moosey9

My husband and I have booked the majority of our September trip. We are starting out in London, moving on to Paris and then flying in to Pisa.

My original plan was to take the train from pisa to florence after landing, and spending 4 nights in florence. Then, take the train to Rome and spend 3 nights there before flying home fom Rome.

I want to get your opinions or different itinerary recommendations on those last 7 nights of our trip. I don't want to change hotels more than once, and we have to end up in Rome to get home. How would you do it?

We are in our 20s/30s, have seen Florence and Rome for one day each on a cruise last year. We love food and wine. Love walking around, local markets, getting a feel for the culture. I love shopping. We won't be spending much time in museums. Ideally we don't want to rent a car. We are ok with doing a few day trips.

So... ? Stick with the plan? Choose Bologna instead of florence? Spend more time in Rome? Best day trips from these cities (or others you recommend)? Siena? You guys have helped me plan the trip thus far, I appreciate your input.

dugi_otok

Describe your days in Rome and Florence.

sandralist

What made you question your original plan? I could be happy spending all of the final days in any of the cities you mentioned -- although in Siena I would want a car -- so it is hard for me to suggest to you how to divide your time or whether to go here instead of there based on the few things you've said.

Many people feel a visit to Florence is mainly about museums, but for others it is really about all about shopping. You can visit Bologna on a day trip from Florence (just don't do on a Thursday afternoon, when most of the stores close). You can visit Siena as a day trip from Florence. But one of the big downsides of Florence is that the "local culture" is now almost entirely a tourist culture, and a not particularly well behaved one at that. It acts like an occupying army.

If food is a serious interest of you and your husband, in that you like to cook, and learn about historic handmade Italian food products, then staying in Bologna and visiting Modena, as well as Parma, and participating in food classes and countryside food tours can be incredibly rewarding. You can visit Florence as a day trip, or visit en route to Bologna from Pisa or on your way to Rome. Late September is a perfect time to have lunch in Ferrara and try their wonderful pumpkin pastas. Even though you aren't planning an art-focused vacation, a day trip to Ravenna is one of the great sights of Italy that wins applause from everybody who goes. One of the nicest things about staying in Bologna is that it gets very few tourists, most of whom spend all their time in one tiny part of town. The rest of the town has its own very distinct local urban culture, enlivened by 90,000 university students attending what is the oldest university in Europe.

Rome is a shopping mecca, with lots of original fashion artists maintaining shops there. There are restaurants with Michelin stars but also great pizza. You can walk around for days and days in the ancient neighborhoods of Rome and sit in a dozen different piazze, and never be bored, with so many great cafes and wine bars for people watching. Sure the tourists pack the sights and colonize the Vatican but the Romans really do own all the rest of it and they too enjoy being at the crossroads of the world.

So what is it you are looking for?

kybourbon

>>>have seen Florence and Rome<<<

You've only scratched the surface if you just visited these in a partial day off a cruise ship.

While you could find a location and stay one area, it depends on what you would actually like to do.

Since your flight departs from Rome and you don't want to rent a car, you would have to stay in Rome the whole time if you don't want to change hotels (you need to stay there the night before your flight departs).

farmgirl04

As I haven't been to Italy before, I have little advice to offer. We are traveling to Bologna at the end of September and there is a huge convention from the 22-25 or so which makes it very difficult to find good, affordable accomodations. We ended up booking an apartment, but that was at the end of last year some time. So if you are interested in Bologna at all, you should definitely check accomodation availability first for the dates you are traveling.

Jean

Unless you change your mind about renting a car, I like your original plan... 4 nights Florence, 3 nights Rome. You still won't see everything in either place, but you can make entry reservations for many things that are likely on your sightseeing list. Both cities will be crowded, but there are many day-trip options possible using public trans if you want to get away.

But if you rented a car, you could explore a large part of Tuscany and head to FCO the afternoon before your flight home. This would be a nice contrast to your days in London and Paris, and you can explore Rome, Florence, and other parts of Italy, on a future trip when you have more time.

moosey9

Thanks for the replies! It's not that I'm questioning my original plan, I just wanted to hear some other opinions before I finalize it to make sure I've done my research.

I do like the sound of Bologna and the culinary classes, etc. I also agree that spending more time in Tuscany is nice after coming from two major cities (London and Paris). However, I wouldn't want to spend an entire week there because I know we will get bored after a few days.

And to clarify, we are willing to move hotels once (ie hotel in Florence then move to hotel in Rome), I just didn't want any suggestions like stay in Florence for 2 days, bologna for 2 days, Siena for a day, Rome for 3, etc etc