Any advice on where to go?
We're going with baby who will just have turned 1 and staying with friends for a few days in Florence but we have 3 days unplanned so are looking for advice.
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Nope, but sounds amazing! Have a good trip!
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@artbee: Thanks, I'm hoping it's not a disaster. We went out to dinner tonight and LO did not want to sit down, now that she can walk that's all she wants to do so even going out to dinner is challenging I have no idea how we're going to make this work. Ah well. We may get dirty looks from a lot of people.
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@Maysprout: LO can't walk yet so I have no experience or good advice for that.... but you should write another post on it, I know lots of other bees have traveled with their toddlers. Good luck!
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Montalcino or montepulciano are amazing -- in Tuscany, tons of restaurants and great wine... south of Florence.... Also south - check out San Gimignano (great tiny village) on your way to Sienna!
Lucca (north of Florence) is so gorgeous, and I feel like not as many people go there... I also feel like Lucca or Sienna might be better than Montalcino with a baby, and I only say that because they are larger and because more people will be specifically in montepulciano for wine/wine tasting -- but you can do some of that with a baby!. Go where you want!! You can't go wrong, everywhere in Tuscany is fabulous and the people are wonderful.
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aw! on my to-go to places list. It will be beautiful I'm sure!
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I've been to Florence and Cinque Terre (I don't think Cinque Terre is actually Tuscany, but it's not far and it's a great side trip for a couple of days). Florence is amazing, and I had the best food of my whole life there. I wasn't there with a baby, so I can't help you with baby-friendly specifics. I think you will love it. It's so gorgeous, the food and art are spectacular, and there's gelato everywhere. What's not to love?!?! Have fun!
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@hellobeeboston: Thanks, we were thinking of renting bicycles in Lucca to bike around the ramparts. Wasn't sure if it was worth seeing otherwise but sounds like it.
@Mrs. Blue: Some of our friends are going to cinque terre after florence but I started thinking it might be a bit ambitious for us with a baby. We can't do the cliff walk and they had a flood last year and are rebuilding so it's someplace I'd like to see but I don't think we'd get to really get the full experience it right now. But I'd love to do the walk between towns someday.
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@Maysprout: that bike ride sounds fantastic! Yeah - it's a quieter little city, very pretty --- i may have liked it more as I was living in Florence for 4 months so it was a really nice escape!
a lot of these cities are not far by car, so if you've got a rental you could really get around & see a lot.
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@Maysprout: I'm not sure with all the rebuilding how it would be, but when I was there we did a lot of beach laying an shopping. However, the train ride out there would be a super pain with a baby! It's a super tiny, very crowded train.
In Florence, my favorite restaurant was Nerone Trattoria. There truffle fettucine Alfredo was to die foe, as was everything else they served!
I'm totally jealous of your trip!
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We really loved Sienna. We did a short trip to Florence but didn't stay there. It was so much quieter!
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Check out Sienna, like @Thehistoryofus says. I had my orientation there when I studied abroad in Italy. Gorgeous town with an amazing central square, and yes, quieter than Florence.
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@Mrs. Blue: Thanks for the restaurant recommendation! Is it baby friendly? We might be able to go baby free one night though.
@Thehistoryofus: @Mrs. Yoyo: Anything in particular to go to in Sienna?
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So jealous - I love Italy! One thing to consider with visiting the small towns in Tuscany is that you won't necessarily be able to get to a lot of them by train. You'll either have to take a bus or rent a car. If you rent a car, make sure to reserve a carseat ahead of time as well. You may want to do some research on what type of seat you'll get and how to install it. I have friends who visited Tuscany in a rental car with a 14 month old, and they said that they wrestled a lot with the car seat to get it installed, and they were never sure it was actually installed correctly. You're going to have so much fun!
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No advice just wanted to say have a wonderful trip, I have always wanted to go there!
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@owlmom: This is something we've been debating too. My husband does not want to rent a car because he says Italians drive like they're race car drivers. But it does limit where we can go. But on the otherhand we only have a couple days where we'd need one and there's probably plenty to see where we wouldn't need a car. So I don't know. I was thinking of staying in an agritourismo but then we'd definitely need to rent a car.
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@Maysprout: Definitely the town hall and tower, the church (duomo) ... hard to remember what else, it's the type of place where you should just wander and get lost.
Here's some more:
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attractions-g187902-Activities-Siena_Tuscany.html -
@Mrs. Blue: @Maysprout: Unfortunately I would say now isn't a great time to go to Cinque Terra. It is a truly gorgeous place but there is still so much rebuilding to do that I don't think you would enjoy it. My aunt actually lives in Monterosso from Jan-Apr every year but she had to skip her trip this year because everything is just covered in mud and she would have had no where to stay. But if you get the chance to go to Italy again in a few years definitely go!!
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@Maysprout: haha - I agree with your husband - when I rented a car in Italy, I felt that way too! Honestly, it's not that bad, though :)You could keep Florence as your homebase and do day trips by train to Siena, Pisa, and Lucca. San Gimignano is pretty close to Florence, too, but would require a bus ride.
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It's wonderful! You really can't go wrong.
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@hellobeeboston: Our trip was a little shorter than we first planned but we did make it to Lucca. The bike ride was a lot of fun, LO usually hates bikes so I was starting to think it was a bad plan but one of the bike shops was really nice and we tried a few different kid seats and found one she liked for our rental. Def liked Lucca better than Florence with a baby.
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I've been to Rome and Venice, but we just didn't have enough time in the schedule to make it to Florence. I wish we could have!!
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@Maysprout: oh yay! So glad you liked Lucca! Yeah - imagine it was a little easier there vs. Florence with a baby... that bike ride sounds great - makes me want to go!!
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So jealous!! We don't plan on international travel until #2s at least 3
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@Mrs. Blue: LOVED LOVED Cinque Terre! Hope to go back for our 5year anniversary.
@Maysprout: Never been to Tuscany but definitely want to! Took a day trip to Florence and it's beautiful! Don't forget to go check out David!
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@chopsuey119: We're fortunate that FIL has lots of frequent flyer miles since he works in Europe and US. So he let us use some and my husband's whole extended family is in Europe. So it was mainly a family visit while my husband had time off, I'm not sure that I would have planned a vacation overseas with LO so little if it weren't for visiting family. Tuscany was an extra since we found cheap tickets and had people to visit there too.
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