fly2europe

Hi,
Flying into Rome from NY and reaching on April 12th 9 am and departing from Rome on April 21st 10 am. Total 9 days to split between Rome Naples Florence
( with kids 4 and 6 yr old)

Can someone please suggest time split and travel between cities. It is very last minute for us and so far just have the above tickets and nothing else planned.


Thanks

fly2europe

And also advise about any 3-4 day apartment rentals which you may have stayed in the past. The hotels in Rome seem to be $500 for these dates due to Easter and I was hoping to spend about 250/night..
Plz advise

sandralist

You should stick to one thread at a time.

socaltraveler

At this point you should be spending time with hotel booking websites, like hotels.com or venere.com since you are leaving so soon with nothing planned. As you know it is Easter week and there will be no hotel bargains. Apartments for 3-4 nights are hard to find, and many have probably been booked for months. We are spending 2 nights in Rome the week after Easter and our first choice hotel required a 3 night stay, and I was making reservations back in the fall. While I doubt you will be sleeping on a park bench,you really do not have time to wait for suggestions here, and then go research only to find they are booked. Good luck.

If I were traveling with small children, and planning late in the game, with 9 days I would pick 2 places, not 3 or 4.

fly2europe

Thanks for the advice.

@Sandralist, I just created new topic to ask about accommodations from people who may have stayed there and may reply quickly rather than responding to a whole itinerary planning thread..seems like not much response though.
Thanks SoCal traveler, I did look at orbitz seems like everything was 450+ So just put in a quick request to see if someone knows a cute small apt, b&B which maybe open or probably if any agents/apt owners check this site..who knows

tuscanlifeedit

It's probably not a good idea to suggest specific apartments we've rented because I don't know if they would be available, but we have used rentalinrome.com and recently rome-accomodation.net.

I've used both for a few days.

In Florence, I can recommend florencevillas.com.

We just stayed at Tourist House Ghiberti, but you are looking for apartments. It's a very nice B&B, with a lot of comforts and extras. But it is very small and may be booked, as well as not what you are looking for.

I don't have a recommendation for Naples, except to say that it does seem like a lot of moving around in a few days with small children.

fly2europe

Thanks.

Is Trastavere the best area in Rome to stay in. We want to book for 12-15april in Rome and decide once we are there about our onward journey.

WWK

I find the historic center ( Pantheon) or Campo Fiori more central for exploring Rome. Trastevere is great for dining, small shops, etc, a little like Rome's version of Soho/Village.

I still would urge you to book ahead since you are going with kids during a holiday period!

sarge56

fly2- I have not stayed in this apartment, but I have rented from this agency. They were great to work with. This apartment is in a reasonably good location and price is right. Kids would have to sleep on pullout. Kitchen and bath look fine. http://www.rentalinrome.com/spagnast...house?bts=true

Good luck!

sarge56

This one is also in a pretty good location: http://www.rentalinrome.com/colosseu...tment?bts=true

socaltraveler

I would also agree that the Centro Storico would be a better choice for your first visit. But a 3-4 night apartment may be hard to find with what is now 4 days notice a week before Easter. I would also be concerned about winging it for a second destination, with kids in tow, for the Easter weekend. We spent an Easter weekend in Lerici several years ago, and then onto Rome; it was very busy everywhere we went: student tour groups, adult tourists of all nationalities and many, many Italian families on their Easter holiday weekend. So please book soon - rental agencies or venere are going to be better than chasing down suggestions here.

sandralist

If you are not planning on much typical sightseeing then Trastevere is fine. But be realistic about whether you are planning on typical sightseeing. It is not well connected to some major sights in Rome by public transportation, so walking becomes the only option, and with small kids that is a problem in that area because there are almost no sidewalks of any description but there is fast motor traffic. However, if you are staying near piazza Santa Maria or Santa Ceclila, you can walk to the piazza Navona in 20 minutes or Campo de' Fiori, the Cat Sancutary or the Turtle Fountain in 15 minutes. The Colosseum or St Peter's Square is more like 30. There is a convenient tram that runs along the Viale di Trastevere. But I would not want to be in other neighborhoods in Trastevere, which are remote from everything.

With kids, you would be better off nearer the Spanish Steps/Trevi Fountain and piazza del Popolo.

sandralist

Sorry -- I just realized you said you are thinking of going to Rome and deciding what to do from there. I strongly advise against it in your time frame. You have no idea how popular Easter time is when it comes to Italy as a destination. This has just exploded with the arrival of Pope Francis. Millions and millions of people are descending on Italy in the next few weeks, many of them concentrating on the radius of Rome.

Not only that, whatever promises you get about having a good wifi connection in Rome it is only a promise. it may not be adequate. Where you are sitting now is a much better position to be doing research on where else you might want to go other than Rome, booking lodgings and train tickets. If you don't mind my saying so too much, you seem to have a very incomplete knowledge of Italy. It is nothing like the places you winged it in Spain.

Not only that, you seem to be reluctant to pay what it costs to get adequate lodgings for your family. Short term stays are going to be more expensive than long term ones and much harder to locate short notice.

fly2europe

Thanks Sandra for taking the time to write.
It isn't the cost factor for accommodations which is making me delay but the indecisiveness of where to stay. Just like my hairstylist from Italy mentioned the TRAstavere is THE area to go and now I realized that it's really not that close to other destinations so decided on campo do Fiori Navona..
Also checked booking.com which had more options once I narrowed to 1st 4 days in Rome than the whole week.
Thanks for all your suggestions