dcm58

Apparently I am in a posting frenzy tonight! too scared about planning the "perfect" trip, I expect.

My family is travelling to Italy for 13 nights. Currently, we are flying into Venice (arriving at 4pm) and staying two nights, taking the train to Florence and staying three nights, taking the train to Rome (possibly with an afternoon side journey to Pisa just to see the tower) and staying in Rome for the remaining 8 nights. During our time in Rome, we have planned a day trip to Pompeii.

Is this itenerary reasonable for two couples - one in 30s and other in late 50s? Should I have less time in Rome?

Thank you!

tuscanlifeedit

dcm: A daytrip to Pompeii will be exhausting so think of that day as one not spent in Rome. And you may want to take it easy for part of the following day.

Basically I think I could go to Rome for a month and not be bored, so no, it isn't too much time.

But how much trouble would it be to add a night to Venice, or to stop somewhere on your way to Rome from Florence?

Florence to Arezzo to Rome is quite easy, and I like Arezzo.

Or Florence > Perugia > Rome

Or Florence > Assisi > Rome

The options are many.

Or taking two nights out of Rome, staying in Sorrento, visiting Pompeii, and returning to Rome?

dutyfree

There is never enough time for Rome!!!!!The daytrip on the train out of Termini is very doable in my opinion and a nice change of pace.Personally, I think that the length of the days is fine.

adrienne

Poor you...I feel the pressure you're under. I hate when I'm solely in charge of a trip.

I think you should give Venice another night since you'll only have 1 day there and it's so beautiful you'll be sorry to leave so soon.

For the Pompeii trip are you going with a tour group or on your own? If on your own you might want to go directly from Florence to Sorrento and stay 2 nights there, see Pompeii, and finish your trip with Rome. Pompeii as a day trip will be a very long and tiring day. It's 2 hours to Naples and then another half hour to Pompeii plus changing trains which will add another half hour so that's 6 hours traveling not counting the time to get from your hotel to the train station in Rome. Although you can nap on the train on the way back from Naples.

thursdaysd

You only have one full day for Venice, where there is enough to do to keep you occupied for at least a week, and which repays just wandering around. I would definitely take at least one day from Rome for Venice, better two.

bratsandbeer

I agree with others - stay at least 3 nights in Venice, train to Florence and stay 3 or 4 nights and go to Pisa and/or Lucca, San Gimangino, Sienna on day trips from Florence. From Florence you could train to Assisi or Orvieto and stay one night and then to Rome for the remainder of your nights.

We thought of Pompeii but it seems like a difficult day trip from Rome. You might be interested in Ostia Antica which is closer for a day trip.

Carta_Pisana

I agree with others - give more time to Venice - at least 3 (maybe even 4)

LoveItaly

Hello dcm58, don't be scared..you will have a wonderful time in beautiful Italy.

We all will have different suggestions of course.

Mine is that I would spend at least one more night in Venice so that you have two full days there without arriving or departing.

I would stay two or three nights in Florence and personally I would skip going to Pisa.

I would than go onto Rome and in that a visit to Pompeii is such a very long day from Rome I would skip that unless it is really important to you and your group. If you are all up to a long day than yes take one day (not the first day you arrive in Rome and not the day before you fly home from Rome) and train to Pompeii. And of course if not everyone wants to go to Pompeii those that want to can do so and the others can enjoy Rome. It is not necessary to be joined at the hip the entire trip.

Anyway, that is how I would schedule a trip and if you stay three nights in Florence and want to spend time while there seeing somewhere else I would train to Lucca or take the bus to Siena.

Three hotels for that length of a trip would be the maximum that I would want as checking into a hotel, out of a hotel etc. takes up precious travel time.

Sending you good wishes for a fabulous trip and I do hope after you get home and settled in you will post a trip report.

SusanP

dcm, it is not possible to have too many nights in Rome!

I have just returned from my 6th trip to Italy, during which I have spent a total of 45 days in Rome, and I have only taken 2 daytrips from Rome in that time. So you can see that I love Rome!

That said, as much as I love Rome and as much as there is to see there, I would take a night from Rome and add it to Venice. There's a lot more to see there than most people realize. So, 3 nights Venice, 3 nights Florence and 7 nights Rome. I might even take another night from Rome and add it to Florence and use that for a daytrip from Florence to a Tuscan town, especially if you think you won't get back to Italy any time soon.

dcm58

oh my! two hours and a flurry of knowledgeable posts already! thank you!

Yes, I am nervous about having the trip solely on my shoulders, but I do enjoy this . . . well, most times.

I think the concensus is that I have too little time in Venice. I think I will add a night in Venice, keep three nights in Florence and then have 7 nights in Rome. I have been to Italy once (the only one in my family that has), but that was on a two month backpacking trip across Europe, so the experience will be very different this time! At the time, Venice didn't make too much of an impression on me, whilst I loved Florence and Italy . . . I think I didn't give it the chance and will enjoy spending a bit more time there this year.

Unfortunately, Pompeii and Pisa are necessities. My father is mad about pompeii since seeing a museum exhibit on artifacts from there. As for Pisa, my husband did a "research paper" on it when he was nine and has always dreamed of seeing it (so cute)!

thank you, thank you!

LoveItaly

Your family sounds wonderful dcm58. With three nights for Florence you can go to Pisa (be sure to make the reservation if your husband wants to climb up the tower) and still have time to enjoy Florence. I am personally glad to read that you are seriously thinking of adding a third night in Venice.

And Pompeii..and your father's enthusiam for visiting there. Personally I would go with him as time with one's father is what beautiful memories are made of. You sound like you have a beautiful family dcm58..people that are full of enthusiam and spirit. Best regards.

quokka

It's impossible to have too much time in Rome.

Two nights in Venice, i.e. only your jet lag day (assuming you come from overseas) and nothing more, is, on the other hand, definitely too short.
So that decision is right. The Florence part will be a bit of a rush (Florence is another place where you cannot have too much time), but one has to make choices. Five days in Rome (7 nights = 6 days minus 1 for the day trip to Pompeii) are about minimum to start with, so I would not shorten that further.
A day trip to Pompeii from Rome will be a rat-race, I would not do that, but well, if you must...

Vttraveler

Much as I love Rome I agree with your decision to add the extra night in Venice
My husband, 16 year old son and I spent 8 nights in Rome last year (our third trip there, his first) with only one day trip to Ostia Antica. We still had a long list of things we would like to do next time.
We persuaded our son who has never been to Pompeii and really wanted to see it to save that for another trip. He reluctantly agreed that this made sense. We are hoping to take a trip to Pompeii and Herculaneum, Naples, the Amalfi Coast and Paestum next year.

One problem with the day trip to Pompeii approach that hasn't been mentioned is that most of the artifacts are in the archaeological museum in Naples, not in Pompeii. IMO it is hard/frustrating to see one but not the other.

As for Pisa, I don't think your husband will be disappointed with the Piazza dei Miracoli (tower, cathedral and Baptistery) It is really spectacular. And the sights you have wanted to see since age 9 hold a special mystique. (For me this would be the pyramids in Egypt) Our son was a little disappointed in the Circus Maximus which he had written about in 6th grade--he knew there wasn't anything left but somehow seeing the grassy track was still a let-down.

zeppole

Dcm,

Your feelings about Venezia may be correct! I hope your panicky feelings aren't making you now lurch away from what you all as individuals have said you wanted to do. (Personally, I think Venezia has become a miserable experience -- and I love the art there.)

Sure, your plans are quirky and idiosyncratic -- but you're going to have the personalized trip all of you want -- instead of the 3 + 3 + 5 off-the-shelf, A-student Italy trip for middle aged tourists everybody thinks is the required march.

But here's my only recommendation:

Please make sure that the artifacts that your father wants to see are in Pompeii -- and not the archeological museum in Napoli or Herculaneum, which is next to Pompeii, but requires a different train stop and a different ticket. On such a short trip, you will only have time for one venue. Make sure it's the one that has the things your Dad wants to see.

If he wants to really see Pompeii, the city, I highly recommend that you spend the night in Pompeii. It's huge. Really huge.

I think it's great your husband might get to fulfill a lifelong dream to see something he once wrote about that always stayed with him. If for some reason seeing it on the way to Roma doesn't work out, it can be done as a long day trip from Roma.

Have a great time.

thursdaysd

"(Personally, I think Venezia has become a miserable experience -- and I love the art there.)" - depends on when and were. St. Mark's Square in July - horrible - too hot and too crowded. But anywhere away from St. Mark's and the Rialto, or even St. Mark's in the off season - magical. Also, I'd recommend not just looking at art - two days is too short for the islands, but enough time for things like riding the vaporettos, just getting lost on the back streets, window shopping, seeing how the rich lived at the Ca' Rezzonico.

zeppole

Thursday,

If you got the impression I found Venezia a miserable tourist scene the last time I was there (in April) because "all" did was look at art, you got the wrong impression. Riding the vaporettos was unpleasant because of the crowds, just getting lost on the back streets has become a cliche -- everybody does it now, clogging up the back streets and to go transatlantic to window shopp in a tourist throng to me is skippable, especally in a country as rich as Italy with enjoyable things to do.

People who remember their time in Venice as magical think everybody should suck it up and steal time away from other places in Italy to go there -- even after people have said I've been and I like other places better.

When people tell you they didn't like being in Venezia, just accept it. Don't tell them they did the wrong things there. You like what Venizia has become. I'm highly uncomfortable there, and grieve that so much beautiful art is locked up there among 20 million people a year thinking its fun to just wander around, lost.

thursdaysd

"When people tell you they didn't like being in Venezia, just accept it." Equally, when people tell you they DID like being in Venice, why can't you just accept it? Chill.

The OP is willing to give Venice another try, I gave him/her some suggestions for things to do. And in November last year I had no trouble finding quiet places, in fact some parts of Dorsoduro were totally deserted after dark.

zeppole

sorry to be so un-chilly -- truly - but you didn't say that. You pulled a quote of what i said to DCM that made it seem that I didn't enjoy Venezia because all I did was look at art, and this was the wrong way to go about things.

Actually, I cannot think of a single reason to be in Venezia other than to see the art. There is better food, better magical strolling, better solitude, better shopping, better canals, and better you-name- it in other destinations, even ones close by.

DCM's reaction to having "everybody" tell her to steal time from destinations she's eager to revisit was, understandably, to worry she was making a mistake and think she ought to be willing to book more time in Venezia at the expense of other places. So I popped in there to say: "Think again! Your first instinct, based on your own experience, could very well be the right one for you."

Grassshopper

With that much time in Rome, have you thought about getting an apartment? That way you'll be able to spread out more and have more of a chance to come and go, breaking into various pairs or as a group. www.sleepinitaly.com worked well for me twice.

I hope your Dad has the chance to get his Pompeii experience. Maybe he could stay overnight in Naples and do both the site itself and the Archeological Museum in Naples.

thursdaysd

"Actually, I cannot think of a single reason to be in Venezia other than to see the art." Which is where we differ. I didn't go to Venice because of the art, and while I certainly looked at some, it wasn't the only, or even main, reason I had a wonderful five days there.

From my trip report (http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...tid=35096856): "... for me the absolutely best part of Venice was just wandering around, preferably away from the crowds and the shops (although I certainly spent time admiring the glass and the masks). Just as in London, where you never know what might be round the next corner or down the next alley, in Venice you might walk behind a palazzo or beside a narrow canal and find a tiny garden, a bright window box, a child’s toy, a quiet square, a hole in the wall in use as a boat garage, a quirky door knocker… Venice never bored me, and I found beauty everywhere."