What to do before Italy trip near Rome?

[Travelling135]

Hi! We just booked our first ABD to travel to Italy this summer with our 10 year old twin girls. We are planning to arrive about 3 days early in Rome. We have been having a hard time planning something to do with that time. We don't really want to spend it in a city. We'd love to do something relaxing before the trip starts. Any suggestions at all? Thank you so much.

 

[sayhello]

How far do you want to go? The Amalfi Coast is maybe 3 1/2 hours away from Rome, and is a GORGEOUS coastal area. A few days there could be wonderfully relaxing!!

Sayhello

 

[Travelling135]

Thanks for the reply! Yes, I was wondering about the Amalfi coast. i would love to see it, but I thought it would be too far. 3. 5 hrs. isn't bad though.... I'll have to look more into that. Thank you!

 

[sayhello]

Thanks for the reply! Yes, I was wondering about the Amalfi coast. i would love to see it, but I thought it would be too far. 3. 5 hrs. isn't bad though.... I'll have to look more into that. Thank you!

You're welcome! Welcome to the DISBoards! And congrats on booking your first ABD! You'll find they're addicting!

Sayhello

 

[Travelling135]

I can totally see it becoming an addiction. I'm not sure we'll be able to go back to normal travel after this. The hardest part was narrowing down which tour to take. Everything looks so amazing. The kids wanted Norway, but we figured the main Italy tour would be a good one to start with for the kids.

 

[Cousin Orville]

I agree. I'd go down to the Amalfi Coast.

 

[Travelling135]

Thanks for the recommendation! I just looked quickly at your Italy and Switzerland trip. We almost booked that one. It looks amazing! I hope this one is just as good. Are there any places to stay that you would recommend on the Amalfi coast? I've had some people recommend just spending the extra time in Rome, but I'm worried that it might be too much city time for the kids.

 

[cedricandsophie]

If you go to amalfi coast, I would highly recommend the Santa Caterina hotel in the town of Amalfi. Pricey but absolutely gorgeous with small villas overlooking the med, orange groves, pool right at the sea, etc. we stayed there many years ago. I could barely leave. You might also consider a trip to Capri...amazing. You can drive to many towns on the Amalfi coast and take a boat over. But that is a lot to do for three days. Rome is wonderful with lots to do. The on and off bus goes past all the big sights and is so fun to take for a day, getting off at certain sites and just riding it around on the top level, particularly if it is open air. Also there are several hotels in Rome with pools. Look on trip advisor for hotels with pools. The prices aren't bad.

 

[Travelling135]

That helps a lot. Thank you! If it were you and you were travelling with kids, would you just stay in Rome for the extra 2, 3 days or would you go to the Amalfi Coast?

 

[Cousin Orville]

Thanks for the recommendation! I just looked quickly at your Italy and Switzerland trip. We almost booked that one. It looks amazing! I hope this one is just as good. Are there any places to stay that you would recommend on the Amalfi coast? I've had some people recommend just spending the extra time in Rome, but I'm worried that it might be too much city time for the kids.

Positano was my favorite town on the Amalfi Coast. You can stay in the town, head over to Capri, or even go up to Pompeii.

You could certainly stay an extra 2-3 days in Rome. There's lots to do there, but with ABD you're hitting the highlights. You'd need to focus those first 2-3 days doing other things like the catacombs, the forum, etc. I'd be happy either staying there extra days or heading down to the Amalfi Coast, but I'd prefer the latter.

 

[Travelling135]

Thank you so much for your time!

 

[Travelling135]

Can I ask you one last thing? What was your favourite ABD tour that you've been on so far?

 

[Travelling135]

Oops...I actually have yet another question. We were just talking about also adding some extra time to our trip at the end. Do you have any suggestions about places to go (within a reasonable distance of Venice) to relax for a couple of days after the tour is finished? Thanks!

 

[Cousin Orville]

Can I ask you one last thing? What was your favourite ABD tour that you've been on so far?

They're all extremely good. The one I just finished, Italy/Switzerland, was amazing. That one will be hard to top, but I went with good friends and that can make a trip special. China, SE Asia, and Australia were all very good. I know they're farther and the cost is higher especially with airfare, but those are some amazing trips. I'm going to China for the 2nd time this fall. There will be many significant difference, but bottom line is it's a great trip

 

[Cousin Orville]

Oops...I actually have yet another question. We were just talking about also adding some extra time to our trip at the end. Do you have any suggestions about places to go (within a reasonable distance of Venice) to relax for a couple of days after the tour is finished? Thanks!

There's not a lot especially close to Venice. You could go back to Florence. The one criticism I've read on this ABD is there's not enough time in Florence. That's a pretty easy train ride. You could do Milan, but I wouldn't recommend it with children. It's a cool city, great shopping/dining, but not a particularly fun city. You could spend some more time in Venice. We went to Padua to see Giotto's chapel, and Verona to see "Juliet's Balcony" and walk around. You could take the boats over to Murano. You could even go as far a Burano, but IMO it's not worth the farther boat ride. There's lots of great places to eat in Venice - see tripadvisor. There's also a lot of crumby places to eat in Venice. Don't just stop in the tourist traps. I think if it were 2 extra days, I'd probably stay in Venice. If it were 3 or 4 days, I'd probably either go back to Florence or over to Cinque Terre or do something totally different like head over to Croatia.

 

[RSM]

Oops...I actually have yet another question. We were just talking about also adding some extra time to our trip at the end. Do you have any suggestions about places to go (within a reasonable distance of Venice) to relax for a couple of days after the tour is finished? Thanks!

If you like the mountains, you can get to the Dolomites fairly easily from Venice. There are alot of smaller villages/towns surrounded by the Dolomite mountains. Hiking is fantastic and there are countless trails to choose from (very easy to doing the more challenging via ferrata).

 

[Uncranky Donald]

I've never taken these specific tours but have been to Venice on my own and stayed much longer than I anticipated cuz I loved it soooo much! There are many great tours to take that are very reasonable. I had an amazing one led by a local graduate student, there were only 5 people in the tour and it was taken at 8pm which is when (IMO) Venice comes alive. It has the lowest crime rate of all the Italian cities so its super safe for the family and all the shops have fun, colorful things for all ages as well...I'd suggest staying there longer, wish I was there right now

 

[Travelling135]

There's not a lot especially close to Venice. You could go back to Florence. The one criticism I've read on this ABD is there's not enough time in Florence. That's a pretty easy train ride. You could do Milan, but I wouldn't recommend it with children. It's a cool city, great shopping/dining, but not a particularly fun city. You could spend some more time in Venice. We went to Padua to see Giotto's chapel, and Verona to see "Juliet's Balcony" and walk around. You could take the boats over to Murano. You could even go as far a Burano, but IMO it's not worth the farther boat ride. There's lots of great places to eat in Venice - see tripadvisor. There's also a lot of crumby places to eat in Venice. Don't just stop in the tourist traps. I think if it were 2 extra days, I'd probably stay in Venice. If it were 3 or 4 days, I'd probably either go back to Florence or over to Cinque Terre or do something totally different like head over to Croatia.

We thought about Croatia...that would be amazing. We'll have to look into that. Thank you for all of the suggestions.

 

[Travelling135]

If you like the mountains, you can get to the Dolomites fairly easily from Venice. There are alot of smaller villages/towns surrounded by the Dolomite mountains. Hiking is fantastic and there are countless trails to choose from (very easy to doing the more challenging via ferrata).

That's a great idea! I think my kids would love to spend some time in the mountains. We almost chose the Italy/Switzerland tour to have that opportunity.

 

[Travelling135]

I've never taken these specific tours but have been to Venice on my own and stayed much longer than I anticipated cuz I loved it soooo much! There are many great tours to take that are very reasonable. I had an amazing one led by a local graduate student, there were only 5 people in the tour and it was taken at 8pm which is when (IMO) Venice comes alive. It has the lowest crime rate of all the Italian cities so its super safe for the family and all the shops have fun, colorful things for all ages as well...I'd suggest staying there longer, wish I was there right now

That's great to know! That's another really good option. The kids might be so tired by the end of the tour that they would be happy to stay put in Venice. Thank you.