paigeTN

Good point Michael! At $425/night when we spend most of our time sightseeing, it's not worth it at all. Thanks for pointing that out.

ellenem

I was not commenting on the "package" aspect, just the airline itself.

Just book my favorite hotel for a week in Venice in March--paying 120 euro for two with breakfast per night--so personally I'd not spend $425 on a room. (Hotel al Ponte Mocenigo, by the way)

ellenem

By the way, star rating in italy have to do with amenities offered, not necessarily with how "nice" a place is. An elevator, meeting room, or separate dining room scores more star points. No stars lost is the rug is stained or torn.

My hotel choice has no elevator, meeting room, or separate dining room, so it rates just 2 stars.

paigeTN

al Ponte Mocenigo, that's one of the hotels on my list of favorites to book! Did you book with them through their website ellenem?

paigeTN

If I purchase tickets thru Kayak or OneTravel, how do I ensure that my husband and I will sit together? This will be my first time buying tickets on my own, I've always used a travel agent for tickets before and booked hotels and everything else myself. Sad but true.

paigeTN

I've just complicated things by throwing 4 nights Paris into the original itinerary of 2 weeks in Italy! I was checking for airfare on Kayak and throught since we will be so close to France, why not fly Air France and visit Paris for 4 nights. Fare right now is around $1100 for LA-Paris-Venice-Rome-LA for 5/18.

So here's our itinerary now - please let me know if this is doable or should we just focus our time on Italy? It's our 1st time to Europe to celebrate our 10th anniversary and I want us to have a wonderful and relaxing time and not get all stressed out.

4 nights Paris (I need to research Paris now on where to stay, what to do)
3 nights Venice
3 nights Florence
3 nights Rome

Thank you so much!

Dave_Ohio

We made a similar trip a few years ago, booking it all ourselves. Flew in and out of Rome on Iberia Airlines, via Madrid. The trains in Italy were very easy to use. We took the Eurostar from Rome to Venice, then to Florence and back to Rome. In Florence we rented a car from Hertz and stayed four or five days in B&B in a nearby farmhouse/wine villa, making daytrips into Florence and through the breathtakingly beautiful Tuscany countryside.
I highly recommend the B&B, Villa Sant'Andrea, http://www.villasantandrea.com/; room for 2 in May is ~ € 115 ($158). They have other types of accommodation as well. If booked, there are other good options as well.
Buona fortuna!

ellenem

This will be my third stay at Hotel al Ponte Mocenigo. I booked through their website all three times.

Sorry I can't help with Kayak bookings. I use Kayak to search for good deals, but then always book directly with the airline recommended by Kayak. I think there are fewer areas for trouble when something changes or goes wrong if you are dealing directly with the airline rather than an intermediary. (I may be wrong.) When you book directly with the airline, you usually choose your seats at the time of the booking.

So with your new plan, you would
fly LA-Paris
fly Paris-Venice
train Venice-Florence
train Florence-Rome
fly Rome-LA

This is totally doable, though I feel like you might like more time in each of these Italian locations. Per this new plan, you have just 2 full days in Venice, Florence, and Rome, with travel days in between. Taking those 4 Paris days and adding them to Italy would give you time to explore outside the cities you plan to visit.

paigeTN

Dave_Ohio, thank you for the tips on the rental car and the B&B. I will take ellenem's advice to add more days to our Italy trip, save Paris for another trip and add 3 nights in Tuscany at that wonderful farmhouse. It will be a nice restful escape from the busy cities. How is driving into Florence and parking?

ellenem

Driving into Florence is not recommended. Driving into any town carries with it the chance of violating a limited traffic zone and receiving an expensive traffic violation and fine months later for doing so. On this forum we seem to hear reports of receiving traffics tickets fin Florence more than any other city in Italy. Read the article here:
http://www.slowtrav.com/italy/drivin...s_speeding.htm

For Florence in particular:
http://en.comune.firenze.it/mobility/ztl.htm

Yes, there are possible to park in Florence and avoid the traffic fine, but the streets are narrow, often one way, and the best intentions can turn into a nightmare. Instead of choosing to drive into Florence, many visitors staying in the countryside choose instead to drive to a nearby bus stop or train station and use public transportation to reach the city center.

ellenem

Yes, there are possible places to park . . .

paigeTN

Thank you for your input ellenem. We hadn't planned on driving in Italy on this trip. If any, it would just be in the countryside. As someone had commented before, most Fodorites are seasoned Europe travelers and we're just newbies so we'll save the driving for later trips. Now off to getting our air booked!

travelgirl2

Most people who visit Tuscany drive. I'm not sure how accessible it would be by public transportation. It's not hard to drive around the countryside. The signs rely heavily on your destination city, more so than highway numbers, when you are in the country.

Doggma

paigeTN - if you are used to driving in LA, you won't have any problem driving in Europe. My husband and I took our first trip to Europe 12 years ago and drove through 4 countries. We never had any trouble at all.

We are also going to Italy in May, flying into Florence, then renting a car after our 5 days in Florence and driving through the Tuscan countryside for 7 days. I just booked everything last week and it is costing about $5800, with a car rental....much cheaper than your Gate1 price.

I also always do everything on my own, I don't even use my Mom, and she is a travel agent! You can find much better information by checking the forums like this one. We also use Rick Steves guides for information on Museums, etc, but we don't always care for his hotel or restaurant recommendations, and he tends to "do" each location a little too quick for my liking.

ellenem

I agree with the others. If you plan to stay in the countryside of Tuscany, you are best served by renting a car. Just be very careful about driving that car into the center of towns and cities. Most hill towns will have parking areas just outside town so you can avoid getting into ZTL trouble.

paigeTN

Doggma, yes you're right that if we can drive in LA, we can drive in Europe. I drive the 405 to work almost every day, haha. That's funny, if my mom is a travel agent, I'll definitely use her. :]

We would like to stay a few days in Tuscany and rent a car just to drive around the area. We won't drive into Florence ellenem. What's the best town from Florence to go to to rent a car and to return?

I want to book our tickets this week, no, more like today but I'm having the hardest time deciding which airline! I even created another topic just to get help on it. I'm somewhat confused...is it better to connect in the States or Europe? Better to fly with a well known European airline like KLM, BA, Lufthansa, etc? Please help!

ellenem

Some people who want to rent a car from Florence and avoid driving in the city just take a taxi to the Florence Airport and rent the car there. The airport is quite close the city but also far enough away to have good highway access.

For me, I think for the most part airlines are alike. Some airports are better or worse for making a connection, whether in Europe or the U.S. I usually pick based on a combination of schedule (non-stop or 1 stop) and price. If a connection must be made, I'm comfortable with about 2 ours between flights to cover delays and transit time. Not much help I know . . .

Michael

I would choose the airline according to cost. Chances are that it will be a European national airline or a US company anyway, all of them major. If you have never been to Europe before, a U.S. connection is preferable because there is always some anxiety about maneuvering in a foreign airport; but I always use price as my base to choose the flight.

ellenem

yikes! 2 Hours between flights . . .

Doggma

I always just look at the best times/price....almost all of the airlines that travel from LAX to Italy will be fine. The 2 things I try to avoid are Alitalia and switching in Paris.

We just booked our flights on Lufthansa.

paigeTN - if you can manuever the 405 during rush hour, you can manuever anything! LOL!