Dreaming of a villa vacation in Italy with pristine countryside views in every direction, a plethora of incredible outdoor spaces for lounging, kid-friendly luxury hotel quality interior design, and exceptional service? Sound too good to be true? It usually is as the Italian villa rental market in Tuscany is tricky with thousands of seemingly good options and just a handful of truly exceptional homes, particularly when you add kids to the mix.

We struck gold this summer when I booked Podere Palazzo, located deep deep in the countryside where the regions …

Self-catering apartments and villas are ideal accommodations when traveling with kids in the countryside of Italy. The only downside is that if there is no onsite restaurant available, the meal hassle-factor grows exponentially.

Here’s why:

1. Villages are rarely walkable from rural apartments and villas in Tuscany. Even if the accommodations are within walking distance, these are not roads that are kid-friendly, particularly at night. Think no sidewalks, no lights, blind corners …

Villa, home, cabin, apartment and/or condo—where you go may change what it’s called and what it looks like—however, the process to find and rent independent accommodations for family vacations is the same.

There are two main sources on the Web for rental inventory: 1) direct-from-owner-sites like VRBO/HomesAway/Airbnb.com (the list of options is exploding) and 2) rental agencies who facilitate rentals and services on behalf of the owner.

The title of this post is a bit misleading because it implies that every friend is a good candidate for sharing a vacation home. I’d argue this is not the case—just because you are great friends at home doesn’t mean you are a good match to share a rental.

When I organized villa rentals for families as part of our Italy trip planning service, there were several occasions when families didn’t get along on the road and it tarnished the vacation for everyone.

I’m happy to report that we had a fantastic experience at our VRBO-rented farmhouse in the Dordogne region of France last month. After a thorough and thoughtful search …

VRBO (Vacation Rentals by Owner) has become a go-to resource for people booking independent vacation rentals. I just confirmed a villa in the Dordogne (France) found on VRBO …