aparna

My husband and i will be in Italy between 28th april till 5th may.We are first going to Rome then Florence and Venice.Please give suggestions about the number days we shld spend in each of these places.We love art and architecture more than the nightlife.Also please give suggestions where to stay in each of these places...somewhere safe and yet economically priced.Thanks

ira

Hi ap,

Advice will range from 7 days in Rome to 7 days in Venice.

My own preference is to go straight to Florence for 4 days then Venice for 3 and leave Rome for another trip.

You could do 3 days Rome, 2 days Florence and 2 days Venice - flying into FCO and out of VCE or vice versa.

Train schedules are at www.trenitalia.com/en

Cicerone

With only 7 days, I would suggest you focus on only two places, as you will be quite rushed to do three places in that space of time, and a place like Rome is worth 7 days alone. Also, Sunday May 1 is a holiday in Italy and most of the rest of Europe (Labour Day), so museums and some restaurants may be closed. It is also a day for major parades, demonstrations and sometimes strikes, esp in major cities. I would definitely avoid Rome on May 1. Venice should be OK, as should Florence, but do check on museum closures on that day.

Run a search for hotels here, as there are many threads on this. Also, what do you mean by “economically priced” that means different things to different people.

ira

PS,

What's your hotel budget?

aparna

Thanks for the quick response.We are looking for hotels between the ranges of 70 to 120 usd.Thanks

rex

The suggestion from ira has merit. If you insist on all three ities, I would suggest 1 (or 2) Florence, then (2 or) 3 Venice, then 3 Rome. Have you already locked in the flights to/from Italy? Are you crossing an ocean to get there?

And 55 to 95 euro is quite a bit in the bottom half of the price/quality/value specgrum for all three cities. You might start with www.eurocheapo.com

Best wishes,

Rex

ira

Hi ap,

I can highly recommend the B&B Peterson - about 60E

www.bedinflorence.it

See my trip report for more detail.
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34451044

gambs

It does all depend on your preferences but I went in 2004 and split it 3 Rome, 2 Florence and 2 Venice.
If anything I would have gone with the extra day in Venice. I found Rome to have a tremendous amount of fascinating sights (Vatican, Colosseum, etc) but they were all spread out around a (IMHO) noisy and frantic city. Florence was serene and still had its Medieval charm while Venice's mystical canal system fascinated me and as it was Carnevale time, one grand costume ball!

Enjoy your trip!!!

aparna

Thanks for the suggestions.We have already gone ahead and made bookings for travel between the above mentioned dates.Will be reaching Rome on the 28th of april.Will be leaving on the 1st of may for Venice.Leaving for Florence next on the 3rd and finally back to Rome on the 5th to take our flight back home to NY.We are thinking that we'll take the train from Florence back to rome and go to the airport directly.Need some suggestions about the main attractions in Rome, Venice and Florence that we could could cover in the mentioned number of days.

Traveler863

For your criteria (art/architecture) I would recommend as many days in Florence as possible, next would be Venice. Rome, eh catch that on the next trip.

RufusTFirefly

Florence serene? Must have been a different Florence from the one I've been to.

jmg

We went to Italy one year ago and also tried to visit many cities. We were 3 days Venice, 3 days Florence, 4 days Rome and 3 days Sorrento and Amalfi coast.I am glad we covered quite a bit of the country, but next time will not try to cover so much-it was a whirlwind! Rome could easily be 5 days and I also did not find Florence to be serene. We actually left the city one day to go to Sienna just to get out of the "hectic city". After Venice with no vehicular traffic it was difficult to deal with the narrow crowded sidewalks, vespa drivers on the sidewalks, tour buses etc... Loved Venice the best and everyone said we would love Florence the best. If you go to 3 cities in 7 days you will not have much "down time". There is WAY to much to see that shouldn't be missed. I also would reconsider going to only 2.

aparna

Having trouble booking train tickets through trenitalia....seems like all the tickets have been sold out around the time we are going(from Rome to Venice)Also do the trains of eurorail leave from the same train station as treitalia?Need some help and info about this

ira

Hi ap,

You can buy tickets no earlier than 60 days in advance.

>do the trains of eurorail leave from the same train station as treitalia?

Trenitalia is the Italian national railway.

Eurorail (Raileurope) is a booking agency.

aparna

Thanks ira