RKrause

My husband and I are desperately trying to plan a holiday to Italy to celebrate our first wedding anniversary! Problem is we only have three weeks to get our itinerary together before we jet off and have little to no clue about the BEST things to see and do.

We fly in and out of Rome and are going to be there for a little over two weeks. We have a small budget; approximately $2,000-$2,500 AUD a week (to include ALL expenses; apart from flights of course).

Please help us out by giving us your feedback for each of the following headings:

Top destinations?

Unmissable sights?

Best FREE things to see/do?

Favourite Restaurants/Food/Wine?

Best budget accommodation?

We're also keen to know; if you could change one thing about your own Italian experience, what would it be and why?

Pegontheroad

Get a guidebook. Right now.

uhoh_busted

click on this link: http://www.fodors.com/search/results...obtheNavigator

RKrause

Thanks Pegontheroad, we do have one.
We wanted to know more from travellers PERSONAL experiences, not what guidebooks and websites inform.

vintage40s

(1) Our favorite thing was a tour of the Colisseum. Fascinating!
(2) We loved seeing the Sistine Chapel. Tip on that, tho...the Sistine Chapel is at the very end of the Vatican Tour. Vatican art is lovely, but unless you want to spend a couple of hours winding around looking at rooms and rooms of it, check out the "secret" shortcut to get to the Sistine Chapel (I think we read about it in Rick Steves). There are also tips on getting your tickets faster w/o waiting in the lonnnnnng lines.
(3)Google when the least busy time is at the Trevi Fountain (the "Three Coins in the Fountain" place). I'd had my picture made there decades ago and wanted another with my family. Sadly, we ended up there at dusk and it was crawling with tourists. We couldn't have thrown three coins without clonking a bunch of people in the face.
(4)One last thing. We took a hop on hop off bus tour and got an overview of the city. That was a great thing. We got to see the whole beautiful city! Even the parts we'd not gotten to visit.
Have a wonderful trip and congratulations on your anniversary!

RKrause

Thanks uhoh_bused. I will be sure to check this out later this arvo. I'm finding these forums are having the most interesting information. I like the person views of fellow travellers; they're honest and insightful.

StCirq

PERSONAL experiences are just that...personal. From complete strangers on the Internet whose interests might be totally at odds with yours. Useless without more information from you.

In order for anyone to make any sort of reasonable suggestions, at a minimum you need to lay out what you enjoy and don't enjoy doing, whether you want to spend all your time in Rome or venture out of it (and if so, to where?), and exactly how much out of that total budget you want to spend on accommodation and food per day.

vintage40s

I have to disagree with you a little bit StCirq. Before I go to a foreign city, I have no idea what to expect. I enjoy reading other peoples' experiences and tips. Sometimes they suggest or mention things I have not even thought of. I've gotten some great ideas I'd never dreamed of off these forums.

RKrause

vintage40s; best reply yet. Thanks a lot. Love the tip about the Sistine Chapel "secret" shortcut, I'll be sure to keep this in mind! And yes, my husband has found some great websites that off the "escape the waiting line" you mentioned.
BEST TIP about the Trevi Fountain; I wouldn't have thought of that but yes of course, with TOP DESTINATIONS comes loads of tourists and we will certainly try to avoid the crowds where possible so checking least busy time is perfect, thanks!
We'll also make sure we do a city bus tour. We've read about them but so nice to hear your personal thoughts. Thanks a lot

vintage40s

One last tip and then Arrivederci! If you can, take an overnight trip to Venice... and be sure to venture to the nearby islands of Murano and Burano. Lovely and romantic!

RKrause

Fab, will be sure to keep these in mind. Very kind of you to share. Thanks again vintage40s

charnees

I suggest you leave Rome right at the start and take the train to Venice, and stay for three nights. You will find it's much more enjoyable in the early mornings and late afternoons when the cruise ship hordes are gone.

Then take the train to Florence and stay for three nights. Don't miss the Bargello, a small museum with an interesting history and wonderful sculptures, and the Museum of the Works of the Duomo. Depending on the state of your knees, climb to the top of the Duomo. A wonderful experience but it involves hundreds of steps up and down. Read Brunelleschi's Dome before you go to appreciate the climb. Then take the train to Lucca (a very short trip). Spend three nights there, taking one day to go to Pisa. Lucca is surrounded by thick walls that now have a park on them. You can walk ir ride bikes around the town. The main piazza is oval in shape because it is built on the site of an early Roman amphitheater. We like it there because it is low-key and not as full of tourists.

Then go to Rome and spend the rest of your time there.

RKrause

charnees, thanks for a great itinerary idea. We were considering staying in Rome, then moving on but I think I like your idea of coming back here and spending time before we go. You have certainly mentioned a few things I have not yet heard about so an keen to do research on these to find out more. Thanks a lot!

mamcalice

Just to show you how people differ, Charnees put forth a very good proposal but it really isn't what I would do in Florence. We all have differing "must sees". You should visit the Accademia to see Michelangelo's marvelous David. And take a bus to Fiesole, a 30 minute trip from Florence. It is a small hill town overlooking Florence and a lovely place to have lunch on the terrace overlooking the dome of the Duomo. I think instead of Lucca, a very nice place, I would spend the next few days in Siena and take day trips to a Tuscan hill town or two.

You haven't shared your likes and dislikes and you haven't told us when you plan to go.

Have fun planning. I hope you get some good ideas from this forum but be sure to do your own research, too.

RKrause

Great to hear your differing opinions mamcalice, thanks. This is what these type of forums are all about and this is the type of information I wanted to hear. We all have different tastes but sharing our experiences is what its all about. We can learn so much from others adventures, so this is great.

RKrause

For those of you keen to know our likes and dislikes as well as a rough outline of where we would like to go please see below:

We're is our late twenties, love adventure, good food, great wine, ancient history and are keen to see as much of Italy as possible in our short time.

Obvious places of interest for us to visit are Rome, Venice, Florence, Pompeii, Tuscany and Naples but we're keen to know more about those "lesser known" tourist hot spots.

Would also like to hear your opinions are about Milan - is this a must see or over rated?

DAlbertson

I would have similar advice to mamcalice. We liked Siena far better then Florence. It's a beautiful city, very walkable and manageable (not overcrowded) with an amazing cathedral, great central 'square' called the Piazza del Campo, a central tower to climb offering terrific views of the region and a fascinating history of how the town evolved with their system of districts. They don't have the famous museums but the art in the church was amazing and you have options in Rome.

We thought Lucca was OK but it's in the opposite direction and there are many lovely hill towns in the Tuscany region near Siena if you want a smaller village although you'd need a car for a couple of days to get out and see them.

Keep in mind your traveling time too - for example, getting to Venice from Rome and back is going to chew up time (and the faster trains can be the more expensive option) so it depends on what kind of experience you want

Good luck!

bobthenavigator

1. Buy the Michelin Green book for Italy
2. Devour the book---especially the ratings for "must see" destinations in the front of the book.
3. From those, pick 5 destinations that most interest you.
4. Plan an itinerary for those 5---day by day
5. Come back after you have spent a minimum of 30 hours of personal homework so we can REFINE the details of YOUR trip.
6. Plan at least 3 trips to Italy in advance since you will return---we did---16 times. You will love Italy.

RKrause

Thanks for the advice bobthenavigator. I have been reading a lot of your stuff today - very helpful. Great to have a personal response from you, cheers!
I will follow your advice and hunt down the book you've mentioned.
Will do my homework and be sure to update regarding itinerary plan once we have nutted out the basics - would be great to see what you think.

RKrause

Thanks DAlbertson, interesting to hear you are also more keen on Siena then Florence; I like the idea there are less crowds there.
Good note about travel time. Will be sure to take this into account! Cheers!