Italian adventure

Like us on Facebook       

www.familytc.com
Book your vacation through Family Travel Concierge info@familytc.com or 860-830-4009
Today we received this great review from our client who just returned from the trip to Italy that we helped to arrange. Their family of 2 adults and 3 girls (8, 11, 15) spent almost two weeks visiting Milan, Bologna, Florence, Venice, Rome and some other great places.

We really had great time and we were very busy. And here is our review of all tours, services, etc.

Milan apartment was perfect (See here http://www.airbnb.com/rooms/450622) It is in 5 min walking distance from metro station P-ta Venezia, which is just 3 train stops away from Duomo and 4 stops from Central train station. The apartment was 5 min away from a mid-size supremarket where we could buy everything we needed. 

 

Also, there are many restaurants in close proximity. Easily the best sea food restaurant I've ever been to just literally 2 buildings away from the apartment; called La Risacca 2 (http://www.larisacca2.it). A very nice small cafe is just downstairs - we liked it very much. 

The apartment itself was perfect for us - enough room and very clean. Also, lots of small balconies (I think 5). One problem was that it had no AC but with all balcony doors opened it was not as bad as you might think based on our Connecticut summer experience. They also have fans in every room. Barbara was very helpful. And we had stuff for breakfast in the refrigerator when we checked in!

Natalia (tour guide we arranged for our clients in Milan) was very knowledgeable and had flexible schedule. She was our guide for Bergamo - Verona tour and Milan Fashion tour. She speaks Russian, of course, and English but we had our tours in Russian. She knows the subject very well. 

 

Bergamo is highly recommended and is very good for one day trip. Natalia had lots of interesting information about its history.

 

Verona was crowded with tourists but is very interesting and had unexpectedly large area of old historical city. Highly recommended. Their ancient amphitheater is big and in much better condition than Colosseum.

 

Milan Fashion tour was mostly about high fashion designers and all gossips and rumors about all these celebrities. I didn't go but my girls were not very happy. I think they expected more information about fashion design but looks like Natalia kept close to the subject of the tour.

Bologna hotel UNA was unexpectedly one of the best I've ever been to. Extremely clean, with good condition and room design, very good breakfast, and very very helpful staff. I am glad we listened to you and booked this hotel. It is also right across the street from Bologna Central station. The only downside is that it is 15 - 20 min walk from the most important sites of Bologna and kids were getting tired quickly from walking on hot days. On the other hand, there are many restaurants that are close to the hotel but not in tourist locations. Many very good restaurants are for locals - no one speaks English :) I can't even recommend any one specific because they all were very good. If you are interested in them I can dig the names out. Some famous restaurants in the center of Bologna require reservation few days ahead. We could never plan that far for dinner time so we didn't go there.

Bologna itself was also surprisingly more interesting than I expected. 

Florence day overall for us was the only "failure" - crazy tourist crowds unlike any other place we've been to, very hot day, long lines for anything at all. We couldn't even make it to Uffizi even though we paid for ticket reservation online. We understood that Florence time has to be meticulously scheduled long ahead to be successful - something for the next time.

Ravenna. We didn't plan for any tours in Ravenna and we were right. It is small enough to handle on your own. Ravenna day was probably one of the best. This is "untouristy" town (which in Italy means less tourists than usual) and very charming and friendly. It has many places connected to early Italian history and Byzantium. It is close to Adriatic shore and beaches (we didn't go because we were not prepared for it). I think it could have been a very good "base" town for us.

We also didn't book any tours in Venice. Based on what happened in Florence we prepared much better and day was not as hot. As the result everyone loved it. We used Rick Steves book to navigate and make decisions and it was enough for 8 hour day trip. We also made it to Murano glass store that Rick Steves recommended and it was a huge success too.

Thank you for the last minute Rome tour with Context Travel! It was very expensive (!) but it was worth it. Our docent was unbelievably knowledgeable and my daughters were almost "mesmerized" by her. I have never seen them so much involved in any "lecturing" :) One of them now decided to become an archaeologist :) Unfortunately, it was just 3 hrs long... And, by the way, no one paid attention to the extreme heat that day!

Swiss Alps train tour was great. I ran out of adjectives to use here so I will just say that the rail road is the only one in UNESCO World Heritage list. 

Just in case you are interested in how train rides in Italy worked for us. We used Italian train system extensively and spent a lot of money on that :)). Our main lessons learned: for 5 people including kids it is necessary to buy tickets online at trenitalia.it. It can be done any time. The receipt must be printed out, for which we were helped by the hotel staff. The main reason for us to use online system was that it was impossible to choose assigned seats at the station ticket machines. And their computer program is not good at finding seats next to each other. Our kids were extremely against sitting separately next to strangers. Online program allows you to choose your seats. But if you don't care about seating arrangements you can buy tickets any time at the station.

Trains are rarely sold out but it happens sometimes. Also, fast trains Standard class cars get sold out first and they are much cheaper. First class cars advantages are very insignificant (like you can order coffee at your seat).

I believe I covered everything. 

I want to take an opportunity and thank you for all your hard work to find us all these places and tours and for checking out all of them. I am sure that much of the enjoyment we had in Italy were based on your attention to everything.