Travelling with toddlers

Planning a vacation in Italy in September 2007, two couples and 2 toddlers (not quite 2 years old). We're planning on staying approx. 10 days and are leaning towards staying in Tuscany. We hope to rent a villa/cottage, spend some time just relaxing and appreciating the sights, food & wine. We'd also like to do some day trips.

I'd really appreciate any advice/recommendations on places to stay and things to do for our child friendly adventure. Thank you!

Will you be hiring a car? It is essential to know this before recommending anywhere to you.

Also would you want to be on your own or somewhere with other people? A swimming pool, or access to one, might be useful to entertain the children, but this is only really relevant if you are going early rather than late September.

Finally, an idea on budget would be useful.

Let me know here or send me a private message and I'll do my best to help.

If you are going to have a car I would highly recommend Palmierina Residence

It is in a great location, about 40 minutes drives from Siena, Volterra and San Gimginano. You can also drive about 15 minutes to a town and then catch the 30 minutes train to Florence. It is also about a 45 minute drive to Florence.

There are a couple of little villages around with beautiful restaurants.

There are different size appartments, so you could either rent 1 big one and share it, or have your own appartment. There are some children playground equipment and a swimming pool with a fantastic view.

We stayed there with our 20 month old son. It was the perfect base for day trips.

You have to rent for a week, from Saturday to Saturday, so you would have 3 days to stay somewhere else. Maybe Rome

Thanks for the information!

Yes we are going to rent a car, and are thinking about spending 2-3 days in Rome at the beginning of our trip. We will be flying in from Canada - would we be best to fly into Rome, spend a few days then take a train to Pisa or Florence (how long would the trip be by train?)? Is there any other major international airports other than Rome? I assume we would have to travel back to Rome to fly home. Any special advice on coordinating this? This is my first trip to Europe and I'm having a bit of difficulting trying to guage the distance/time etc.

My friends are meeting us in Italy, coming from England. We will likely meet in Tuscany.

I looked at the website for the Paliermina Residence - it looks perfect! I think we'd prefer to get a larger cottage that sleeps 6 so we can be together.

You mentioned you get what you pay for, I agree completly and I would sooner pay more to have the experience we will enjoy than try to do it on the 'cheap', but I'd like to get some idea for cost. Do you have an estimate? I wrote an email to the owners, but haven't had a response yet.

Thanks again for all your help, any other info would be greatly appreciated!!!

In terms of cost, I would be only guessing. It was in 2003, so my memory is not that good. If I had to gues, I would say about $1200 Australian Dollars for the week. We stayed in the Ilex apartment which has 3 bedrooms.

They also provided us with a porta cot and high chair.

If you are arriving in Rome, then I would suggest hiring your car at the end of your stay in Rome and driving to Tuscany.

The only other international airport that you could possibly fly in to would be Milan.

In relation to your friends coming from England, it would be easiest for them to fly in to Pisa which is the closest airport to the where you would be staying.