My husband and I visited Italy 13 years ago as part of a three-country trip that included Egypt and Turkey. This was a trip taken before kids, but definitely doable with them. I spent lots of time planning for this part of our trip and very excited to see everything. Italy is a country that has so many cities of interest, but with just 6 days to spend there, I picked the top 3 – Florence, Venice, and Rome. Here are my top spots to visit in each city:

Horseback Riding and Pizza-making, Boboli Gardens – Florence

Gondola Ride – Venice

Colosseum & Roman Forum, Vatican City, Pincio Terrace – Rome

Florence

We flew into Rome from Athens (we had a 1 night layover there from Istanbul) and hopped on a train to our first city – Florence. The train ride from Rome to Florence was under 2 hours and we bought tickets at the station – we didn’t pre-book. We used ItaliaRail, which was clean and comfortable. We spent two nights in Florence, staying at the Grand Hotel Mediterraneo, by the river. It was clean and had a nice view. One of the top things I had wanted to do in Florence was a pizza-making class in the city and horseback riding in the countryside. I had booked both of those activities with Viator, which I recommend using. The pizza-making class was one of the first things we did upon arrival. It was a lot of fun and the pizza was absolutely delicious. It would definitely be a fun activity to do with kids. After eating, we were served some gelato, which was great as well. We then walked around a bit and admired the architecture around such as Brunelleschi’s Dome.

The next morning we grabbed some breakfast from the hotel and went out to explore. We first went to Palazzo Pitti and walked around the exterior and Boboli Gardens. Palazzo Pitti is divided into five museums and tickets cost 16 Euros (about $19) for adults and is free under 18 (with proof such as passport). Tickets for Boboli Gardens is 10 Euros (about $12) for adults or you can buy a combined ticket for 22 Euros (about $26). We didn’t go inside the Palazzo, but we did enjoy walking around the gardens, which have nice views of the city. From there we went to grab some pizza before meeting our tour for horseback riding.

It was about a 40-minute drive to a vineyard in Chianti where we did horseback riding and had a wonderfully prepared dinner. I highly recommend doing a tour like that. It was so peaceful exploring some of the area on horseback. It’s a beautiful way to see the countryside and a change from walking. It was a highlight of the trip for me. I will say though, pricing and options are very different now from when we did it, but there are still some reasonable ones around $100 per person on TripAdvisor. Just check the age requirement if going with children. After getting back to Florence, we walked around a bit more before going back to our hotel to get some sleep before our morning train to Venice.

Venice

The train ride to Venice was a little over 2 hours. We stayed at the Carnival Palace hotel in Venice for just one night. Our room was beautiful and unique and a jacuzzi on the balcony. After checking in we headed out to explore – so beautiful. We went to see St. Mark’s Square, which was about a 30-minute walk from our hotel. We admired the exteriors of the St. Mark’s Basilica and Palazzo Ducale (Doge’s Palace), which we toured inside. Tickets are 25-30 Euros for adults ($29-35, discounted rate for booking online) and 13-15 Euros for kids aged 6-14 ($15-17.50). Tickets can be purchased online here. From there we headed to one of the main bridges – Ponte di Rialto. I loved seeing all of the bridges in Venice. That evening we took a gondola ride, which is a must when visiting Venice! Afterwards, we went back to our hotel. One full day in Venice was enough to see the sights, but if wanting to relax and enjoy the city, more time would be needed.

Rome

Our last stop on our Italy trip was Rome and our first stop that afternoon was Piazza del Popolo. There a great views from Pincio terrace and it’s a nice spot to walk around. It’s about a 12-minute from the Spanish Steps, which to be honest, could be skipped. It was a very crowded spot and underwhelming. After seeing the steps and snapping a couple of photos, we headed to our hotel. We stayed at a villa outside of the city to save some pennies. It wasn’t the cleanest and not a good location, being so far from everything so, no recommendation there. It got the job done though and provided breakfast.

Our next day in Rome we started by heading to Vatican City. We toured St. Peter’s Basilica and the Sistine Chapel, both of which had very beautiful architecture and paintings. The entrance fee for the basilica (not the dome) is 7 Euros for adults ($8) and 4 Euros ($4.50) for kids. There’s an additional cost for the dome. For the Sistine Chapel, the cost is around $46 and includes Vatican Museums. There are so many ticket options/packages out there when visiting more than one site in Rome. Depending on what all you plan to see, a combination ticket might be a better choice.

After visiting the Vatican, we headed back to center city, stopping at Castel Sant’Angelo – about a 20-minute walk from the basilica, and then crossing the bridge to Piazza Navona. There we admired the fountain and continued on to some ruins – Largo di Torre Argentina, Trajan’s Forum, and the Roman Forum. Largo di Torre is a square in the middle of Rome, which contains four of the oldest temples. Trajan’s Forum is about a 15-minute walk from Largo di Torre and near the Roman Forum. We mostly viewed all of the ruins from above (on Via dei Fori Imperiali). Entry tickets are required to walk among the ruins. Tickets for that also include the Colosseum and start around 18 Euros ($21) for adults and free for under 18, but proof of age is required according the official site. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing all of the ruins and especially the Colosseum, which is a must visit of course. The last place we stopped at was the Trevi Fountain. That was more interesting than the Spanish Steps, but just as crowded. I would say if you’ve had enough of crowds and/or a tight schedule, the fountain is another thing that could be skipped.

The highlight in Rome for me was the Colossuem, but I did enjoy many other sites. However, with only 2 days to spend and trying to cram all of the sights in, it was hard to fully enjoy each spot. With the amount of walking we did, sights we saw, crowds, and the heat, it all kind of felt like a blur. There are some sites that I feel could have been skipped, but if you’re wanting to see most places and have kids along, 3 days would probably be needed to be able to enjoy it a bit more. It might also help to not go in the summer when it’s the hottest and most crowded. Overall, I really enjoyed our Italy trip and was ready to keep going and not fly home.

Next up – Turkey