What is the best option for a one day trip to Venice from Florence and back same day? Should we go on our own or do a day tour?

Just take a regular train... It's a few hours (3?) between the two cities. It will be quite long for a day trip. But Venice is reasonably compact, so you can easily get around and see a few things in your limited time.

For a one day trip? I'd say you'd probably get the most out of a tour-because if you don't know anything about Venice, and it is confusing, a tour can take you around to the important places, give you the history, and point you in the right direction for a restaurant you may want to try. On the other hand, you'll waste time and likely, money, by trying to do it on your own-and won't see nearly as much. The tours have it all mapped out, you just have to relax and enjoy.

Hi Amy,

I strongly recommend against a daytrip to Venice.

Almost everyone who reports about not caring for Venice were there as a daytrip.

You really ought to do at least an overnight.

Have you considered staying in Venice and doing a daytrip to Florence?

And the other side of that Ira, is that if you have only one day, and you want to see what Venice is like, a one day tour can whet the appetite to come back and stay longer-if that is all they have, one day is better than none.

We were in Venice and ran into my partner's dermatologist and his family. It seems they were spending a week near Lake Garda and were doing a day trip to Venice. At the time I thought "how awful", but every time we see him, he still talks about how Venice was their favorite thing in Europe.

I disagree with Ira on this one. Sure three days or a week in Venice is far better than a day. But one day is infinitely better than NO days. And I have talked to countless people whose only experience with Venice was a day stop on a cruise ship and they still LOVED it.

>Almost everyone who reports about not caring for Venice were there as a daytrip.<

Can't believe I wrote that.

...WAS there....

I still recommend staying in Venice and visiting Florence for the day.

Thanks for the input on this question. I'm not sure what we will do yet at this point. I'm still in the planning. I'll let you know what we decide.

What time of year are you going? I think a day trip at less crowded times (Novemer, January, February, March) would be OK if you did your homework before you went and knew if there were particular things you wanted to see. Otherwise, it's lovely to just wander. I wouldn't want to be herded around to the "sites" on a tour if I only had one day.

You'd miss S Marc's square at night (one of our highlights in Venice) but if you didn't have to wrangle with the insane crowds, I think a day trip would be doable, but I second Ira's suggestion of staying in Venice and doing a day trip to Florence. But we didn't like Florence at all and that's a maater of personal preference of course.

At least an overnight in Venice would definitely be better if you can manage it. We had 3 days, 4 nights and felt like it was perfect.

We will be there the last two weeks in March 2008. We are flying into Paris for three nights and then I was planning three nights in Florence and then four in Rome. I fell in love with the Tuscany area in the movies.
What do you love about Venice over Florence?