A guide to getting the most out of a holiday in Italy with teenagers in tow.
Italy is probably the most family-friendly country in Europe. However, travelling to Italy with teenagers can bring a whole new dimension to your holiday. Here at Bookings For You we have a good selection of teenagers between us and have spent many holidays in Italy entertaining them!
Too often we find that teens can be considered tricky to cater for on holiday. But we have to disagree – it’s all in the planning! There can be so much joy in experiencing things together as a family holiday or a one-on-one bonding trip to Italy with your teen. Embrace this next stage in your family’s evolution and enjoy our guide to having a wonderful holiday with your teenagers in Italy.
Best Cities in Italy with Teenagers
Italy’s cities are wonderful. There is no doubt that we can enjoy them at any age. However, tackling a city break with a teenager can involve a bit of extra planning to make sure everyone keeps smiling! Remember if your teen hates museums at home, this isn’t likely to change too much just because you’re in another country – however good they are. If walking makes them winge – again this isn’t likely to be any different in Italy. Every city has plenty to do which can avoid too much walking and you can often enjoy the museums and galleries without spending hours and hours trailing along with hundreds of other tourists. These are our favourite cities to enjoy when we’re in Italy with teenagers and our top tips on how to enjoy them:
Rome
- Climb St Peter’s Basilica
- Visit the Colosseum – book skip-the-line tickets – teenagers hate queues!
- Tour the city by golf cart
- Go rafting on the River Tiber
Milan
- Visit the Bosco Verticale
- Climb the Duomo – skip-the-line tickets here
- Take a Segway TourÂ
- Spend an evening in the Navagli district
Florence
- Enjoy a cooking class together
- Visit the Ponto Vecchio
- Have a day out to visit Pisa (55mins by train)
- Kayak down the River Arno
Venice
- Visit Murano, Burano and see a glass-blowing demonstration
- Join the Explore Venice Game (smartphone required)
- Take a gondola ride
- Have a day at the Lido
Connect with Nature in Italy with Teenagers
Italy’s natural beauty is not exactly difficult to discover! Whether you love lakes and mountains, beaches, or even volcanos – Italy has it all. Just because teenagers tend to have a natural migration towards screens and digital experiences, does not mean that they can’t also embrace getting outdoors and enjoy some nature-based activities too.
Wild Swimming
If your teens love being in the water then Italy has some stunning spots for wild swimming. Our favourites are in Tuscany and the Italian Lakes where courageous teens can plunge into azure pools, swim through waterfalls and enjoy natural thermal springs – who needs a spa? You can read our full guide to wild swimming in Italy here.
Watersports
Italy’s lakes also boast some incredible opportunities to try watersports. Our teens have spent many hours on Lake Maggiore aboard sailboats, kayaks and paddleboards. These are best enjoyed with a guide. Click here to see what’s on offer.
Equally, if you prefer salt water, there’s plenty to keep you and your teenagers entertained. Highlights for us have been snorkelling and exploring the caves of the Puglian coast, sunset kayaking on Elba Island and taking a SUP tour in Tuscany.
Hiking Volcanos
Asking a teenager to go for a walk with you is not always met with great enthusiasm. However, have you ever asked them to hike up a volcano? Hopefully, it will be considered a better offer! Italy has several volcanos that you can explore safely.
The stars of the show are Etna in Sicily and Vesuvius in the Gulf of Naples. Our advice is to use a guide to get the most out of your Volcano adventure. Both of these sites can get busy in high season. Get Your Guide offers a great self-guided audio tour of Mount Vesuvius. The big bonus is that it includes skip-the-line entry so you won’t be stuck in a long queue – we all know how teenagers feel about queues! For Mount Etna we recommend this guided trek which takes you well off the usual tourist trail and as a result you’ll also skip the crowds. Again, book in advance here with Get Your Guide.
Mountain Biking
The incredibly diverse landscape offers some amazing opportunities to explore on two wheels while in Italy with teenagers. Thrill seekers can take on the challenge of the world-famous peaks in the Dolomites and Italian Lakes regions. However, if your teen is less about adrenaline kicks and more about Instagramable moments there are plenty of less challenging hills to explore in Tuscany and Puglia. The rise in popularity of electric bikes has made cycling even more accessible (and enjoyable!) for so many of us. What’s more, in almost every Italian town or city you can now rent e-bikes. Click here to see where they’re available and to book an e-bike tour with your teen.
If you fancy more of what Italy has to offer for adventurous travellers, take a look at 10 Adventures and their extensive offering of adventure holidays in Italy.
Beaches in Italy with Teenagers
Beach days in Italy can offer all kinds of different experiences for you and your teenagers. There is so much variety in Italy’s coastline that there really is a beach for everyone and with all kinds of activities available to keep your teens entertained.
Sea Beaches
Broadly speaking Italy’s sea beaches are very often described as ‘paid’. This means that you pay a fee to enter the beach which includes rental of sunbeds and a parasol. If your teen loves an afternoon under an umbrella with a book, this is a great option. Most beaches do often also have a small ‘free beach’ occupying one end or the other. These can be lovely off-season with space for some ball games or even a handstand competition (remember they will always win!!). However, during July and August these areas can become very busy and unless you have a teen who loves to get up early, these are often best enjoyed in the early evening.
There are of course some exceptions. In Tuscany, Spiaggia di Baratti is a wonderful wide sandy beach which is almost all ‘free’ so there’s plenty of space. The sunsets here are truly magical and the water is crystal clear. At the northern side, there are some sunbeds to rent (but these do not dominate like on many other Italian beaches) and in the evening there’s a DJ giving the place a real Ibiza-style feel.
If you decide you’d like an island experience, Elba is our top choice for beaches. Again there are many paid, serviced beaches and every beach in Elba is stunningly beautiful. But our favourite is a slightly off-the-beaten track. Spiaggia della Sorgente and its neighbour Spiaggia di Sansone are spectacular. Both are formed of small, polished pebbles and have the most incredibly clear turquoise water. If you’re fans of snorkelling, I can’t think of many places better than this to enjoy some underwater exploring in Italy with your teenagers. Arguably, the water is so clear that you don’t even need a snorkel!
Lake Beaches
Lake beaches away from the coast, Italy’s lakeside beaches are a wonderful alternative to cool off and relax in the warm summer months. Again, if you have an active or adrenaline-fuelled teenager then the Italian Lakes will keep the adrenaline topped up just nicely. Wherever you are in the Italian Lakes there are always plenty of adventurous activities available.
Our favourite lake for a holiday in Italy with teenagers is Lake Maggiore. It has some wonderful beaches offering all kinds of levels of service: some fully serviced beaches with loungers and parasols, some offering all kinds of watersports and others which can give you a completely wild experience away from the crowds. Check out our full guide to the best beaches on Lake Maggiore here.
Mobile Data and Wifi in Italy with Teenagers
Our top tip is always to buy eSIMs when travelling with your teenagers in Italy. However busy your trip is, in reality, your teen will want access to the internet. Relying on Wifi in your accommodation and restaurants can make things complicated – these connections are not always free in Italy. What’s more, if you’ve got a keen tik-toker or Insta addict then depriving them of these 21st-century staples will not make for a breezy teen!
Airalo provides a good selection of packages to choose from based on your data usage. Itâs sensible to look at how much data your teenager uses while at home and then consider how they will be using mobile data for on the trip. For a recent trip to Italy, I opted for the âMama Miaâ 2GB package which served our teens excellently. They were able to send photos, videos and post Vlogs whilst out and about without any issues. Priced at $8 for 15 days, this was considerably better value than using the roaming package provided by our UK mobile company. If youâre travelling from outside Europe, using an eSIM for yourselves and your teenagers could save you even more.
Travel to and in Italy with Teenagers
Travelling in Italy with teenagers first involves travelling to Italy with teenagers! For many families, the only option is to fly and Italy caters for tourists arriving by air very well. There are more than 100 airports in Italy with 15 of them offering long-haul fights. Things to consider when flying with teens: flight times – tired teens are quite well-known for being a bit grumpy! Also, consider whether you need to pay to sit together on a flight. An older teenager will probably be fine with this but younger teens may not.
Luggage! Many teenagers LOVE clothes but airlines also love to charge us for excess or overweight baggage. We’ve found using packing cubes can help a clothes-keen teen stay within the luggage limit. They are also useful for keeping items separate if you want to keep costs down by paying for one or two large checked-in bags to share between you. You can read all of our top tips for booking flights to Italy here.
If you have the option to drive or take the train to Italy, this can be a wonderful way to see more of Europe with your teenagers and make it a bit of an adventure too. Find everything you need to know about driving to Italy here and our guide to train travel in Italy here. Both of these options can now also be cheaper and are of course kinder to the environment too.
Tips for travelling in Italy with teenagers
- Use public transport in cities. It’s cheap, efficient and a great way to hang out with the locals.
- Hire a car to see some off-the-beaten-track Italy.
- Book self-catering accommodation – you will appreciate the space and flexibility.
- Travel between major cities by train – train travel in Italy is amazing!
- Try not to over-fill your schedule – allow some downtime and try to be flexible.
The Best Accommodation in Italy with TeenagersÂ
Self-catering has been the first choice for families holidaying in Italy for many years. Not only does it give you more space to relax together, choosing a villa or apartment in Italy offers so much flexibility which we think is the ultimate ingredient to having a relaxing holiday with your teens. Our team at Bookings For You have decades of experience in finding perfect villas and apartments for our guests, and we also have nearly as many years of experience of self-catering holidays in Italy with our own teenagers so we consider ourselves experts in this area too. If you would like some advice on the best villa or apartment for your family in Italy, contact us at Bookings For You.