traveling to Italy with my children…any advice?

I am flying to Rome, Italy with my 18 and 24 year old girls on March 28, 2009 and will be flying back home on April 12,2009 from Vienna. I would like to know what are the best tourist spots during this season? I have been to Europe several times but always joined tour groups. I was thinking of not joining tour groups this time due to budget concerns. How much is an ideal amount of pocket money per day? means of transportation to get to those places? Food cost? Hostels/inns/hotels? Weather and apparel? WIll Venice be a good place to go to during this time? Kindly identify amounts in Euro. Thank you.

The trains are a great way of getting around here in Italy. If you’re concerned about budget, the regional trains are cheaper, but take longer and require changes to go long distances. The faster trains are still a pretty good deal. If you buy tickets at least a day in advance, you may be able to get the discounted Amica fare that saves you up to 20% off the regular fare. Schedules and prices are available at: http://www.trenitalia.com/cms/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=ad1ce14114bc9110VgnVCM10000080a3e90aRCRD

One of the best events is the Explosion of the Cart on Easter Sunday in Florence, but you’ll miss that unfortunately since you’ll be leaving from Vienna. The Azaleas will be on the Spanish Steps in Rome starting around the 21st of March, so you will get to see that.

Venice is worth going to in that period. It was very nice this weekend for Carnevale – sunny and mid 40s. During early April, the weather should be pretty nice and it won’t be so crowded. Venice is pretty expensive, but it’s generally more reasonable at that time of year when there are no special events going on.

Vinitalia is a huge wine exhibition in Verona from the 2nd to the 6th of April. We’ve had visitors in the past couple of years that have gone and enjoyed that and Verona is a good tourist destination.

I use the Venere.com site for booking hotels here in Italy. I even found a place about a two minute walk from Piazza San Marco for 150 euro per night on two days notice when I decided to book rather than coming home Saturday night. That’s not bad during Carnevale. http://www.venere.com/ In Rome, the area around the Termini train station is generally less expensive with good connections via public transit. The Hotel Romano is often a good choice right across the street from the Roman Forum. You might also consider a convent stay – my brother and sister-in-law did that when they visited and liked it a lot. It was less expensive than a hotel.

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