
The one down side to Siena with kids is that the train station isn't right in town, and it was a little cumbersome getting the train into Siena and then the bus into town, and then a good walk to the B&B we stayed at. Same thing in reverse to leave. Getting off at SMN in Florence put you much closer/a much easier walk to everything, including a hotel to put your stuff down.
I really enjoyed both Florence and Siena... Siena probably more. I found it really relaxing, peaceful, and I enjoyed Montalcino, which we daytripped to from there.
Venice was great, but expensive. We did a whirlwind ~28 hours there and headed back out.
We travelled there with our DS a few years ago right before he turned three. We were in Italy 16 days total but did also visit Venice and Tuscany. We loved the places we stayed in and they were kind of kid friendly too by providing cribs and stuff. You can check out info in my supermom blog - link below. We stayed in apartments which worked out great.
OMG I'm so excited for you...you are going to have such a wonderful time. Venice is one of my most beautiful places to visit. You must visit Hotel Danieli, it's very beautiful but expensive. I had my most expensive cup of cappuccino at that hotel
Usually when the water rises in Venice, stores close and I heard they pass out rain boots for people to wear. You are going to be amazed by the unique items found in the stores, especially the beautiful masks.
Florence is beautiful as well. A lot of history and lot's of leather shopping.
Have a wonderful trip. It might be a little difficult with the kids. Hope you enjoy it
This is a very good idea. Staying in Venice, you can drive to Verona (or take the train), which would probably be only an hour trip. And do the same with Florence, like another post suggested. Have fun!!!
We live just an hour plane ride from Rome so we've been there before
Thanks! We live in Europe and love renting apartments. We actually recently did our Venice trip and rented an apartment through VRBO. We don't do hotels anymore with the two little ones. It is so much nicer to have a kitchen and separate bedrooms for the kids.
We ended up changing our itinerary to solely a Venice trip because of DH's work and scheduling issues. We had a fabulous time and I'd go back in a heart beat. My review of our trip is somewhere on this board . . . perhaps on the second page by now. It is titled, "Just got back from Venice" or something similar