dscan99

I posted earlier about this and got a lot of great feedback which has led me to decide about location. We plan to go to Rome and Florence and have about 9-10 days Nov 24-Dec 3rd. Is it better to land in Rome and then take the train to Florence and fly back home from Florence or the other way around?

How do I break up the journey.. 5 days in Rome and 4 days in Florence?

Our anniversary is Nov 30th so looking for a special restaurant in either city (we are vegetarians)

Also would love some hotel suggestions that are in central location in both cities, close to the sights. We don't plan on renting a vehicle, just walking and using public transportation.

What tourguide book would you recommend i buy?

Thanks again, I love this forum!

tuscanlifeedit

Where are you coming from? For me, flying in and out of Florence isn't easy, but you may have a different situation.

If you can do either, without more connections, I say fly into one and out of the other, and it doesn't much matter which.

5 days in Rome and 4 in Florence sounds perfect.

Guide book? Lordy, I have them all. What are your interests? I would get them all from the library and see which you like best, or spend an hour browsing in a good bookstore.

A nice place to begin is on the website here, using Fodor's destination guides for each city.

dscan99

Thanks tuscan.

We're flying from Dallas, TX.

Should I be bringing heavy winter clothing for that time of year for both these cities?

My interests are visiting some sights, eating at some nice local cafes (we're vegetarian but I've heard Italy is very vegetarian friendly), wine tour, maybe a cooking class.. A book that's easy to follow, and good for a first timer.

bobthenavigator

It can be chilly and wet that time of year---I would dress in layers and include rain gear.
I suggest the Michelin Green book for Italy as a start. You will get dozens of answers if you search above for " Rome Hotels"---or Florence. Why not include Siena for 2 days?

scatcat

I know you will have plenty to do and see, but maybe you can find the time to visit Orvieto. It's not far from Rome, but I did it as a day trip from Florence by train and then up to the town on a funicular. Also, I was really happy with my trip to Siena and San Gimignano. For me it's nice to get out of the big cities for a few hours. There's just never enough time to see everything that I want to. PS I'm also from Texas.

jscarbary

We were in Florence in April. We stayed at Il Guelfo Bianco and it seemed central to us. We were only there for Wednesday and Thursday. It was a very nice hotel and the breakfast was fabulous. We spent 5 days before and 2 days after Florence in Rome. I can recommend the fast train between the two. It was a 90 minute trip.

dscan99

Thank you for your responses scatcat and jscarbary.

1) As far as location of hotel in Rome, we are thinking either near the Coloseium or Forum (ancient Rome) or near the Termini. Are these decent areas of the city in terms of safety as well as proxmity to sights? I would like some suggestions near these places. We plan on use the train and walk.. no car.

2) How is Florence in terms of public transit? Where should we be staying .. again we would like to stay in as central location as possible to avoid much commute.

3) I would also love to hear your suggestions on good restaurants/cafes that offer vegetarian food in both these cities.

We booked our air tickets yesterday, so we're super excited now!

annhig

hi dscan,

1. i suspect, but don't know, that you will not be able to fly into or out of florence - but whatever you are going to do you need to get on it soon as your arrival date is less than 6 weeks away.

2. if you end up flying into and out of Rome, do consider getting the train straight to Florence and staying there first. Then your time in Rome won't be split up at the beginning and end of the holiday, and you'll be in the right place for travelling home. you could always stop off in Orvieto on your way from florence to Rome.

3. please think again about where you are planning to stay in Rome. IMHO you want to be near the piazza navona/campo die fiori areas. this is because they are the most central, and if not the nicest, certainly amongst them. Termini is not great to be near and can be a bit dodgy at night - a relevant consideration in December when it will get dark very early. The colosseum area is ok, but you will probably only want to visit it once in your stay - whereas there is loads to see and do round the piazza navona/campo dei fiori, plus loads of great restaurants too.

kybourbon

1. Part of the area between the Forum and Termini is known as Monti. There are quite a few hotels withing a few minutes walk from the forum in Monti. From Termini, it is one metro stop (Cavour). What is your price range?

2. By train, 90 minutes.

nytraveler

In Rome I would stay near the Piazza Navona or the Pantheon - more central than near the Colosseum (esp for the Vatican/St Peters) and more pleasant than near the train station. (Some blocks there are OK and some not so pleasant.)

To get useful hotel recos it would really help to have a budget - and confirmation that you are talking about 2 people.

dscan99

Our budget is around 100Euros, maybe a bit more a night and for 2 people.

Thanks for the recommendation about the Piazza Navona and Monti areas. How far is the Colosieum and Forum from here.. both walking and train?

kybourbon: I meant, is Florence is easy to get around on foot or does the have a train system like Rome?

I'm also looking for Florence neighbourhood and hotel suggestions.. As of now we are thinking of a train trip there towards the end of our trip.

Nov24-Nov 28: Rome.
Nov 29 or 30th-Dec 2 : Florence, train on morning of 29th.
Take night train back to Rome on Dec 2.
Stay in hotel near Rome airport
Dec 3 morning- flight back home.

charnees

Florence, at least the Centro Storico (historic center) is so small you can walk across it in half an hour at most. Neighborhood is barely relevant except if you are north or west of the train station (SMN or Santa Maria Novella) you will have farther to walk to the main attractions. There are buses, although we have only taken one in about ten trips to Florence, when we stayed in an apartment up on the hill above the Boboli Gardens. You might want to take a bus up the hill to Piazza Michelangelo to see the view of the city, Or way up the other way to Fiesole (fee ay zo ley), where there are also some great views and an ancient Roman amphitheater. A nice place to have lunch, by the way.

For you, as a new visitor, I think Rick Steves's books will be just fine.

annhig

ref how far Monti and the piazza Navona are from the Colosseum/forum, if you stay in the Monti area, you can walk, if you stay in the piazza navona area, you could walk or catch a no 45 or 60 bus.

but if you stay in Monti, you'll have to catch the bus all the other days to get to the rest of Rome, whereas if you stay in the piazza Navona area, you'll be able to walk to more places. I know whereof i speak - the first time we stayed in Rome, we rented an apartment in via die serpenti [which runs between via Cavor and via Nazionale] and started off by walking everywhere, but our feet soon taught us a lesson, and we learnt to use the buses as much as possible.

the 2nd time we stayed in an apartment near piazza Navona and were able to walk to most places we wanted to see without getting such sore feet.

ellenem

Please consider the suggestion of others to put all your days in Rome together. This will eliminate the wasted time changing hotels from Rome to Florence and back to Rome. Also, you can stay in Rome the night before your flight rather than at an airport hotel--a taxi or train/bus in the morning is fine. I suggest:

Nov 24: fly into Rome; take train immediately to Florence
Nov 24-27: Florence (4 nights)
Nov 28: morning train to Rome
Nov 28-Dec 2: Rome (5 nights)
Dec 3 - flight home.

jgg

Agree with others that most central places to stay are near Pantheon or Piazza Navona area. We stay near the Pantheon and walk everywhere - though took taxi to the Vatican, because meeting our guide so early.
Florence is very compact and walkable.
One restaurant in Rome and Florence that would have great vegetarian options is Obika. It is a mozzerella bar. They now have locations in NYC, LA and Toronto, but the original is in Rome.(http://www.obika.it/english/locations.html)

dscan99

Thank you.... It is so encouraging seeing all your helpful suggestions.

You know ellenem, my husband was strongly advocating your itenerary even before you suggested and I vetoed him LOL and now I think it makes more sense to go straight to Florence.. and spend the second half of our trip in Rome. We have some Marriott points we could use, potentially in Florence.

jgg- the mozzerella bar sounds interesting. I'm going to post a separate thread on vegetarian friendly restaurants. Thank you.

dscan99

OK, few more questions

1) Where is the best logical place to get the Roma pass when we get to Rome? I read somewhere it can't be bought online.

2) Is it required to be dressed up (by american standards) to eat at most places in Italy? How casual is appropriate.. eg are sweatshirts and blue jeans ok?

3) Are taxis common? Are they expensive? (if we decide to cab it instead of taking the bus )

ssander

Another possibility is south of the Pantheon - between it and the River. Walking distance to many places as well as across the River to Trastevere, a nice strolling neighborhood with decent restaurants.

In Rome walking is definitely the best way to get around - - even the buses often have difficulty in the traffic. The times we were there, we had this weird experience where everything was closer than it seemed on the map -- we frequently walked past a street we were looking for because it came upon us so soon. Plus, as you walk, you'll find a lovely piazza with a fountain about every other block - it's wonderful!

SS

raincitygirl

Agree with ssander that walking is the best way to get around and you seem to see so much that way, however, you asked about cabs, so yes, there are lots of cabs, and no, I didn't find them expensive.

As to how dressed up you have to be to eat out, well, that depends on where you plan to eat, and what you are comfortable wearing. And there have been many threads on this forum about what to wear in Europe with many opinions!
If you are eating in pretty casual places then you will be fine in jeans,not sure about the sweatshirt but many people here will tell you "wear whatever you want as long as you are clean."
It has been my experience that people in Europe generally are better dressed than the average North American. Yes, they wear jeans but they are more fitted, not sloppy.

jscarbary

As far as dressing for dinner, remember "restaurante" is more expensive, "osteria" was a little less expensive (that was our experience, anyway) so you might want to dress a little nicer than a sweatshirt. We wore jeans most days but they were nice (no holes) and no t-shirts. We didn't feel out of place (under or over-dressed) in any of the places where we ate.

We walked everywhere in Rome, we stayed on the Via del Corso near the Vittorio Emanuele II Monument and loved the location.