I booked a trip to Rome and Venice this comming March(please don't tell my wife its a Christmas present). We are leaving the NY area on SAS via Coppenhagen on Thurs 3/24/05 and finally arriving in Rome on Good friday noon.There will be 2 adults and 3 children ages 15, 12, and 5 travelling. The five year old is an avid traveller as she was to Paris a few months ago. We are bokked at the Napoleon Hotel (ANY INFORMATION??) until Weds March 30 at which time we were advised to book 1st class reserved seat trains to continue to Venice. Although the tickets were expensive,$520.00 for all five he suggested that it was much easier reserving a seat that is guarenteed especially when travelling with children. We then arrive in Venice, that day and are staying at the Hotel Antiche Figure (ANY INFORMATION???.
We leave Venice on Friday April 1, at 2pm to New York. Having never travelled to Italy I want to make this a memorable trip for my family. Therefore can anyone offer advice on the following:
1. Is that enough time to spend in Venice or should I shorten the Rome segment and extend the Venice portion?
2. Any information on any of the above mentioned hotels?
3 The trip total for 5 which includes airfaire from NY, hotel, breakfast transfer in Rome and 1st class train tickets from rome to $5,700.00. Does that seem reasonable?
4. Do we really need 1st class tickets on the train?
Thanks for all advise.

1st class Eurostar tickets from Rome to Venice are 67.14E and 2nd class are 44.93E. It is a 4 1/2 hour train ride and 2nd class is fine. Buy them when you get to Rome.

You will be on a Eurostar train--second class is perfectly comfortable.

Is your travel agent reserving your seats? If so, you may be charged an added fee. You can book these tickets yourself, for no added fee, at the trenitalia site, or wait till you arrive in Italy and book them a few days before you plan to travel. (A Eurostar ticket includes a specified seat reservation.) Since it will be holiday time and you are a group that will want to sit together, booking online a few weeks ahead might be prudent. There might be a ticket discount for your youngest child.

I would cut a day from Rome and give it to Venice, since you will have only 1.5 days in Venice otherwise. (Your Friday in Venice will be all about getting to the airport.)

No you don't need first class train tickets, spend the money on a nice dinner or something.
I hope you and your family have a wonderful trip

I don't know anything about the hotels, but checked their locations.

Hotel Napolean is on Piazza Vittorio Emanuele, just southwest of the train station. Not a very central location for touring Rome, and in the past parts of this large piazza have seemed a bit shabby--it depends which side. There is good transportation nearby.

Hotel Antiche Figure is on the Grand Canal opposite the train station. This is a busy section of the canal, so a "canal view" room might be noisy. This location is on the other side of Venice from many main sights, but Venice is small and much of its charm comes from walking and exploring its many charming alleyways.

Your family will have a great trip.

I, too would add a day to Venice. I think you and the kids will really enjoy Venice but I'm not sure less than 2 days is enough to really get a feeling for the city.

What a great Xmas present! You are a gem!

OK. IMO, I would split the time equally between Rome and Venice--not just because I like Venice even better than Rome, but I think you kids will too.

Also, I agree that 2nd class will be fine, however, travel during Easter can be very busy and if you can get your reservations in advance from the States, I think you would be wise to do that. I believe there are websites where you can do this yourself--anyone?

P.S. I just found it--it's railsaver.com. Haven't used it myself, but many on this board have recommended it.

We went to Italy in April '02 with our children. First, I think it is good that you will be in Rome (as opposed to Venice) on Easter weekend. Many Italians are also on vacation and Rome, though crowded, is a big city and can absorb all the tourists. But Venice was absolutely wall to wall bodies on Easter Sat/Sun which made it hard to move and was very oppressive. Other than that, it was a marvelous trip.

I agree that staying in the vicinity of the Termini in Rome is not ideal. I highly recommend the area of the Pantheon or Piazza Navona. We loved the 3-star Hotel Santa Chiara and I've heard they have family rooms for 5. We had a spacious room for 4. Their breakfast buffet was great. Perfect location for walking.

Rome deserves more time than Venice, but Venice deserves two full days and nights. By my calculations, you're staying 5 nights in Rome and 2 in Venice but will probably arrive pretty late in the day..so you might consider doing 4 nights Rome, 3 nights Venice.
In Venice, I would not stay near the train station. Somewhere near the Rialto Bridge or closer to the Pza. San Marco would be preferred.