Aurora

I got the airline tickets, made the hotel reservations, got the Italian tourist visa..phew!! I am, while excited, a bit ovewhelmed. We are going to be in Rome, Florence, and Venice between June 5th and the 17th. Wondering how much details need to be planned before we go in terms of:
1) Should I or not make advance bookings at the Museums in these 3 cities? This means I have to know exactly what days we will be going to what museums which is difficult considering that we have never been to Italy before.
2) Should I book with any of the tour companies (walking tours/daytrips) in any of these cities before getting there?
3) How do I figure out what restaurants to plan to go to? Or just go to whatever we come across whenever we get hungry.

Part of this anxiety comes from reading all the postings on this forum from people who seem to plan all these details ahead of time. Are there people out there who just go there and wing it all? I generally enjoy planning for these trips but not to this level of detail for a place I have never been to.

Thank you in advance.

marilynl

I belong to the get a plane ticket, make hotel reservations, have a GENERAL idea of what I want to see, and then wing it school of travel. I mean, I study up enough so that I know what sights might be combined in what order, what days museums I am particularly interested in are open, what days markets are on, etc. But the idea of seeking out a particular restaurant in an unfamiliar area for each meal doesn't appeal to me, nor do I see any need to pre-book most tours (unless reservations are hard to come by). I like to establish a certain rhythm when I am traveling, but a big part of what I like to do in foreign cities is sometimes just to sit in a cafe and watch the world go by.

richardab

If you are planning to go to any of the high profile restaurants, email your hotel and ask if they can make reservation.

I think that the key to a good vacation is being well educated, not over planned.

ddpcharlie

Aurora: this may be one of those times when "less is more". You have the essentials in place(transport and a bed).
The only other reservations that you might want to consider is for Florence. If you are planning to go to the Uffizi or Academia in June, you are probably going to be waiting on line a long time unless you have reservations.

Have fun. Wish I were going.

Dottie

suze

I'm of the buy a plane ticket and make hotel reservations then take the rest as it comes, school of thought! I'm a fairly organized person usually, but over-planning travel would just make me crazy.

Having said that... I don't care if I happen to miss a certain museum or particular restaurants because it doesn't work out once I'm there.

I most like to wander around a new neighborhood, eat when I'm hungry and see an interesting place to stop, sit on a park bench, have a glass of wine in a cafe, etc.

(Remember to grab a business card or carry the address of your hotel so you can find your way back home, take a taxi if necessary!)

Maira

Aurora, you don't HAVE to do anything other than setting up air travel and having a passport. A VACATION trip should NOT be so detailed and planned that it takes all spontaneity out of it. If you have read of a museum that you must see and take reservations, then go ahead reserve and make it easier on you. So, the first thing you need to answer is: WHAT YOU MUST SEE. Then go ahead and do what you need to do to make it happen. Simple as that.

While I agree that there are posters that seemed overly preocuppied with travel details, travel style is a personal thing. Don't copy travel styles just because; there is enough of that already in this forum. While a tighly planned trip may be a source of anxiety for some people, it may soothe others. On the other hand, visiting a destination without a sense of timing, purpose and direction may be a sure way for wasted time and wasted money. Somewhere in the middle lies the right approach.

Have fun in Italy!

Susan56

I must be much more obsessive than other posters on this board becuase I completely plan out our itinerary prior to traveling. We have taken family trips to Europe each of the past 3 winters and I always have it all planned out before we travel. This past February we traveled to Rome/Florence/Venice and if I hadn't planned it out, we would have missed many of the museums and sights. If you look in the guidebooks you will see that many places are only open on certain days or certain hours. And churches close in the middle of the day. So I think you can make much better use of your time if you plan it out in advance and know where you are heading. Of course, you can still build in time to just wander or you can decide to scrap the schedule completely. But I would never leave without a day by day planned itinerary. As for meals, we never bothered with reservations as we were never going anywhere special since we have been traveling with 2 picky eating kids. I did write down the names/addresses of places that sounded good so if I ran accross them I could check them out. So, my advice is to plan out what you want to see otherwise you could discover that you have missed something you wanted to see!

suze

Also realize, that the people who plan down to the last detail, are probably more likely to post them on a travel BB such as this!

As i mentioned above, if i told you ahead of time about my european trip... i'd have nothing to share unless you cared about my plane ticket or hotel reservation!!!

jsmith

Aurora, get a good guide book and decide what you'd like to see but don't be anal about it.

Ask the desk clerk in your hotel for restaurant recommendations. Let him make the reservations if he thinks it necessary. Last year in Rome our hotel recommended two restaurants just a block or so away. We ate at both and were very happy and they weren't expensive. At the first, no one spoke fluent English and we speak no Italian but somehow we ended up with an excellent three course meal.

We never got to the Uffizi in Florence because we just ran out of time but another couple we met made had the hotel make reservations for them for the next day.

Relax and enjoy.

gb

I like to make my own guide book of all the "possibilities" in the area I am visiting. But, other than hotel reservations, I don't make any reservations until I get there, leaving time to explore and decide when I get there. As for selecting restaurants, I'd might check out one or two on my list, but usually recommended ones are never all that convenient to my location.

RufusTFirefly

I'd just wing it on the restaurants. We used 2 methods to pick restaurants in Italy, and both worked well for us.

1) Walk as far away from the tourist area as possible. When you see a restaurant that looks promising, check the menu. If it is only in Italian, that is a plus, or if you can hear diners talking and its mostly in Italian, that's a plus. This worked especailly well in Venice, and we used it successfully in Rome as well. Of course, with a menu only in Italian, you may get some surprises on your plate now and then, but that's part of the fun and adventure.

2) Ask at your hotel. Tell them what ype of dining experience you are looking for; e.g., "Where would you take your wife (parents, etc.) for a special birthday (anniversery, etc.)?" or "Where would you suggest for a typical dinner on a day when you just don't feel like cooking at home?" Most of the time you'll get honest suggestions.

julies

All you really need to do is figure out a schedule of which days the must-see attractions are closed. then you will be able to plan around that so that you won't discover at the last minute that you can't get into something you really wanted to see. There are way too many people who post here who feel they need to eat at the top (meaning expensive) restaurants. Why are you going on vacation? Are you going on a gourmet cuisine tour or are you going to see the area and get a feel for the ambience? If it is the latter then you will soon figure out that that restaurant that sounded so intriguing in the guidebook is halfway across town and you don't feel like dragging yourself there at the end of a long and busy day. Plus, the best part of travel is finding the unexpected delights. If you are too rigidly scheduled you'll end up passing on things that would have intrigued you more than what you had scheduled.

kaudrey

Hi Aurora,

You will have a great time! Italy is wonderful. I will echo the others - bring your guidebook, know basically what you want to see in each city (the MUSTs), and then play it by ear. It does help if you can get a little familiar with the layout of the city so that you do things in a logical order by where they are located, but most guidebooks have walking plans that can tell you that.

Plans should be flexible - museums on rainy days, walking around on sunny days, etc. Also, plan to have some "walking around" and "sitting down with a bottle of wine" time, because the beauty of Italy is finding little piazzas where you can relax and people watch.

Also, you are likely to find wonderful restaurants near where you happen to be at lunch/dinner time. Maybe for a special occasion ask the hotel for a suggestion and to make reservations, but otherwise, wing it and enjoy! BTW, in Rome our hotel made a suggestion and it was a wonderful little inexpensive restaurant filled with Italians. One of the best meals we had.

Museums/tours - in Florence you can make reservations the day before, tours you can also do once you get there.

Have a great trip!
Karen

Budman

Aurora, I'm not sure what you mean by "got the Italian Tourist visa." I didn't know that there were visa requirements for Italy?

Sue_xx_yy

Aurora, I think you can distinguish between 'planning' ahead of time, and 'booking' ahead of time. A plan can be revised on the spot, or even thrown away entirely, but it is darn helpful to have one as a starting point. As others have already pointed out, you want to avoid conflicts with closing days, etc.

Booking, on the other hand, does tend to tie you down a bit. So I would book in advance only those things like the Uffizi gallery for which lineups can be nasty. As for restaurants, unless you are a real gourmand (in which case this is the principal reason for your trip, and not sightseeing) I'd go with the flow.

elaine

Hi
First, I'm a planner. To me, the distinction about planning restaurant reservations, etc, in advance or not, is how you'd feel about the downside.
If you are happy to eat almost anywhere or don't have any restaurants in mind, if you don't care if the museum line turns out to be two hours long, or if you don't mind if the walking tour groups are completely booked in the busy month of June, then go for spontaneity. If you care about one or more of the above, then book ahead on at least a few things.

As said above, your hotel can make restaurant suggestions and reservations once you get there, and except for a very few of the very top-rated restaurants, you can usually reserve same day or perhaps a day or two before.

Your hotel in Florence can reserve museum tickets, but yes, you'd have to give them a day and time. It's not that restricting. If you have at least two days in Florence, book the Uffizi for one morning early, and book the Accademia (a quite small place) for either the other morning or else a late afternoon. Those are the only places likely to have long lines.

In Rome, if you want to see the Borghese Gallery or Domus Aurea, reservations are recommended. Or you can get there, and just wait for a slot to open up. For DA, day before should be fine. For Borghese, perhaps a couple of days in advance, in June. Again, your hotel can do it.

I do know that the excellent walking tour organization Scala Reale in Rome books weeks, even months in advance.
I think they are wonderful. I don't know if other agencies like Enjoy Rome or others need to be booked in advance.

I have files on those cities and on Venice. If you want still more info, email me at
[email protected]

MGB

We usually figure out in advance our "must sees" and maybes.

Then we figure out possible day itineraries, leaving plenty of time for cafe stops. Ones for rainy days versus sunny days (or half days).

These are just guides. The worst thing we hate (4 of us) is getting up and saying "What are we going to do today" and wasting time debating or after the trip "You know I really wanted to see ...........". This way we have our alternatives set up for us and it is only a matter of picking one.

In some instances where we know a restaurant is either very small or very well known (or both) we will try to make a reservation in advance either on our own or by emailing the hotel in advance for assistance. We ususally limit this to only 1 or 2 nights out of say a 14 night trip.

We have booked some tours in advance only if our time in an area is very limited. We have never had a problem in Europe (New Zealand was different, there are so many diverse tours we booked more in advance).

Regarding museums, keep in mind that some do close or have varying hours. As a result, know this in advance and figure it into day planning possiblilities.

Have a wonderful trip!!!

Alexis823

Just my 2 cents: I find a little bit of planning helps as long as you don't try to micromanage every hour of the day.
What I usually do is, read up on the destination and make a list of my "must-sees", things that I would be disappointed to miss. Then I look to find out when is the preferable time to see it. Is it a madhouse crowd on Sundays? Is it prettiest at sunset? Then I find out what days and times it closes. Then I find other things that are nearby and can be conveniently seen on the same day.
Now I have a (very)loose itinerary that can save us from running back and forth on 2 different days to see attractions that turn out to be around the block from each other or wasting time showing up to a museam that is closed.
I guess this all falls somewhere between micromanaging and winging it. It saves us from wasting time but leaves us with lots of unscheduled time to just wander around and explore.
As to your question about museum reservations, if you really MUST see them, I say make the reservation. It was so worth it to us. For example, at the Borghese Gallery in Rome, they had sold the limit of tickets for the day and we would have had to come back another day if we hadn't reserved ahead. In Florence, the lines at the Uffizi and Accademia were sooooo loooooooooooong but with reservations we just scooted right in. Since we have so little time on vacation as it is, avoiding hours in lines is totally worth the trouble.
Planning out exactly where you will eat really isn't necessary unless you have someplace very special in mind. Most of the time we just went by what was nearby when our stomachs said it was time for dinner. Rufus's suggestion to seek out were the locals eat is dead-on. Our best meals were always had this way. Definately stay away from places near big tourist attractions though. We were really starving when we came out of the Pantheon and against our better judgement stopped at a touristy restaurant right is Piazza della Rotunda. My husband and I agree that it was the worst meal we've ever had -ever. A ten minute walk in the right direction would probably have made all the difference.

Aurora

Thank you for all the very reassuring messages and suggestions, I feel better already. Many of you have suggested a good guidebook - is there one "best" or the most liked guidebook to carry?

We will probably end up taking walking tours with Enjoyrome on our 2nd and 3rd days in Rome and then do things on our own.

I am not going to worry about restaurants at all because food is not really important to us other than silencing a growling stomach, I am a vegetarian and I have read on this forum that it should not be difficult to find vegetarian food especially since I eat dairy products.

I will just make notes on what is closed when and accordingly have some idea of what we can do each of the days but not try to nail down details of day,time, & place. If one or two days is all that is needed to make reservations at some of the places like the Borghese or the DA we can do that once we get there. Sounds like I do have a plan now thanks to all of you. If you still think of anything else, keep it coming.

BTW, Budman about the Italian visa - if you are not an American or European citizen you need an Italian visa even if you are an American permanent resident.

Thank you all.

Aurora

One more thing - I do like to avoid standing in looooong lines, I don't mind upto half hour of waiting in line. I have heard again and again about the long lines in Florence so I am going to try and book that in advance. Are there places in Rome that have really loooong lines and would be better to have advance tickets.
Thanks.