October half term Italy by train

[Bluehands87]

Can anyone share ideas for a trip to Italy with a 13 and 16 year old to take in maybe two cities in one week, flying to say Rome, then travelling to maybe Venice by train and flying back from there. Any tips/hotel recommendations/things to avoid? Other city destination suggestions as alternatives? Budget of 3-4k. Not very travel savvy. Just want to do something adventurous with the teens who get bored on beach holidays.

You could fly into Rome, stay for 3 or 4 nights then take the train on to Naples or Sorrento. My advice would be to stay in Sorrento, and use it as a base for visiting Pompeii, Vesuvius and Capri.

Probably easier to do, as pp have said Rome-Naples-Sorrento, or Rome-Florence.

Trains through the middle of Italy aren't as good or reliable, as trains up and down. You can download the Trenitalia app though for route planning. It's in English as well as Italian and like UK trains, there are substantial savings for advance tickets.

Bear in mind that the last weekend in October will be a long bank holiday weekend this year for lots of schools and workplaces.

Not sure how much will still be open in resort style places. (Sorrento etc) Lots of airlines reduce their schedule or halt it all together in October which gives you an idea of the "seasonality" of some places. (I'm in Puglia and at the moment can fly to the UK with 5 different airlines, next month I'm down to Ryanair only until March.)

@Bluehands87 My favourite base is Bologna. Easy to fly there. Then you can easily visit Ravenna, Parma, Modena and Ferrara by train. Ferrari museum is possible too.

Then get train to either Verona or Venice. Both have flights back to uk and you can visit Padua from Venice too.

This half term we’re flying into Naples, staying in Pompeii to visit Herculaneum, Vesuvius and Pompeii. Then train to Rome for a few days visiting Ancient Rome and flying back from Rome.
Do you teenagers prefer ancient ruins or art? That would influence my decision on how to split it.

*your

Thank you for your ideas and suggestions. I’ve left it rather late so I need to make some quick decisions. Flights look pricey but that’s normal these days! I think Naples/Pompeii and Rome sounds like a good combo. But husband is now leaning towards Slovenia, so that’s a bit of a change in direction! Enjoy your travels everyone.

You may want to check the weather in Slovenia at that time. September and October are the wettest months.

I’m actually sitting on the shore of Lake Bohinj in Slovenia right now. Yesterday was hot all day but right now the wind has got up and rain is coming down the lake. It’s beautiful but I wouldn’t recommend it for outdoorsy stuff in late October.

I have been raving about Slovenia on other threads, but it was low 20's temperature wise in Bled in the last week of the summer hols last year so I am doubtful you'd be swimming/rafting/ziplining in late October. Though hiking likely still doable in the Julian Alps at that time of year. Ljubljana obviously would still be open, as would Skocjan caves and Predjama caves/castle. We were across the border in Istria for October half-term in 2017, it was a lovely holiday (no swimming), but everything was slowing down, some places were already shut for the season. At least in Italy Rome/Naples/Pompeii are year round tourist destinations.

I wouldn't go to Naples, even as a base went in the summer and it was the worst city I've ever been to.
Trains are pretty good all over Italy, although not sure if frequency out of summer. We found them very reliable.
Agree with a previous poster that Bologna would be a good base as lots of trains going east - west go through there.

We stayed in Bologna and got the train to Florence for the day. It was only 35 mins. Bologna was beautiful, but there are nicer Italian cities IMO, I'd stay in Florence next time and do a day trip to Bologna.