glittababe

Presently looking at taking the kids travelling (again) but this time around Italy. Never been before. Can anyone recommend anywhere in italy for 2 adults, 3 kids (boys) all into the countryside and adventure? Be very grateful as very confused at the moment! Many thanks X

CheekyWeetus

www.cottagestocastles.com

We had a family holiday in 2001 and 2002 through these guys and found both holidays just great.

In 2001 we went to Tuscany, got cheapie flights into Rome and drove north about 2 hours. We were very close to Siena and another small village (cant remember the name) and had a great time lazing around the pool drinking wine. the house was on the edge of a vineyard, big garden, had 5 bedrooms and all the necessities for eating in, bbqing etc.

2002 we went to Sicily, stayed in a apartment style place carved out a cliff face. Very cool. the back yard dropped about 200 feet into the ocean. there was an elevator down to the water where there was a private beach.

Strongly recommend these guys. I beleive they can also help with car hire and flights, but i found it cheaper to take care of that myself.

Good luck and enjoy

jad n rich

Hi glitta, green with envy at your choices, its another barbie in another park for us kids are itching to get to UK at Xmas

ozzieeagle

Our seven week venture, cost over 15,000 bucks, and we were mostly staying with rellies.

If i could really afford It I would do a motoring holiday around france, I'd love that.

Whilst planning my holiday, I looked at a site called holidayrentals.com seemed to be the best value site. However when it came to italy, I couldn't find anywhere for less than 1200 bucks per week, for two adults and two kids, and that was 100 pct self catering, about 1/2 an hour out of rome.


Unfortunately for me, my next trip, will be on my own, in about 3 years, and probably only for 3 weeks, visiting the rellies, with perhaps a weekend in Amsterdam or Berlin.

When one compares the prices, to what one can get in the Southern Hemp, eg 4 weeks fully catered in Fiji, with the kids looked after/entertained, for circa 5-6000 grand, tis a hard choice to make from a financial point of view.

PS whats your secret lol

glittababe

Thanks ever so, will look at websites properly as off to work (I think thats the secret)! Really looking forward to it as we've been on the go since we got back. We were planning on going to Jersey, but Mark said thats something we can do over a long weekend. Will definately check out the castle to cottages web site as a self catering house would be idea (for some reason the kids want a bit more comfort than a leaky 4 man tent this time)! Jad n Rich will let you know the prices etc when we sort it all out (2 adults 3 kids). You'll have a lovely xmas here, I know that 'itchy' feet problem all too well! Take care off to work love annie

ROBnCAZ

Glittababe,

After working in Italy as a rep a few years ago, I can whole heartedly reccomend Lake Garda (Lago Di Garda)......absolutely beautiful, some stunning Italian lakeside villages hewn out of cliffs. Excellent location - 1 hr to Venice on train, near to Milan, 2 hours to the Dolomites, 2 hours to Austria, 1 hour to Verona........other big cities nearby 'doable' in a day......and so much to see and do around the lake itself.....if you like people watching, this place is heaven.

Position yourself in a cafe from 5pm onwards for the 'Pirragio'.....see italians at there posiest strutting up and down like peacocks! It's hilarious to watch them in 35 degree heat sauntering along in their Gucci this and Armani that trying to look cool!

Getting there is simple - Ryanair fly to Verona, you can get a flight for as little as a fiver if you're lucky! Accommodation is not too expensive - expect to pay around £200 PW for a basic 1 bed apartment. However, if you're budget allows, there are some seriously nice hotels aswell!

Some towns on the lake I can recommend = for sheer beauty, Try Limone (it's a fact that it's residents have lower cholestrol and live longer than anywhere else on planet earth), then theres Sirmione, some fantastic Roman Villa ruins, the town itself is built around a medieval fortress....stunning!
Riva, being the largest town at the northern tip of the lake, has everything to offer - shopping, watersports etc.....and is a great base for exploring the Dolomites and anywhere else North....

Can you tell, I love this place!

Hope this is of use to you......

MrsDagboy

We spent a week in Italy, we spent some time in Rome seeing the Colloseum & other sites (it was great) & spent a few days in Venice which we enjoyed but found a bit expensive. But the best part was when we spent time in a little place north of Rome called Orvietto. The most amazing place, built on the top of a hill with a church in the town square with gilding all over the front! We stayed in a hotel down the bottom of the hill & caught the funicular railway up to the town, right next door to the bottom station was a tiny little restaurant that had the most fabulous pizza I have ever eaten (& I tried alot of pizza in Italy!) - absolutely to die for!

Truly, truly one of the highlights of our trip & I would go back there again in a shot. Thoroughly recommend it!

ROBnCAZ

Ooooooohhhhhh, Italian Pizza Ooooooooohhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!
Fond memories indeed.......

Three P's

Completely agree with RobNCaz on this, Lake Garda and surrounds are beautiful. Public transport is easy and you can get around by either rail, coach or by boat. Also for the Kids is a place called Garda Land which is like Alton Towers/Chessington although it's much better/cleaner so it would give the children chance to maybe blow off some steam. I wish I was going back!

Jenny

JackTheLad

Would've loved to see Lago di Garda but I was in Milan at the time, and the train journey to Lago Como was much easier - just one hour from centre of Milano. Como is a very lovely small town and it gets quite busy on the weekend. Here's a few photos from 6 years ago...

Mrs JTL

glittababe

Thanks for all the advice, the Lakes it is. It'll be during half term in October for 2 weeks, so we have plenty of time to travel around and see the sights! Kids are looking forward to it!

glittababe

Love the pics they're beautiful!

amanda76

do you have any links or recommendations for agents etc that we can get accomodation through in the lakes? this sounds like heaven..................


amanda

jacknat

hi,

we've just come back from a hol in france which was fantastic for the kids! great campsite, loads of activities. we didn't do the camping bit tho, we stayed in a static caravan(more like a chalet). we went with euro camp and i know that they have sites around lake garda and all over italy. they are definitaly worth a look at. www.eurocamp.com

Steve & Ange

Sujy

A couple of years ago we stayed at an excellent mobile home park in Tuscany. It was called Camping Girasole/Villa Norcenni. It was in a hillside location boasting fantastic views. It had two 5* swimming pools, restaurants, kids clubs, horse riding, supermarkets, discos, pubs and take aways.

We are a fairly fussy family and normally like 4* luxury, but we took a chance on this camp because someone else had recommended it. The accomodation was very clean but fairly basic, but the site itself made up for that. The clientelle in the park were very well behaved and even though there was entertainment on in the evening it never became too rowdy or taken over by drunken teenagers. The closet city was Florence , but with a car all locations are fairly accesible.

The countryside around that part of Italy is breathetaking. I would love to be visiting there again, but with a move to Melbourne on the cards in September I feel a holiday at the moment is probably out of the question.

Hope this helps - best of luck, you will have a fabulous time in Tuscany.

Regards

Su J
Manchester UK