On what may be our only trip to Italy, we will arrive in Florence on Monday morning, and leave on Wednesday morning. What would be the effort in trying to make a day trip to Venice by train or bus? Would you recommend it?

Pierce, I know the feeling of wanting to see as much of a country as possible on a one-of-a-kind trip, but the geography works against you. Venice is five hours by car or bus via the autostrada, and probably longer by train because I don't believe there's direct service between the two cities. Even if there were (and the same holds true for a trip by car or bus), there's another hour to get from the railhead or car park outside Venice out into the islands. In short, you could leave at 6 a.m. and not see the Rialto bridge before noon. <BR> <BR>Two days gives you barely enough time to scratch the surface of Florence. Most first-timers give it four or five days. There are some good threads up in the index under "Florence" and "Italy." <BR> <BR>Chances are, if Florence has the effect on you that it has on most people, you'll move heaven and earth to get back to Italy. Save Venice for that trip. <BR>

Agree with the above - you'll want to return ( I hope you can!), and Florence will enchant you for the full 2 days! We took the train from Venice to Florence a year ago - about 4 hours - you wouldn't want to use up 8 hours in the train! The food (delicious in all of Italy) in Florence was our favorite. Another thing - if you want to see a bit of countryside it's easy to take a 15-20 minute bus ride to a hilltop town in the suburbs and get a little taste of Tuscan countryside. Have a wonderful trip! <BR>

Definitely correct answers!! Culturally Florence and Venice are very different also and it would just take too much time and clutter your mind. I hope this won't be your only trip to Italy, there's much to see. <BR>

Absolutely agree with above. do not try to cram venice into this trip. you will have more than enough to see in florence. if you want to take a day trip, take the bus tour to siena and san gimignano. enchanting. also, as soon as you get florence, or ideally, the day before, call the ufizzi gallery and get your reserve tickets in advance. otherwise, you will lose two hours on line, and still may not get in. you also might want to do some research as to the sights you definitely want to see and how to schedule your time, considering most stores and some attractions are shut down on sunday and monday. Pitti Palace and Boboli Gardens are a must.

Just a note on the Ufizzi Gallery. I agree that tickets obtained ahead of time is a wise idea, although I cannot advise you on how to go about doing it from the U.S. The front desk staff at our Florence hotel made these arrangements for us when we reserved our room. Unfortunately, our plans changed at the last minute and we were not able to visit the Ufizzi on our scheduled day. We decided to go on over anyway and see how long the line was. At ninety minutes prior to closing, there was no line whatsoever! We heard the line had been three hours long earlier in the day. We gave the Accademia a try in this same fashion on the next evening, and also walked right in with no wait and were able to admire "David" with almost no one else around!

Good afternoon, Pierce <BR>Yes, Venice is not a day trip, its at least a week's trip. <BR>the web site for the Uffizi is: <BR> <BR>musa.uffizi.firenze.it/ <BR> <BR>Good surfing, Richard of Hickory Hills, Il..... <BR>

I am traveling with Pierce and was wondering if there are any recommendations on a hotel in Florence. Do they have reasonable (less than $150.00US) hotels with 2 bedrooms? There are three of us and we wanted two rooms or the BEST would be a place with two bedrooms or a B & B ! something with local charm etc.? <BR>THANKS!