Train tour of Italy with kids

[Noidea2024]

Hi, we are looking to do a rail tour of Italy with our kids at Easter next year (they'll be 9 & 12). We definitely want to include Rome (not at Easter itself) and Naples, to visit Pompeii and Ischia. We plan to visit some other places, but are not set on exactly where yet.

has anyone done a similar trip, and do you have any great tips please? Also, did you train over to Italy, or fly? We are currently unsure which way to travel over. TIA

I'd fly! It's a really long way to go by train and only a 2+ hour flight. Plus, long distance trains are expensive unless you're stopping off places en route and it's all part of the holiday.

Ischia and Pompeii can both be done as day trip from Naples, although it depends whether you want to stay in the city for specific things or whether you'd rather stay outside Naples. The trains are very good and regular and well-frequented by tourists. The Circumvesuviana line goes from Naples to Pompeii via Herculaneum, or you can go the other way from Sorrento, if you prefer. You can take a ferry to Ischia from several different places around the Bay of Naples: (https://www.ferryhopper.com/en/destinations/italy/ischia#ischia-ferries)

This is a map of the Circumvesuviana train line: https://transitmap.net/circumvesuviana-harry-2019/

My first tip is don’t do it unless you children don’t fight with each other, are very easy going and flexible, love history and travelling by train and can amuse themselves on long journeys.

My second tip is travel very light eg a small cabin size wheelie bag or rucksack for the adults and a backpack for the kids. That’s the maximum you should take.

Starting point should always be www.seat61.com - the holy grail of train travel. We've travelled into Italy by train a few times though not that route. We've been to Liguria via Marseilles or Aix en Provence and Nice (look for direct lines from Lille rather than changing in Paris) In May we went to Puglia via Austria and Germany from Brussels and stopped off in Verona and Rimini. Interail passes might be good as kids go free. Some trains have obligatory reservations/supplements though and you need to book the Eurostar early to get an interail seat (£30 per person each way). There is currently a 20% sale for tickets that can be used up to June next year. Ends Thursday I think though.

Trenitalia can have some very good bargains and family tickets if you book in advance. We really loved Naples and did Herculaneum from there. I've been to Ischia a few times and really recommend the Ischia Blu resort - one of the nicest places we've stayed. Cinque Terre is easy on the train. I also book apartments with washing machine so I can travel a bit lighter. Planning a trip down one side of Italy and back up the other next year, but I might fly to Milan or Turin and take trains from there. Thinking La Spezia, Salerno, Tropea, Lecce, Otranto, Bologna as rough plan at the mo.

We get the train whenever we can but we flew to Italy.

DS enjoyed Rome, Herculaneum and Pompei aged 9. We stayed in Pompei.

We traveled by train in Italy but I don’t think any more travelling would have worked in only a week.

You can spend all your time on trains or fly and see something. Easter hols are usually 2 weeks. If you spend ages travelling, you will cut down on what you might like to enjoy. Italian city to city trains are good. Local trains iffy. Bologna makes and amazing base to see lots of places.

It’s a jubilee year for the Catholic Church next year, Rome will be PACKED. Book accommodation and tours etc asap, the Vatican tickets sell out fast.

https://www.traveldailymedia.com/as-pope-announces-historic-2025-jubilee-expert-warns-20-million-extra-visitors-will-flock-to-rome/

And absolutely fly to Italy, it’s so much faster and more convenient. Plus will your kids sleep well on sleeper trains?

We did train travel in Italy with very slightly younger kids a few years ago. Fwiw here's what I learned:

• when planning how much to do, think 'would my kids cope with this much travel / walking / sightseeing etc if we were planning a day out at home'? If not, they almost certainly won't willingly cope with it when you're away either, or at least not for multi days in a row.

For us, that meant we essentially had to plan half days instead of full days for sightseeing or travel. Eg go out and do things in the morning, then have lunch and go back to the airbnb to veg out for a few hours before going out for dinner. Or if it was a travel day, we tried to limit it to 4 hours train travel if possible, and then have a chance to burn off steam in a park that afternoon rather than going on a sightseeing tour.

Obviously other kids will be different but ours really needed a chunk of unstructured downtime each day rather than being on the go the whole time.

• Our kids get well and truly sick of eating out for every meal, and packing and unpacking. So we tried to stay places for at least 3 nights where possible, to give 2 full days in between to explore. Airbnbs were great because we could go to a supermarket on the day we arrived (which is fun in itself looking at all the foreign products!) and choose stuff for breakfast for the next couple of days, and also get bread / cheeses / salad stuff / pasta so we could make a simple lunch or dinner when they didn't want to go out.

• the kids really enjoyed having a little routine at the places we stayed, eg finding a pasticceria on the first day and then going back to it on the 2nd and third days as well so it was familiar (and delicious)

• we had to make sure we did 'activities' rather than just wandering around looking at stuff. I personally love wandering around looking at stuff but they just felt like it was enforced walking for no purpose. So a walk TO somewhere (gelateria, beach, park, whatever) worked well because I could enjoy looking at stuff on the way and they'd feel like it was a good purposeful walk to the playground/beach /icecream whatever

Obviously all these things are very personality dependent! But we learned that we all bring our personalities with us when we travel so it was very important to factor those in to our plans 🙂

Oh and also in relation to the actual train travel part, we found the German rail website was the best for looking for timetable options / connections etc as it shows absolutely everything, and then when you know what you want, you can go and search/book on the relevant train company website.
int.bahn.de/en