reticent_aura

Hi guys, I'm planning a 2 weeks trip to Venice first, followed by Cinque Terre, Florence and then lastly Rome. In Florence I'll be doing day trips to Pisa and possibly Chianti regions.

It's my first time to Italy with my husband and we're planning it for 20th of next month. It's a last minute plan.

Please do advise us on the train routes and roughly how much that will set us back by.

As well as the budget we should set aside for this trip. Will be paying about 60 euro per night for lodging in all the above destinations. I need ideas on whether 100 euro per pax per day INCLUSIVE OF LODGING will be feasible. We're big eaters, but we do not need sit down restaurants and wine. Beer is more of the choice for us.

Any other comments on the route will be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

ellenem

You can check train schedules and prices at this link:

http://www.trenitalia.com/trenitalia21.html

You can get some discounts by booking train tickets ahead of time.

ellenem

Just noticed your question about budget. Does your 100 euro per day also include train tickets and admissions to museums and so forth?

bobthenavigator

This may help. Feb will be less for hotels.
I would skip the CT that time of year.

http://www.slowtrav.com/italy/planning/budget.htm

reticent_aura

Yes it does ellenem! Is booking the museum passes ahead online better? Since they mentioned about not queueing and all... but there also wouldn't be alot of people during winter too right?

100 euro per day would include the admissions but not the train tickets. I should book the train tickets early as well right? Especially on those more popular routes.

isabel

Well start with going to booking.com and plug in your dates for the cities you are visiting. You will see if you can get any hotels that are acceptable to you for that price. Even though Feb is low season Venice and Rome are expensive. You will certainly be able to find something for that price though. You say 100€ per person per day so that's €200 total. You could probably therefore afford a €100 a night hotel which will greatly increase your options. That leaves €100 for everything else which is doable if you don't mind not having all your meals in sit down restaurants.

Make sure you check to see if the trails are open in the CT, they are weather dependent and if it's raining they are closed. Some have also been closed for maintenance. And of course the boats probably aren't running at this time of year. You might want to stay in a slightly larger town (Rapallo or Camogli are both great) and just do the CT towns as a day trip. You'll have more lodging and eating options, especially at this time of year. Last summer I stayed at Hotel Italia e Lido in Rapallo and loved it. It was only €85 in summer so even less in winter, with a really great breakfast, and fabulous view.

I would plan to spend most of the time in Rome and Florence, that way if the weather is bad at least you have a lot of indoor stuff to do. Maybe just a couple days each for the CT and Venice.

reticent_aura

Great! Isabel! Thanks for the options given other than CT! Would love to do more day trips out of Florence too!

Bob! I've read ur article even before I posted this thread! But would like a good real time estimation! Your calculation units are in Euro? If CT is out of the question, do you think that other destinations like Verano or Sierre would be good? We're more of sightseeing people and not that big on the arts scene.

rialtogrl

You are going to Venice on the 20th of February? If so, you will be there for Carnivale. The major part kicks off on Feb. 22. It is hard to get 60 euros a night in Venice but it is ESPECIALLY hard during Carnivale as it is considered high season, not low season.

It might be better to seek out an apartment so that you can get food at the market and eat your main meals in. It is a fun time to be in Venice (though crowded in some areas) if you can pull it off.

reticent_aura

Really? Know about Carnivale but thought it would be over before we fly in. It'll be exciting then! I hope we can pull it off with our tight budget haha

bobthenavigator

Note $$$ signs.

Do you mean Verona and Siena?

danlev

To save money in Venice, you might consider staying a bit outside the town where hotels are cheaper, and taking the train in. Padua is great, though Mestre is closer. Vicenza is further yet, but interesting, and then you could make a day trip to Verona too, which is a wonderful place.

TexasAggie

I'd definitely skip the Cinque Terre in February. We've had poor weather and closed trails in mid-May on prior trips, the chances in Feburary would be quite high. In February and with such a short trip and tight budget, I'd stick to the cities. There are plenty of churches, museums, ruins, etc to keep you busy for double the amount of time you'll have in each place. One of our favorite Italy trips was a late November trip in 2008 with very up and down weather. We did as I suggested above and spent our time in/around the cities of Rome and Naples. We had a marvelous time.

rialtogrl

I would not want to stay in Mestre or Padua.. not when Carnivale is going on. Probably the best place to try to find an inexpensive apartment is homelidays.com. Not promising 60 euros is possible, and I would only go with a place with reviews. But hopefully you can find something.

Good luck with your search.

reticent_aura

Hey Bob, yup got that when I went through the article again. It's really useful! And yea, I meant Verona and Siena. I would put them on my list and visit when I can =)

Hey danlev and rialtogrl, I've found a BnB in Venice with good reviews and it's a 15 minutes bus ride from the town itself. I'm so excited to see the Carnivale in action!

TexasAggie, thanks for the options given! Grateful to have asked this question here else I'll never know if CT is doable.

nytraveler

15 minutes by bus is NOT in Venice. there are NO buses in Venice - no streets at all. Sounds like this hotel is in Mestre - a very industrial and unpleasant suburb.

ellenem

"I've found a BnB in Venice with good reviews and it's a 15 minutes bus ride from the town itself."

Please tell us where! This is misleading, because the bus stop in vneice is at the other end of the city from most sights, so add another 30-45 minutes to get across the city once you reach Venice. Also, how often does this 15-minute bus run?

ellenem

vneice = Venice --

I was that concerned.

danlev

rialtogirl - by your name it sounds like you really know Venice! Could you tell us please why not stay outside of Venice proper during Carnivale? I've never been there during Carnivale so forgive my ignorance...

IMDonehere

One way to save money is to lunch at restaurants and carry a backpack. You can buy whatever make your heart sing during the day, bread, meat, cheese, wine, and have a feast back in the room later. Or in Florence you can just fill up on gelati.

Italian beers are linited.

reticent_aura

I can't remember the name, have got to get home from work and access my laptop. interval of the bus is around 45 minutes to 1 hour.