Family Vacation In Tuscany
For every person who loves a good family vacation, but especially for any parent that thinks that traveling with families is time-consuming and difficult, the Tuscany Region in Italy can make your family vacation a realistic experience. Indeed, the variety of sights, activities, and events makes arranging an unforgettable holiday easy.
If I had to choose one word that perfectly describes our family vacation to Tuscany this would be the one. It’s a word of positivity, love and happiness. After all, no other place on earth can make you feel as joyful as this beautiful region of Italy.
Right here on Touriangle you can rest easy to obtain top-notch information on family trip to Rome, things to do in Tuscany, best towns in Tuscany for kids, Tuscany with a baby, and so much more. Take out time to visit our catalog for more information on related topics. You don’t want to miss this!
Italy Family Vacation
Looking for a family vacation in Tuscany, but don’t know where to start? I’ve planned a few family vacations and typically pick Southern Tuscany for its mild weather, proximity to the Amalfi Coast, and most importantly—fantastic food!
The best way to experience the charms of Tuscany is with your family. When looking for the right location, there are things to take in consideration when deciding where to stay. Some of the most beautiful villas and resorts in Tuscany have all the amenities you need to make your trip a success. Life is full of surprises and so is a family vacation. If you are planning to travel to Italy, Tuscany vacation apartments are really the best option to have a memorable time with your family.
Make the most of your experience here in beautiful Tuscany, Italy. From its lush green hills to its old cities and fertile valleys, Italy is a haven for travelers from all over the world. The family trip to Italy is the most perfect opportunity to discover an unforgettable holiday, right? It’s a complete change of pace you and your family will never forget. However, where to go? Well, if you like the idea of getting away from all the hustle and bustle of everyday life, and want to see historical. Traveling to Tuscany is on my top-five list of things to do the next time I get some extended time off. The first food that comes to my mind when thinking of Tuscany is Mediterranean cuisine. It’s fresh, vibrant, and mouthwatering.
What To Do In Tuscany With Toddlers
All you need to know to plan a trip to Tuscany with kids: best places in Tuscany for family, best things to do with kids, practical tips.
I have loved all our family vacations in Italy but there is one place that keeps calling us back and we can never tire of: Tuscany!
I have been vacationing in Tuscany all my life and so has done my Tuscan side of the family before me (my dad’s family is from there) so you can say I am biased.
However, it is so beautiful, I dare anyone not fall in love with it!
Famous for rolling hills, historical towns and wine, it may not come to mind as a place for a family vacation, but there is plenty to see and do in Tuscany with kids of all ages.
Over the course of the years, we have visited several parts, loved some, adored others and gone back to those that captured our hearts the most.
I always recommend going to Tuscany with children, I believe it is one of the best places in Italy for kids, and this is my guide to how to do to it best!
Here, you will find the best places in Tuscany for families, the best child-friendly attractions and some practical tips to plan your trip here at best.
If this is your first time in Italy, don’t forget to also check out our 101 tips for visiting Italy – they are super practical and may come in handy!
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Why visit Tuscany with kids
Tuscany is one of the most beautiful areas in the whole of Italy and this alone would be a great reason to put it at the top of your Italy travel bucket list.
However, there is more than just physical beauty to make Tuscany such a great destination for families.
What makes it outstanding, is that in Tuscany you have something for every age and you don’t have to compromise children fun or more grown-up pastimes.
In Tuscany you can play on the beach, see farm animals, go cycling, enjoy sightseeing and have a wonderful meal with wine all in the same trip or even the same day!
This makes it one of the best places to a multi-generational vacation in Italy.
On top of this, Tuscany is very easy to navigate.
The main cities are well served by train service, the roads are well kept, the accommodation abundant and the region is well used to tourism meaning that facilities nd language are as good as it gets.
All this makes me always recommend Tuscany as a great place for a first family trip to Italy and makes us go back over and over again!
Are you on Facebook? Then you may enjoy my free FB group ‘Travel Italy with kids‘ where we chat all things family travel in Italy!
Best Towns In Tuscany For Kids
Tuscany is all beautiful but these are the places I believe are most family-friendly.
Val d’Orcia / Val di Chiana
Val d’Orcia is one of the most famous areas in Tuscany and one of the most photographed.
If you think of Tuscany as a place of golden rolling hills and cypress trees, Val d’Orcia is the part of Tuscany you have in mind, complete with stunning wine and food options!
This part of Tuscany is as beautiful as the photos suggest and I love to visit with kids as it is like having a little miniature Tuscany within a limited radius.
You have nature, history, food, all within a relatively small distance which means you can have a good balance between exploring and relaxing!
The places we love the most in Val d’Orcia with kids are:
- Montepulciano – lovely hilltop town with a nice playground, pedestrianized streets and cycling tour companies offering cycling tours (guided and self-guided) for the whole family. You can find our Montepulciano travel guide here.
- Pienza – Charming, historical town with a nice kids playground and a wonderful bastion walk.
- San Quirico d’Orcia – small, charming, hilltop medieval town with pedestrian-only streets, a wonderful Garden (Horti Leonini), a lovely ‘kids vegetable patch’ and a stunning medieval catapult just outside the main city gate.
- Chianciano Terme – modern city with lots of children attractions including crazy golf and family friendly thermal baths
- Bagno Vignoni – tiny, delightful town with lovely thermal springs.
- Montalcino – a wine town with a beautiful fortress kids will love.
- Monticchiello – a tiny village, car, free, with a nice gelato shops and the town entrance and nice streets and historical piazzas to run around.
Etruscan Coast
Very different from inland Val D’Orcia but equally beautiful is the Etruscan Coast, a family-friendly part of Tuscany along the Tyrrhenian sea.
The Etruscan coast is perfect for families who want to mix time and the beach with sightseeing.
If you love sandy beaches, you will adore the area near Donoratico and Golfo di Baratti, which have long stretched of soft sand and shallow waters perfect for small kids.
If you prefer rocky beaches, you may want to head a little farther north towards Castiglioncello.
In terms of sightseeing, this is Etruscan land so you have interesting necropolis and archaeological sites and you also have plenty of small towns to explore at your leisure.
Suvereto, Bolgheri and Castagneto Carducci all stand out and amazing Volterra is also nearby (the drive from there to the coast is amazing!)
Siena and surrounding area
Siena is one of the most famous historical towns in Tuscany and a delight to explore with kids, both in terms of the city itself and its surrounding area.
In the town, you have plenty of child-friendly attractions ranging from Piazza del Campo to Orto dei Pecci (garden) and local playgrounds and immediately outside you have plenty of options to gi visit farms and small towns such as San Gimignano or Monteriggioni.
Siena is a lovely place to call home for a while and can work well for families with young children who want the comfort of a slightly bigger city without compromising on charm and location.
Lucca
Lucca is a small town in the North West of Tuscany and a fabulous place to visit in Tuscany with kids or even call home for a while.
A medieval town, Lucca’s most distinctive trait is to be a city still surrounded by its original walls, which you can explore on foot or by bike!
The city center is compact, beautiful and mostly car free and lovely for kids of all ages.
Well connected to several other places in Tuscany by train, you can come here for a day trip or use it as a base for local trips to child-friendly places such as Parco Pinocchio (near Pistoia) or Pisa, which is usually a hit with younger kids for the impressive tower.
Florence
We spend a long summer in Florence with our kids and we loves it so much we still talk about it as one of the cities we would most dearly want to relocate to, were we ever to move again.
The city is beautiful, easy to navigate, family friendly and there are so many things to do in Florence with kids you can easily spend many days here and never get bored!
Florence highlights for our kids are the city’s parks, especially Parco delle Cascine which is huge, the Boboli Gardens, Piazzale Michelangelo and the city’s many museums, some for kids and some not quite for them as such but well suited to host younger visitors.
Pisa
Pisa is one of the most exciting destinations in Tuscany for kids because: who can resist its famous tower?
Pisa’s Piazza del Duomo, the large square with cathedral complex and the tower, is absolutely fantastic at all ages and a must-see during a family vacation in Tuscany.
However, you need to be prepared for the often overwhelming crowds and, visiting with kids, you may want to have handy some tips for hidden corners where to find a little respite and be able to let them run free.
Best Tuscany Resorts For Families
Accommodation comes in all shapes and sizes in Tuscany, from campsites to luxury hotels and anything in between.
Tuscany agriturismo for families
The most popular and most family-friendly type of accommodation in Tuscany is a farm stay or a stay in ‘Agriturismo’, as it is called in Italian.
Agriturismo is a word that describes several types of accommodation solutions that have in common the desire to have the guests immerse themselves in a rustic environment and connect with the landscape around them.
Within this large umbrella definition, however, agriturismo come in all shapes and sides!
Types of agriturismo you will find in Tuscany are:
Self-catering apartments: these can be private or in a complex with a few others sharing common grounds.
They can be very rustic up to very luxurious, may or may not have farm animals on-site, and offer access to additional facilities such as playgrounds and a private pool. they may or may not have a restaurant on site.
B&B agriturismo: many agriturismo in Tuscany do not offer full apartments but rather rooms and serve meals in the restaurant of the agriturismo itself or a combination of breakfast in the agriturismo and discounts in local restaurants for lunch and dinner.
Some agriturismo offer a choice of both.
Lovely examples of family-friendly agriturismo in Tuscany are:
Agriturismo Biologico Diacceroni, offering accommodation and plenty of activities for children in a super scenic part of Tuscany
Fattoria di Maiano (Fiesole) – fantastic agriturismo, didactic farm and restaurant near Florence
Agriturismo Al Palazzaccio, family friendly agriturismo near Pisa with B&B or apartment accommodation, child and pet friendly
Terre di Nano (Monticchiello) – fabulous villa-style agriturismo with self-catering apartment, B&B treatment and restaurant on site near Pienza
La Palagina (Figline Valdarno) – child friendly agriturismo in Tuscany with animals and activities
Il Borro Relais et Chateau – fantastic family-friendly luxury agriturismo with a vineyard in Southern Tuscany.
La Provenca – stunning hilltop agriturismo with self catering apartments and pool near Chianciano and Montepulciano
Il Fienile – lovely family-friendly agriturismo near Montepulciano with fenced pool and family rooms
Campo di Carlo, near the Etruscan Coast, in a perfect hilly position near the sea.
Both types of agriturismo may or may not have a restaurant on site and may or may not offer additional services such as cooking classes, kids entertainment or tours.
Family Villas in Tuscany
Another very popular accommodation solution in Tuscany is to opt for a private villa.
This can be a fantastic way to enjoy Tuscany with kids if you like to be independent and truly experience the area.
Self-catering accommodation usually means the opportunity to go to the local shops and embrace slow travel.
With produce as amazing as the Tuscan one, making delicious meals at home is easy and can be a great way to have a budget-friendly stay.
Campsites and Resorts
Podere Pianetti – lovely RV campsite just beside a wonderful, sandy beach. The campsite has a small playground, lovely child-friendly pools and a small shop.
This is perfect for families who want to enjoy the beach since it is only a short walk to a fabulous sandy shore
Paradu’ Eco Resort – perfect solutions for families visiting Tuscany with kids and looking for an all-inclusive option with animation, kids activities and onsite dining solutions (several packages available)
Eurocamp Albatros Camping Village – if you love Eurocamp holidays, there is a very nice one in the area of San Vincenzo, perfect for all inclusive Tuscany vacations with kids.
