Wheres a good place to ho,liday in Italy?

Happynewmum

Hi

Am thinking of taking a trip with partner and toddler at the beginning of December, but not too sure what part of Italy. Never been before Dont have many requirements but would like somewhere where its not remote, plenty of hustle and bustle, great food ( silly thing to say-it is Italy I supoose! ), alittle shopping and plenty of sight seeing.

Does anyone have any advice?Oh- and anything thing-needs to be somewhere where its easy to get out and about.

Many thanks in advancexxx

apt

My advice would be to take umbrellas as it can rain very heavily during the winter. For sightseeing Rome, Venice, Florence and Bay of Naples are the obvious places to go, but there dozens of Italian cities and towns worth visiting. Bologna, Verona, Lucca, Sienna etc etc.

richardw

Which airports can you fly from in the UK?
How many nights?

redpete

are you planning to hire a car?

poet123

My advice at that time of year would be to head south, but be aware that ityaly is not a typical winter destination and outside of the main cities the holiday resorts will be quiet. Sorrento would fulfil some of your requirements, but I am unsure how much of the local activities will be open, and many hotels do close until March.

Aside from that I would almost always sugggest Venice,:j except to those with a toddler (too many brdges for the pushchair to be carried up and down!) so, to me, that leaves either Rome ( car not required) or the area around Florence (as mentioned above)with a car.

You will enjoy either, it just depends on personal preference and whether you will be driving.

Happynewmum

Thanks for the replies. We would be looking at leaving from Manchester Airport and we wongt be hiring a car.Not brave enough!

Lirin

lol- on car hire, we found that if you get into the spirit of things and shake your fist back at the Italian driver, they usually grin.
Had one hairy moment- overtook a car, at the same time, a bike undertook him, and another car decided to overtake me- and was pretty much the same story on the other side of the road.

Jeff_Bridges_hair

Calabria region in the south is lovely..

Counting_Pennies_2

I think you probably need a city destination at that time of year. Rome is great for bustle, but toddlers and city breaks don't always mix!

davidlizard

Venice is fairly easy to do with a toddler - and fully endorse the earlier comment concerning the amount of bridges/pushchairs - for that purpose we took a sling and left the pushchair back in the UK!

You can keep young children amused for hours on end simply by sitting on the vaporetto (boats) and watching the world go by.

You can easily get a room in the middle of Venice, which makes it very convenient when traveling with said toddler to go back for naps/wipes/tantrums etc.

Theres loads of sightseeing to do both in and around Venice. The weather at that time of year may not be the best, but also you could get the "acqua alto" (or tidal high water which can leave bits of the city underwater for a couple of hours a day - but again they put duckboards out - another reason where a sling wins).

redpete

I'd go for Florence. Smaller than Rome and more compact, so easier to get round the sights. Plenty to see for a few days, good shopping, great food.