Blendy

First timers to Italy. We (my husband & I and another couple...all 50 ish) land in Rome in the morning of August 20th. We have until the 26th, then we cruise from Civitavecchia.
We would like to overnight in Venice & Pisa & incorporate day trips to Cinque Terre & Florence.
To get from the Fiumicino airport to Termini Station in Rome, we're thinking to take the Terravision Bus (being it is 6 Euro's) it's about an hour ride.
From there we need to find & book a decent hotel (that will accept an early arrival) for the one night. We'll need to recover from jet lag, so this day is pretty much catch up
However, we would like to see the coliseum at night (we've heard it's spectacular lit up), so we plan to see it that first night.

Our thoughts are to get to our furthest destination the quickest, so we're thinking of taking the 3hr & 20 min ride aboard the Euro Star train (we've heard it's newer & faster ...& yes more $) early to Venice stay aug. 21st & 22nd. Any tips on Hotels or accomodation? We've heard that Murano & Burano were a must see...?? We would really like to rent scooters (Vespa's) at some point, would this be a good place?

Tuesday (aug 23rd) travel 2hrs & 3min to Pisa (Firenze S M N) by Euro Star train. We've heard Pisa is a very pleasant place to stay...quieter, quaint & cheaper...true? We need help on what to see where to go...other than the leaning tower which we do want to see!

Wed. Aug 24th day trip to Cinque Terre...need help on the high points. We've been told Manarova is a must see. We can not do a lot of walking, a couple of up have some foot problems, so a guided tour, scooters or bikes would be best.

Thurs. Aug 25th day trip to Florence...up early back late. What's the best mode of transportation to get to Cinque Terre & Florence for day trips? Also we need some tips on must do's & see's in Florence as well please!!

Friday Aug. 26th up early to get to Civitavecchia to board our ship!! What is the best mode of transportation to get here & transfer & all that lovely stuff?

My husband & I are exhausted just researching soooo many things.
Any & all help would be GREATLY appreciated!!

Thank YOU!!!

bobthenavigator

Why are you not flying into Venice?

Forget Pisa---there are 82 better places to stay in Italy.

Vespas do not do well on water.

Do not try Murano/Bourano until you have seem Venice, and
that takes at least 3 days.

Where are you getting your info---the best train to Pisa is over 3 hours

Andrew

I spent a few hours in Pisa a few years ago (day trip from Florence). The area around the train station is very sketchy, and the area around the Field of Miracles is the worst, tackiest tourist trap perhaps in all of Italy - just nauseating. (though seeing the Tower is certainly cool.) However, I had a hint that the rest of the town is worth exploring if you get away from those areas; I wish I'd had a better chance to explore it and may in the future. But if you saw only the train station area and the Field of Miracles, your opinion of Pisa might be pretty awful.

For only six days, you have too much planned in my opinion. Since the main appeal of the Cinque Terre (which I absolutely loved) is the hiking between villages, and you say you can't walk much, I would skip it entirely. Stick to Venice, Florence, and Pisa if you must. You might consider staying in Florence and daytripping to Siena (by bus) from there. An even shorter day trip from Florence is Fiesole, an adorable little town reachable by city bus.


You can see Murano easily from Venice by vaporetto (water bus); Murano isn't that far away so I wouldn't rule it out. But Burano is much further away (even if a terrific, colorful place to visit) but in your case I wouldn't blow the time on it, probably an extra 2+ hours at least. Burano is the more colorful of the two in my view but as I said, far away. As noted above, Venice has so much to see that I wouldn't necessarily do either island on your short trip.

nytraveler

You do not want to rent a Vespa anyplace in Italy unless you are used to riding them in very heavy traffic with a lot of assertive drivers and practically no traffic lights - intersections work on the "chicken" principle. You cannot ride them in Venice - there are no streets - just canals - and you certainly wouldn't be allowed to ride them on the sidewalks.

You definitely need to do a lot more research to
1) find out what you really want to see in each place (CT is for hiking a trail above the sea)
2) find out how long it takes to get from one place to another
3) find out how long it takes to see the things you want to see

Finally you haven;t left any time to see Rome - which IMHO takes at lest 3 full days - and 4 nights - for a first visit.

Blendy

thanks so much Bob, Andrew & Ny!!! All input will be considered!!!

qwovadis

Just did your route in May in 2 weeks flew RT into Rome FCO

Booked Sheraton Roma 4 star South Rome $69 hotwire.com

around my flights great value airport shuttle but close

to town 4 stars a tonne pricier...

Hopped a fast train to Naples 1hour then Sorrento

www.hoteldelfino.com Otel.com

Paid $60 plus 20 euro for a sea view upgrade super views

over Capri and Ishcia then trained up to Orvieto awesome

Florence Venice www.hotelpausania.it Otel.com cute canal

suite 59 euro in May. Fast train back to Rome 31/2 hours

worked great for me cheap too... seat61.com

eurocheapo.com great budget tips... Have fun!

qwovadis

Request Room #211 if you book Pausania it was the pick...

Just noted you were trying to do this in 6 days

you are going to have to pare back... Lose Orvieto

maybe sorrento Pompeii 1night then

go to Florence for one night Venice-tourism.com for 2

Rome for the rest...

ekc

Good replies so far and I will echo the response that you have WAY too much planned. If you don't like hiking, skip CT. With your limited amount of time, I would also skip Pisa - or make it a stop on your train ride from Venice to Florence.
Here is an alternative to your plan:
Arrive FCO morning of 8/20 - train directly to Venice.
Sightsee and sleep in Venice 8/20 and 8/21.
Morning of 8/22, take train from Venice to Pisa, stash luggage at the luggage-hold at the train station, take taxi and see the leaning tower (must pre-book tickets if you want to go to the top). Taxi back to station and train to Florence.
Sightsee and sleep in Florence 8/22 and 8/23.
Train from Florence to Rome early on 8/24.
Sightsee and sleep in Rome 8/24 and 8/25.
Board ship on 8/26.
Good luck and PACK LIGHT!

Blendy

wow...great responses!!
We're thinking of going directly to Venice by train when we arrive, stay there a couple of days then train it to Florence for a couple of days & perhaps do a couple day trips out of Florence...then go back to Rome (or the port)
What do you think?

Blendy

wow...great responses!!
We're thinking of going directly to Venice by train when we arrive, stay there a couple of days then train it to Florence for a couple of days & perhaps do a couple day trips out of Florence...then go back to Rome (or the port)
What do you think?

Andrew

I flew into Rome on my first trip to Italy and started my trip by taking the Eurostar train directly to Venice. It worked out fine: airport train to Rome Termini, buy a ticket on the next Eurostar (reservations required) to Venice. Since I arrived early enough in the day, I still got to Venice at a reasonable time.

immimi

Taking a scooter on the CT trails would be worth selling tickets
for - much akin to bunge-jumping off the Tower of Pisa. lol!

IMHO, you and DH should get one (only) good guidebook on Italy
and concentrate on finding out what's up - for instance, you can
use a boat or your feet in Venice - no cars or scooters. Your
logistics are going to exhaust you and to what avail? The
scramble to see 'everything' is going to result in a blur of
train stations and hotel rooms. No the best of Italy for sure.

As others have said - ditch Pisa; spend more time wandering
through Venice rather than going to Burano; and most importantly,
read up on the places you want to visit and how long you will have
in each one after the travel is factored in.

charnees

And considering that half of Europe as well as many Americans will be jamming your destination cities in August, finalize your plans ASAP and get your hotel rooms nailed down!! Many, many places were fully booked long ago, and if you wait until you get there you may end up sleeping in some awful fleabag outside of town. And spending half your day trying to find it.

zeppole

Well, Pisa is a lovely, cheaper place to stay. You heard correctly. But you are really on a hopeless course using this board to plan your last-minute trip. No one answering you has ever done such a thing (there a plenty of nice accommodations available in August, although not in le Cinque Terre). They plan their trips YEARS in advance, down to the minutest detail.

You are really asking for it trying to bomb around hot and muggy mega-tourist destinations in August, even though you can find a hotel, and especially if you are not at all interested in art and history -- just tourist attractions. Just go to Venice and go back to Rome. Both offer tourists many other things to do other than learn about art and history.

You must be closer to Civitavecchia on the day your ship leaves than le Cinque Terre or you might miss your ship's departure.

annhig

have you been to Rome before? [oops, you say that it is your first time in Italy].

so why are you not spending any time there?

by all means start in Venice, if you must, but don't leave out Rome.

anothertravelinsong

I'm also wondering why you're skipping Rome even though you will be there! Seeing the Colosseum does not count. I would personally spend 4 days in Rome and 2 days in Florence.

charnees

I agree with those who say considering your problem walking and another's foot problems you will not have much fun in le Cinque terre, unless you stay in Monterosso and just take a ferry along the coast. Those towns south of Monterosso are almost vertical. By boat, you could at least hang out down on the shore a while and then catch the next boat to another place. If you take the train you will be stranded in the hilly part of town with nowhere to go -- and one of the towns has about a hundred steps to climb up from the train station. I don't think there are any tours that don't involve walking. There are very few cars and to my knowledge no taxis. Although zeppole will be quick to jump in if she disagrees.

I'd stick to Rome, Florence and Venice this time.