We are a family of 4 planning for September a 7 days stay in ONE of the following cities: Florence, Rome or Venice.
Which should we choose?
Can anyone share an opinion.
Thank you.

Rome, rome, rome

I like Rome LEAST of the three.

1st choice Rome
2nd Florence
3rd Venice
Rome has lots to do and each person will be able to find something that appeals to their interests. It would help if we knew the ages of the "family". Are you traveling with your children, parents, grandparents?? Family can have lots of different meanings.

I would not stay in one. Four days Rome. Three days Venice.

How old are the two youngest?

I wonder how likely it is that "we" will change your mind. I would anticipate that you already have a private frontrunner/preferred winner.

Best wishes,

Rex

Hi

I suggest that you split it equally between Venice and Florence, OR Venice.

If you like big crowded noisy cities but tons of sightseeing and shopping - Rome.

If you are art history buffs and looking for a more laid-back city - Florence.

If you are looking to see one of the most unique cities in the world - Venice.

I agree with Ira - FLORENCE and VENICE. Is there a reason you are spending 7 days in only one city?

Assuming there are children among the four, I would pick Rome as having more options for children. But I also agree that two cities are doable and would likely pick Rome and Florence. Venice is expensive, the weather less dependable and its pleasures are best savoured by the mature tourist (once again assumption re: kids).

Florence without a doubt. Why? Location, location location. You can day trip to many places in 1-1.5 hr on public transportation: Lucca
Pisa, San Gimignano, Fiesole, Rome, Siena, Chianti, some hilltowns. 2 hours gets you to Assisi, Orvieto and any hilltown.

A stay in Florence offers the most options and variety.

With only one week , if there are children and lots of luggage involved, I would suggest Rome and then you can do a day trip to Florence.

On, one more thing. I know that many people on this bioard seem to think that discussing cost is vulgar, but Florence is far, far cheaper than Venice or Rome. For example, a comparable moderate-level hotel will cost at least 40-50 Euros less in Florence than in Venice or Rome.

The only people who consider talking about money as being "vulgar" are the ones that don't have any!

How in the world anyone can make a recommendation about which city to stay in when they know abosultely NOTHING about the interests, the financial wherewithall, etc., of the poster tells us everything we need to know about the VALUE of the information posted!

My family of four spent 4 nights in Florence and 10 nights in Rome over the holidays. The children 11 and 13 had a great time in both places but there was a lot more to experience in Rome.
The children will forever remember the Vatican and St. Peter's . The layers of history there could consume many days of discovery.

Moving around with luggage and children cuts into vacation time and requires work. Three cities in one week would be too much in my opinion.

From either Florence or Rome there are many day trips to choose from: Rome has Hadrian's Ville , Villa d'Este, and Ostia Antica. Florence has easy access to Pisa and Tuscany.

Pick one and know that you will return to see the rest.

==Mike

Now I recognize how naif was my previous (02/23/2004) post. As JonJon is right, here are something about our family: we are 50 years old and the boys 20 and 16. We are budget travellers who especially look for accomodation in convents as they usually are cheap, clean, central and safe. Does anyone know of convents in Florence, Rome or Venice who provide accomodation for families? Our travel style is very relaxed so we love to explore places by foot. Normally we spend much of the day visiting museums, art galleries and other heritage sites.
Thanks for the posted hints. And thanks for the next ones...

Hi alvim

If you enter "Convent AND (city name)" in the text search box you will get threads similar to this one

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34436091