Get a guidebook. Right now.

click on this link: http://www.fodors.com/search/results_community.html?search=BobtheNavigator

Thanks Pegontheroad, we do have one.
We wanted to know more from travellers PERSONAL experiences, not what guidebooks and websites inform.

(1) Our favorite thing was a tour of the Colisseum. Fascinating!
(2) We loved seeing the Sistine Chapel. Tip on that, tho...the Sistine Chapel is at the very end of the Vatican Tour. Vatican art is lovely, but unless you want to spend a couple of hours winding around looking at rooms and rooms of it, check out the "secret" shortcut to get to the Sistine Chapel (I think we read about it in Rick Steves). There are also tips on getting your tickets faster w/o waiting in the lonnnnnng lines.
(3)Google when the least busy time is at the Trevi Fountain (the "Three Coins in the Fountain" place). I'd had my picture made there decades ago and wanted another with my family. Sadly, we ended up there at dusk and it was crawling with tourists. We couldn't have thrown three coins without clonking a bunch of people in the face.
(4)One last thing. We took a hop on hop off bus tour and got an overview of the city. That was a great thing. We got to see the whole beautiful city! Even the parts we'd not gotten to visit.
Have a wonderful trip and congratulations on your anniversary!

Thanks uhoh_bused. I will be sure to check this out later this arvo. I'm finding these forums are having the most interesting information. I like the person views of fellow travellers; they're honest and insightful.

PERSONAL experiences are just that...personal. From complete strangers on the Internet whose interests might be totally at odds with yours. Useless without more information from you.

In order for anyone to make any sort of reasonable suggestions, at a minimum you need to lay out what you enjoy and don't enjoy doing, whether you want to spend all your time in Rome or venture out of it (and if so, to where?), and exactly how much out of that total budget you want to spend on accommodation and food per day.

I have to disagree with you a little bit StCirq. Before I go to a foreign city, I have no idea what to expect. I enjoy reading other peoples' experiences and tips. Sometimes they suggest or mention things I have not even thought of. I've gotten some great ideas I'd never dreamed of off these forums.

vintage40s; best reply yet. Thanks a lot. Love the tip about the Sistine Chapel "secret" shortcut, I'll be sure to keep this in mind! And yes, my husband has found some great websites that off the "escape the waiting line" you mentioned.
BEST TIP about the Trevi Fountain; I wouldn't have thought of that but yes of course, with TOP DESTINATIONS comes loads of tourists and we will certainly try to avoid the crowds where possible so checking least busy time is perfect, thanks!
We'll also make sure we do a city bus tour. We've read about them but so nice to hear your personal thoughts. Thanks a lot

One last tip and then Arrivederci! If you can, take an overnight trip to Venice... and be sure to venture to the nearby islands of Murano and Burano. Lovely and romantic!

Fab, will be sure to keep these in mind. Very kind of you to share. Thanks again vintage40s

I suggest you leave Rome right at the start and take the train to Venice, and stay for three nights. You will find it's much more enjoyable in the early mornings and late afternoons when the cruise ship hordes are gone.

Then take the train to Florence and stay for three nights. Don't miss the Bargello, a small museum with an interesting history and wonderful sculptures, and the Museum of the Works of the Duomo. Depending on the state of your knees, climb to the top of the Duomo. A wonderful experience but it involves hundreds of steps up and down. Read Brunelleschi's Dome before you go to appreciate the climb. Then take the train to Lucca (a very short trip). Spend three nights there, taking one day to go to Pisa. Lucca is surrounded by thick walls that now have a park on them. You can walk ir ride bikes around the town. The main piazza is oval in shape because it is built on the site of an early Roman amphitheater. We like it there because it is low-key and not as full of tourists.

Then go to Rome and spend the rest of your time there.

charnees, thanks for a great itinerary idea. We were considering staying in Rome, then moving on but I think I like your idea of coming back here and spending time before we go. You have certainly mentioned a few things I have not yet heard about so an keen to do research on these to find out more. Thanks a lot!

Just to show you how people differ, Charnees put forth a very good proposal but it really isn't what I would do in Florence. We all have differing "must sees". You should visit the Accademia to see Michelangelo's marvelous David. And take a bus to Fiesole, a 30 minute trip from Florence. It is a small hill town overlooking Florence and a lovely place to have lunch on the terrace overlooking the dome of the Duomo. I think instead of Lucca, a very nice place, I would spend the next few days in Siena and take day trips to a Tuscan hill town or two.

You haven't shared your likes and dislikes and you haven't told us when you plan to go.

Have fun planning. I hope you get some good ideas from this forum but be sure to do your own research, too.

Great to hear your differing opinions mamcalice, thanks. This is what these type of forums are all about and this is the type of information I wanted to hear. We all have different tastes but sharing our experiences is what its all about. We can learn so much from others adventures, so this is great.

For those of you keen to know our likes and dislikes as well as a rough outline of where we would like to go please see below:

We're is our late twenties, love adventure, good food, great wine, ancient history and are keen to see as much of Italy as possible in our short time.

Obvious places of interest for us to visit are Rome, Venice, Florence, Pompeii, Tuscany and Naples but we're keen to know more about those "lesser known" tourist hot spots.

Would also like to hear your opinions are about Milan - is this a must see or over rated?

I would have similar advice to mamcalice. We liked Siena far better then Florence. It's a beautiful city, very walkable and manageable (not overcrowded) with an amazing cathedral, great central 'square' called the Piazza del Campo, a central tower to climb offering terrific views of the region and a fascinating history of how the town evolved with their system of districts. They don't have the famous museums but the art in the church was amazing and you have options in Rome.

We thought Lucca was OK but it's in the opposite direction and there are many lovely hill towns in the Tuscany region near Siena if you want a smaller village although you'd need a car for a couple of days to get out and see them.

Keep in mind your traveling time too - for example, getting to Venice from Rome and back is going to chew up time (and the faster trains can be the more expensive option) so it depends on what kind of experience you want

Good luck!

1. Buy the Michelin Green book for Italy
2. Devour the book---especially the ratings for "must see" destinations in the front of the book.
3. From those, pick 5 destinations that most interest you.
4. Plan an itinerary for those 5---day by day
5. Come back after you have spent a minimum of 30 hours of personal homework so we can REFINE the details of YOUR trip.
6. Plan at least 3 trips to Italy in advance since you will return---we did---16 times. You will love Italy.

Thanks for the advice bobthenavigator. I have been reading a lot of your stuff today - very helpful. Great to have a personal response from you, cheers!
I will follow your advice and hunt down the book you've mentioned.
Will do my homework and be sure to update regarding itinerary plan once we have nutted out the basics - would be great to see what you think.

Thanks DAlbertson, interesting to hear you are also more keen on Siena then Florence; I like the idea there are less crowds there.
Good note about travel time. Will be sure to take this into account! Cheers!

I would strongly suggest you plan to hire a car for 2-3 days when you are in Florence or Sienna,and take off to the smaller towns in S.Tuscany or Umbria.You will see exquisite landscapes and gorgeous towns you can peacefully explore.If you decide to do that,any number of us can suggest our most favorite "places in-between"

charness makes a very good suggestion. We do that often. Get on the train and head to Venice. I assume you arrive in Rome in the morning and your hotel room is not going to be ready for you to check in. You will be very tired and jet lagged, so why not use the time on the road and get it out of the way? Keeping Rome for last, will be also very convenient for your flight out, as you will not have to travel between places immediately or the day before the flight.

If it's not been suggested already, I suggest that you make reservations for places that you intend to visit but may be booked on days you are there. For example, if you plan to see David or visit Uffizi in Florence, or Galleria Borghese in Rome, you may have to wait in long lines if you don't have a reservation.

I know that the folks that have been responding mean well, but the suggestions that you travel from city to city and rent a car indicate to me that they did not look at the budget you have for your two weeks. Travel, even in Italy is not cheap. Every time you pick up sticks and move it will cost you both money and time. My suggestion is you limit yourself to one or two cities, and use them for a base to visit area sites by public transport.


I might also suggest you consider an apartment, rather than a hotel to save money. VRBO http://www.vrbo.com/vacation-rentals/europe/italy is one resource. An alternative might be Airbnb http://www.airbnb.com/ My wife was just in Milan, and found a charming, clean, room for less than $50 USD/night.

My best advice is to get cracking to nail down your reservations right now. You have left it awfully late. Many of us on this board book things many months in advance, as the good places fill up fast.

The green Michelin guide is not my favorite guidebook for Rome. For someone in their late twenties(my kids are the same age) I hate to say it,I would recommend Rick Steves as it is definitely more for a lower budget crowd with alot of options for hotels,restaurants,etc. Rick has good tips and handwritten maps for all of the "must sees" of Rome.And yes, I say this as someone who still looks at his books even though I am there every month for work!
I think that you are going to have a difficult time getting a place to stay with your budget for two weeks.Most of the two and three star hotels (read budget) are already booked as the tourist season is in full swing but do check Rick's book. My favorite in Rome is the Hotel Aberdeen on via Torino which is listed in Fodors,Frommers,Rick Steve's and in the top 10 on Tripadvisor-reasonable,free internet and breakfast,very helpful staff to help you plan and in a great area to walk,bus or metro.Have fun!

The Pope sits in audience in St. Peter's Square on Wednesday morning/early afternoon. This means that you can't visit the Basilica while he is there (I ended up seeing the Pope instead, and tacked the Basilica onto the last day in Italy). My trip report is here: http://www.fodors.com/community/europe/5-weeks-in-europe-with-my-grandmother-the-report.cfm . You will have to scroll down a bit to get to the Italy portion. I and my Grandmother were with a tour group, but the trip report is lively and has excellent descriptions of all the places we visited. A couple of the best places we visited were:

Venice. Venice is the ultimate romantic city in Italy.
The island of Capri.
Positano on the Almalfi Coast.

Tips:
The word Prego is the correct reply to most things. (Grazie means Thank You)
The "Yellow Ticket-Stamp Machines" at the train stations look very different to what you'd expect. If you don't see them, ASK someone who actually speaks English.
News-stands don't sell maps.
Assisi is amazing!

My husband, adult son and I visited our daughter May 2011, she studied in Perugia for 6 months. In Rome we stayed at Residenza Cellini--wonderful rooms, great location not too far from the train station, and the staff was GREAT! We walked all over Rome, from our hotel to the Vatican to Trevi, to Spanish Steps, Colosseum, Pantheon. Get a map of the city and go.
I bought our Vatican tickets for the tour on line before we left.--so glad the line of non-ticket holders was unbelieveable!! Yes the Sistine Chapel is at the end but there is an abundance of art-- ancient to modern to see throughout... there was a special show of Faberge Eggs we got to see.
Also we spent a week in Cinque Terre and stayed in the middle town of Corniglia. Paths to hike from town to town, shops, beach, the real highlight of our trip. We used Arbaspaa Tours. They were speedy in their replies to my questions, helped us find a place to stay in our budget. It was beyond our expectations. Good luck, no matter what you do it will be wonderful.....eat gelato every day!!

Some tips and photos for the Rome bit:

http://www.fodors.com/community/europe/rome-with-kids-blog-photos.cfm

Good luck.

Some good advice here but the most logical so far is from nukesafe.
Look at your budget first.

Just looked and your dollar seems on par with USD. Unfortunately one of our $ is equaling up to .77 in Euros. If you go with the higher end of your budget that only gives you $171. or about 132. euros per day. Not a lot to be staying in places like Venice, taking trains, food and lodging, taxes, etc.

As said, check out lodging first. Airnb, hostels and books like Lonely Planet. Then look to see what's available. Italy books up quickly unless it's off season.
Once you've honed in on which cities you can afford then come back with a budget and ask for things that can be done with your budget constraints. You'll get tons of suggestions.
You'll also be educating those who are looking for less costly lodging.
Good luck.

Forgive me. I messed up on your budget. Going with the top end of your budget you can double all of the above. Much more doable but you'll still need to watch where your spending your money. Do look at the pricing on trains, average meals (none are cheap), admission fees, etc. when figuring your daily allotment.
In my case I had to eliminate certain cities like Venice b/c staying there would have eaten too much of my budget.
That said, there are places to stay outside of Venice that are easier on the pocket.

Just looked and your dollar seems on par with USD. Unfortunately one of our $ is equaling up to .77 in Euros. If you go with the higher end of your budget that only gives you $171. or about 132. euros per day. Not a lot to be staying in places like Venice, taking trains, food and lodging, taxes, etc.>>


don't want to argue with cybor, but I work out that the OP has twice that - they have a budget of AU$2000-2,500 PER WEEK ie AU$ 5000 which works out at about AU$333 or €250/day. not lavish, but enough for accommodation of about €100/night.

RK - the main question from me is - do you want to see the countryside, or to concentrate on cities. if the latter, you could do the following:

Day 1 - arrive in Rome. catch train to Venice. stay 3 nights

Day 4 - train to Florence - stay 3 nights.

Day 7 - train to Naples - stay 4 nights

Day 11 - train to Rome - finish trip.

if you want to see the countryside, on day 4, instead of getting the train, pick up a hire car and drive to an agriturismo [farm with accommodation and usually a restaurant] in Tuscany or Umbria, and spend 3 nights there. then drive to the amafi, and tour for 3-4 nights. finally return your car and get the train to Rome.

annhig. Very true. Please read my second post.

From an Australian perspective _ may be of interest.
http://www.fodors.com/community/europe/venice-a-sort-of-trip-report.cfm

cybor - when i posted, your 2nd post wasn't there. [I've noticed that a lot recently, even though the times of our posts are quite far apart - in this case 10 mins or so]

Glad we agree about the maths!

Yep, you are both right about the budget. I got the exchange rate right, but missed the "a week" part. Even so, I stick by what I said; frequent change of location, and transport costs do eat into whatever budget one has.

If I were as young as this charming couple I think I would opt for really basic accommodations, public transportation, and only a few locations, so I would not have to skimp so much on good food and an occasional splurge.

Again, get movin' kids! You don't want to miss out on this trip of a lifetime that will do a lot to shape how the rest of your married life will develop. I know that my first trip with my "final" wife was to the mountains of Mexico, where we traveled "my way", i.e., no reservations, and with the chickens and pigs on local buses. In that three weeks of rough travel we had zero fights (yes, that's right -- zip, nada, none), and the rest is wonderful history.

I have been to several places in Italy and can say from my personal experience that Rome and Amalfi coast (Positano particularly) are my favorites by far. Rome is so fascinating and there are so many things to do you can easily spend a week there. Galleria Borghese, Colliseum, Pantheon, Vatican, Piazza Navona, Trevi Fountain, Spanish steps and the list goes on. If you are on a budget, it may be wise not to move around too many times. Tuscany is beautiful and you can't go wrong there either but you really need to rent a car and travel around quite a bit to see it all. I am not sure of your interest outside of Rome but it is awe inspiring and needs at least five days in my opinion. We walked everywhere we went and stopped in daily for espresso, ate at inexpensive and expensive restaurants and can say we have never eaten better food regardless of the price. You will not be disappointed.

I just returned from Italy and definitely suggest buying tickets in advance for any attractions whenever possible. I did extensive research and bought tickets ahead of time and it paid off, as the lines were so long for people who bought tickets the day of. If you have time, try to plan a day or half-day trip to Chianti while in Florence. The Tuscan countryside is beautiful and worth seeing. We walked everywhere and it was great way to see each of the cities - Venice, Florence and Rome. In Rome, the Metro is very easy to navigate so definitely use it when you can. We used TrenItalia to travel between the cities and it was a good experience. I bought tickets in advance and was able to save money with the advance web fares. Italy is amazing - hope you have a great time!