Trip motivation
During Thanksgiving week 2025, our family took a trip to Italy! November is a tricky time to travel with weather, but the combination of great prices and fewer crowds convinced us to go. Ben and I had been before without the kids (Italy without kids), but this time we decided to bring them along! We loved spending a few days in Rome with some history and museums and then took the train down to the Naples/Amalfi Coast area, where we explored the cities, including an epic visit to Pompeii. We love European travel as it always offers family-friendly towns, easy navigating with trains, and so much history and beauty. Traveling internationally with kids can be daunting, but with a little preparation, research, and tips from other travelers, we had a successful trip!
This post covers our flights, itinerary, planning process, and international logistics such as using the subway, getting a phone card, and finding budget restaurants.
For more on our Italy Adventure, see our posts here
Planning our Itinerary
I love planning trips, especially through well-traveled places where there’s a ton of information to read through and make plans for. Many online blogs were really helpful! We were in each home-base for around 4 days and read numerous blogs and books (Rick Steves is always a must-read for Europe trips). One tip for traveling with kids is take a 3-day best of guide and cut out half of it to make it actually realistic to manage in those same 3 days. Mix in some kid-focused/less touristy options like playgrounds, interactive museums, or a cooking class. We did a lot of bus and train travel on this trip and our kids loved reading their new kindles on the trains and this was a great time for just chatting and reconnecting with gorgeous views.
Several months before, I sketched out our plan in excel and on google maps with a balance of activities, rest time, food, rest, and fun. We made sure to research how far areas were and tried to schedule several anchor points with a few optional activities so we didn’t overstuff our schedule.
Overview
Day 7: Vesuvius Hike, and Pompei Visit
Day 8: Return home
Flying to Italy
We paid cash for a flight on Icelandair after finding a great deal from BNA Cheap Flights. I highly recommend following for some ideas. The cost was $400 RT per person!! Incredible! On the way there, we stopped in Iceland, and on the way home, we stopped overnight in Dublin. Although we didn’t use points for this trip, we did put the trip on our Chase card to build up points for our next trip!
Tips for Long Plane Rides
Sleeping on planes West to East:
- Plan to sleep! For the overnight red-eye flight to Europe, we emphasized that after dinner service, everyone was going to try and get some sleep. I gave each kid a dose of melatonin and they passed out pretty immediately. We packed these cheap pillows from Amazon (They came with eye masks!).
- On arrival, get outside and try to limit naps so you can readjust.
Activities for long flights East to West
- On the long flight, the kids were happy playing with the personal screen and alternating between coloring, reading, tv, games, and snacks. Ellie has been loving the Magic Treehouse books and when they were little, they used to love activities in the Magic Ink and small play pack coloring books (Amazon links). We have one Nintendo Switch that the kids love.
- For more on our favorite activities and tips for flying, see our post here.
Lodging
Rome: Our home base was the Hyatt Rome The Tribune. We are loyal Hyatt fans, and for this trip, we booked a Family Room (around $350/night), which was big enough to comfortably fit a queen bed for us and two separate single twin beds for the kids.
Later on our last night before leaving, we stayed at the Holiday Inn EUR Parco dei Medici. While it was conveniently located near the FCO airport (which was the whole point!), trying to get there late at night from the city center after a long day of travel was exhausting.
Salerno: Housing here was incredibly cheap in chilly November! We booked a Mini Apartment at Il Salernitano (via Booking.com) for a steal at about $80 a night. It had decent space, with 2 bedrooms, and a mini kitchen.
Transportation in Europe
Train travel and public transportation is one of our favorite things about Europe. Everything is pretty straightforward and inexpensive. We did learn that the trains are not always on time and to make sure you’re on the right stop when you stop!
In Rome, we did a combo of walking, uber/taxi rides and public transportation. One top tip for international travel is to download the city map to google so that it doesn’t continue to use data every time you load. Kids under 10 are often free, but policies can vary
We took trains between Rome, Frascati, Salerno, and Pompeii. We prioritized flexibility in our schedule and purchased tickets the day before or day of which let us pivot due to weather variability. If you prioritize cheaper tickets or are more firm in plans, you should buy tickets 2 weeks out as prices went up closer to departure.
Other transportation: For the Amalfi coast, we planned a full-day ferry trip with Travelmar . While in Pompei, we took the EAV 808 bus from Pompeii to Vesuvius. Note this is Cash only!!!
On our last day, we had a canceled train that impacted our arrival into Rome. Build in some buffer as needed or prepare to pay extra for alternate options.
Eating in Italy
Our hotels came with breakfast, and we stopped by grocery stores for snacks for the hotel room.
During the day, we tried to balance quick meals with sit-down meals. We did do a few fancy meals but also did sandwiches and quick meals. A few restaurants had kids menus or we would get entrees to share.
We always say trips are for eating. We ate a wide variety of yummy foods (Pizza, Pasta, Gelato!) There are so many delicious things to eat!
Other International Logistics
Passport: Before you fly internationally, check those expiration dates on your passports! Note that some countries require your passport to be valid for 3-6 months after your flight
Phone/Internet Have you heard of an e-sim card? Prior to our arrival, we found out we could get a free e-sim with our Chase Sapphire Reserve card from Gigsky. We also bought an Airalo e-sim card for $5 to top off the week. E-sims are amazing as the phone switched to the international sim without needing to stop by a store to physically put a sim in.
Language: Besides a few cab drivers, everyone spoke English. You could get a book to prepare the kids for the adventure. It is always a good practice to learn hello, good morning, excuse me, and thank you in any language though! We did use google translate on a few occasions.
Currency Exchange We had to use cash for a few of our cab drivers and at the Vesuvius bus. We stopped at a bank and used our bank debit card to pull out the equivalent of $300 for some Euros.
More Italy 2025 Posts
For more on our Italy Adventure, see our posts here
- Italy Adventures with Kids- Rome and Amalfi Coast Itinerary and Logistics
- 3 days in Rome with Kids
- 3 days Amalfi Coast Itinerary for Families
