Where's good for families in Italy?

[IHeartKingThistle]

I'm new to the Travel section, hello!

Anyone been somewhere lovely? Or terrible?

Really fancy taking DC (4 and nearly 2) to Italy this summer. Just want to take it slowly, drive around a bit, eat some nice food etc.

Accommodation-wise I'm not a big fan of hotels but am quite inexperienced at holidays so not sure what other options would be good! Something a bit more private but not in the middle of nowhere would be perfect.

Completely open to different areas of Italy but I suppose north would be easier in terms of flight times and stuff.

Thanks in advance!

Lake Garda... My favourite place on earth!!!

We went to Tuscany every year for about 7 years when ds was younger.

We generally rented a villa with a pool, for which obv. you'd also need a hire car.

Usually we used a company called Cottages to Castles and they were all nice.

There are lots of nice little hilltop villages where we'd wander round, go for a nice lunch, ice cream on the steps of an old church etc, then back for a dip in the pool. Happy days!

Ooh brilliant! Off to google both of those...

Try villa Cenami nr Lucca in Tuscany. Pool, large estate, barbecue equipment in the park and v friendly owners. Much cheaper to' go direct. Was there last summer with 8 month old and loved it. On top of a hill but Forte dei Marmi and its beaches are only 20 mins by car.

Owners Direct is a good website too and allows you to be quite specific with what you're looking for. Tuscany and Umbria are beautiful but you could think about Puglia which is a bit further south and ime cheaper and less touristy.

Unless you are going to a city you'll definitely need a car.

Italy is very child friendly though some of the restaurants in smaller places might not fit a large buggy in etc. and not everywhere has highchairs.

Your kids will love it - perfect ages for an Italian holiday.

Lake Garda is lovely. We have also stayed in a couple of places on the Italian Riviera. The side west of Genoa is sandy beaches and holiday resorts, Stayed here, the east side takes you to Portofino, and the Cinque Terra villages with stunning scenery stayed here. The food was equally lovely everywhere and the train line runs along the whole coast making visiting very easy even without a car. We did flights to Nice and Genoa. Last year we stayed at Parc Albatros on the Tuscan coast. It was nice and relaxing but too hot/too far from anywhere to do much.

Lake Garda is stunning and so family-orientated, I adore it. Would recommend Riva or Garda itself. I think there are campsites all over the lake if that would suit you?

Sicily is lovely but we felt it was just too hot for our two (they were about the same ages as yours.)

We're off to union lido next year.

ruddynorah
We got thrown out of Union Lido for using the wrong shower block.

:o

Although, to be fair, we go in between an obvious long term dispute between Union Lido and our apartment block owner who told us we could use Union's facilities. This was not the case. Furious shouting match ensued, with us in the middle. Then we were told to pack our bags.

OP
Tuscany is lovely. We stayed at a campsite near Greve which is not really private but had a fantastic pool area for little ones. And they had a wine bar.

Oooh been to Union Lido too. Twas fab. It's huge and we never set foot outside in a week. I guess it gets very busy in high season though.

Happy to hear good comments about union lido - we are going this summer.

I love the Sud Tirol region (german speaking part). We really like this campground- www.campingsaegemuehle.com/ - which has static caravans to rent and b & b rooms. its the only campgound we have ever been to more than once. We went first time when our dts were 2 and ds1 was 4.

ooh! we're going with bolero so have our own shower (i think!) but thanks for the warning it looks fab, has great reviews. we can't wait!

I've only just checked back, wow, thanks for all the responses! Sounds like there's loads of lovely places. I think maybe I'll start with a wish list and see which places tick the most boxes. This is our first ever family holiday so I want to get it right!

Exciting!