We are planning a 8 day trip to Rome, Venice and Florence with 3 teenagers in July. My guess is that they teens will be tired of museums and cities by the time we arrive in Florence. I would like to spend a day outside of Florence. Any suggestions?

www.accidentaltourist.com has a fabulous cooking class and other options too.

The two I took, which I believe are the two most common, are to Siena by bus, or to Pisa and /or Lucca by train. If you are only doing the big 3 cities, then seeing Siena will give you a taste of a smaller town (though it's still pretty big). But rather than museums, etc, the highlight there is just wandering the streets themselves. It's an easy cheap bus ride (about an hour) from Florence.

Or you can easily get to Pisa by train. Most people, myself included, more or less just go look at the tower/Duomo and then move on. Lucca is a nicer town to wander around. Although I did walk in both directions from the train station to the Tower so I got a little feel for the city itself (about a 20 minute walk). The area around the tower is crammed with tourists but there is something to be said for seeing something that everyone has seen so many pictures of all their lives.

hi, mcalper,

are you already locked into flights and accommodations?

flying into Venice and out of rome is usually recommended - avoids very early flights out of Venice back to the US apparently.

in 8 days - Venice, Florence and Rome are too much, IMO - I would just do Venice and Rome; in rome you can do a very nice trip to Tivoli to the villa d'este, to get you out of the city.

regards, ann

Our flights are already booked in and out of Rome. The teens ages are 13,15 and 18. They are used to being very busy but perhaps we should spend an extra day in Rome and do a day trip from there and skip Florence. Any other opinions?

ok, you're flying into and out of Rome and you have 8 days - isn't the obvious answer to rent an apartment and really enjoy Rome?

You can do a couple of day trips [say, Tivoli and ostia antica, or orvieto] shop til you drop and not resent the time, find your own neighbourhood cafes and bars,get to say hi to the same locals every day,

ok, you're flying into and out of Rome and you have 8 days - isn't the obvious answer to rent an apartment and really enjoy Rome?

You can do a couple of day trips [say, Tivoli and ostia antica, or orvieto] shop til you drop and not resent the time, find your own neighbourhood cafes and bars, get to say "hi" to the same locals every day, try out local foods on your own home, - it gives you so many possibilities.

remember, you lose at least half a day every time you move - and you've only got 8 nights [which means 7 days]to start with.

less is more!

regards, ann

Tim_and_liz: thanks for the Accidential Tourist post, that looks great!

dperry- We loved the cooking class... you can see my review in this post:

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34974101

Liz

I agree that 8 days is too short to see all three cities-- Rome, Venice and Florence-- since you are flying in and out of Rome. There are many other ways you could structure your visit, centering around Rome. I wouldn't suggest 8 days in Rome, with 3 teenagers in July. But you could stay 5 days in Rome, 3 in Florence, or maybe go south from Rome. I'd leave Venice out of this itinerary, since you have to return to Rome.
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