Italy for Families: Venice, Florence, Rome and the Amalfi Coast

1. Day 1: Arrive in Venice by water taxi

   Venice Marco Polo Airport to your hotel in Venice by water taxi

   • By boat
   • Welcome dinner
   • Stay in Venice
   Day 1 details

   Fly into Venice Marco Polo Airport (VCE), where we meet you in arrivals and a water taxi carries the family across the lagoon to a landing close to your hotel in the historic centre, within walking distance of San Marco or the Rialto. If you arrive by train, we meet you at Santa Lucia station instead. The boat follows lines of wooden posts across open water, then slows down as it enters the canals. Plan to land by about 3 pm so there is time to settle in and rest. Early in the evening your See Sight Tours guide meets the families for a short briefing: how the days run, which afternoons are free, and what to pack for Pompeii and the boat day. Then we walk together to an early welcome dinner, with plain pasta for anyone who wants it, and back through quieter lanes before bedtime. Venice has no cars, so children walk without traffic, but canal edges have no railings.

   Included

   • Water taxi from Venice Marco Polo Airport (VCE), or a meet at Santa Lucia station
   • Welcome briefing with your guide
   • Early welcome dinner

   Free time: Free until the early evening briefing

2. Day 2: San Marco early, then a mask workshop

   A walking day around San Marco and the Rialto

   • By boat
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Venice
   Day 2 details

   We are in Piazza San Marco before 9 am, while the square is still quiet and the café chairs are going out. When the Basilica opens at 9:30 we go in on a reserved slot with a local guide. Inside, the domes are covered in gold mosaic; children can hunt for the birds and animals set into the marble floor, and learn why the four bronze horses on the front are copies. From there we walk through the lanes to a mask workshop, where a Venetian artisan explains how papier-mâché masks were made for Carnival, and every child, and any adult who wants to, paints a blank mask to take home; it takes about an hour and a half and dries in time to pack. Lunch is together at a trattoria. The afternoon is yours: the Rialto Bridge and the market stalls, a gelato on the Zattere, or a ride down the Grand Canal on the vaporetto pass we give you. Your guide suggests routes for each age and stays reachable by phone.

   Included

   • Early walk through Piazza San Marco with your guide
   • St Mark's Basilica on a reserved entry, with a local guide
   • Mask-painting workshop with a Venetian mask maker
   • Lunch at a trattoria
   • A vaporetto pass for your days in Venice

   Optional experiences

   • A gondola ride, booked through your guide at the official rate

   Free time: Afternoon free

   Activity: Shoulders and knees must be covered inside St Mark's, for children too.

3. Day 3: A rowing lesson, then the train to Florence

   Venice to Florence by fast train, then the old centre on foot

   • By boat
   • Breakfast
   • Stay in Florence
   Day 3 details

   This morning the children take the oar. On a quiet canal away from the Grand Canal, a local rowing instructor teaches voga alla veneta, the Venetian way of rowing standing up and facing forward, the stroke gondoliers use, in a wide and stable traditional boat. Each lesson takes a few families at a time for about an hour and a half, and life jackets are provided. While we row, porters collect your bags and our vehicle drives them about 260 km to Florence, so you travel with a day bag and no one spends the day in a van. After lunch on your own we ride the vaporetto to Santa Lucia station for a reserved fast train to Florence, about two hours across the Po plain and through the Apennine tunnels. We reach the hotel, within walking distance of the Duomo, in the late afternoon and take an easy first walk: past the cathedral's marble front, through Piazza della Signoria and onto the Ponte Vecchio, its shops built out over the river, as the light turns gold. Dinner tonight is your choice.

   Included

   • Venetian rowing lesson (voga alla veneta) with a local instructor
   • Your bags taken by road from your Venice hotel to your Florence hotel
   • Reserved fast train from Venice to Florence
   • Evening walk with your guide: the Duomo, Piazza della Signoria and the Ponte Vecchio

   Easier option: Anyone who prefers can ride in the boat while others row, or skip the lesson for a slow breakfast.

   Free time: Evening free

   Activity: Children must be able to sit still in a small boat; the instructor confirms the youngest age that suits the lesson.

   

4. Day 4: David, Galileo and a sunset over Florence

   A walking day in central Florence, then Piazzale Michelangelo

   • Breakfast
   • Stay in Florence
   Day 4 details

   We are at the Accademia when it opens at 8:15 and stay about forty-five minutes: long enough for Michelangelo's David, more than five metres of marble, and the unfinished Prisoners that seem to climb out of their blocks, short enough for younger legs. A licensed local guide tells the story in a way children follow. Then we walk past the Duomo and the gilded doors of the Baptistery to the Museo Galileo by the Arno, a visit children tend to enjoy because it is hands-on. It holds two of Galileo's own telescopes, the lens with which he found the moons of Jupiter, giant globes, clocks and early scientific instruments, and, in a small glass case, one of his fingers. Lunch is on your own and the afternoon is free: rest at the hotel or wander the Boboli Gardens across the river. In the early evening we walk up to Piazzale Michelangelo to watch the sun go down over the domes and towers; the climb is steep, and a bus or taxi goes up for anyone who prefers.

   Included

   • Michelangelo's David at the Accademia at 8:15, with a licensed local guide
   • The Museo Galileo
   • Sunset walk to Piazzale Michelangelo with your guide

   Optional experiences

   • The Uffizi on a family tour, booked when you confirm

   Easier option: Take a taxi or the bus up to Piazzale Michelangelo instead of the steps.

   Free time: Afternoon free

   Activity: The Accademia closes on Mondays and the Museo Galileo closes early on Tuesdays, so we choose departure dates around them.

5. Day 5: A gelato class, then the train to Rome

   Florence to Rome by fast train, then the Pantheon, Sant'Ignazio and the Trevi Fountain on foot

   • By train
   • Breakfast
   • Stay in Rome
   Day 5 details

   Florentines like to say they invented gelato, and this morning a gelato maker shows the families how it is done: how milk, sugar and fruit become gelato, why it is denser and served warmer than ice cream, and how to spot a good shop by its colours. The children make a batch and everyone tastes it, so we count it as a mid-morning snack rather than lunch. Your bags go ahead by road again. After a free lunch we take a reserved fast train to Rome, about an hour and a half, and our vehicle meets us at Roma Termini for the hotel, within walking distance of Piazza Navona or the Pantheon. In the late afternoon we walk to the Pantheon, nearly 1,900 years old, to stand under the open circle at the top of its dome; on to Sant'Ignazio, where Andrea Pozzo painted a dome on a flat canvas and a marble disc on the floor shows where to stand to be fooled; and to the Trevi Fountain to throw a coin over your shoulder. The evening is free.

   Included

   • Gelato-making class with a Florentine gelato maker
   • Your bags taken by road from your Florence hotel to your Rome hotel
   • Reserved fast train from Florence to Rome
   • Transfer from Roma Termini to your hotel
   • Late-afternoon walk with your guide: the Pantheon (entry included), Sant'Ignazio and the Trevi Fountain

   Free time: Lunch and the evening free

   

6. Day 6: Under the Colosseum

   The Colosseum underground and arena floor, the Roman Forum and the Palatine

   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Rome
   Day 6 details

   This is the day most children have been waiting for. We meet a licensed archaeologist guide at the Colosseum for one of the first entry slots and go where most visitors cannot: down into the hypogeum, the two levels of stone passages and cells under the arena where gladiators waited and wild animals were raised into the light on wooden lifts, then out onto the rebuilt section of the arena floor to look up at the stands as a fighter would have. Underground visits run in small numbers and sell out early, so we book them as soon as you confirm. Afterwards we cross into the Roman Forum, walk the Via Sacra past the Arch of Titus and climb the Palatine Hill, where the emperors built their palaces, for the view back over the Forum and the Circus Maximus. Lunch is together at a trattoria in Monti. The afternoon is free: most families rest, and some rent a bike or a pedal cart in the Villa Borghese gardens.

   Included

   • The Colosseum underground (hypogeum) and arena floor on a timed entry, with a licensed guide
   • The Roman Forum and the Palatine Hill
   • Lunch at a trattoria in Monti

   Easier option: Skip the Palatine climb and wait in the shade of the Forum, or head back to the hotel after the Colosseum.

   More active option: Climb to the Orange Garden on the Aventine and look through the Knights of Malta keyhole at the dome of St Peter's.

   Free time: Afternoon free

   Activity: About three hours on foot, on uneven ancient paving and steps. Colosseum tickets carry each guest's name, so we ask for passport names when you book.

7. Day 7: Gladiator school on the Appian Way

   Rome to a gladiator school near the Appia Antica and back

   • Drive about 30 min
   • Breakfast
   • Stay in Rome
   Day 7 details

   Yesterday the children stood on the arena floor; today they train for it. Our vehicle takes us about twenty minutes out to the Appia Antica area, where a historical re-enactment group runs a gladiator school. Instructors explain the different kinds of gladiator, their armour and weapons, and the rules of a fight, because there were rules and a referee. Then everyone gets a tunic and a wooden sword and is drilled in the moves, finishing with mock duels; parents can fight too or take the photos. It lasts about two hours. We are back in the centre of Rome by early afternoon, and lunch and the rest of the day are free. Your guide can book an afternoon family tour of the Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel, or send you to Trastevere, Campo de' Fiori or the Spanish Steps. Tomorrow starts early, so tonight is a good one for an early pizza and bed.

   Included

   • Gladiator school with a historical re-enactment group: costumes, wooden swords, drills and mock duels
   • Transfers to and from the school in our vehicle

   Optional experiences

   • The Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel on an afternoon family tour, booked when you confirm

   Easier option: Watch from the side and take the photos.

   Free time: Afternoon and evening free

   Activity: Gentle exercise in the open air; bring water, sunscreen and trainers.

8. Day 8: Pompeii, then on to Sorrento

   Rome to Naples by fast train, then Pompeii and Sorrento by road

   • Drive about 1.5 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Sorrento
   Day 8 details

   A reserved fast train takes about an hour and ten minutes from Rome to Naples, where our own vehicle meets us with the bags, which left Rome by road early in the morning. It is about half an hour to Pompeii. With a licensed archaeologist guide we walk the town that Vesuvius buried in AD 79: stepping stones that let Romans cross the street without wetting their feet, ruts worn by cart wheels, bakeries with their ovens, a street-food counter, the amphitheatre and the plaster casts of people caught in the ash, which your guide prepares younger children for. We walk about two and a half hours on uneven stone with little shade, so bring water and hats. After lunch together in the modern town of Pompei it is about forty-five minutes along the coast to Sorrento, on its cliff above the Bay of Naples. The rest of the afternoon is free. In the evening we make our own dinner: a pizza-making lesson where everyone stretches and tops a pizza and eats it hot from the oven.

   Included

   • Reserved fast train from Rome to Naples
   • Your bags taken by road from your Rome hotel to your Sorrento hotel
   • Pompeii with a licensed archaeologist guide
   • Lunch in Pompei
   • Pizza-making lesson and dinner

   Easier option: A shorter loop of Pompeii, about an hour and a half, with a rest in the shade of the Forum.

   More active option: Walk out to the Villa of the Mysteries at the far edge of the site with your guide.

   Free time: Afternoon free in Sorrento

   Activity: Pompeii entry is by named ticket and the site limits daily visitors, so we book it with your other entries.

   

9. Day 9: A boat day on the Amalfi Coast

   Sorrento by boat to Positano and Amalfi, and back

   • By boat
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Sorrento
   Day 9 details

   Today we see the coast from the sea, which spares everyone the winding road. A boat for our group only leaves Sorrento's harbour mid-morning and rounds Punta Campanella, the tip of the peninsula, with Capri close across the strait, then runs along the Amalfi Coast past the Li Galli islets to Positano, its houses stacked up the cliff. We stop to swim in clear coves, with life jackets, masks and snorkels on board, and go ashore at Positano for about an hour. Lunch is together in Amalfi, then there is time to climb the broad steps to the cathedral of Sant'Andrea or share a lemon granita in the piazza. We are back in Sorrento by late afternoon, salty and tired, and the evening is free for a last walk along the Corso Italia. If the sea is too rough to go out, which can happen even in summer, we switch to a road day with the same towns and a swim at a beach.

   Included

   • A boat for the group along the Amalfi Coast, with swim stops
   • Time ashore in Positano
   • Lunch in Amalfi and time in the town

   Easier option: Stay on board or on the beach for the swim stops, or spend the day in Sorrento.

   More active option: Snorkel at every stop, or swim from the boat into the sea caves where the crew says it is safe.

   Free time: Evening free

   Activity: Children must wear a life jacket on board, and swim stops depend on the sea; the crew decides.

   

10. Day 10: Sorrento to Naples and home

    Sorrento to Naples International Airport (NAP) or Napoli Centrale station

    • Drive about 1.5 h
    • Breakfast
    Day 10 details

    A last breakfast with the bay below, then our vehicle takes the families to Naples International Airport (NAP), about 50 km and an hour to an hour and a half depending on traffic on the coast road and the motorway, or to Napoli Centrale station if you are carrying on by train. Your guide rides with the group and makes sure everyone is checked in before saying goodbye. We time the transfer to the group's flights; book a flight leaving after about noon to travel without a rush. If you would like more time by the sea, we can add nights in Sorrento before or after the trip. Some families fly home from Rome instead: the fast train from Naples to Rome takes about an hour and ten minutes, and the express train from Roma Termini to Fiumicino about half an hour more, so an evening flight from Rome works too.

    Included

    • Transfer to Naples International Airport (NAP) or Napoli Centrale station

    Activity: Book a flight leaving after about noon.

Wildlife and weather: From June to August Rome and Pompeii are hot, often above 30°C, so sightseeing runs in the morning and the afternoons are free. Boat days need calm seas; if the sea is rough we take the road instead. Venice can flood at high tide, mostly from October to December.

• Venice2 nights
• Florence2 nights
• Rome3 nights
• Sorrento2 nights