First time to Europe - Italy
 

My Fiancé and I are traveling to Europe (pre-wedding honeymoon, yes I know.....ODD), Italy to be exact this coming October '12. We will have 10 full days in Italy, and my current plan (I'm a planner by nature) is to land in Rome (airlines ticket purchased), stay 3 nights, train to Florence, 2 nights, train to Venice 2 nights and then back to Rome for a day before heading back to Ft. Lauderdale :(

I was wondering since I am not looking to spend $10K on this trip and truly want to keep expenses down, can you tour sites around Italy yourself without a tour guide. Or is it worth having someone tour you? I've been looking at some passes, I believe it’s called Omnia Card, do you tour yourself by buying these passes? Are there guides in the museums? I know in Rome the places I want to see are def. Vatican City and Sistine Chapel, St Peters, Pantheon, Coliseum, Roman Forum, Capitoline Hill Museums.

Did I miss anything in Rome important to see (I did not name the outdoor items, since that is a given)? Haven't started my research for Florence and Venice :(

Thank you in advance to all who kindly assist :)

<< Did I miss anything in Rome important to see >>

The hundreds of amazingly beautiful churches. The beautiful fountains and squares (these are outdoor things but I'm not sure that they are a given for you).

Yes, you can sightsee on your own but sometimes a short group guided tour is worthwhile such as at the Vatican Museums and St. Peter's. There are lots of walking tour companies in all price ranges in all major cities.

You should fly into Venice and fly home from Rome so you don't have to backtrack and spend extra money on train tickets.

Have you considered training to Florence as soon as you arrive in the country, then to Venice and finally to Florence. That way, you won't have to b reak up your Rome stay.

hi Marlyn,

congrats on your pre-wedding honeymoon - i hope you have a lovely time on your first trip to Italy.

I see that you are flying into Rome, then planning to stay there for a few days, then see Florence and Venice and back to Rome for your last night. Assuming that you can't change your flights, you could maximise your time in Rome by going straight to Venice, then back to Florence and finally Rome. your train from the airport will go to Termini station in central Rome which is where you catch the train to Venice, so you won't lose any time there, and you can spend your time on the train [about 4 hours] recovering from your flight and any jetlag.

then your train deposits you right in the centre of Venice, which is a lovely place to start your honeymoon.

as for passes, I'd never heard of the Omnia pass so i googled it, and found a long section on Trip Advisor about it. it seems very expensive for 3 days and you could probably do it yourself for quite a lot less, especially if you buy a Roma pass.

you can book a tour of the vatican and sistine chapel via the vatican website, and use one of your 2 free entries on the Roma pass on the coloseum/forum/palatinate [all on the same ticket]
and you do not need a guide for the Pantheon or the Capitoline museums. [use th eother free entry]

in venice, you can pre-book entry to St. Mark's [free or not very much, but well worth it to bypass the queues] and to the Secret Itineraries tour of the Doge's palace. otherwise, you can just show up at places like the Frari and the Scula di San Rocco, and of course that great sight, the Rialto market, is free.

in Florence, you should pre-book the uffizi and the accademia if you want to see them. [make sure that you do it via the official website

http://www.uffizi.firenze.it/

you might also like to look at the Firenze card:

http://www.firenzecard.it/index.php?lang=en [do check if the uffizi and the accademia are included as I can't remember].

buon viaggio!

It would be so much better to put all of your time in Rome together at the end, save time and money. If you can change flights to arrive in Venice and fly out of Rome, that would be even better. If not, depending on what time you are arriving in Rome, you could possibly get a flight on to Venice or, if not, train to Venice. I say Venice first because it is a great place to get over jet lag, while Florence is pretty intense sight seeing.

You said you have a full ten days. Does that include travel time?
Day 1: depart US
Day 2: arrive Rome, continue on to Venice, stay 3 nts.
Day 5: arrive Florence around noon, stay 2 nts.
Day 7: arrive Rome, check into hotel, etc. around noon, stay 3 nts.
Day 10: fly home

Welcome to Fodors and congratulation on your pending wedding. I'm sure you will fall in love with Italy.

I watched a program recently on the scams in Rome to avoid. I can't say I encountered them myself in the three times that I've been there. It involves two very popular tourist attractions...the Vatican and the Coliseum.

There are bogus tour guides that hang out at the Vatican that will try to entice you to take a tour with them by promising that you will bypass lines or by promising almost anything (meeting the pope). At the Coliseum, you can be scammed into taking a photograph with your own camera of you and a Gladiator...only to find out that they want 40 Euros for the honor. Just a few things to be aware of I guess.

Rome is an open air museum and many of the sights are in plain view...as mentioned fountains, squares and churches. It is interesting to have a tour with a guide that knows the history. Here are two recommended tour companies to consider:

Through Eternity Tours, Via Sinuessa 8 (tel. 06-7009336; www.througheternity.com), is staffed by a team of art historians, archaeologists, and experts on ancient Rome. Its guided tour of Vatican City is the best in Rome, a comprehensive 5-hour tour that brings life to the artifacts in this vast treasure-trove. The cost is 32€ per person. Other tours include Rome at Twilight, a 2 1/2-hour evening tour of the city's beautiful piazzas and fountains, costing 29€ per person. Lasting 4 hours, a tour of Underground Rome costs 49€.

Another option is Context Travel, Via Baccina 40 (tel. 06-4820911; www.contexttravel.com), which has a network of architects, historians, and art historians who organize walking seminars for intellectually curious travelers. These walks last anywhere from 3 hours to all day and provide an in-depth alternative to traditional tours. Groups are small, never more than 6 participants. For example, 1 tour lasting 2 hours and costing 35€ per person takes you into the subterranean chambers of the Circus Maximus (not open to the general public). Yet another 3-hour tour, costing 55€ per person, takes you on a tour of the development of Rome during the Imperial period, including the Colosseum and the Roman Forum.

If you plan to take a tour, I would find a reputable tour company and book it in advance.

You will find a wealth of information on this forum. Just type in the name of the city under the search button and you'll see all the previous threads.

Good luck with your planning.

>>>can you tour sites around Italy yourself without a tour guide<<<

Yes, you can tour most places on your own. Most also offer audio guides to rent (5-7€). You can also d/l Rick Steves audio guides for free on ITunes.

I agree about training to Venice upon arrival as you will be too tired to do much that day anyway.

I don't think you get the value from the Omnia pass (it's 85€). I would book Vatican tickets directly with the Vatican and buy a Roma Pass for your other sites. Booking tickets with the Vatican (they also have tours) let's you bypass the lines as does the Roma Pass.

http://mv.vatican.va/3_EN/pages/MV_Home.html

There are a couple of cheap tours for the Colosseum (5€-8€). You can use your Roma Pass for entry and just book these tours.Pierreci is the official booking site.

Basic Colosseum tour:

VISITS FOR INDIVIDUALS
hours: info
languages: English, Italian, Spanish
persons: max 40
duration: 45 minutes
price: € 5,00

The times for it is only in Italian.
http://www.pierreci.it/home-page/it/...e-singoli.aspx

The 8€ tour:
http://www.pierreci.it/home-page/en/...-hypogeum.aspx

OMG, you are all amazing <3 . Thank you so much for taking time to answer my questions.

Our tickets are purchased, I searched every which way and landing/leaving Rome was the least expensive route (at least when I finally purchased my tickets). We land on the 10th and leave on the 20th. So in reality it's 91/2 days, counting 1/2 day when we land. I thought this would be a nice time to stroll the Spanish Steps and Trevi Fountain (we are staying steps away from the Fountain) God, I'm hoping its a good area (blush)! i could probably change my hotel, and go directly from the airport to the train and take that to Venice, and work the other way around. Venice, Florence and Rome?

So Venice for 2.5 days, 3 days Florence and 4 days Rome......Is this ok? We need to take a short drive out of Rome, 1.5 hour drive to Coreno Ausenio, where my fiance's family is from.

Gosh, thank you all so much. Kinda nervous, making sure I plan everything correctly.

I would still move your Rome time all to the end and on landing travel directly to your next destination. It makes the most sense time wise.

I have learned that while it may be the cheapest option it is sometimes a false economy in that you now waste most of a vacation day travelling to your next destination. It may cost a bit more for the airfare to fly open jaw into one location and out another, but when you factor in the cost of the train into Rome, then the train to Venice and your time it probably wouldn't be that much cheaper but people don't think to add in those costs when comparing airfare. I know this doesn't help you cause you have already booked, but it may help another person reading this post!


Enjoy your trip!!

Following up jamikins, when you looked at every which way to get to and from Italy, did you look at the airfare in isolation or did you look at the overall cost considering that if you have done multi-city (open-jaw) you would have eliminated many cost and time consuming elements? Many experienced posters would likely to do multi-city flights not because they love spending more for the airfare. They know that a little more paid for the multi-city airfare would pay for itself both in cost as well as almost a day saved by not backtracking to the starting airport.

Every few days a new poster comes online with same issue: booking a round trip fare when cost and time are constrained when a multi-city trip would have saved both the cost and time.

HI MS,

At this point I wouldn't cancel any reservations until I was sure I had new ones - Oct isn;t that far away.

I can highly recommend www.bedinflorence.it for inexpensive accommodations in Florence.

Enjoy your visit.

((I))

PS,

>We need to take a short drive out of Rome, 1.5 hour drive to Coreno Ausenio, where my fiance's family is from.<

Don't expect that this will be less than a full day, if not an overnight, visit.

((I))

Oye! You have all given me lots to think about. I will look at that the cost difference (purchased trip insurance) to land in Venice instead of Rome. I belive its a four hour train ride from Rome to Venice and about $400 (I now see what y'all mean about $$$$). I truly should have come here first! Well lesson learned, and since I an throwing three coins into the Trevi Fountain, I'm sure I will return to Italy, much wiser ;)

I think you will find that most trip insurance coverage is only for cancellation due to illness and will not allow you to change your airline tickets for a change of mind on itinerary. If you pay the change fee, which in most cases is $150 to $200 per ticket, there will likely be no savings to be had. You can nab some pretty good rail fares online if you keep your eyes open and check the website periodically.