Italy airfare and itinerary
 

My husband and I are thinking of going on a last minute trip to Italy for a week in Janruary. We would be flying out of NY, into Venice, departing from Rome back to NY. Is $569 a good ticket price? Do you think it will go any lower? This price is on Alitalia.
I also would love some itinerary help. I would like to spend 1 day in Venice and then split up the rest between Florence and Rome (including day trips). I know this is ambitious for a week but I want to make the most of my time there. Any advice would be much appreciated! Also, any lodging tips (no more that $150 a night) would be great. Thank you.

Hi RR - Most popular daytrip options from Florence include:

Siena & San Gimignano
Pisa & Lucca
Bologna
Cortona
Orvieto
Assisi
Perugia


In Rome you really need 3 days minimum just to see the main sights.
For planning your sightseeing a good place to start is:

http://www.romaturismo.it/v2/en/main.asp

If you still want to do a day-trip, options include:

Tivoli (Hadrian's Villa, Villa d'Este (fountain gardens)
Ostia Antica
Orvieto
Assisi
Pompeii/Herculaneum/Vesuvius
Naples
Capri
Amalfi Coast/ Positano
Castel Gandolfo/ Lake Albano/ Colli Albani

Hope this helps ...

Steve

Hi rr,

>I would like to spend 1 day in Venice and then split up the rest between Florence and Rome...

With only 1 week, I would do
A.....3 nights V and 3 nights F
B.....3 nights V and 3 nights R
C.....6 nights Rome
D.....3 nights V, a day in F and 3 nights R

I would fly into Venice VCE and out of Florence FLR, Pisa PSA or Rome FCO.

((I))

569 is a great price, snag it. I just paid 959 for a trip right after Xmas and the week of New Years...

You need to allow extra time in Venice for jetlag. And also allow for relatively short days; sightseeing in the dark is not fun. I agree that 2 stops are better than 3. I'd say skip Florence unless you're great fans of Renaissance art and architecture. If you do 3 cities, forget about excursions. Just not enough time.

You're trying to pack the highlights of Italy into too short a time period. Unless you relax and enjoy "la dolce vita," you'll miss the point.

Thank you all for your advice. Is train the best way to get from city to city? How long is the train ride from Venice to Florence and from Florence to Rome? Is there some sort of train website if I wanted to see the schedule or buy tickets in advance?
Thanks!

Keep in mind that traveling from point a to point b takes time and impacts your time, whether you drive or take the train.

You could always do two days in each city, but then that would mean another day of travel to and from, packing and unpacking.

With just one week, as hard as it might be, my suggestion would be to choose just two locations, with Venice (3 days) and Rome (3 days)being the top choicse since your flight is set...great price on airfare.

For train information, use www.trenitalia.com.

Lodging under 150/night is not easy in the cities.

Good luck!

Well at that time of year there is better chance of nice lodging at that price. You can look for hotels on www.venere.com. We liked the Hotel Lancelot in Rome. I too would recommend that you split the trip into 3 nights Rome / 3 nights Venice. Esp. if you are flying into Venice 1 night is not enough after jet lag. Florence is ART, IMO and not as charming as Rome and Venice. The train takes about 4 to 5 hours from Venice to Rome. Airfare is a good deal IMO. Have a great trip!

For train timetables in English see:

http://www.trenitalia.com/en/index.html

Steve

Thanks everyone. Are there any overnight flights out of Rome to New York that anyone knows of? I really don't want to loose a full day flying!

Hi R - There are no direct overnight flights from Rome.

For daytime flights from FCO see:

www.adr.it

Hope this helps ...

Steve

P.S. Flying Rome-New York you only 'lose' about 3-4 hrs anyway due to the time difference ...

Thanks. In my ideal world, I would like to leave Italy on Monday night and arrive back in NY Tuesday morning...

A flight needs to leave Rome at 2am to arrive at NYC at 5am. I doubt many people like those times.

Now, if you go further east first, like to Tel Aviv, then you can have flights that leaves TLV at around midnight to 1am and arrives JFK or EWR 5-6am.