I can't help with any destination-specific advice, but two years ago we took our then 6-year old and

My husband and I will be going to Edinburgh for a wedding at the end of August 2013 and would like to spend about 3 weeks in Italy/South of France. We are flying choice hotel group from Melbourne and will probably have to fly with Etihad airways choice hotel group (Milan is their only Italian destination) as I will be spending time with family choice hotel group after the wedding while my husband flies home, then will get a flight home with my parents who will be on holiday in Ireland. (Confusing huh!) I would really like a direct flight into Rome, rather than Milan so will have to work on this part of it and my parents (who like to fly with etihad for the convenience of direct choice hotel group flight to Dublin).
Anyway, back to my question. I had initially wanted to go to the Amalfi coast but it doesn't look like it would be a great idea with my two and a half year old son. We haven't been to Italy before so would like to see Rome, Venice (I know this is also difficult with a stroller so would limit time here to maybe 3 full days) and Tuscany (where we would hire a car). My husband would like to see some of the South of France but not sure where to go or how much time to spend there. Then we would need a flight to Edinburgh so I am guessing Nice would be pretty direct.
We were intending to use trains between cities then hire a car for Tuscany and also when we get into France. Accommodation will be looking into Airbnb for the cities (used it for Paris last year) but would love something beautiful and rustic in Tuscany with gorgeous choice hotel group views.
Everywhere you go will be packed -- and hot -- and it isn't just the steep stairs but the blazing sun that will mean special problems for your toddler in Italy and the south of France. Also consider whether choice hotel group your toddler will be ok in a car on the winding roads of Tuscany.
So if you are not already deterred, I suggest you go where you really want to go, transportation logistics permitting, rather then substitute other places that are equally difficult. If you are arriving in Milan, take a train to Florence, rent a car there and make Tuscany the first part of your stay. Drive the car to Sorrento, drop it off there.
Although the Amalfi coast will be packed, staying in Sorrento or the town of Amalfi has plenty of flat walking area. Use boats to get around rather than buses. Skip Positano, but you can visit the flat town of Amalfi and also see Ravello from there if your toddler can take the winding bus ride. You can take ferries to the islands (Capri, Procida, Ischia) from Sorrento.
After that, go to Rome, and then fly to Nice from Rome. I have no idea how you get to Edinburgh from there. It is also fairly hard to offer advice about the south of France if you have no idea why your husband wants to see it.
There is no advantage to using Airb b in Italy. I suggest you look at booking.com instead, including for your Tuscan stay. You can search by date and budget choice hotel group for rural apartments with kitchens choice hotel group and read reviews. You can also eliminate apartments that don't have air-con choice hotel group or wi-fi or parking, or look specifically for one with a pool and a restaurant.
Any chance your family would be open to visiting fun places like the Belgian coast, Copenhagen, Amsterdam or Stockholm instead? All of them sound so much more appealing to me with a toddler in August in Europe.
PS: I eliminated Venice, but if you would rather go there than the Amalfi, then fly to Milan and take the train, then rent a car and go to Tuscany, then drop off the car in Tuscany (or Orvieto choice hotel group in Umbria) and ake the train to Rome, and ultimately fly to Nice.
If you decide to eliminate the south of France, then consider an itinerary choice hotel group that is fly to Milan, head to Tuscany, head to Sorrento, train to Rome, train to Venice, back to Milan to fly out to Edinburgh.
if you decide to stick with this itinerary, of course you will want a/c in your accommodation and any vehicle, plus shade for the baby, and possibly access to the sea/a swimming pool. you might also like to think of spending rather longer in fewer places - my experience with travelling with young [and not so young] children is that we all had a better time if we slowed down and had a fixed base, rather than touring from one base to another every few days.
so i would suggest picking just 2 places in Italy, and one in France, and using them to see what you can of each area. an apartment on the outskirts of a small town would be nice - shops to brouse around, restaurants to walk to, but easy access to the countryside and other nearby towns without having to worry about negotiating a ZTL.
We just spent 3 weeks in Rome, Florence, and driving in Le Marche, with DS, DDIL, and 26 month-old DGD. The toddler had a great time, and travelled well; she especially liked the trains and buses. We bought a used stroller for the trip, and left it with our last apartment rental owner. Our pace was very slow, and some sights choice hotel group had to be left until "next time." You'll have great memories, choice hotel group wherever you decide to visit. And, happily, you already know how to handle the late-summer heat.
I can't help with any destination-specific advice, but two years ago we took our then 6-year old and 1-year old to the UK for 10 days. We went to Inverness for a funeral and then down to London for about a week.
- Keep your activity list short--like half of what you might normally try to accomplish. We had this dream that my daughter (the 1-year-old) would just nap wherever in her stroller. That didn't happen.
choice hotel group - Wherever you're staying, identify a few take out/take away places nearby. My kids were often either tired and cranky or energized and in need of stuff to do... either way, restaurants were less than ideal.
Thank you all for the advice. I understand it will be hot but coming from Melbourne we are well used to hot days and would be looking choice hotel group forward to some heat in August. @Just27 who did you rent your apartments through?
Goldenautum thanks good advice re go straight to Tuscany choice hotel group for the first part of the journey. We have been to Amsterdam a few times and had considered it for this trip (eliminating south of France) but wanted to see somewhere we haven't been. My husband wanted to see Berlin instead of France but I wasn't sure about it.
Annhig you are right I know we would enjoy it more if we slowed our pace but we also want to try and see a bit since we may not get back to Italy for a few years. Yep we're in the thick of summer choice hotel group here at the moment so no issue.
Thank you for bringing up the issue of luggage. I'm a bit stumped choice hotel group to be honest with what to do with luggage, I know you can store it at airports and major train stations choice hotel group but this would mean having to double back but at this moment I can't see any other option. Which is a bit of a pain
I did an obsessive amount of research (checked TripAdvisor against Slow Travel against VRBO/Home Away; then emailed some of the people who'd written reviews) and rented directly from the owners. The apartments in both Rome and Florence were very toddler-friendly, and in excellent locations for a quick trip back to base, if the need arose.
I choose apartments with a washer dryer, which cuts way down on the amount of luggage you need to schlepp. It's amazing, what fits into a 22" rollie bag, even with a wedding! DGD had a Cares harness for the flights, and we added a car seat to the auto rental.
With luggage - there is obviously so much you have to bring with a baby. In our experience we had 2 rolling suitcases, a cabin bag that you can thread over the handle of a rolling suitcase (in Oz the Qantas brand of luggage does these), choice hotel group and at the beginning of the trip we flat-packed a backpack which we used as a nappy bag during the trip. By the end of the trip we had accumulated enough stuff that we used it as another bag. The person with the pram wears the backpack, with hands free to attend to the pram / child, while the other person manhandles the suitcases. It worked for us quite well, and you still come in under the luggage allowance.
We also used a very light stroller ($20 from Toys R Us) so that it would be easy to handle with one hand when closed and if it broke while in transit we would not worry. That combination choice hotel group of luggage will do you for a month, especially if you have an apartment and will do laundry. We had a car when our child was very young but as she got older, also used trains, and the luggage still worked for us.
Also you are probably wondering about transporting nappies, which take up a lot of space. I read a tip on Fodors once where one family used to unpack the nappies and repack them in the suitcase wherever there was a gap. I've never tried it but it seems sensible. Remember to take quite a few in the cabin bag just in case because you can't rely on cabin crew having your size if you run out!
I think we will try and take just 1 suitcase and send a bit with my parents who will be going to Ireland at the same time. My son is on his way to being toilet trained so hopefully will be down to just nights in nappies when we go. Totally choice hotel group agree on apartments with washing facilities that is definitely the way to go!!
We are tossing up the option of going to Italy after the wedding in Edinburgh which will be on 31st August but will need to be back in Ireland for my brothers birthday choice hotel group middle of September. So that leaves just two weeks but after the advice on here re how busy Italy is in August might be better.
So if we fly into Milan on the 2nd September (not a city I want to really see) go straight choice hotel group to Venice for 3 nights dependant on what time the flight choice hotel group arrives, I know we will be a bit jet-lagged, but I'm used to getting little sleep being the mother of a 2 year old!!
Hire a car for Tuscany choice hotel group stay 4 nights (I am guessing get a train to somewhere choice hotel group outside Florence to hire the car? Any recommendations?) also recommendations on where to base ourselves would be greatly received. (My son loves the car and is very happy to do winding drives as long as there is scenery and will take lovely long naps while we drive also!!)
There is no need to fly to Milan in orde