My wife and I are headed to Italy for our 10th anniversary. Since we will be leaving small children with relatives, we can only afford to be gone 8 days or so. Our first choice to visit is Tuscany, followed by Rome (Vatican - we're Catholic). We're kind of thinking about 2 days in Rome, followed by 5 or 6 days in Tuscany. Is that enough time in each place? We're not going till Sept/Oct 2004, but we thought we should be planning now. We would appreciate any thoughts or comments. Thanks.

A life time in Rome might not be enough.
Anything less then 4/5 days you might find to be frustrating (knowing things are there and don't have time to see them). You could spend 2 days just in the vatican (The shortest Vatian Museums tour is about 3 hours, then you'll want to see St. Peter's and perhaps do one of the behind the scenes tours. We did this a couple of years ago and you need to reseve tickets in advance. You can tour vatian gardens, archeological sites, etc with a group of 20 or so). What do you plan on seeing/doing in Tuscany? Cities? Small towns? Vinyards? I would do some in-depth reading and decide what your specific goals are before finalizing plans.

While some may disagree, whatever length of time you have is sufficient. You'll just have to compromise.

I'm a warm weather person so I always try for the warmest time just outside of highest season.

Rome. IMHO, if you are prepared to drop most museums and stay in a very central location (such as near the Pantheon) you can see the city several times over in 2 days.

If you go in early September, I would be tempted to add a day to Rome and go to Sorrento/Capri/Amalfi Cost(Positano/Amalfi/Ravello) for a few days. Spectacular.

We were in Rome/Sorrento May of 2002.
We walk a lot but don't rush and don't really sit around for hours on end.

On our first day we stopped by the Fountain of Trevi (right beside our hotel) for a few minutes, wandered over to the Spanish Steps (10-15 minutes walk) and stayed a while (also bought train ticket to Naples there), Climbed the stair at the Spanish Steps and walked through the park over to Pizza Popolo. We then miandered through the streets (wife stopped in some stores) and back to the Spanish Steps. We hung there with the throngs for a while.

Then walked past our hotel to the Victor Emannual (Wedding Cake) and sat around the Capitoline Hill, looked down over the Forum for a while then walked over to the Synagogue and over the bridge to Testavere. Walked around there for a while and took a bus back to the hotel. Got ready for dinner.

The next day we started at the Vatican Museum (only museum we went to), St Peters and walked all over the city again.

Etc.

Rome is very walkable.

Have fun.

I would do 4 each and start in Tuscany and end in Rome--driving from FCO to your first location.

That's a great time of year to go, you're on the shoulder season. Since you only want to spend 2 days in Rome, I would definately hire a guide with a car. My wife and I used a company called Vatican Tours & Beyond and they were reasonably priced and fantastic. That way, you see all the highlights and more importantly, understand what you are seeing. Also check out a website called initaly.com. There are so many enchanting places in Italy, especially Tuscany, you are never going to "do it" in 8 days. The best thing you can do is pace yourself, fully experience what you can and vow to return.

As I wrote, everybody has their own opinion.

What you have to do is merge your style of travel with the time you have and the place you're visiting.

It's like a zigsaw puzzle.

I agree with Bob the Navigator that a split of 4 and 4 (or maybe 3 in Rome and 5 in Tuscany) would be about right. I disagree with the idea of going to Tuscany first. Tuscany will be the more relaxing part of your trip and you'll probably want to make that the end of you vacation.
Alternatively, you could do what we did a couple of years ago: We spent our first two days in Rome, get a better idea of what was a "must-see" for us, we saw what we could in those first two days, then rented a car and went on for a week in Tuscany. We returned to Rome for the last two days, dropped off the car, and saw the things we weren't able to the first time. Either way, you are probably going to have to spent your last night in Rome because your flight home will probably have an early morning departure.

I agree with Bob; 4 and 4, starting in Tuscany. The drive from FCO to southern Tuscany is easy, even after a long flight.
Unlike many posters here, after 4 days of small hilltowns in Tuscany I was ready for a larger city.
Rome will EASILY provide 4 full days of major sites, especially if you plan to spend much time in VC.
Have a great trip,
j.

Rome has more high quality sights and things to do than any other city in Italy for certain, and probably most of Europe. We spent 4 days in Rome and had a tough time deciding what to leave out.

My husband and I just returned from a slightly longer trip that included both Rome and Tuscany. I would add one day to Rome and spend the rest in Tuscany. We ended in Rome, and only spent two nights there. That was a bit short, and we had the added problem of a strike that closed the Roman sites for a day. You can definitely do the Vatican Museums and St. Peters in one day. You should book a tour - we used Through Eternity and had an expert art history professor as a guide.

My suggestion is to fly into Rome, stay there for three nights, then drive out to Southern Tuscany and stay in one place there for the next 5 nights. You can then drive to the airport and drop the car off without ever driving back into Rome. Staying in Rome at first lets you get over jet lag before you start driving around, lets you pace the first day with walking to sites like the Spanish Steps or the Trevi Fountain or hanging out at a cafe in the Piazza Navonna. The next two days can then be one for the Vatican and one for Roman sites. There will still be more in Rome, but you'll never see it all, and the countryside is amazing and the moment you get there you will be happy.

I don't know what you want to spend on hotels but we stayed at the Residenza Canali in the Piazza Navonna area of Rome for $207 Euros per night for a very nice room with a balcony and and a lovely Italian breakfast. From there you can walk to almost everything, and it is ten minutes to the Vatican. We were on the top (5th) floor with no elevator, so be advised, but it really is a charming place with charming staff.

Good luck planning.

Many thanks for the advise on how to allocate time between Rome and Tuscany. While in Rome, we'll probably cash in hotel points. My hotel options for Rome would include the Marriott, Hilton, Westin, or St. Regis. Anybody have thoughts on locations, experiences, etc?

Planning a trip myself using points and I will say that you can probably rule out Marriott because every date I checked the didn't have reward rooms available (wonder if they every do). Much more success with Hilton and Westin (which is of course also St. Regis)!

A friend and I went to Italy in late Sept - my first trip, she had been the previous summer. We left our husbands and kids at home. I agree with the writer who suggested identifying your priorities. We spent three nights in Rome, and that simply gave us an overview of the city. Highly recommend Enjoy Rome's walking tour of Ancient Rome at night. Knowledgeable guide, only 8 other visitors, and sometimes not another soul at some of the sites (such as the Forum and Coliseum). Also loved Enjoy Rome's 3 hour tour of the Vatican. We walked in Rome from 10 in the morning to 1 at night, and rode the Metro. Our must-do's included the Borghese Museum (reserve tickets over the net so you're not disappointed), the Scavi's tour of St. Peter's burial site underneath St. Mark's Basilica in Vatican City (email your request and you might be chosen to view it), and enjoying the food and drink. If you go in late Sept., "White Night" occurs or "Rome for the Romans". All museums, sites, stores, restaurants and bars stay open all night and Romans take to the streets in the hundreds of thousands. Wonderful. As I'm typing this, I'm leaning towards spending the entire eight days in Rome, and take some out-of-city tours as well. Finally, I'm not a chain-hotel type of tourist, I'd recommend something small and Roman. We stayed at the Hotel Margutta, off the Piazza de Popolo, E 140 for two with a rooftop terrace off our room. Wonderful, quietish neighbourhood, great restaurants and shopping, 1 block to a Metro station, a solid 3 out of 5. Have a great holiday.

Agree about not being a chain hotel type BUT I know I can go a lot more often and stay a lot longer when I'm not footing the bill for a room! Happily I have found that in Europe many of the chain hotels in historic areas don't seem chain at all!

So I to will be interested to hear from those of you who have stayed in any of these hotels in Rome.