robmac

My wife and I are just starting to plan a 2 week trip to Florence & Venice in September and I am wondering what would be the best way to break up our time--ie one week in each city or 9 days in one and 5 days in the other.

Do any of you kind Fodorites have any suggestions?

bardo1

The 7/7 and 9/5 are both excellent ideas.

An important followup question is:
What day trips (if any) are you interested in?

Bologna? Pisa? Sienna? Verona?

robmac

Thanks for your reply bardo1.

Pisa & Verona are places that we would like to see.

dawnnoelm

robmac,

We did a day trip to Pisa last July - took the train from Florence - I have to say it was a tad of a let down. I am glad we went - the girls saw the tower. I just would never go back. I know there are some here that love Pisa though.

MaureenB

With 14 nights, I would personally do five nights in each city, and four somewhere in the 'country'-- like the Ligurian Coast, Tuscany, etc. Have you already been to Rome?
>-

robmac

MaureenB

Yes, we were in Naples & Rome a few years ago.

bardo1

robmac,

Thanks for additional info - In that case I would suggest 7/7.

The train between Venice and Florence is about the same as an airpoort layover. You might want to consider flying into and out of Venice.

robmac

bardo1

Thanks for the additional advice.

I have just started planning this trip so I am going to be doing a lot of research on this site.

I am sure that I will have lots of further questions for you.

MaureenB

I beg to differ with bardo1. An open jaw flight plan is almost always better when you're going to Italy for two weeks. Fly into one city and home from another city, so you don't have to backtrack.

I think the flights out of Venice to the U.S. are at inconvenient times in the early morning, so most posters recommend you arrive at Venice, then depart from elsewhere.

You could fly into Venice, spend 5 nights there, train to Florence, spend 5 nights there, then spend 4 nights in Tuscany or Ligurian coast and fly home from Pisa. Or a dozen variations of that.
>-

bardo1

Maureen,

Yes, usually - especially if your trip stretches all the way from Venice to Rome (or futher). This is only a small section of Italy.

a)Unlike Venice, there are no direct flights from the US to/from Florence

b)the high speed train from Venice to FLorence is about 2.5 hrs - about the same amount of time as many airport layovers.

So for the inconvenience of a single, one-way backtrack of 2.5 hours, I was giving the <i>option</i> of only having non-stop flights. Furthermore, if robmac &amp; co. wanted to divide their time in Venice to 4 nights at the beginning and 3 nights at the end, there is no backtracking at all.

Again, I'm not saying don't go open-jaw. I am only showing another option - looking at all their personal factors: itinerary, price, schedule, convenience, etc.

MaureenB

Yes, of course, you're correct, bardo. It all depends on how much the poster wants to move around, pack and unpack, check in and out of hotels, get on and off trains and planes. . ..

Just to clarify, you can fly to and from the U.S. and Florence, but not nonstop. Some people don't like to fly too long without getting off the plane to stretch their legs, and may want to save the money on a less expensive flight. Just an option.

It's fun to plan a trip like this! Robmac, you are lucky.

I'm posting below the links to my trip reports to Florence, Venice, and Santa Margherita Ligure, in case you're interested in hotels, restaurants and things to do there.

Venice:
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34814606

Florence:
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34813784

Santa Margherita Ligure:
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34817303

Have fun planning your trip!
&gt;-

ellenem

You can fly direct from the US (JFK) to Pisa, a short train ride from Florence.

Reisender

Are you planning to drive or use the trains?