Why
It is easy to see why Tuscany makes a wonderful family friendly destination for your family holiday. Tuscany’s picture-postcard landscape, delicious local cuisine and cultural heritage provide an endless source of relaxing and interesting activities, which you and your family can enjoy. There are beautiful cities famous for their culture and art to visit including Florence, Siena, Pisa and Lucca and festivals and galleries galore.
During your holiday you and your family can do some excellent sightseeing or discover immaculate vineyards and streams or cypress trees on long leisurely drives. Pass through city walls that protect labyrinths of streets, piazzas and centuries of culture which will fascinate the kids or have an ice-cream at a café overlooking one of the many vibrant piazzas. Italians love children and have always a great welcome for them.
Tuscany has the impression of being sophisticated but in fact when you are travelling with kids you can turn the private pool into splash playgrounds and the medieval towns and alleys into streets to be explored and towers to be climbed and conquered.
When
Tuscany is a great year round destination but can get crowded in July and August. There are still plenty of places to escape to though. Try to catch a festival and travel outside of school holidays if your children are still young as you will get better value and there are fewer tourists. May and June are best.
You can fly to Pisa, Florence or Bologna airports and all will mean you have a short drive to get to the best of Tuscany. But it is worth it believe us. For Southern Tuscany you can also fly to Rome or combine a trip to Rome with a country break in Tuscany. There are flights from Ireland and the UK ranging from scheduled and budget flights. You can check special offers or deals on flights here.
Hiring a car is pretty essential to get to see all of the best of Tuscany and explore this wonderful area even if it is just for a few days. You can book car hire here.
Family friendly accommodation
There are a wide range of family friendly accommodation options available. Most hotels welcome children even if there are no special facilities and you can check for special offers and deals here with booking.com.
Italy specialists Citalia are one of the leaders in the upmarket package market for Italy and you can have a look at their hotel and self catering accommodation only and full packages. They have a 5% discount for online bookings.
Authentic Italy specialise in a wide range of villas and apartments if you want to book a self catering option and and Meon Villas have some great villas in stunning locations with special offers and deals . Self catering is generally a high standard and in stunning locations.
For good holiday village options with good children’s facilities have a look at Pierre and Vacannes, Eurocamp and Keycamp.
The Hotel Adler Thermae is set in the heart of the Val d'Orcia Park just a few hundred metres from the historic village of Bagno Vignoni, famous for its benevolent spring waters. There is a range of thermal swimming pools as well as whirlpools, an herbal steam room, underground salt grotto, mountain bikes, a children’s swimming pool and an olive wood sauna located on the hotel's lake. Family Junior Suites and Family Suites are available as accommodation for families.
For children there is a free mini club for children aged 4-12 yrs with gymnastics, water games, yoga and picnics (open 9.30am-10pm, includes lunch).You can book this with Citalia.
Villa Bordoni is a ten-roomed villa in the rolling countryside of Greve in Chianti. It is a tasteful country-house hotel with hi-tech trim that's child-friendly too. The Family Suite has two bedrooms upstairs and a large ground-floor living area. Extra beds and cots can be added to suites and junior suites there is masses of space to run around in Villa Bordoni's six hectare grounds where kids can look out for lizards. Horse riding can be arranged at local stables. Mountain bikes are available which older children may be big enough to borrow. There is not a children's pool but children are welcome in the main pool which has a shallow end. Children are welcome in the restaurant for all meals, and there is a dedicated kids' menu. You can book this through Mr and Mrs Smith.
What to do with the kids
A drive through the countryside to the old towns and a visit to vineyards is a great day out with the kids.
Any trip to Tuscany should include a trip to Florence and you can read our guide to what to do with the kids in Florence here. It is a compact city best explored on foot but can be a bit busy and touristy for younger kids so try to pace your visit right.
San Gimignano is one of the most enticing of all the Tuscan hilltop towns. Children will just adore the fairytale like towers 14 of which remain from the original 70. The streets, towers and entire village are a fantastic experience for adults and children alike. This town does however experience high numbers of tourists in high season and during the day and we would suggest to take to make the best of your visit you visit this either out of high season or early in the morning or even better late at night before dark when the birds are circling which adds to the mystery of the town. For the best views climb up the ramparts of the Rocca and bring the kids to be Torre Della Tortura which houses a torture museum.
Sienna is a beautifully preserved mediaeval maze of lanes and piazzas and has an energetic bareback horserace each year, the Palio, on the 2nd of July and the 16th of August. This is a fiercely contested race in which neighbourhoods in the town compete. De Torre Del Mangia is one of the tallest mediaeval towers in Italy and the views are great. There are lots of places to stop for ice cream and have a coffee in the Piazza del Campo.
You can visit the leaning Tower of Pisa on of Italy’s most recognizable landmarks. Children will enjoy the fun of it all and it is possible to climb to the top but there is a minimum age of eight. There is another tower on the Campo dei Miracoli without a restriction.
You can take a day trip to see island of Elba just off the coast of Tuscany.
Tuscany has some lovely beaches the best of which are in Forte Dei Marmi and Viareggio
You will find lots of family friendly travel tips and advice in our research and advice section to help you book the right family holiday. Check out also the experiences of other parents and travellers in our parents forum and add your own experiences as we are a great believer in real parent's experiences as the best measure of whether somewhere will suit you for your family holiday.
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