First Time Trip to Italy
 

Travelling in October--would like the kind of tour that allows 3-4 days in Rome 2 days of which are unstructured, another 2-3 days in Venice, another couple of days in Siena and perhaps a trip to Sicily. Any recommendations for a touring company that isn't rigid and will allow us to accomplish this kind of schedule in 14 days?

Do you definitely want a tour company, instead of planning the itinerary yourselves? It isn't that hard to do, especially if you post specific questions on this Forum. Heck, if I can do it, you can! Maybe do Rome, Sicily, Siena and fly home from Venice?
:)>-

Most tour companies that offer a Grand tour of Italy WITH Sicily are 16 day tours. Italy/Sicily tours are usually 14 days. They cover Rome then south, with an optional day excursion to Florence perhaps.

Do it yourself.
You may find,like many of us, that planning it is a wonderful part of the overall travel experience.
I would skip Sicily, but you can do Venice, Florence,Siena and Rome in your two weeks.

Skip Sicily!!!?? ahiiiiiiii mammamia

If you do it yourself consider flying from Rome to Venice and back again. Ryanair do it cheap and different days can save you money.

Don't forget Pompeii and a look in on Naples.

Hi fra,

!4 days visiting Venice, Siena and Rome can easily be done all by yourself.

Fly into Venice - 4 nights.

Rent a car and tour Tuscany - 5 nights

Drive to Orvieto and drop off car.

See Orvieto and train to Rome - 4 nights.

Fly home.

See
www.kayak.com for airfare
www.autoeurope.com, www.gemut.com and www.novacarhire.com for cars
www.trenitalia.com for trains
www.venere.com for hotels.

If you don't want to Motor throough Tuscany, train from Venice to Florence for a few days, bus to Siena and then take the bus to Rome with www.senabus.it

Enjoy your visit.

((I))

Not sure how you plan on traveling but for us (going in June), we fly into Rome and we'll be doing trains throughout the rest of the country (Florence, Modena, Varenna & finally Venice). We like trains - you get a different feel for the country this way - you are not so isolated from the locals.

What made this easier was the fact that we booked a flight from the US to Rome but flew back from Venice for the same price as if we did RT from Rome. This way we didn't have to spend time traveling from Venice to Rome - it saves some time to enjoy more of Venice. I'd imagine you can get similar deals by flying in or out of other Italian airports (this was on Alitalia).