italy

[myermay]

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weather is lovely in september and italy certainly doesn't lack beaches!

what about the italian riviera? that's on the north west coast. You can get cheap flights with ryanair to genoa or pisa and drive from there.

or you have the adriatic coast in the north east (ryanair go to pescara and ancona)

IMO driving from naples to rome and florence with a 2.5 yo and a baby might be a bit much

My mum lives there, I'll ask for her advice

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you might want to consider staying in an agriturismo - cheaper and nicer than hotels and easier with small children than camping

agriturismo website

or there's always sardinia or sicily ... sigh

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nope I haven't been before, but I'm sure there'll be someone around who has!

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frankly you can't go wrong, it's a beautiful country all over

mn is always quiet at the weekends - you'll get bags of advice in the week though mm

Florence is a totally fabulous city, but probably better as a romantic weekend break IMO. God I'm jealous now! I adore Italy...the food, wine, people, weather, scenery, ice-cream (. Whatever you do, have a fab time. I loved Lake Garda, and certain resorts there might be good for kiddlywinks.

been to Sicily before - Palermo, Taormina and Letojanni. Wonderful places. Surprisingly cheap (except Taormina!). In the before children days tho so won't have been attuned to what is vital with a baby! Italian trains are good - very cheap, and I have found them no less reliable than UK ones (and probably better). On the mainland, would definitely recommend training it between Naples, Rome and Florence. As Italian single fares are exactly half the return, the train is particularly good for hopping around the country. Ryanair does cheap flights to Palermo. Temperature wise it could still be very hot in the South/Sicily - so probably better to go end Sept if that end of country. North is a bit cooler tho.

Italy is gorgeous but I agree, trying to do Rome, Naples and Florence in one break would be quite a lot I think. Rome will still be very warm in September. If you were to go to one area, I'd fly to Pisa and then you can do day trips to Lucca, Florence, Sienna and San Gio whatever. All smaller and more managable places I'd have thought than Rome. Never been to Naples (would love to go) but think there and Rome would be more suitable for when the kids are a bit older.

oh yes, think Tinker has a point about the big cities. Naples in particularly tends to be frantically busy - and lacking in pedestrian crossings - so probably quite hairraising with two tinies - little motor bikes tend to come at you with little warning down side streets(!)

Been to Sorrento pre baby days and had a great time. Sorrento is aobut 1/2 hour from Naples from what I can remember, fantastic coastline but not big on beaches. I've only been to Sorrento and the Amalfi coastline and Sardinia. The italians love children and are generally a very child friendly holiday destination, but maybe Naples is not a good choice for a base if you want beaches, plus like somebody else said Naples is so busy. Sardinia have fantastic beaches but not much else there.

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We live in Tuscany and live about 30 mins from Siena and 1hr from Florence. We are about an hour and a half from the beach but most places have a pool which I prefer.

sept is a perfect time to come. Ryanair do cheap flights from Pisa to Stansted (and Liverpool now)

My H's aunty has a place near us which she rents out.....2 bedroom and a 1 bedroomed house with a pool and very reasonable. I meant to send the details to another MNer and forgot.....will sort that this week.

CAT me if you want to know more.

we went somewhere on sofiaames's recommendation. she's in the US at the moment but i'm sure she'll give you loads of advice as she's half italian and goes over there about twice a year. here is the place we stayed . it was a fabulous holiday. We went in May when dd was 2 and a half. here's also the link to the thread we first looked at the options .

Have a look at Elba.

We went to Cefalu in Sicily with 2 year old at the end of Oct it was great, beaches, nice little town still warm ... We stayed in hotel for first 10 days then had 3/4 days in B&B at another place but it was extremely basic, we booked it on net and lady did not realise when we got there we had child, do make sure you'll have all the facilities for children (eg bed!)and by then it was Nov and everything was shut except one pizza bar! Was a lovely holiday tho and I liked Sicily a lot. I would steer clear of the cities Rome Florence etc as you will want to explore them and not be able with children. Plus you would not wish to drive in Rome We went to Venice with ds was exhausting imagine carrying pushchair over all the bridges, must have been mad plus ds was dying to get home eat cocopops and play football. Ryanair do cheap flights.