paigeTN

This is my favorite forum to research and plan for our annual trips. I've spent hours and hours reading the trip reports, comments, bought Rick Steves' 2010 guidebook and have decided that we want to visit Italy for about two weeks in May independently rather than with a group tour! I'm always the one doing all the planning, from big to small, in our family so at first planning a trip to Europe seemed very daunting. Originally, for simplicity sake and since May is only 4 months away, we were going to use Gate1 Travel (have never used them before but have heard lots of good things), but we prefer doing things on our own time/schedule so we'll be doing Italy mostly on our own with possibly a private guide here and there.

I have a big picture of what cities we want to visit, what we'd like to see, etc. But I would love to get your help on what is the best airline to use from L.A. We'll start in Venice and will go home from Rome (Is this a good choice?).

I'm sure as our plan/itinerary takes shape, I will ask more questions of the Italy experts. Thank you so much in advance!

nytraveler

First, good for you for doing the work and getting the vacation you want. In two weeks you can see the big 3 in Italy plus spend some time n the countryside - you need to figure out what you want to see where to decide how to distribute your days.

Into Venice and out of rome is good - since the flights from Venice to the US are at the crack of dawn.

Don;t know which airlines fly out of LA but I would be more concerned with cost and timing as long as you are going with a major carrier. If you go to kayak.com it will give you a host of options.

cathies

The trains in Italy are great, so don't hesitate to use them. And there is no need to book in advance from the US, you can just book what you need at the train stations.

Venice - Florence (with Tuscany day trips) - Rome would be a great two week trip.

bobthenavigator

Good for you!
You have a good start---I suggest a max of 4 destinations in your time. Use kayak.com to search your airline--use the multi-city option.

LSky

Bravo for you! There is a world of good information on this forum and you are very wise to read it.

Good advice from nytraveler (as usual), unless you plan on flying business or first class then just get the cheapest airfare with the best layovers, especially coming home.

If you can't find a non stop then look for a flight that will have a stop over in Europe, like Amsterdam or London etc then go directly to LAX. This way you'll only have to clear customs in LAX which (your probably know) can be long but at least you'll not be worried about making your flight. If this isn't possible and you need to take a flight with a stop over in a US city, make sure you have plenty of times to clear customs.

Michael

I just booked a R/T from SFO to Paris with http://airfare.com/. It was considerably cheaper than what kayak.com offered. Check all the sites, including Expedia, Orbitz, etc. to find the better price. Be aware that what is posted in large type usually does not include taxes and fees. Often you need to act as if you want to purchase the ticket to get the actual price.

paigeTN

You're all are so fast at responding! Thank you. This trip will be to celebrate our 10-year anniversary and since it will be our first time to Europe, we're pretty psyched.

nytraveler and bobthenavigator, I will use Kayak to find airfare. LSky I love to fly business class but unfortunately that will be too expensive for us. May be for our 20th anniversary . How much layover time do I allow, would London be the best choice? I've read that Paris is pretty chaotic. What's considered a good fare during the first two weeks of May? Will I need flights within Italy or just use the train? Do we need to fly to NY then Europe?

cathies, yes I was thinking Venice, Florence and Rome too. I would love to stay in the Tuscany area for a few days and even stay at a agriturismo(?). Or I guess we can just use Florence as a base than do day trips since we don't plan to drive in Italy.

Another option I've been looking at is to use Gate1 air/land package, let's say 2 days Venice/3 Florence or something like that just to get us there. The only thing is I've been doing so much research on quaint boutique-type hotels that I hesitate to use a tour company's typical tourist hotels. Would appreciate your advice on this. In addition, I don't really know how much of a savings to use Gate1's land/air package vs booking air/hotel on our own, besides the "quaint" factor that is.

Thank you so much! You guys are the best!

LSky

If you have a layover in London, Paris wherever, just make sure it's not in the States. You'll be checked through. Well, unless they change things between now and May. Happy 20th Anniversary!

I like to have at least 1 1/2 hours for a layover, longer doesn't bother me at all.

paigeTN

LSky, it will be our 10th . If I get to plan all our trips, I'm sure we'll make it to our 20th.

docdan

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...italy-trip.cfm

This is a posting I made last summer after a few days in Venice and so. Tuscany. I drool at the idea of two weeks in No. Italy! If you are intending on driving around Tuscany, be sure to search for postings on the Val d'Orcia, which has the absolute prototypically gorgeous countryside that is fun to drive through. Also, to get the best deal on airfare, be sure to try different city pairs (milan, rome, bologne, venice) Sometimes, for no good reason, a particular city pair comes up with a good deal. First get the best deal on your airfare, then plan your itinerary; Don't set an itinerary and then try to find airfares to match that, you may be limiting your options and paying for it. Bon Voyage!

anitavuyyuru

How exciting, we celebrated our 10th anniversary in Europe too(with the kids along too) and loved it.

Now I live in LA but then was in SFO and it always seemed cheaper to fly into London and then take a local flight from there. Kayak worked pretty well for me too.

I'm a big proponent of the 'do it yourself' travel and with the help from all the incredible people out here I'm sure you can do it yourself.

We stayed in an agriturisimo in Tuscany(Montepulciano) for a week and did day trips to all the nearby hill towns and would really reccommend that. In Florence we stayed at a lovely uaint boutique hotel called David and it was fantastic!!

Good luck with the planning!!!

paigeTN

Thanks docdan for the tips on fare search! Rick Steves tours stay at Pensione Guerrato, pretty cool.

anitavuyyuu, I hadn't heard of hotel David! I checked it out on TripAdvisor, very pretty. I''m adding that to my list of preferred hotels for Florence. I've narrowed tons of hotels down to a few in each city and am having a hard time choosing.

NativeNewYorker

I also use these forums as an integral part of our independent travel planning. Very succussfully planned trips in past to Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark & Sweden with the advice from these boards. Now we're planning an Italy vacation for our 20th anniversary. My first time there. We have great ideas, but now we don't know if we're going in September, as we originally thought, or perhaps mid-June. Our other option, which we Dismissed, is Holy Week. I don't want to go when it's that busy and crazy. Good luck to you. I also cross check hotels on TripAdvisor. I get such great advice here.

Lexma90

On your question about Gate1, I can't speak for that company or the prices compared to doing it yourself, but if it were me, I would choose purchasing my own flights and hotels over tourist-type places, even if the prices were a little bit higher. The hotels that Gate1 uses may be less centrally located, as well, than those you choose. And I think it's important to stay at a place where it's easy to walk to most of the sites you want to see, plus be in a good location for scenic walking around in the evenings.

StCirq

I wouldn't bother with Gate1 for anything. You can almost certainly find a better deal on your own (check out Michael's suggestion as well as Kayak, Mobissimo, etc.). I wouldn't trust any tour company's choice of hotels, as I know they negotiate deals with big places usually out of the main circuit. I probably wouldn't be too thrilled with Rick Steve's choice of hotels (or restaurants), either, from what I've seen on his videos. You can do better by yourself, and you seem to have the incentive to do it, so keep reading here and I'm sure you'll do better than any tour operator can.

annhig

Hi Paige,

this may be a bit out of your comfort zone, but in May, a couple would have no problem finding accommodation in Italy, apart from in big cities.

so my suggestion would be to fly into Venice and stay 3-4 nights, then to pick up a car, and take a routr that took you towards either florence or Rome [wherever you want to end up] arriving there 4 days before you are flying home.

you would need to book ahead for Venice and Florence/Rome, but the rest would be up to you as you travelled.

just a thought!

BigRuss

"A little less centrally located" is a euphemism for way the f--- out of town. Tour companies get discounts on hotels that are in remote locations compared to the center of Rome, Florence or Venice. Oftentimes, you might as well be in an undisclosed location.

Don't stick too close to Rick Steves because (1) his choices are occasionally a bit downscale and you want nice hotels and restaurants on your trip and (2) what's the fun in doing it yourself if it's all done by Rick Steves?

Personally, we like the DK books and (of course) the FODORs books -- especially the pictorial ones that help us get a notion of what we want to see.

With two weeks, you can easily do 4 nights Venice, 4-5 Florence and 5-6 Rome. You should visit Siena -- its Duomo is excellent. I'd like to re-visit Verona, which is probably day-trippable from Venice on a fast train.

As for connections in Europe -- the London airports are more expensive to depart from to the US (for your return) because they tax the heck out of you. Paris is a mess and connections there are a crapshoot -- we had no problem connecting in '06 but when we went to Paris in '07 others on our plane got completely jammed as we had a delay getting out of the deplaning area immediately after the jetway. Good rule of thumb is to avoid Paris. Supposedly Amsterdam is far better and KLM flies from LAX.

bobthenavigator

I just ran your scenario for departure 13 May into VCE and return from FCO on 28 May.
You best deal/flights are AF over---with a stop in Paris-- and Delta on return from Rome nonstop. The price is $1252
Could be worse. Have fun !

Lexma90

On your question about getting around within Italy, if you plan to only visit the big cities, then train is your best bet. If you'd like to spend time in more rural areas, in the countryside, then consider renting a car for that portion of the trip.

On which city to connect through in Europe (or the US), the connection time will be predetermined; the booking engines won't give you connections that are too close. We don't live in LA, but have found that connecting through Frankfurt works best for us, based on the airlines that fly to Europe from our home city. We flew through London once, because the flights were $200/pp cheaper; it was more of a hassle, but worth if for the money we saved. I would connect through pretty much any city if it made sense money-wise and time-wise for your planned itinerary.

I like Rick Steves for his honest appraisals of what's worth seeing and what's not (I may not always agree, but at least he doesn't make everything sound perfect). But I rarely use his hotel suggestions, for the reasons others have noted. Same for restaurants. What do I use for hotels and restaurants? Hmmm. Some Fodor's, some tripadvisor, rarely any actual guidebooks. Mostly, I think, I determine where in a city I want to stay, and work backwards from there, doing various research to find good-looking, centrally-located, family-owned small hotels or inns. Restaurants, mostly the Chowhound website and a bunch of actual printed books (depending on the destination).

Enjoy your planning!

christrmpt04

For an agriturismo, may I recommend Agriturismo Marciano in Siena. Very pretty!