verbaslt

We are trying to plan our first trip to Italy. I am ambitious with a budget. I would like to see Florence, Rome, Naples, Tuscany and maybe Venice. Would it be possible to hub in Florence and then take day trips to these places or would it be smarter and more cost effective to book a package deal stopping in each of these cities for 2 or 3 days?

Any feedback, tips, hints, websites, would be greatly appreciated.

Tim_and_Liz

How many total days do you have?

LJ

Florence is a good hub for touring Tuscany: Florence (Firenza) is a city in the province of Tuscany. From Florence, you can do day trips, to, for example, Siena and Pisa.

It is not a good idea to think about Venice, Naples or Rome as day trips: they are most certainly separate destinations.

If, as I sense, you have not been to Italy or even Europe at all before, you may well be happier with a tour. They are not popular on this site as most here are diehard do-it-yourselfers, but it is not a bad way to get to know a country, especially as you are "ambitious with a budget".

Good luck!

travel_princess

I agree with LJ that Florence is a good hub for Tuscany. We stayed at a fabulous vineyard several years ago outside of Siena and toured all the hill towns. We then stayed a couple of days in Florence to see the city itself. Parking and driving is a nightmare in Florence so I would recommend not having a car in the city. Here is what we did on that trip: Arrived Rome and spent 2 nights, trained to Florence and picked up a car and headed out of town to Siena. Stayed 4 nights in the vineyard hotel. Drove back to Florence dropped off the car and stayed 2 nights in Florence. Next took the train to Venice. Stayed 2 nights in Venice. Took the train to Milan and flew out the next day back to Atlanta. We saved Naples and the Amalfi Coast for our next trip.

ira

Hi V,

I wouldn't do either.

Do you have 3 weeks?

mcnyc

Yowsers! That's very ambitious. Here's what I would suggest:

Fly into Venice, stay at least 2 nights.
Take the evening train to Florence, stay at least 3 nights; more if you want to take days trips to other Tuscan towns.
Take the noonish train to Rome, stay at least 2 nights. You can actually take day trips to Naples, or you can stay another couple of nights in Naples itself and visit Pompeii one of those days. Fly home from Rome. (if you do stay in Naples, go straight from Florence to Naples, then Naples to Rome, then flight home from Rome, unless there are flights to Naples from where you are).

To take day trips from Florence to all these cities is not advisable from my point of view as a fellow ambitious traveler. Too much money and time spent traveling, not enough time enjoying the places you came to see. Unless you enjoy the train rides...

I've always threatened to book packaged trips, but in the end, the ones I'm able to afford always seem to be at the most pitiful hotels in the most inconvenient locations. I've found that I'm better off booking hotels and airfare on my own.

Sounds like a great trip.

Fairhope

Look at Gate1 Tours--Rome Florence Venice --we had a great time at a reasonable cost

verbaslt

Great advice from everyone. Thank you so much. Im liking the idea of the Venice, Florence, Rome package with Day trips to Tuscany and Naples from Florence and Rome. My next ambitious question. Is 9 to 12 days enough to do all of this? I dont mind getting home dead tired but will I hate myself while Im traveling?

nessundorma

I think you'll be really sorry you rushed through Italy like this and had all your time organized by a tour leader. And tour packages aren't cheap!

With planning, you could take the money you are about to blow on one far-too-rushed trip and spend on two trips. Consider whether you would like to see first: Venice, Firenze, Tuscany? Or Roma and Napoli? I would take 10 days for the first and 8 for the latter. If you don't absolutely need to travel in summer, you can find reasonable air deals and save on hotels.

Tim_and_Liz

verbaslt-

We are going to Rome, Florence, and Venice in 9 nights this March.

We are spending 3 nights in each place.

The first night we arrive in Rome and stay 3 nights. We'll take an afternoon train to Florence and stay 3 nights. One of the days in Florence we're taking a winery tour and cooking class through www.accidentaltourist.com. We'll then take a train to Venice for three nights.

Our trip is as busy as possible, I think. You could potentially add in Naples and more trips to outer Tuscany in you stay 12 days and/or stay less time thn us in Venice (2 nights, for example).

Liz

57BelAir

Verbaslt: I'll take a contrarian view to what some of the other posters have said. We did a 10-day first-time trip to Italy using Florence as our base with our two daughters, who were in grade school at the time. We spent most of our time in Florence, but also did a two-day, one-night trip via train to Assisi (very peaceful, spiritual and beautiful)(approx. 3 hours from Florence). My wife and one daughter did a day-trip to Rome via high-speed train (approx. 1.5 hours from Florence), while my other daughter and I took the No. 7 city bus up the hill from Florence to Fiesole to see the Etruscan ruins. On one of our last days there, the girls and I went to Venice by train for a day to see a bit of the Carnivale pagentry and to ride a gondola. All in all, we had plenty of time to see Florence in depth, and to get a taste of other places. Not bad for a first trip. How much you stray from your base will depend on what you want. The only side-trip we planned ahead of time was the one to Assisi.

jabez

57BelAir
Is giving advice that is similar to many first time travelers you really enjoy their "fast trip" to Italy. You will too,I'm sure.
That said,Italy is not a small place and most who have traveled there a number of times will agree. You need lots of time to experience these great locations (I really only give naples a "good&quot.
You also can better stay in a budget with less travel.
On the whole, most here at Fodor's aren't big with "package tours".You really don't need Fodor's with one of them.

verbaslt

Thank you all for the advice. We are going to do a 5 days in Florence and 4 days in Rome. No tour package. Im actually enjoying figuring everything out on my own with the help of the lovely Fodor's community.

Graziella5b

Hi verbasit, I feel the advice has been great and also your decision sounds good. Do not rush, it is not a race to see lots of places but to enjoy each one.

ira

Hi V.

Good decision.

I can highly recommend www.bedinflorence.it for travelers on a budget.

You might also find the Florence part of my trip report helpful:
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34451044

judybarnes

I also recommend a daytrip from Florence to Lucca and Pisa. We did that on Monday and had a great time. We got to the leaning tower and the other two gorgeous buildings there after dark and practically had the place to ourselves. So beautiful lit up at night! And the walled city of Lucca is a gem, and on the way to Pisa. An easy train trip to Lucca, then on to Pisa--the first stop, which is an easy walk to the tower. Then back to the train to Pisa Centrale (the end of the line)to get the train back to Florence.

I'd also like to recommend a very centrally located hotel that I found out about on this forum. The Hotel Pierre has spacious rooms and gorgeous bathrooms, a good breakfast with great capuccinos, and it's between the Ufizzi (and Ponte Vecchio) and the Duomo (my son and I climbed to the top!) It's about a ten-minute walk from the train station, too. I don't think you can beat the location. Also there's an internet place very close, and lots of outdoor markets nearby. It's also a short walk to Santa Croce, where many stellar Italians are entombed (kind of like the Westminster Abbey of Italy). I found it very moving.