sparks

Just starting to plan our trip & haven't a clue where to start, so I thought I'd begin by posting & go from there. My husband & I have a week & 1/2 vacation in mid March. We will be flying from Dallas to Rome which eats up 2 of those days. Both of us are history buffs & want to see the major historical sites in Rome plus the Vatican. My husband also would like to see Pompeii & Hurculenium. I fear that we won't have any time left after this. Was thinking of taking Ryan air to Venice for a few days or driving to Tuscany if either one is doable. Can anyone come up with an itinerary for us? Thanks

abk

Just a few thoughts - first of all it is a fair trek down to Pompeii etc - certainly you couldn't do it as a day trip easily. There is so much to see when you get there
Secondly - if you want to go to Venice would you be flying within Italy on RyanAir? Doubt it - also, if you would be flying from London, BMI from Heathrow is also a good bet - they do 'Tiny' fares - Depending on how much you want to see without being totally exhaused, doubt you can do it all in the time you have. Bear in mind though that each Italian city is so unique and different from one another that you might enjoy more time in Venice which can be lovely and less crowded in march and is great being that there is no traffic and is on the water - going myself in March (again!)

Pausanias

I would say you could visit any two of the four destinations comfortably in the time you have, and squeeze in three if you have to.

If possible, you might want to fly to Venice for three day, train to Florence for two or three, then on to Rome for the balance and the flight home.

Or you might visit Rome and Naples and take a day trip to Orvieto or Florence.

Much more though and you'll be really rushed.

They're all fine destinations -- take your pick.

tcreath

Pompeii or Herculaneum are doable as a daytrip from Rome, although it is a long day. We've done it to Pompeii. It takes about 3 hours to get there and back, and Pompeii itself is huge and eats up the rest of the day. I don't think one could visit both Herculaneum and Pompeii both in the same day. You could very easily combine your trip to Rome with 3-4 nights on the coast to take in the sights and visit both Pompeii and Herculaneum, as well as the archaeological museum in Naples.

If you are interested in somewhere closer to Rome, check out Ostia Antica. My husband and I are both history lovers as well, and really enjoyed Ostia Antica. Its about half an hour from Rome and much less crowded. http://www.initaly.com/info/m&d/ostia.htm.

Good luck!
Tracy

tcreath

By the way, the website I gave was just for info. The tour can easily be done on your own, without a personal driver and guide.

Tracy

sparks

Ok, how many days would we need in Rome to see the major sites? I realize we could probably spend the whole week just in Rome. If we go to Pompeii & stay overnight, where could we go from there that is worthwhile? I see on the map that Tuscany is going to have to be seen on another trip. If we do Venice, I found Ryan Air has a cheap flight from Rome to Venice. Worried that even this much is too much.

Pausanias

Four or five days in Rome would give you enough time to see the highlights and maybe a few of the secondaries.

If you stay in Naples, you can visit Pompeii, Herculaneum. Paestum, the Archaeology Museum, the old town Spaccanapoli, the city's art museums, Capri, Lake Avernus, Baia, the cave of Cumaen Sybil, etc. Way more than enough for three or four days.

dcd

We did something very similar last March but in 8 days. Thus, I think your itinerary is doable if you don't have to fly round trip to Rome and don't mind moving around. We flew into Rome and spent 4 nights there, which was sufficient to see most of the highlights. One of those days was spent on an 8 hour Contextrome.com tour of Pompeii which was excellent. (Altho you could do Herulenium as well, you may want to consider doing only one of those sites.) We wanted to see some of the walled cities of Umbria and Tuscany, plus hit a winery, so we hired a wonderful private driver/guide (Luca Grapa of hillsandroads.com - very reasonable rates, too) to drive us from Rome to Siena with several stops along the way. We spent about 10 great hours with Luca that day. After a half day of seeing Siena on our own (and we could have easily spent the day there), Luca picked us up at 1:00pm and drove us to some other walled cities in Tuscany plus another winery before arriving in Florence where we spent the next 2 nights. That really only left one full day for Florence but that was enough to cover most of our A list, thanks to a "Florence in a day" tour. If we had an extra day, we probably would have spent it there or in Siena. We then took the train to Venice for the last 2 nights. Again, that was long enough to cover the highlights (we love to walk). We flew out of Venice, which was key to the whole itinerary and one of the best ideas I got from the helpful posters here. We did not feel rushed with this itinerary probably because we had each day pretty well mapped out in advance so we could make sure to hit the highlights. We could have easily spent a week in each region but didn't know when we'd be back. There are so many other places we want to see, although we loved the trip and Italy is high on our "return" list.

Dave

5alive

One suggestion from Rome - hire a driver and go out to Subiaco for the day.

If you are history buffs you will appreciate this site. This is where after two years of silent meditation, St. Benedict built his first monastery -- essentially the beginning of Western Monasticism. There is also a portrait of Francis of Assisi painted from life.

This is a beautiful location, the monastery appearing to hang from the side of a cliff almost. For us this tour was a peaceful escape from busy Rome. At the time we went an Australian monk led us around and explained the stories behind the frescoes. Part of the time we were the only visitors there.

I would not recommend using the regional bus because my understanding is that it only goes to the town of Subiaco. The monastery is a steep drive up from the town.

Timlin

We took a day tour from Rome to Pompeii and it was enjoyable BUT we didn't realize that Naples holds most of the early treasures found in Pompeii in a museum.

We didn't have time to go to the museum once we found that out and now we are planning another week in Naples to be able to check that out.

Whatever you do plan an overnight in or near Naples and visit The Archeological Museum if your interestedin Pompeii (and Pompeii is SO worth a visit..it's amazing)

Steve_James

Sparks - Ryanair fly Rome-Treviso, not Venice.

Frankly it's not worth the hassle - you won't save any time or money. It's just as quick to go by train - Rome-Venice by ES takes 4.5. hrs and costs about € 45 (- sometimes less with special offers).

Hope this helps ...

Steve