venice

My husband and I are going to Italy for 8 days in March and only have 3 days in Florence. If you were in our shoes, how would you spend your time in florence? There are so many places to go see that we want to make sure that we spend our time there right. Thank you.

ira

Hi V,

Have yu looked up the miniguide to Florence under "Destinations"?

mamc

As Ira recommends, go to the Florence "Destinations" page on Fodors. There is a "Best in 3 Days" itinerary. It has very good suggestions. I would spend at least one breakfast or lunch each day sitting in the Piazza della Signoria in a cafe watching the passing scene. About the only thing I do not agree with in the "Destinations" itinerary is the suggestion on the 3rd day that you skip the Boboli Gardens. By all means visit the Boboli Gardens and walk to the very top from where you can see a lovely view of the Tuscan countryside. As you leave the gardens, don't miss the statue of Bacchus. It is truly gross but one of my favorites, nonetheless.

venice

Thank you for the suggestions. I have also been told to try to take day trips go to sienna, pisa, etc while in florence. What are your thoughts on that?

Statia

With only three days in Florence, I personally wouldn't take any day trips. We were there four days and still didn't see everything we wanted to.

tcreath

I think taking daytrips will depend on what you are planning on doing there. We spent three days in Florence and even with the daytrip to Siena I felt like we were there too long. However, we aren't really into art, so we spent very little time in the museums. If you are an art lover, I would count on spending the three days in Florence.

Tracy

ira

Ditto, TC

fishee

Went to a very nice trattoria (TRATTORIA IL CONTADINO Via Palazzuolo 69-71r) in Florence -- this little place is packed with locals and tourists alike due to great food and prices -- 3 courses (primi, secondi, contorni) plus glass of house wine and water for dinner was only 10.50 Euro! Gnocchi and roasted potatoes were excellent and I loved my grilled filet of salt cod although I was the only person under 60 in the place to order this -- baccala, I think, but without tomato sauce. Order this if you love saba or mackerel. Dessert is extra -- had a great tiramisu and cantucci. Had 4-5 selections for each course which was impressive given the price. A group of old Italian locals from the neighborhood chatted us up, was lots of fun. Helps if you have some basic Italian menu language skills here since there's no tranlated menu and the selections are given to you verbally. Even on a weeknight in February, we had to wait 20 minutes for a table at 8 pm. Lively yet intimate little place. The roast beef bolito sandwiches at Nerbone in the Mercato Centrale were the best! (dipped in au jus and ask for hot peppers). Totally hectic atmosphere with local workers getting their lunch here for around 3 E.

Eloise

For a very good three-day schedule to see Florence, go to

http://travel.timesonline.co.uk/arti...130271,00.html

But skip the Enoteca Pinchiorri unless you want to spend lots and lots of money for flower bouquets in the ladies' room...

sandi_travelnut

You could take a very quick trip to Vinci and visit the museum of Leonardo's incredible inventions....and the city itself it tiny and beautiful.

venice

Thank you all for your responses. Also was trying to see if I can take a day trip from Rome to Naples/Pompeii, however only have 3 full days in rome and not sure if it would allow us to finish seeing everything in rome in 2 days..

Eloise

With all due respect, you will not even BEGIN "seeing everything in Rome in two days," let alone finish doing so...

I would suggest that you skip Naples and Pompeii on this trip. In any case, you could not do justice to both in a single day.

ira

Hi V,

A day trip to Pompei from Rome is a verrrrry loooooooooong day.

With only 3 days in Rome, it is not recommended.

If you give us your itinerary we will be better able to help you.

tcreath

I absolutely agree with Eloise and Ira. On our first trip to Rome we had four days and used one of them to go to Pompeii. While Pompeii was fascinating (and I personally think the trip from Rome to Pompeii in one day is very doable), Rome is a fabulous city full of things to do and see. I highly suggest you spend the three days in Rome.

Tracy

tcreath

By the way, if you feel you would really like to see a ruined town, check out Ostia Antica. It can be easily reached from Rome via public transportation within about an hour. Its much less crowded, very interesting, and you can do it in about half a day.

I still probably would suggest spending the whole time in Rome, but Ostia is an option.

Tracy

venice

thank you all...so much to see and very little time it seems. We would rather go to fewer places if needed but see everything properly...our itinerary is 3 days in rome, 3 days in florence, and 1.5 days in venice..

AnneO

fishee, that place sounds great...I'll try it out in March

Anne

bradykp

Just for reference, i was in Rome for 5 weeks straight, with one weekend trip to Florence, a day trip to Ostia Antica, a day trip to the National Park east of Rome, a day trip to Pompeii, and a day trip to Anzio (small costal town).

So that's 5 weeks minus 4 days.

I didn't see anywhere near everything in Rome. one thing i did get to do was see a lot of the little things no tourist will ever see unless they stumble upon it.

Piazza Bologna is where i lived, which is a bit out of the center of town. i got to see a lot of the outskirts which was great.

anyways, i digress, point is, you won't ever see everything in rome in one trip, it's just not possible.

pompeii is certainly worth seeing, and you can dedicate 1 full day to seeing it. You can't really do naples/pompeii in one day trip in my opinion, that's an overnighter. Not much to see in naples, as it is dirty and crime ridden, but the food is great (pizza and pastries and cookies!). naples makes a nice stopping point for a tour of the amalfi coast, capri, ischiia, pompeii, sorento, etc....


in otherwords, you can plan a trip around that area, and start in rome if you'd like.

i'd concentrate on florence and rome on this trip. venice will be ok in 1.5 days, but you could use more time.

florence you'll make a dent in with 3 full days. boboli gardens were just amazing and serene, a very nice highlight to my weekend trip there. i highly recommend it if the weather is nice and you want to relax.

enjoy!