We love to share excellent sites with our readers - and here's another one! Ciao Bambino! is a great resouce for family travel and accommodations. It's got it all - destinations, travel tips, quite an extensive accommodation review list (with recommendations!), a blog, searchable destinations and properties according to the ages of your kids, and more. It's truly an incredible site, packed with excellent information. We were lucky enough to sit down and talk with Amie O'Shaughnessy, Editor of Ciao Bambino! Here's what she had to say...

WE: Please tell us about your site, Ciao Bambino...

CB: Written by and for parents, Ciao Bambino inspires families to explore the world through family travel tips and insight, as well as thoroughly vetted reviews of the best accommodations for children of all ages. Our comprehensive reviews include age-appropriate ratings, property highlights, a summary of favorite features, amenities and services, starting rates based on the number of people traveling, and my favorite section—families should know—all the little tidbits parents need to understand ahead of time, from average babysitting rates to minimum age requirements for the kids club.  The goal is for our readers, i.e. time-starved parents, to understand the overall pros and cons of a property for families within 5 minutes or less. 

WE:  What led you to start this site?

CB: I tried to plan a trip to Italy for our family when my son was a baby (2004) and realized there were few resources available for parents that wanted to plan an international trip with kids.  Ciao Bambino was born!  I started the company as a planning service for families traveling to Italy.

After helping hundreds of families plan trips to Italy (and later France), we developed an amazing list of tried and tested family-friendly accommodations. Ciao Bambino started publishing reviews of those properties online in 2007 and the guide grew geographically from there. 

WE:  One of the challenges of traveling is finding great accommodations - How do you review vacation properties?

CB: Travel is an intensely personal experience and what works well for one family may not work for another.  For me, the secret of successful travel is to consider the goals for a given trip and plan accordingly.  This may change from trip to trip, i.e. sometimes we like to take cultural trips that are sightseeing focused and convenience is a priority, other times we like to take “chill out” trips where we never leave the hotel and onsite amenities are our priority. Regardless, given that every property has distinct pros and cons, families need to prioritize and make decisions accordingly.  

The format of Ciao Bambino reviews supports this approach—we present property information using bullets with concise, consistent language and clearly communicate what makes a place special for families, and conversely, caveats to consider. 

Chaa Creek in Belize

WE: Where are the easiest places to travel with kids?

CB: Given that every family has unique travel preferences and styles, what is “easy” for one family may not be for another.

Destinations with significant tourist infrastructure make things easier.  Take Tuscany for example. Although there are times when the tourist areas there are overcrowded and unpleasant, the tradeoff is the existence of well-developed tourist infrastructure with a wide variety of accommodations and attractions. The sheer number of options means it is easier to find suitable accommodations and things to do for a variety of needs and age groups.

In addition to where you go, how you travel is a big factor in making travel easier.  It’s essential to keep itineraries simple and minimize logistics by limiting accommodation changes and the hours you spend getting from one place to another.

WE: What are the challenges and rewards of traveling with kids?

CB: Kids are unpredictable and you never know what the next hour or day is going to entail. Pair this with the fact that travel is work and is also unpredictable.  The result? Family travel war stories.

Traveling with kids is worthwhile in the end because the rewards far outweigh any pain.  The benefits are numerous, but the main point for me is quite simply that the educational opportunity kids have while traveling is unattainable at home.  Nothing replaces the impact of personally experiencing new people and places.

Moreover, travel makes kids more flexible.  Every member of a family is forced to adapt the way they do things when they are away from their home environment.    

Adults benefit too.  It’s amazing what you can learn from your kids while traveling. They notice the little things that we ignore or take for granted.

WE: Learning while traveling is exciting - how do you prepare your kids for experiencing different places, cultures, etc?

CB: To be honest, we don’t do a great job of this. We always seem to be in a panic when we are leaving town, but looking up destinations online together is fun, and we also will listen to language tapes before heading abroad.  Nancy Solomon works for Ciao Bambino and has 4 kids under 10 — she raves about what reading does to prepare kids for a trip. See her recent blog post on the subject.  

WE: Is there anything else you'd like to share with us?

CB: Because of our roots, many people think of Ciao Bambino as the “Italy” company.  It’s true, we have a phenomenal list of properties in Italy, but we’ve worked hard over the past 2 years to expand our portfolio and now we have amazing options in other destinations as well, including many hotels and resorts in the US.  

People also think of Ciao Bambino as specializing in luxury properties.  Again, it’s true, we have many very high-end options in our portfolio, but we have some value options too.  

I’m not one of those people who think a hotel is for sleeping and nothing more. To me, where you stay enhances (or detracts from) your experience in a destination. The Ciao Bambino portfolio reflects this belief — every property profiled is special in some way, shape, or form.  

WE: Thanks so very much, Amie! We highly recommend your site to our readers - it's a valuable resource!

For more information, please see:

http://www.ciaobambino.com

Photos courtesy and copyright Ciao Bambino!