Tuscany after Rome with kids and no car

Kelly

New member
Hello,

I love this website. It has been really helpful in planning our trip to Tuscany. I've already found many bits of helpful advice. In particular, I love the map of the train system in Tuscany. So helpful!

Would you recommend accommodation for my family? My husband and I will be travelling with our two children. Our daughter is 10 years old, and our son is 6 years old.

We are travelling to Italy very soon. First, we will be visiting Rome for four days (May 22-May 26, 2013). Then we wish to take the train to Tuscany (on Sunday, May 26th) where we will spend the last three days of our trip. We fly home from Pisa late night on Wednesday, May 29th.

We are looking for a relaxing place to stay after the intense sight seeing in Rome. Our children would really love to stay in a place with a pool. I think we will need a break from museums and historic places. We are thinking maybe a day at the beach, or a farm, or a half day trip to Pienza to sample and buy cheese. We have no definite plan, so we are open to staying anywhere in the region. Our last day we will spend in Pisa, before heading to the airport.

Basically, we are looking for a good place to be lazy, and possibly do a little something... if we feel like it! Can you recommend a good base for us to do this?

We are hoping to use public transportation, but would consider renting a car in Tuscany if it would really enhance our stay.

Thank you for your help, especially since I am planning our trip last minute!
 
car not required but would be a plus!

Ciao Kelly!

Sounds like you have a wonderful vacation with your family coming up!

I also highly recommend staying in a place with a pool to have that chance to relax away from museums and give the kids space to play.

There are places with private pool in Florence which is ideal if you want to skip the car rental - for example, Villa la Medicea and La Paggeria - both easily reachable with bus and a short walk (Marignolle has the disadvantage of being on a road I would not recommend anyone to walk on after getting off the closest bus stop).

Other options are hotels with pool in Florence, there are several but tend to be of 4 and 5 star status.

If you can rent a car for the 3 days you're in Tuscany, it will be a definite plus... aside from the two mentioned above, you could choose one of the following:

Podere Casanova
I Nidi di Belforte
Fattoria il Lago
Residence Santa Maria
Agriturismo Iincrociata
Tenuta Quadrifoglio
Agriturismo La Topaia

They all offer the possibility of staying less than a week based on the season - which varies for May as some place it in medium and others in high season. If you see some you like of these farmhouses out in the countryside, the best course of action is to just contact them anyway (all of the links take you to the official website with direct contact with the owner) since they might have availability and willing to rent out for a few days rather than a whole week!

As far as car rental, you could rent once you get to Florence or rent in Rome and drive up: take a look at the search function here: http://www.discovertuscany.com/tuscany-car-rental/

Let me know if I can offer more suggestions!
 
Thank you for your recommendations, Lourdes!

Your knowledge of the public transport system is so very helpful. The places you have suggested are exactly what we are looking for.

I will let you and everyone viewing this thread know what we end up choosing, and after our trip I will give a review too.

Thanks again!
Kelly
 
Tuscan countryside with kids and car ;)

You're very welcome! It would definitely be great to know what you end up choosing and how it goes, it is a big help to everyone else looking for similar places when traveling with kids :)

If you like Podere Casanova (site is a bit disorganized), I read somewhere that in May minimum stay is 4 nights and not a whole week.... so if you really like it, maybe you could leave Rome a day ahead LOL? ;-) (first contact them and see if they have availability)
 
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