Day trips on first trip to Italy?
 

I am taking my first european trip to Rome (4 days) Florence (4 days) and Venice (3 days) I dont want to overwhelm ourselves but after hearing about all the crowds I am thinking of a day trip to Tuscany and the countryside, is this too much? Any suggesions?

Thanks
Tara

I don't know if you are allocating the time it takes to get from one city to another, but even when all goes smoothly you can lose half a day easily, at least. Florence has lots of options for daytrips, either with a bus tour or by public bus if you don't want to drive.
Your hotel will have brochures or information. Why not play it by ear?

Hi!

We had 4 days in Florence when we were there in March and spent one of those days in Siena, which I highly recommend. Its a fabulous hill town about 2 hours (by train) from Florence and definitely doable. While there is so much to see in Florence, we managed to see everything we wanted to see and still have some leisure time in the three days we spent in Florence. However, I do want to add that we aren't particularly "artsy" people so we didn't spend much time in the major museums; just long enough to see the highlights. If you do appreciate and enjoy art, the museums alone could probably take a day in themselves, depending on how long you spend in them.

Good luck with your planning!
Tracy

Your schedule is almost the same as mine from last month. We daytripped to Pisa and Lucca from Florence (about 1 hour to Pisa and half an hour from Pisa to Lucca). It's very easy and convenient by train (took the IC trains). I suppose Siena is doable from Florence also, but we wanted more time for Siena so we ended up spending a night there before we arrived in Florence.

We did 4 days Florence, and 4 in Venice last summer. Although we planned a day trip from each city, we found so much to see and do that neither ever panned out.

I agree to have a day trip in your plan if you wish, but don't hold yourself to it. Just play it by ear once you arrive.

Hi tara,

Good advice above.

Daytrips from Rome: Ostia Antica, Orvieto and Tivoli

From Florence: Take the no. 7 bus from the train station to Fiesole and watch the sun set from the terrace of the Bar Blu.

Also Siena by SITA bus, Lucca and Pisa by train.

Daytrips from Venice: The islands of Burano, Torcello and Murano.

Verona, Cremona, Parma, Mantua, Padua.

Thanks so much for your replies! I am artsy but husband isnt much so highlights is probably what we will do. I think playing it by ear is less stress anyway I hadnt realized the hotels could help with this after arrival so I think I will take your suggestions and go with that yet keeping this stuff in mind. I am so excited!

Tara

I have a Florence file (the other cities too) with daytrip info.
If you'd like to see it,email me at
[email protected]

If this is your first trip, the 4 days in ROme will barely scratch the surface. I would do the day trips from Florence as recommended by the other posters. Unless you are a huge art fan and plan on spending a significant amount of time in the museums there, FLorence is rather compact and easy to see in a few days. It als has a central location good for many day trip options. I think in Venice, you'll probably just want to stay there for the 3 days, and as Elaine points out, some of your time will be taken up by travel. In Venice you can visit Burano and/or Murano if you want to go on a little excursion.

MFNYC
I agree with you. We spent our last 6 nights in Rome. I assumed I would do a day trip or two.No way! Rome is wonderful and there's so much to see (make sure and go on the scavi tour of the Vatican).
We are already planning another week in Rome as part of our next trip.