A week in Italy
 

Am looking to take my mum to italy for a week in last week of sep. we were looking to go to Rome Florence and Venice. wanted some suggestions about hotels and must see places.
Thanks.

If you only have seven days, then you might want to limit yourselves to two cities. You will lose almost a whole day changing cities.

Hi cc,

With only a week, I suggest

1. Venice and Florence

2. Venice and Rome

3. Rome

Not all three.

((I))

I agree with the above suggestions.

Hi chinchin, I agree that you only have time for two places. Do book your airline tickets that are "open jaw" also known as "multi-city"..you arrive at one airport and depart from the other airport, example arrive in Rome and depart from Venice or in reverse if you plan on being in Rome and Venice. That way you will not loose time backtracking.

Speaking of Venice, if you are going to visit Venice I would make that the first stop..as Venice is in the northeast of Italy of course and would no doubt be the first place to get rain or cooler weather. Best regards.

Agree with the group do two not three. Check on line for those that you can buy tix ahead. We got our tix for the Uffizi on florenceart.com and had a date and time. People came that day and were turned away. We arranged in Rome for a guide for the day and it was worth every penny. He knew where to buy tix for places you can not buy ahead , how to not have to go through lines, was always waiting for us when we were done, took us to a fabulous restaurant and in one day we saw the Palladin, the Baths, Forum, Colesseum, Pantheon, Catacombs, lunched and had no worries about getting around. We were fortunate to be in Rome on Sunday at noon when the Pope addresses the crowd. My vote Rome and Florence. Good luck.

If you want to see all three cities and are comfortable with seeing less in each place, more a 'sampler platter' approach, then go for it. A friend and I are doing that in October and we have very realistic expectations of what we can do and not do in that amount of time. I've been before, she hasn't. The trick is to not drive yourself mad with trying to see and do everything, limit to your top must-sees and leave time to wander and soak in the experience. It all depends on your travel style and what kind of vacation you want. Just be realistic.

Those 3 cities are too much for 1 week.

I would suggest one of these combinations:
Venice & Florence
Venice & Rome
Rome with day trips

Buy your plane tickets "open jaw" so you fly into Rome and out of Venice (for example) to avoid backtracking on the ground.

Thanks a lot for all your inputs.
How can i go about looking for Guide for a day, like one of you mentioned.

Wow, I am doing this exact trip with my Mom the last week of September (9/21-9/30, so actually 8 nights in Italy). We are flying in to Venice for 2 nights, Florence for 3 nights and Rome for 3 nights (then fly direct to Stockholm for 1 week). This is the shortest time I've ever spent in Italy and if I had the choice, I'd stay longer but an important event (my grandmother's 92nd b-day!)beckons us to Stockholm on Oct. 1st. This was actually a "Sweden trip" that I turned into an "Italy/Sweden trip" so I feel fortunate that I'm even getting to see Italy.

I've told my Mom that the Italy portion of the trip will just be a "sampling" for her and she is fine with that. We have NO scheduled events in Italy (except to see David in Florence). We plan to just wander around and take in the sights. I have done research on restaurants and will bring my list with me (with so few nights there, I really don't want to end up with a bad meal).

The train ride from Venice to Florence is about 3 hours on the ES and 1 1/2 hours from Florence to Rome so it really won't take up a whole day to get from city to city.

chinchin - Have a wonderful trip with your Mom. My Mom and I have had so much fun planning and talking about our trip.

Chinchin,
I will be in Italy on exactly the same week. But I like to take one city at the time, so I have decided to stay put in Rome.