Hi,
I am considering a trip to Italy this August with my 16 year old daughter.
Do you think that visiting Venice, Florence and Rome makes the most sense, for our first trip there? (We woud go for approx. 10 days).I am wondering if there might be an Italian itinerary that would be more fun for a teenager?
I have looked into both booking everything by myself and using a tour company (such as gate1) to purchase a package deal.
I am not interested in a "tour group" but the package books flights, trains and hotels, for what seems to be not much more than the flight alone if I booked it myself. Am I missing something, or is that the way to go if I decide on visiting those 3 cities?

Is there another company that I should be checking for a package?

Thanks for your thoughts and experiences.

I have taken my teens to these three cities and they loved them, particularly Venice. Each presents a different character. You need to decide if you want to see the cities in some sort of depth or just "have a taste." If the former, 10 days is not enough time since you will have a good part devoted to transit. How do you plan to travel between cities? Where will you arrive? Leave? All of these will have bearing on your decision.

Hi cp,

With only 10 days, I would do just 2 cities. Fly into one and out the other.

My preference would be Venice and Florence, with day trips from Florence to Siena and Pisa/Lucca.

You could also do Venice and Rome, with daytrips from Rome to Orvieto and the ruins at Ostia Antica or Hadrian's Villa.

You can easily plan this visit on your own.

See Helpful Information: Italy 2
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34568596

Look for discount airfare at www.kayak.com.

Train schedules are at www.trenitalia.com.

If you are going this August, get cracking!

Wow,
Great information!
Thanks for the link.

You are welcome, cp.

Regarding your question about hotel/flight packages, the biggest problem with them can be the hotel location. The cheaper the hotel, the less centrally located it will be. Especially in Rome you would probably be further from the more interesting, quaint historic center. Venice and Florence are smaller, so it might not be as much of a problem there. However, some packages might put you in Venice Lido (beach strip a boat ride from center) or Venice Mestre (mainland industrial town). If you consider one of these packages, check hotel locations and reviews carefully.

As ellenem mentioned, make sure you check the location of a hotel in a package deal. The other thing to keep in mind is that you're better off with an open-jaw flight, into your first city and out of your last city to avoid backtracking to fly home. I would think those three cities would be great with a 16-year-old girl.

Hello cpeicott, all teens are different of course but if you do decide to visit only two cities in Italy both my daughter and my stepdaughter loved Rome and Venice the best when they were teenagers.

In that teens are so computer savy it would be good to have your daughter get involved regarding what places she would like to see. But I agree, you need to make your reservations ASAP.
Best wishes, sounds like you two will have a beautiful trip!

Do you have 9 nights? If so, I don't think three nights in each Rome, Florence and Venice would be too tight, especially since your travel companion is a youngster who probably has plenty of energy. If you do that, I wouldn't recommend day-trips, though, just enjoy a taster of each of those cities. Each one if beautiful, and different. Take the train between them, and plan the trip yourself if you have the time. It seems that others have posted hotels recommended in package deals or by travel agents, and they are never the ones fodorites choose on their own. You could get lots of help on this forum to make your own plans. Have fun planning.
I just returned from Italy and southern France with my daughter, and it was a trip we'll always cherish. I hope the same for you!

Okay, I know that I am doing sort of a complete u-turn here, but the more research that I do on August in Italy- the worse it sounds, Crowds, heat, etc.
So, any suggestions on an itinerary that is not just cities, but one that does not bypass the history, etc. Thinking Cinque Terre for a day or 2?
We are not really heat intolerant (we were in AZ last summer during the heat wave, 110 degrees plus, and we went to Japan a few years ago in the summer, which was also over 100 each day and we did just fine) but I would like to break it up some, and not have 10 days of feeling dirty and hot.... though I do not want to be bored, either. Neither my daughter nor I want to go all of the way to Italy to spend time just sitting around "relaxing." (Though shopping could always keep my daughter amused.....)
I am think that I would prefer not renting a car, not knowing the language, etc., but I would if it made sense. (I did an Autotour trip in Germany and managed) Are trains usually a faster way to get places than driving?
HELP, I know that I am running out of time if I want to make this happen! I could expand my trip from 10 days to 2 weeks if it was needed.

I think you make a good point. I hate the heat, and while it was in the low 70s when we visited the Big Three last month, I was thinking it would be so much less pleasant in hot and humid weather.
How about staying nearer the coast? Santa Margherita Ligure is a charming little harbor town, with easy day trips to Cinque Terre and Portofino. We were perfectly happy there for three nights.
Or stay on the Riviera and go up to southern France, too. We loved staying in Nice three nights, day-tripping to St. Jean Cap Ferrat and especially Antibes. Also St. Tropez is close, and there are boat trips from Saint Raphael. Lots of other inland cities from Nice, too, like St. Paul de Vence and Digne. All accessible by train and/or bus.
And I would recommend the trains. Sometimes they are a pain, but I still prefer them over dealing with driving.

Any city you are staying at for 3 or more nights, I would look into an apartment viewsonvenice.com and sleepinitaly.com. You can also search this site "apartments italy" for other recommendations. We were in Florence for one night only and it was one of the highlights for us and our girls age 19 and 21. Felt much better about them walking around by themselves (our energy levels went in different cycles) as compared to Rome. If you include ROme, try and fly into venice and out of rome, much easier to acclimate your energy that way.

Hate to be a pain, but, as I am running out of time....
Any other suggestions for an interesting, Mother/ Daughter trip to Italy this summer that will be enjoyable.....for both of us.....
We will want to be busy most of the time, but do not want to spend hours in long, hot lines....
Thanks, again!

ttt

If you click on my name above, you will find my posts of the recent trip I took with my college-age daughter. We were in Rome, Florence, Venice, Santa Margherita Ligure, and Nice. My trip reports give detailed itineraries, with suggestions for hotels and restaurants, day-trips, even shops, we liked. I wrote up a trip report on each city separately. We were three nights in each city.

I would suggest that you look into traveling to the Amalfi Coast, with 3 nights in Amalfi or Positano, 2 nights on Capri, and 2 nights in Pompeii, with a trip the archeological museum in Naples from Pompeii.

In the alternative, I would suggest 3 nights Pisa/Florence/2 nights Lucca/2 nights the Italian Riviera (such as Santa Margherita Ligure, or Rapallo or Levanto (all of which give you train access to Cinque Terre)

I helped a friend plan a trip for him and his teenage kids to italy a few years ago and it was perfect -- and it was in the height of summer. Included flying to venice for 2 or 3 nights, then train to florence, then train to rome. Just be sure you have 2 full days in each of Venice and Florence and 3 full days in Rome. I think this is a great intro to Italy. You can do it all by train easily. I am going to CT this summer, but would guess that teens would also like that, but you would have to cut something else out of your itinerary. But definitely do an open jaw ticket. Don't forget that Pisa also has international flights.

Alison,
Do you have the details of the trip that you planned?

Nessundorma,
Would we need to rent a car to do your trip?

as i recall the trip from a few years ago, it was fly to venice, 2 nights in venice at whatever place in good location was being touted on this board at the time, train to florence - 3 nights in florence with advance reservations for the david, train to Rome and 4 nights in Rome with private tour of vatican and maybe the forum. I really used ideas from this board at the time. this is the simplest trip to do of the "big 3."