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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]PP again.  [b]It's really hard to know what will interest kids without knowing them personally.[/b]

From my first trip to Italy at age 9, I was pretty interested in buying souvenirs.  And I learned to drink tea from an English girl my age.  The sightseeing highlight was definitely Pompeii.  My next trip, at 16, it was the Colosseum, the Pantheon, and all things Venice.

I revisited my Rome and Venice trip with my kids at age 50.  So I mostly took them to the standard sights then filled in with what I missed on my first visits.  Occasionally the parents divided up, with my husband taking the boys while I did a deeper visit to a museum.  He sometimes does bike tours with them while I go to museums.

Both for myself as a kid, and my own kids, St. Peter's was not fun to visit. It's just huge.  I went to the Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel with the kids.  They are crowded and full of people who don't seem to be too interested in art.  So maybe skip those.  I hadn't seen them at age 16.  My kids saw the Sistine Chapel then about an hour of the museum on the walk back to the main entrance.  After that they were done and just sat in the cafeteria playing on devices.  (Yes, the Vatican Museums have pizza by the slice!)

In Rome, I think it's interesting to learn about the Etruscans.  There is some of their art at the Vatican but there is a specialized museum elsewhere in Rome that I didn't get to.  A kid who is interested in Egyptian and Greek civilizations might like Etruscan artifacts and a smaller museum.

I liked art, architecture, and history as a kid but my own kids don't feel the same.  Everything I've recommended to you so far was neutral to positive for my kids.  On some days, neutral was a family win if I really liked the place.  Neutral means the kids did sightseeing with no complaints, seemed mildly enthused, and good gelato could make the whole day a win for everyone.

Something I really like to do with kids in Europe is to buy groceries at local grocery stores.  It can be fun for them to pick out stuff to try.  If you're staying in a hotel, you can still have a supper made from deli foods and boxed foods like cookies, crackers, etc.  In Italy, we bought food from grocery stores at least four times despite staying in hotels.  Our preferred way to travel is to get an apartment and live like a local for a few days, including shopping.  But we do it on the go, also.  I find it helps with picky eating.  And sorry to say, I haven't had much luck with stumbling into great Italian restaurant food during my trips.  When my family members are hungry, that's when we eat ASAP.  Targeting restaurants requires structuring the day around the meals.  We structure days around the sights we want to see.[/quote]

This is much a much more polite and appropriate response than I had in my head.

The most people can do is give some suggestions— we can’t predict how your teens will react. Mine likes food tours and shopping for example. [/quote]

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