1 Day in Venice - Worth It?
 

My husband and I are taking a cruise this summer out of Civitavecchia. We bought our plane tickets already and we are arriving in Rome Friday morning and embark on Monday evening.

For the past 6 months, I've been planning on spending 3 days in Rome. Recently I had the bright idea to see if we could maybe squeeze a trip to Venice in. We can if we take an overnight train Saturday, get there Sunday morning, stay the night and take an early morning train on Monday to the port.

The cost is about the same since not staying in a hotel on Saturday offsets the train ticket costs.

But is it worth all the hassle for just one day in Venice? Will we be able to really enjoy it? I must say I've always dreamed of seeing Venice, but I'm afraid we'll be so exhausted from squeezing 3.5 days in Rome to 1.5, then spending a night on a train (I also don't want to get burnt out before our 12 day cruise). And this will be my hubby's first time in Europe, we don't speak Italian, and we've never been on a train. Will we be able to get ourselves there and back?

I need your expert opinions before I spend a bunch of time and effort completely replanning this portion of the trip. Thanks!

hi, shey,

the short answer is No!

don't do it. There is soo much to do and see in rome, and you have so little time there anyway, to waste so much of it going back and forth to Venice seems criminal.

we had 6 days in Rome last year and barely scratched the surface.

not being rude, but if you can afford a cruise, you're likely to be back. Save Venice for another time, and give yourselves the real treat of staying put in Rome.

you'll kick yourselves if you try to squeeze in Venice this time.

regards, ann

I wouldn't bother. You'll barely scratch the surface of Rome in 3 days. A day in Rome can be done, but not enjoyable. It is like a tourist marathon. Rome is a wonderful city but it is also exhausting. When you are pressured to fit in all the sites in 1.5 days it is even moreso.

Enjoy the time you have in Rome and Save Venice for another trip when you'll have more time to enjoy it as well.

I suppose you could see Piazza San Marco and quite a few pigeons, but the best part of seeing Venice is walking the back streets and getting "lost". The thought of being under the pressure of trying to do everything in one day would defeat the purpose of the visit. You'd be better off renting a video and not going to all the effort. If you actually do go to Venice for one day, you could say you've been to Venice, but you almost certainly will not have seen Venice. Better to spend the day in Rome. See the Galleria Borghese, Trastevere, the tombs of the Popes and St. Peter's. Skip the Fontana Di Trevi, Sistine Chapel, the Roman Forum, and the Colosseum. The first two are overcrowded. The other two are boring. Three days is hardly enough to see Rome. Why rush through just to take a peek at Venice. Doesn't make sense.

i spent 4 days in rome and saw so much and i could spent another 40 days and not seen everything. it depends on what you do in rome, if you go to st peters and the vatican museum that will take one complete day, the waiting in line and going through it all.
then there is so much to see in rome.
venice is particular, one day, maybe 2 is more than enough. its different and unique. but if you want to see rome you will need more than 3 days. we spent 4 days and i mean all day from 9am to 9pm walking, taking the bus, eating, seeing the sights etc. and i still could have stayed to see more.

Another vote for saving Venice for another time.

You could spoil a visit to Rome by cutting the time too short, have an unsatisfactory quick look at Venice, give yourself extra trouble, and make a sizeable dent in your holiday budget.

Thanks everyone for your help. That's the way I was leaning but just needed confirmation that it was the right choice.

I agree with everything said here, and would like to add that time goes by differently in Italy.
I can't exactly say that it goes by faster or slower in Italy, because it does both.
But what is certainly true is that trips to Italy work the best when you allow plenty of time. If you plan less "to do's" on your trip, you will enjoy Italy more. Tripling or even quadrupling the amount of time you would normally allot per city here in the States should give you enough room for comfort and trip "accomplishment". Italy afficionados will understand what I mean!
Have a wonderful trip!
Cheers,
Ellen

Plus I wouldn't rely on an Italian train to get you across the country for your cruise departure the same day. Strikes happen!

Save Venice for another time.

1 day, one hour, 1 minute in Venice is worth it - the world's most serenely gorgeous city.

But only in your scenario if you'll never get back to Italy again. Otherwise, like a scrumptious dessert, save it for later.

I would also suggest saving it for another trip. It's a bit of a journey even on the Eurostar. Also, once you get there, you'll be sad that you don't have more time to explore... Why not go back next year? =)

I think it all depends upon your preference. We just got back from a trip from Rome/Florence/Venice (in one week no less!).

Venice, by far, was our favorite city. Our experience was that it was far cleaner and more "italian" (ie you feel like you're in Italy) than Rome. Rome, IMO, felt like NYC with a bunch of ruins scattered through it. I'm not a history buff so ruins were neat to see, but if you may never return back to Italy, I would *definitely* do Venice. I had a friend do a tour and he and his wife only did Venice in one day and they still thought Venice was their favorite.

I have to agree with the last poster that Venice is really a very, very special city!

You can get a very false and negative impression of Venice if you go as a "day tripper". I did it twice and although I enjoyed the experience, the city did not GRAB me the way it did others.

Last spring, I went back for 4 days (still not long enough) and was finally seduced by its charms.

I love Venice and can't imagine not seeing it. However, for such a short period of time I would only do it if you are absolutely sure you will never be back again and this is your only chance to see it in your entire lifetime. Venice should be savored, not rushed through like a theme park. I would plan a second trip and make Venice the centerpiece so that you can wander and really get to know this charming city.

Have to agree with everyone else. Venice is amazing but you can't do it justice in a day. It would be like taking a bite of the most magnificant piece of chocolate and not only were you restricted to one bite, but you had to spit it out without being able to digest it. Stick to to Rome and save Venice for another trip.

Author: Henda
Date: 05/17/2007
I am furious. I have organised a trip to Europe for my boss and now he wants to return a day earlier because in half a day he's seen Venice. Can you believe it!!

I always love these questions. Can you fully see and experience Venice in a day? Of course not.

Is one day in Venice better than NO days in Venice. Of course so.

We ran into my partner's dematologist and his wife and three young children in Venice two years ago. They spent a week in a villa somewhere near Lake Garda and only got to Venice for a day. Venice is all they can talk about -- their favorite part of a two week trip to Italy.

If you have longer -- stay longer, but please don't avoid going to Venice because you ONLY have one day.

I agree with those who made the point that Venice is always worth seeing -- if only for one hour! It is so magical, and so totally different from any other city in the world, that no words can actually trasmit the experience. Besides if you took the sleeping car from Rome, you would arrive perfectly rested -- sleeping cars are a very civilized ways of traveling -- and fit for the fight!! By all means, go for it.

The one thing to keep in mind is that since travel time is so limited, every choice one makes involves compromise. Yes, Venice is spectacular and all else being equal is easily worth a day if that is all you can spare. However, all is not equal, as the OP only has 3 days total to see Rome <i>and Venice.</i>

The real question is not whether Venice worth visiting with only one day (I think it is), but whether Rome can be seen in 1.5 days <b><i>enjoyably?</i></b> In my experience, no (I've done it). If the OP had 5 days total in Rome and wanted to spend one of those days in Venice, I'd say go for it. But as it is, 3 days is probably the minimum amount of time one can realistically visit Rome without feeling like they are running the tourist gauntlet.