Italy: 2 Week Itinerary with Kids

While we have done a lot of travels within the US with our kids, our first international trip with them didn’t happen until 2023. We would have loved to travel earlier, but with all the country restrictions and health concerns, it just didn’t make sense to risk it.

We identified Italy as our first trip as we were looking for some place that would be a great way to ease them into a different country. This meant food they would like, a culture that welcomes kids, and we wanted a location that they could experience and learn just by being there. It also helped that Ryan and I had been to Rome, and it is always easier planning trips with kids when you already have experience with the city/country.

We decided on a two week trip in order to visit a couple different cities, and some of our family members asked to join us as well. This post is meant to share our itinerary, lodging, excursions and highlights.

Three Nights in Rome

Rome is a great place for families! We love that you can walk or drive around and see ruins everywhere. There are many famous sites to see, in addition to wonderful alleyways, parks and piazzas for more casual exploring.

We stayed in the Piazza Navona area which was highly recommended, and it was wonderful. It has shops, family-friendly restaurants, a small grocery store, and is central to many of the main sites.

Getting around Rome is fairly easy. While I would consider it a walk-able city, you do have to be mindful with kids as sidewalks are not large, there are cobblestone streets that don’t make for easy use of stroller and there is a fair amount of traffic. We bought a multi-day bus pass and used the local bus, which was easy to navigate with Google Maps.

The only excursion we did with the kids was the Colosseum, which we did a private, kid focused tour through Liv Tours. The Colosseum is a really great site for kids to see because it is so vastly different than anything they have seen. We did an early morning tour which I highly recommend as it gets hot during the day! We did a three hour long tour which was honestly too long. We found our kids just love to see the area and learn the basic story, but don’t love really in-depth information. One great thing about the tour is they provided a “3D” visual using their phone and special glasses so the kids could see what the Colosseum looked like back in time versus now. This really helped them with the story telling!

On the other days, we just explored Rome – walking through alleyways, visiting St Peter’s Square, and Villa Borghese Gardens. We originally had planned for a golf cart tour, which gets rave reviews and would be great for kids to explore Rome, however we planned it for our second day and ended up missing our connecting in Paris so didn’t make it. My sister-in-law and husband did the excursion and really enjoyed it!

Lodging: 2 Bedroom Airbnb near Piazza Navona

Excursions:

Two Nights in Sorrento

Sorrento is near Naples (3hrs south of Rome) and at the tip of the Amalfi coast. We chose to stay here as we wanted to visit Pompeii and have a couple relaxing days. We had a private car pick us up in Rome, drove us to Pompeii for a tour and then drove us to Sorrento. Total drive time was 3hrs.

I wasn’t sure what my kids would think of Pompeii. Overall, they liked exploring the area and seeing the figures in ash really made the story of Pompeii stick with them. Because it is very much “ruins” it is a little hard for them to visualize and keep focus on the talking points. We kept them interested by encouraging them to jump around the sidewalks/streets (which are interesting). Again, this place gets hot, so I recommend visiting Pompeii in the morning as there is no shade. There is no food or drink vendors inside the area to buy, but there is a little restaurant/store right across from the entrance which is a great incentive for ice cream/drinks after the tour.

Sorrento is a small. quaint town right on the ocean with a view of Mount Vesuvius with quaint alleyways filled with various shops. We chose to splurge with our hotel so we could enjoy some ocean and pool time, and then we walked into the town for dinner and exploring. Sorrento would be easy to visit in a day, or a great base location if you want to explore the Amalfi Coast. We enjoyed just walking around the town exploring the alleyways, letting kids look at the stores, and of course getting gelato!

Lodging: Grand Hotel Royal Sorrento

Four Nights in Tuscany Region (near Siena)

Something about the Tuscany countryside just reflects quintessential Italy. The fields, medieval cities perched on top of hills and enjoying the quiet life. We chose to stay in the countryside, in a “borgo” where we had our own, small villa. From Sorrento, we had a driver bring us to the Naples train station (1 hour from Sorrento) and we took the 3hr high-speed train to Florence.

We rented a car from the Florence airport for exploring the Siena (Tuscany) region. Overall, I think renting a car and driving was a lot easier than I expected (they do drive on the right side like in the US) however, the roads are very narrow and windy. I do NOT recommend driving in the dark or if you have been drinking. If you are going to stay in the countryside, you definitely need to rent a car. The other option is to stay in Florence and join an organized day tour to the countryside, however most cities are 45min apart from each other so you usually only visit 1-2 towns in one day.

We also hired a local guide for three of the days we were exploring the Siena region. While this definitely isn’t required, she was amazing and was not only able to explain the history of the various towns to us, but planned multiple excursions that I wouldn’t have thought of like visiting a pasta mill and a crystal factory.

This is where we experienced the most of the local Italian culture and met many wonderful people. Tuscany is a huge region to explore, you can get a taste for it in a day or spend weeks traveling through the region.

Lodging: Borgo Argenina

Excursions:

Three Nights in Venice

We ended our trip in Venice, and I have always heard people either hate or love Venice. I definitely think everyone should see Venice at least once, as it is very unique. After dropping our car off at the Florence airport, we took a quick 2hr train to Venice.

There are no cars on the island of Venice, so we walked everywhere which at times was very tiring for our kids as there are also some tall bridges you have to walk over. But just coming out of the airport, hopping into a boat, and seeing all the canals made Venice extremely memorable for my kids.

Because we were at the end of the trip, we didn’t do many excursions and just enjoyed exploring Venice. We did a private food tour which showed us the fish markets and a couple “bacari” bars to eat “cicchetti” which are small appetizers mainly made out of fish, other meats or veggies. Venice has such a unique food culture so this was really fun for us to try, although you do have to be adventurous in trying new foods!

I personally thought three nights was plenty for Venice, mainly because it is a small town (unless you visit other islands). There are not many “green” areas or parks, so we would usually eat around a piazza where our kids could run around with other kids.

Lodging: Palazzo Veneziano

Excursions: Market & Cicchetti Food Tour with Liv Tours

Overall Trip Thoughts & Tips

Italy is such a vast country which different cultures spread across the cities. There is something for everyone in each region and even if you explored with no tours, it would be memorable. The people were extremely friendly towards our children. They were welcomed in every restaurant and store we went into, and the people loved engaging with them. Here are some tips if you are thinking of visiting Italy with kids:

Many hotels only show availability for three on their websites, but if you email them, they usually provide some options that you don’t see online.
Summers are very hot and humid, so plan accordingly. If you visit from June to August, plan for breaks in the middle of the day.
Plan what makes sense for your family, not what everyone tells you to do. We know our kids have very little interest in museums/sightseeing tours so we didn’t prioritize areas like the Vatican. Your kids can still pick up on the history and culture without seeing all the main sights. Plan for what makes sense for you and the kids!
Italy is a very big country, so if you are going to visit more than two cities, take into account the transportation needs. Traveling from Sorrento to the countryside of Tuscany was a full day event with multiple transportation modes. In hindsight, I would have broken that day up more or tried to plan a more linear route.
If you plan to visit some of the historic sights or do a lot of sightseeing, I recommend doing a kid focused tour and/or find printables for kids like scavengers hunts which can keep them more engaged. I have listed some links below that have these types of recommendations/resources.

HELPFUL WEBSITES FOR PLANNING:

I used a lot of resources for planning the trip. Below are some of my most recommended.

Mama Loves Italy – has great destination pages as well as activity sheet printables!
Mama Loves Rome
Italy with Kids Facebook Group – great for tips/recommendations from people who have been there.
TV Show: Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy – this is a good show for adults if you are interested in learning about the history/culture (especially food) of different regions. You can search online to see where it is streaming
LivTours – We used this tour group for most of our tours. Even if you don’t use this tour company, it is an easy way to look at different common tour types and then you can look on Viator for similar options.