Tuscany with pre teens

[Paula jaramillo]

I will be staying in Tuscany for 5 days with my 15 and 13 years old kids and husband . We will have a car . Where is a good place to stay for daily road trips? We are not planning to go to Florence . Any suggestions where to stay and what to do are welcome. Thank you very much . Paula

[Riccardo Casa Howard]

Hi! Benvenuti in Toscana!
A nice suggestion is: Villa Lecchi (http://www.villalecchi.com/en/index.php) really close to Siena and immersed in the countryside.
If you wish to visit the northern part of Tuscany I can suggest Hotel Torretta (http://www.hoteltorretta.it/en/) in Montecatini Terme, near Pistoia (a strategic location to visit Pisa, Livorno, Lucca, Pistoia, Pesci, Prato and Siena).
Have a nice holiday!

[Lourdes]

Ciao Paula and welcome to our forum!

What do you kids love to do? Do they love museums, art or history? Architecture?
You can plan to spend your days between outdoors and indoors so as to not get overloaded on any aspect, but why skip Florence - have you already been? It is definitely a must for anyone visting Italy but if you've been already, I can understand skipping it. In any case, once you decide where to head off to, try to balance out what you do at each place with things you want to see and do and what the kids want, so that you all have a good balance.

I would suggest staying central in the region so that drives are not too long, the area between Siena and Florence is ideal for drives to Pisa, Lucca, Siena, San Gimignano, around Chianti and even further south into the Val d'Orcia.

The area itself is large so I'll make suggestions for places to stay across the area, take a look at these which work great for families:
Agriturismo Montalbino - closer to Florence
Agriturismo Vernianello - between Castellina and Poggibonsi
Podere Casanova - closer to Florence too
Agriturismo Incrociata - closer to Siena
Tenuta Quadrifoglio - between Florence and San Gimignano

You can also consider the area just a little bit south of Siena, particularly if you decide you don't need to be so close to Florence.
Podere Cunina - near Buonconvento
San Giovanni in Poggio - a bit further north of Buonconvento, closer to Siena

Take a look at the itineraries we have on here for ideas of what to see:
Itineraries in Tuscany - We have one for 5 days: https://www.discovertuscany.com/itin...n-tuscany.html

[Sumit-boston]

Great suggestions. How would you plan the same trip in late December during Christmas week?

[Lourdes]

Ciao Sumit-boston,

If you don't want to stay in Florence either, you can also stay at an agriturismo/farmhouse in the countryside. Many close for the winter season but are open during the Christmas holidays. Take a look at the list above and contact those that you like to ask about whether they are open and for rates. I would still suggest you stay in the same area between Florence and Siena, since I would still recommend to visit Siena, Florence, San Gimignano, Pisa, the hilltop towns in Chianti as your main things, adding specific stops based on your kids interests (for the type of museums, time outdoors, treasure hunts, etc). I would avoid the coast since it will be cold

[craigmillar]

An agritourism open all year round is Fattoria Pagnana - see https://www.firenzealloggio.com/fattoria-pagnana.html

[maxwellcook607]

My wife and I will be traveling to Italy in July with our 3 teenagers (13,16 and 18). We arrive in Rome and plan to spend 4 days in Tuscany before returning to Rome for 4 nights. Any suggestions for itineraries. Train vs. car? We'd like to spend time in Lucca and Florence.

[craigmillar]

maxwellcook

better to start with a new posting to get a better response