bhinde

I am taking my first trip to italy this november for my honeymoon. i have 10 night to stay in italy. I have never been to euroope so i was going to try to stick to big cities. my tenative itenerary is:

3 nights venice
3 night florence
4 night rome.

i was wondering if it would be better to add a fourth night to florence with a day trip to siena, I hear its fantastic, and subtract a day from rome. Or add a day to venice with a day trip to verona. I live in chicago any was thinking the trafic and pace of rome might not be that much of a break from chi town.
Also, how expensive and how difficult is it to rent a car and drive in italy. i was considersing modifing my itenerary to stay in siena.
Would appreciate any advice.

nytraveler

For November I think you're correct to stick to cities. How you should divide the days depends largely on what interests you most - renaissance, ancient Rome or ?. I would tend to leave it as it is for a first trip and do a day trip from Florence to Siena - perhaps by train or bus.

Driving in italy in easy if you are a reasonably confident and competent driver and not afraid of speed. Also, knowing how to drive in a city (vs highway/shopping mall) helps a lot. (One of my joys in europe is being able to drive fast cars fast - usually impossible in the US.)

I am a major proponent of road trips - we almost always do them. But for your itinerary train would be just as simple - unless you have a hugh amount of luggage, really love to drive, or want to do several towns in Tuscany rather than just Siena - and it looks like you really don;t have time for the latter.

HowardR

Especially considering that it's your honeymoon, I don't think I'd advise any more than 3 bases for a 10-day trip. You can take a day trip to Siena from Florence. The 3-3-4 split is "standard" for visiting the big 3. I'd suggest you do more research and decide where you want to spend the most time.
PS: I love Chicago, but believe me, a Rome experience is nothing like what you're used to in Chicago!

rex

You're well on your way to a sound plan.

First, I'd recommend: read, read, read - - and then, DO trust your instincts. If you think you would like more days in Florence/Siena/Tuscany then you are probably right - - you would benefit from more time there. I'd recommend trimming Venice down to no fewer than two nights, and Rome to no fewer than three. It does make sense to make it (Rome) the last of your destinations.

While others will argue that the "straight line" (Venice, then Florence, then Rome) is the logical order - - I would argue for Florence first - - especially with your plan to spend 4, or even 5 nights there. You'll have to connect - - via London, Paris, or some other Europe gateway airport to fly into Florence (or Pisa) - - but that's no big deal. Venice is very, very special - - and yet overpriced (especially for lodging) - - it makes sense to enjoy it AFTER you have gotten past those first few days of time zone adjustment, and the after effects of trans-atlantic air travel.

There is no right answer to the question of renting a car or no.

For Florence and Siena (alone), you would do fine to do without a car. The (SITA) bus service Florence-Siena is probably superior to either train or car to get there and back. And it's hard to get a good deal on car rental for fewer than three days. But others would argue that three days driving around Tuscany is exactly the best way to enjoy the area. All depends on your appetite for Florence/Siena - - versus the smaller towns and rural areas.

You could conceivably even reserve the car for day 3-4-5, and then decide once you get there whether to cancel or keep with that plan.

The time to get reservations for places to stay is now - - though I have never been to Italy in November, and it may well be that even 6 weeks from now, you will have no problem getting anywhere you want.

Whatever your decisions, congratulations on your new life in marriage... and...

Best wishes,

Rex

Baligirl

I see some really good advice in the other posts but I wanted to add my two cents as Italy is my favorite place in the world! I'd spend more time in Florence than Rome -- and I recommend hotel La Residenza in Florence -- family owned and very nice. There's just so much more to do in Florence, in my view, and you can take day trips around Tuscany which is SO romantic!

Three cities is a great idea...although I would personally add Cinque Terre and remove Venice -- but that is merely my personal preference. Venice is lovely, of course.

Anyway, congratulations and HAVE FUN!

Cicerone

Overall, this looks good to me. I have a few comments:

1. Venice in November can be quite wet and prone to flooding in some places. I would avoid hotels at the lagoon end of the Grand Canal at that time as they can have the worst flooding. I agree Venice is very special, but I might almost say skip it as November is usually so cold and wet there. It is up to you. You could add days to Florence and Rome or add a few days in Paris instead on your way out or back. (Don't get me wrong, it will be cold and wet in those place too, but you don't mind it so much as in a place like Venice, IMO, where so much centers around the water and being outdoors.) There are low-cost flights from Paris to Rome and Florence. Fro example, you can fly on Volare Airlines one-way from Paris to Rome for as little as 40 Euros. Take a look at http://buy.volareweb.com.

2. Whatever you decide, try to get an "open jaw" ticket that will allow you to fly into one city and out of another. That way, you don't have to back track to get back to the original airport for your departing flight. You can get between the cities by train or cheap flight.

3. With your present itinerary, the only place you would want a car is the countryside around Florence. Can't use one at all in Venice, and don't need one at all in Rome. Don't need one in Florence, but it would be nice for the countryside for a few days. Roads there are not congested for the most part, esp in November. Renting in Italy is not cheap (between $50-70 a day unless you rent for several weeks, others will jump in on this if they think I am wrong, but I don't think I am far off). Gas costs $4.50 a gallon. Bear that in mind. The train between Rome and Florence is about 3 hours, and from Florence to Venice is about 4 hours. You can fly between Venice and Rome with Volare in an hour and very cheaply.

4. I think the plan to go to Florence first is fine EXCEPT if you have to change more than once coming from Chicago. You can't fly non-stop from Chicago to Florence, so you will have to change once. IMO, changing more than once on a trans-Atlantic flight is not worth it; the flight over is long and tiring enough without any more changes than necessary (and more time for delays). If you have a choice of a non-stop to Rome and a one-stop to Florence, I would actually take the Rome flight. I might take the Florence flight if the transfer is someplace other than one of the London airports or Frankfurt.

rex

Minor exception taken...

<<The train between Rome and Florence is about 3 hours, and from Florence to Venice is about 4 hours. You can fly between Venice and Rome with Volare in an hour and very cheaply.>>

Rome-Florence is 95 minutes; Florence-Venice is a little over 2.5 hours.

Hotel to hotel from Venice to Rome is darn close to 4 hours, of which one hour is the actual flight on volare... I am a very strong proponent of using Europe's new breed of low-cost intra-Europe airlines - - but the advantage for these two city pairs seems overstated, in this case.

chris1234

do a search for my trip report. its under Italy trip report part 1. I just got back from all three places and you will find much useful information. let me know if you have other questions.

for the record, drop a night in both florence and rome and use those two in siena or chianti.

bhinde

thanks for the replies.

i am now thinking to free up 2-3 days a driving around tuscany basing in siena. whould this be wise? how much would car rental in florence be? I am fling with AA, and they stated they could help with car rental. Would it be better to drop the car in rome or outside of rome?

You guys have been great!

chris1234

is this bill hinde from plano, texas?

ps. drop the car in rome when you get there. you wont need it in the city and then take a car service to the airport. your hotel will help with this.