pchen0

Hi, anyone with experience, your insights will be greatly appreciated.

I am planning a 10-day, 9 nights trip to Italy in July. I will be flying into Rome (arrives 9:30 a.m.) and depart from Milan (departs 10:30am).
Here is what I am thing of:
Rome (3 nights) -
I am considering Naples as a day trip from Rome (possible?)
Should I stay near Termini for convenience (although not too good of a neighborhood, I heard) or near Vatican City (I heard also not too good for tourists)
Florence (2 nights) - I am considering half-day trip to Pisa
Venice (3 nights)
Milan (1 night).
Is this itinerary reasonable?
Also, I know most people will say not to buy the Italy only Eurail Pass but for some reason, I think the price is similar if not better than buying City to City.
I will be using rail (with the fastest train, when available):
Rome to Naples (1 day) - if I decide to go to Naples
Naples to Florence (1 day)
Florence to Pisa then Pisa to Venice (1 day)
Venice to Milan (1 day)

Any thoughts, suggestions will be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

StCirq

Three days in Rome is pretty skimpy, especially if you plan to race off to Naples - I wouldn't do that.

I wouldn't stay near Termini OR Vatican City. I'd stay near the Piazza Navona or Campo dei Fiori or even in Trastevere.

I wouldn't spend only 2 nights in Florence and go running off to Pisa, either. You're going to be zipping around an awful lot, with barely any time to relax and enjoy where you ARE.

What IS the reason you think the pass will be cheaper? I doubt it is, but if you've done the research there's no reason for us to duplicate it.

TimS

Roma-Napoli: Standard 2nd class fare on an ICplus train is €19.50. Amica fare is €15.80. Standard 2nd class fare on a EuroStar Italia train is €27.60. Amica fare is €22.10.

Napoli-Firenze: Standard fare for ICplus is €26.50. Amica fare is €21.60. Standard fare for EuroStar Italia is €36.10. Amica fare is €28.90.

Firenze-Pisa: Only regional trains (€5.60).

Pisa-Venezia Santa Lucia: €5.60 for a regional train to Firenze. Standard fare for Firenze-Venezia Santa Lucia on a EuroStar Italia train is €32.30. Amica fare is €25.85.

Venezia Santa Lucia-Milano: Standard fare on EuroStar Italia is €29.50. Amica fare is €23.60.

Amica fares (20% discount) are sold for fast trains but not for cheap regional trains. If any of the allotted seats are still available, you can get an Amica fare up to midnight of the day before departure.

If you have a railpass, you can simply jump on and off regional trains. However, fast trains require seat reservations. With a pass, reservations for ICplus trains will be 3-4 euro. For EuroStar Italia trains they will be 15-20 euro!

Do you still think a railpass will be cheaper than point-to-point tickets?

kja

Hi, pchen0 -

> I am considering Naples as a day trip from Rome (possible?)

I love Naples, but I agree with StCirq: It doesn't make sense. Naples deserves at least a few days, and Rome deserves even more than that.

Hope that helps!

pchen0

Thank you all for your responses.
Thank you TimS for your fare quotes. I calculated based on the Amica fare with fastest trains, my total cost City to City will be €135 and Eurail Italy Saver is €156 for 5 days but adding about another €60 for reservations.
Sounds like I should skip Naples this time around and concentrate on Rome, Florence, and Venice. I do have to overnight at Milan on the last night due to early flight out of Milan. So I will probably do Rome 3 nights, Florence 2 nights and Venice 3 nights. Any specific hotel recommendations? I'd like to keep it around €100/night.

ira

Hi PC,

In Florence, I can highly recommend
http://www.florenceby.com/peterson/pages/profile.htm

In Venice, check out
http://www.alcampaniel.com/
http://www.hotelbernardi.com/en/

Enjoy your visit.