milliebest

Does this sound feasible?
Fly to Rome - stay 5 nights.
Travel to Florence (Train I suppose? Which one? Book from USA or in Rome. How long a trip?)
Stay in Florence one week. Do side trip to Tuscany. The to Vencice. (Again, train? Which one? How far?)
Stay in Venice for one week and then do I:
Go back to Rome and stay overnight and fly back to US the next day or can I leave Venice in AM and fly out pm.? What is the best route from Venice to Rome airport?

Any suggestions of apartments in 3 locations?

Millie

suze

If you have not purchased your plane tickets yet I suggest buying an "open jaw" flight instead. Into Rome and out of Venice or the other way around. This saves needless time and cost of backtracking on the ground for a RT ticket in/out of the same place. The ticket costs are usually similar.

Tiff

Hi Millie,

I agree, fly into Rome, fly out of Venice.

Train times:

Rome to Florence = approx 2 hrs
Florence to Venice = approx 3 hrs

What a lovely amount of time in each city, I am jealous!

Best, Tiff

drbb

Definitely open jaw. You can get flights to NY, Atlanta, etc. out of Venice. My husband and I did this same itinerary several years ago. Booked express train from Rome to Florence and then from Florence to Venice (my travel agent made arrangements). Do this in the US before you go so that you have tickets in hand. You did not say when you were going but I would leave nothing to chance if you are traveling in high season. While in Florence, we got a car and traveled the Chianti road down towards Siena. Stayed at Borgo San Felice, a Relais & Chateaux property. We then did day trips to the hillside towns including Siena. It was gorgeous. Cannot recommend apartments but I highly recommend Hotel Hermitage, Piazza de Pesce in Florence which is right on the river near the Ponte Vecchio and the Hotel D'Inghilterra, Via Bocca di Leone 14 (near Soanish Steps) in Rome. We stayed at the Gritti Palace in Venice which is pricey. It was very nice for our first trip to Venice but I'd probably stay elsewhere on a 2nd trip. The Karen Brown guides are very good for hotels and B&Bs.

Enjoy!

Danacat

That is definitely a good amount of time in each city. Buy your train tickets in each city, at the machine's that say "Veloce". We found them really easy to use. From Rome you could day trip down to Pompeii (changing train in Naples). From Florence, you could do a wine tour (www.tuscantrails.com), or go to Siena by bus for for day (bus station is close to train station). Flying open jaw like Suze says is the best option. We flew back to Rome from Venice as opposed to the train. We didn't have the choice of open jaw.

TRSW

Check out www.sleepinitaly.com for apartments. I found a really good one (at least it seems good from the pictures) in the Piazza Navona area for 90 euro a night for my trip in October.

Tom

Patrick

Congratulations on having enough time to really enjoy this. Now, I'd say that I'd change it slightly. I'd reduce the time in Florence itself to either two or three nights, take a few nights off Venice and manage a week rental in Tuscany -- maybe Montepulciano or Pienza. While the three cities are wonderful, having a week of enjoying Tuscany would be heaven.

Add me to the list who says get an open jaw flight (into Rome and out of Venice) if at all possible.

sockboy

We bought our train tickets as soon as we got to Italy for the whole trip at the American Express office. No additional fee, English speaking and no line ups. You also save over buying before you leave.

btewalt

Hi Milliebest--
You've gotten some great advice so far. I agree with Patrick--take some time off of Venice and Florence and stay somewhere in Tuscany. We stayed in Montalcino after Rome, and before Florence. It was such a nice break to have between the two bigger cities. We rented apartments in Rome and Florence--both were in great, central locations, in secured buildings. As far as train tickets, we went to a travel agency in Rome to purchase our tickets. There is no charge for this service.
Here are the websites for where we stayed:
Rome--www.palazzo-olivia.it
Montalcino--www.gigliohotel.com
Florence--www.sleepinginflorence.com
Venice--www.casarezzonico.it

Enjoy your trip!!
b

tashak

I like the first plan rather than the Tuscan retreat...yes, Tuscany is nice. But only two days in Florence? Please! For art lovers, this means forgoing most of Firenze's amazing museums, churches and other delights. When we did the small town Tuscany thing, after a couple days, we got "bored" and decided to head back to Firenze. This is fine if you like hanging around in small towns or in a quiet countryside "relaxing" (oh dear, I can't imagine that if there is another museum to savor!)...but it is not for everyone or for every trip. In my mind a week just scratches the surface of Florence.

mamc

I agree with the suggestion to spend some time in Tuscany but would do it a bit differently. I would take two days from Florence and two from Venice and spend 4 days in Tuscany, in a hotel, not a rental property. As beautiful as Tuscany is, we always get antsy when we spend a week in one location and there is so much to see and do in Florence and Venice.

ira

Hi millie,

Nice trip.

I would fly into Venice and out of Rome: better connections, Venice is easier to get into the Italian way of doing things.

Take the train between cities. You can buy tickets online at www.trenitalia.com.

Click "promotions" to see if you can get reduced fare tickets.

Enjoy your visit.

Patrick

Isn't it funny how we look at things differently? While I normally agree with Ira, I always think of visiting Rome first and ending with Venice. One reason is I think the arrival at Venice airport and then getting to your hotel is far more daunting than an arrival in Rome. And while I love the frantic pace and activity of a visit to Rome, I prefer ending my stay with the calm, relaxing, romantic atmosphere that IS Venice.

Different strokes for different folks!

suze

agreeing with Patrick on the different strokes, i have to disagree with Rachel that there is "not enough to see for a whole week" in Venice. i could easily stay a month given the opportunity.