leftmespeechless

Hello folks, I have put together a rough sketch of my itinerary for my trip through Italy. I'm going this March over spring break. I plan on visiting Rome and Italy. It's a little rushed, but I honestly am a little more fast-paced than most people, so I wouldn't mind being kind of rushed. I mainly want to make sure that the places I want to see are feasible to visit and in similar parts of town.

Just a note: I cannot change the day that I land in Rome (Saturday at 18hr) or the day that I leave (Sunday at 4hr). I cannot change the location where I land. I'm aware that I'd save time if my flight schedule was different, but at this point I cannot change it. The flight and three nights in a Roman hostel are the only reservations that I have paid for though, so everything else is flexible.

What do you think?

Saturday: Land in Rome at 6 p.m., check into my hostel.

Sunday: Cappuchin Crypt - Museum of Rome - Borghese Gallery - Appian Way - Travastere walk (North City Center of Rome)

Monday: Colosseum, Forums, Palatine Hill, Pantheon. Pub crawl.

Tuesday: Castel Sant'Angelo - Ponte Sant'Angelo - Catacombs of Priscilla

Wednesday: Audience with the pope (I have a letter from the Vatican saying I can get tickets!), Sistine Chapel - St. Peter's basilica - Vatican museum

-- At 22 pm--get on a train to to Venice


Thursday

6 am Hop off the train at San Lucia, arrive in Venice

9 am Walk from St. Mark's Square to Frari Church (self-guided St. Marks to Rialto Walk chapter).
Stop along the way to the Rialto market to browse

11 am Tour Frari Church, Scuola San Rocco

12 pm Tour Accademia, dorsoduro neighborhood, La Salute Church

13 pm Dorsoduro lunch, vaporetto to St. Mark's to wander and shop

15 pm St Mark's basilica

16 pm Doge's Palace

17 pm Gondola ride

20 pm Dinner

22 pm Dueling orchestras with a drink on St. Mark's square

Friday

11 am Grand canal cruise chapter, vaporetto

13 pm Lunch

14 pm Murano

17 pm Exploring

19 pm pub crawl

Saturday:

8 am Get on a train to to Rome

12 pm Hop off at Rome

16 pm Plane leaves Rome

Reservations
- Make reservations at the Venice Fish, extend stay at Hostel Alessandro
- Reservations for musuems--museum cards?

fmpden

You need to understand that if you use the 24 hr clock it is not necessary to list AM annd PM. That is the whole purpose of the 24 hr. clock. It would make for sense for an open jaw returning from Venice or even Milan. Why come all the way back to Rome?

Zerlina

Where's your hostel? If you'll be using the bus to get to the center, it might be worth your while: two free admissions, discounts on others and three days free public transport for 25 Euro. It starts when you first use it - bus or museum - and ends at midnight the third day.

Museum of Rome: Do you mean National Roman Museum (Roman antiquities)? It has four locations; the best are at Palazzo Altemps (near Pantheon) and Palazzo Massimo (near Termini).

Borghese Gallery: You have to reserve a timed entry: online paying by credit card or by phone if you plan to use the Roma Pass. You could do Catacombs of Priscilla instead of "Museum of Rome"; they're not very far from the Borghese Gallery.

Trastevere is south of the historic center.

Monday is not very full. You could do Vatican Museums/Sistine Chapel in the afternoon; it's crowded in the morning but not so much in the afternoon.

Tuesday is not very full at all. You could do Pantheon and Palazzo Altemps in the afternoon.

Wednesday afternoon is one of the most crowded times for the Vatican Museums. Find something else to do.

Your Rome schedule is really not all that intense. There are churches all over Rome that are free and house some of the greatest art.

If you haven't already, I'd suggest you buy a good guidebook. You can check opening hours and admission fees at www.060608.it.

Lexma90

Hmm. Without checking a map, I think your Sunday sites are all over the place. Trastevere is on the other side of the Tiber; the Borghese is way north not near much of anything else; the Appian way is way east; the Museum of Rome is kind of in the middle.

The Borghese, you MUST make reservations in advance, and it will be for a two-hour time slot. If you really want to see the Borghese (it's always near the top of my must-do list for Rome), then make your reservations and plan the rest of your Sunday around that.

Tuesday, Castel Sant'Angelo and the bridge won't take you so long. The catacombs of Priscilla are further north.

I suggest that you use something like google maps to look up all these sites, and their distance from each other.

Wednesday - It's a good idea to get reservations in advance to visit the Vatican Museums. It's pretty easy to do on their website.

In Venice, it will probably take you longer than one hour to view the Frari and San Rocco, depending on how much you like the art.

Definitely spend more than one hour at the Accedemia (plus viewing the neighborhood and La Salute - that won't take a huge amount of time, but you need to walk over there).

I could easily spend more than one hour in San Marco, if you include the museu, which is a wonderful little museum - it allows you to see the amazing mosaics up close.

And, you'll need more than one hour for the Doge's Palace.

Entirely too much scheduled for that first day in Venice. Skip Murano and schedule some of your Thursday activities for Friday. I've been to Venice 5 times or so, and still haven't found the time to make that trip - if nothing else, I'd rather spend the time wandering around the streets of Venice.

When you arrive so early in Venice, consider heading over to the fish market. I don't know what time it officially opens, but you may be able to watch them set up.

notbob

Lexma is right, way too much first day in Venice. Venice needs to be savored, not run through like it's an amusement park.

After your arrival in Venice, walk out of the train station and take in the Grand Canal. Get on the #1 vaporetto and ride to the Rialto Mercato stop and get off. Watch them set up the fish market and take a look at the vegetable market. Have an espesso and a pastry at one of the places nearby.

If you don't want to take luggage, leave it at the train station in left luggage and come back to retrieve.

In the Basilica go up to the loggia for the mosaics and the horses as well as the views over the piazza.

Jean

Go to Murano in the morning if you want to see glass making demonstrations. But I agree you've got too much on your agenda, and Murano would be the best to drop.

Peter_S_Aus

It's fun to do the detail planning with the 24 hour clock. It's even better fun when the whole timetable comes un-glued and you take a spontaneous approach.

Leave a little time in Venice to just wander around, prop yourself at a bar, buy breakfast and coffee, spend time watching boats delivering bricks or knocking piles into the canals.

The Ghetto is worth visiting - very quiet, and most moving.

nytraveler

Your Venice schedule isn;t possible unless you have roller skates and never stop. To tour any of these places (even in a cursory way) will take longer than you have allowed. Plus you ned to leave yourself time to get from one place to another - and a few minutes to eat. (IMHO part of visiting Italy is to understand the Italian way of live , which has a measured pace - except on the highway - and allows plenty of time for sitting in a cafe and having a drink or sitting by a fountain with a gelato and watching the world go by. If you're not going to indulge in those - and want to move that fast - you may as well just look at photos.

ellenem

There are no orchestras in Piazza San Marco in March.

Being fast paced is one thing, but Day 1 in Venice often does not allow enough time to get from place to place. Prioritize your personal "must-sees" so you can edit as you go.

Why not start your day at the Frari and San Rocco since you will be so close when you first arrive at the train station? (Or is that the time when you will check in to your hotel? You haven't mentioned hotels in the schedule.)

Peter_S_Aus

I don't understand how the OP can get a train from Rome at 10:00 PM, and arrive at Venice at 6:00 AM. That's 8 hours, but the train takes about four hours.

Nelson

Well, I think you're nuts, but I see you have budgeted a pub crawl from 19:00 Friday to 08:00 Saturday, so it should all be OK.

Have fun.

ellenem

I believe there is a "night" train, an ICN, that crawls its way to Venice. It departs Roma Tiburtina at 22:36 and arrives in Venice at 5:26 the next morning, making 11 stops along the way.

leftmespeechless

Thanks for all of your great input guys!

Hostels: I'm staying at the Hostel Palace Alessandro in Rome. In Venice, I plan on getting reservations at the Venice Fish.

Trains: I actually found both trains at the trenitalia website. Rest assured, these are actual time tables that I looked up!

Rome: Thanks for the input everyone! I decided to take the Appian Way off of my Rome schedule. I'll take Lexma90's advice about reserving time at the Borghese Gallery and scheduling around that.

Venice: I'll definitely change around my Venice schedule. I really want to see Murano so I'd like to save it, but it is the one that that people here and other places are consistently saying that I should take off.

No dueling orchestras in March? How sad! I guess I'll have to see it when I'm older.

leftmespeechless

Also, about my plane--unfortunately, I cannot change the times and places where I land and leave. I absolutely have to land in Rome and leave Rome on the days that I suggested, and changing it at this point would complicate a lot of things for me. Thanks for suggesting it though! I'll definitely remember that next time I plan a trip!

notbob

If you want to go to Murano then go. But just be realistic. It is best to go in the morning if you want to see the furnaces in operation since they close down around noon. The shops and restaurants are open though.

It will take 45-50 minutes to go from San Marco to Murano and about the same to return.

ellenem

With your hostel location in Cannaregio, it would be much more efficient to go to Murano from the hostel first thing in the morning. It's a short walk from your hostel to Fondamenta Nuove and the boat to Murano--just a 10-minute boat ride from there.

ellenem

Another thought for you: The interior of St Mark's Basilica is not always fully illuminated. However, I have found that for an hour at midday, maybe 11:30-12:30, the lights are on and the golden mosaics shine in all their glory. I would try to adjust your schedule to visit during this time.