slven

I received lots of help here on this board before leaving for Italy a couple of weeks ago, so figured I would try to "give back" by writing a trip report. We were there 8 nights and hit the big three - Rome, Florence, and Venice. I will caveat the report first with a few things 1) we had no kids in tow, so it was easier to move quickly from place to place, 2) we're from NYC, so we use to fighting through crowds, traffic noise at night, etc., and 3) we like to be "on the go" and fit in as much as possible. I realize this may not be enjoyable for many people, but it was for us! I will try to add tidbits in of things we would have done differently IN HINDSIGHT or things we were patting ourselves on the back for doing correctly I added a few tips and things I wish we had done differently at the bottom too.

ROME
Day 1- After connecting flight in Amsterdam (be sure to sit by the window if you are on this route - flying over the Alps was the most beautiful flight I have ever been on!), we arrived in Rome late afternoon. Took train to Termini train station.
At Termini, picked up Roma Passes and bought train tickets to Florence and from Florence to Venice (just so we wouldn't have to think about it later). Also, purchased an inexpensive bus map – which came in very handy over the next few days.
Made our way via Metro and on foot to Hotel Forty-seven (note: did not use Roma Pass yet for this day. will start tomorrow). Too much luggage and should have taken a cab instead of the very crowded metro and walking around an area we have no idea where we are.
-Checked into hotel.
-Headed over to Trastevere and found a small Trattoria for dinner

Day 2 - Got up around 9am. Ate breakfast at hotel. Went outside to catch bus to Vatican just to pick up tickets for Palm Sunday mass. Gave up on bus after half-hour and took bus/metro combo. Got to Vatican, which was packed! To pick up tickets for mass, was told we needed to wait in the security line to just get access to the Bronze doors. Finally went around another way and Swiss Guard let us through. While here, stopped by Post office and mailed a couple postcards.
-Left Vatican and headed over to Colosseum. It was amazing! Used Roma Pass and listened to Rick Steve's audio tour we downloaded to our iPods before leaving home.
-Grabbed quick bite to eat on the street and headed over to the Forum. Walked around there also listening to Rick Steve's audio tour
-After Forum, headed to San Clemente Church and toured the underground ancient Pagan temple. Loved it!
-Then headed to San Giovanni church and Scala Santa. (If you want to climb the steps on your knees, go towards closing - not nearly as many people and you could go more at your own pace)
-After this, caught bus back to Colosseum area and then walked to Pantheon. Another Rick Steve's audio tour and great visit
-Headed back to hotel. Try to motivate to go out to eat, but exhausted so end up eating in restaurant - actually turns out to be pretty good.
-IN HINDSIGHT, if I hadn't been so anxious to see the Colosseum right away, it would have made more logical sense to start at San Giovanni and work our way north-west along these same sights.

Day 3
-Got up early and have breakfast hotel. Head over to Vatican for Palm Sunday mass. Again, waited for bus and then gave up and took taxi. Got to St. Peter's square around 8:20 and had no issues getting seats. Found out later that tickets may let you get into the square for mass, but does NOT guarantee it. By 9, the place was full and the guards were not letting anyone else into the main area - ticket holder or not. Good thing we got there early!
-After mass, had a quick pizza before getting on metro back to Central Rome. Once there, walked around Santa Maria degli Angeli Church (remains of the old Bath house) and went over to the National Museum (Massimo). The museum was great in that it was not crowded and you could get up close to many of the sculptures.
-Took cab to Appian Way. Cab left us off too early (since roads are blocked on Sunday), but we luckily had good timing and caught a bus to the Catacombs. Visited Catacombs of San Callisto. Afterwards, walked up the pedestrian path to church and headed to restaurant Hostaria Antica Roma for dinner. Unfortunately, it doesn't open until 7:30 for dinner and it was only about 6pm. Decide to catch bus back to hotel for jackets, change clothes, etc. Catch bus back to Appian way and have a fabulous dinner. Since this restaurant is off the beaten path and usually busy at lunch with tourists, we were one of only 2 couples there that night and were spoiled by the owner. It was probably our favorite meal of the trip! Paolo is delightful and not only did they spoil us, but he had some wonderful stories. All of this while sitting amongst ancient ruins. Was there very late and missed last bus - so took a cab back to hotel.

Day 4
-Off to the Vatican again! got up early and got to Vatican by 8:30. Went up to St. Peter's dome and then into the crypts. Went into the church and then on the Necropolis (Scavi) tour, which was wonderful! Two pieces of advice for St. Peter's Basilica - 1. get there early! The crowd difference just between 8:30 and 9 was huge! At 8:30 - all lines were very short and places were near empty. by 9, it was getting packed. 2. bathroom lines in St. Peter's square are really long! Plan on waiting in line for a while. We were about to miss the Necropolis tour so went outside the square looking for a bathroom. If you walk straight out of the square (2 minute walk), on the right is a cafe and bathrooms are right by the door downstairs - did not even need to buy anything (though we planned to), and there was no line!
-After finishing with the Basilica, had a quick bite to eat nearby and headed to Vatican Museum. It was around 2:30 - we had no reservations, but the line was only about 15 minutes long. We tried to follow the tour in Rick Steve's guidebook, but becuase of the crowd, they were routing people a different way to the museum and we wasted too much time trying to figure out where we were and where we were going. Eventually wound up at Sistine Chapel shortly before closing and just as the crowd started to diminish. Magnificent! Realized afterward, that we somehow missed the Raphael rooms and was very disappointed. Be sure to read the tour books and what you want to see - when they re-route the crowds it can get very confusing.
-For dinner, ate at Capranica Enoteca e Taverna, which had been recommended by a friend (had made reservations for 8pm)
-After dinner, walked to Trevi Fountain, got some gelato, and then walked to Spanish Steps. Took cab back to hotel.

ROME -> FLORENCE
Day 5
-Got up early and had breakfast in hotel.
-Headed to Borghese via bus for 9am reservations. Got there around 9:30am. Took about an hour+ to tour. Walked out through Gardens and strolled around.
-Took bus to Campo di Fiori and walked around market. Grabbed slice of pizza nearby and went to hotel to checkout and took cab to train station.
-Got on 1:30 train to Florence. It was about hour and half train ride. Unlike Metro north in NYC or even amtrak (regular class), there were assigned seats. We did not know this - but they are right there on your tickets. We were in 2nd class, which was perfectly fine for the trip.
-From Florence train station, took cab to Grand hotel (Piazza Ognissanti), checked in, and relaxed for a half hour or so.
-Walked out of hotel. Stopped into church in the Piazza and then strolled over to Accademia to see David. Got there around 4:30 - line was about 20 minutes long. When we got, the line was down to nothing, so IN HINDSIGHT, I would say get in line right around 5. Marveled at David and toured rest of gallery - about half hour total.
-Walked back to hotel stopping at a leather stand and purchased some belts and a wallet. Also, picked up some Tuscan wine for our room
-Went to dinner at Acqua al due (had reservations for 8).
-Got some gelato and strolled back to hotel along the water.
-IN HINDSIGHT - in the morning regretted spending too much time strolling around the gardens (though lovely) and missing going to San Pietro in Vincoli church.

FLORENCE -> Venice
Day 6
-Got up early and headed out. Went to Ponte Vecchio and found a cafe for coffee and pastries.
-Walked towards and around Signoria square.
-From there, headed to Basilica of Santa Croce. Unfortuantely, part of the church is under construction, so it was very loud inside and some monuments are covered up. Along the way, stopped into Leonardo da Vinci leather shop and fell in love with a few items and made a mental note to come back.
-After Santa Croce, headed to Duomo. It was packed and we had 12:30 and 12:45 reservations for Uffizi. Grabbed sandwiches and headed over to Uffizi. Stopped into Cafe Riviore for some pieces of chocolate. Once at Uffizi, you need to head to the right side at entrance 3 if you only have reservations but no tickets in hand. Pick up tickets and then head to the left side! (Note: when we booked tickets a few weeks prior, there were only single tickets available for the times we wanted. so we booked one at 12:30 and one at 12:45 - since the ticket is a 15 minute window, we basically still got in at the exact same time with no problem). Toured Uffizi while listening to Rick Steve's audio tour.
-After Uffizi, headed back to Duomo. Waited in line to go inside. Was disappointed.
-Headed over to Palazzo Strozzi for special exhibit on Galileo and astronomy (runs through August I believe), including 1 of his only surviving telescopes. Did not have reservations and had no trouble walking right in. It was very interesting, but had to run through it quickly and IN HINDSIGHT, wish we had skipped the line and inside of the Duomo to spend more time here.
-Walked back to Leonardo Da Vinci leather shop and purchased carry-on bag and leather jacket and couple more wallets.
-Walked back to hotel to pick up bags. Went to train station and got on 5:40 train to Venice. These tickets showed what car # and seat #s. For some reason, we kept having issues with this, though it’s really not hard.
-Arrived in Venice at Mestre train station. From here, you have to buy 1Euro ticket for connecting service to the St. Lucia train station on the island. Trains were about every 15 minutes.
-Took Vaporetto to hotel (Westin Europa & Regina). Checked in. by now it was 10:30, and we were starving. Were directed to a place still surviving food by hotel that was nearby. Unfortunately, it turned out to be very expensive and not that good. Next time, we’ll just wonder around to find some place – there are still places that are open at this time (Vino vino was also nearby and serves food until 11:30)

VENICE
Day 7
-Woke up a bit later than we had been and headed out to Rialto bridge and market on foot. The market was just starting to bustle. Purchased fruit, juice, and pastries at/near market for breakfast. The fish stands at the market were amazing – saw some very interesting different seafood. Reminded us a lot of Seattle.
-Walked to St. Marks square for 10:45am reservations for Secret Itinerary tour. Tour focused on Casanova and a few other rooms off limits to everyone else, but we really enjoyed it. It did help we had a very entertaining and wonderful tour guide. After walking around Doge’s palace a bit more, decided to go to St. Marks Basilica, only to realize the line was VERY long. Decide to come back first thing in the morning.
-Grab lunch at St. Marks square, enjoying the music and people watching (though expensive!)
-Walk off to Frari church. Along the way, find an interesting music exhibit open near Accademia bridge that we pop into at no cost. Tour Frari church and walk back up and over Rialto bridge and back to hotel.
-head to dinner at Vini da Gigio – recommended by my old college roommate who had spent a semester in Venice. A lot harder to find it than we planned, and we arrived a bit late. We seem to have a hard time getting around in Venice and keep getting turned around or hitting dead ends!
-Take Vaporetto back to hotel.

Day 8
-Head out to find breakfast. For some reason, finding breakfast is a bit more difficult here. Also, everything in Venice is at least 25% more expensive than Rome or Florence.
-Queue up for St. Marks Basilica. We got in line by 9:15- again, half hour made a huge difference- but 9:45, the place was much more packed and much harder to move. They won’t let in anyone with large bags or backpacks (any size) and when you get to the front of the line with such bags, you will be forced to exit the line and drop off your bags. You can then reenter the line from another side, so you don’t have to wait again, but still a bit of a pain (I did read somewhere that if you drop off your bag FIRST, you will get a bag ticket and can enter this second line immediately, bypassing the long line. We did not have a large bag or backpack, so did not try this though). Inside, we also headed up to the top for a beautiful view. We skipped lining up for the clock tower though.
-Stopped by Café Florian for a cup of coffee for the experience.
-After St. Marks, went over to Murano and had lunch outside at the restaurant near campo Stefanie. Afterwards, walked around and saw some glass blowers and went shopping. Took longer than we expected (especially lunch and getting there) and did not make it Burano as we had hoped.
-Headed back to St. Marks area and did a bit more shopping. Then took a gondola tour. I was against this thinking it was too touristy, but my boyfriend insisted this was the one thing he wanted to do, so we did. It actually turned out to be wonderful! We had a great gondolier too. Went around 7pm, cost was about 80 Euros for 40 minutes.
-Afterwards, stopped by hotel and then headed out to Interpreti Veneziani concert at san Vidal Church (grabbed slice of pizza along the way). Concert was wonderful, and we really enjoyed it! It lasted about 1.5 hours. We had already pre-purchased tickets online, but there were still seats available when the concert started, so probably would have been fine to purchase right before it started. Afterwards, stopped by Vino Vino near hotel for a glass of wine and small bite to eat.

Day 9
-Checked out of hotel and then headed to St. Mark’s square for once last look and to find a cup of coffee (everything was still closed at 8am).
-Took water taxi to airport (decided on this just because of timing, all our luggage, etc). It turned out to be very relaxing way to say good bye to Italy. The cost was about 90Euros. If you are traveling with a group or large family, I imagine this might actually be worth it than hauling your stuff to St. Marks and taking the public water shuttle.
-First leg of our flight was actually delayed and was going to miss layover, so after much waiting in line, we get squeezed onto direct flight to NYC. And unfortunately, we say goodbye to Italy for now and go home.


Tips:
1. Get to whatever you are doing early! Even a half hour in the morning (8 vs 8:30) makes a huge difference.
2. Buy a bus map in Rome – it will definitely help. Leave lots of time for catching buses – we could never figure out their schedule. You would see three “75” buses in a row (literally) but no 81 for a half hour.
3. Use a small bag to carry your stuff. Many places made you check large bags or backpacks. We found a great bag on eBags that was just large enough to carry guide books, maps, ipods, small camera, granola bars, etc but was never large enough that we had to check it anywhere but the Borghese – where you have to even check small purses. This bag was also great in that it was unisex looking so either of us could be carrying it and had multiple zippered pockets inside for when we did carry on us our passports, etc http://www.ebags.com/derek_alexander...?modelid=17432
4. We used the hotel safe most of the time for our passports, etc. We only carried them with us when we had to.
5. We had no issue with pick-pocketers. I was actually paranoid about it the first day from all the stories I read/heard, and then, though I never became careless, I did become less paranoid and never had an issue. I had purchased wallets to wear under our clothes, etc and we never used them – except inside our main bag as a wallet and at the Borghese when we had to check our main bag. Just be cautious, but no reason to be paranoid.
6. Plan on everything in Venice being at least 25% more expensive than Rome or Florence. Even the public toilets cost a 1 or 1.50 Euro
7. Download Rick Steve’s free audio tours to your iPod or MP3 before going. They are actually enjoyable (though a bit cheesy), informative, and easy to use. They will point you to major sites too, which is helpful if you are short on time.
8. There are 2 books we liked to carry around: Fodor’s 25 Best for each city (best book, good size, and good map for just getting around and finding things) and Rick Steve’s books – which weren’t that good for finding your way around, but very informative once you were there. We also carried Rick Steve’s translation book – probably 50% helpful. There were only 2 cases were the menus were in Italian only, or we couldn’t find someone who spoke English.
9. Cell phones (we both have AT&T – blackberry and Iphone) worked fine. We only used a couple times for very short calls and a couple of short text message exchanges to let everyone know we were ok after the earthquake. Otherwise, we kept our phones in airplane mode. You can buy a relatively inexpensive calling card in Italy too and we did so for a couple longer conversations.
10. We bought a laptop with us which we found very handy to look up things at night, book tickets, etc. We also packed a few DVDs, so it became a small DVD player at night.
11. We packed two plug adapters and 1 voltage converter w/adapter. 2 of our 3 bathrooms included an American type plug and voltage.
12. If you have an iPhone or Ipod touch, we found a great little currency converter app we downloaded before we went – fxCurrency (I think it was 99cents). Even if you are not connected to the internet, you can set the current exchange rate for whatever you want and it’s very easy to use and very helpful for larger purchases.


Things we wish we had done differently (other than had more time!): I wish we had…
1. Packed less! It’s nice at the hotel to have lots of clothing options, but going from city to city, having heavy suitcases was nothing but a pain!
2. Remembered our binoculars at the Sistine chapel. We left them in the hotel room – but a pair of binoculars to look at the ceiling (or any of the churches’ ceilings) would have been great.
3. Allowed more time for getting lost – often we were running late for reservations because we did not factor enough time for getting lost and were frantically trying to find the place. This seemed to happen more in Venice than in Rome.
4. Packed an eyeglass repair little screwdriver. Screw came out of one of our sunglasses, and it was surprisingly very hard to find a little screwdriver to purchase to fix it or someone to fix it.
5. Packed a little alarm clock. For some reason, none of the hotels had alarm clocks. Wake up calls worked fine as did our cell phone alarms, but I still like having a little clock.
6. Planned on wearing sneakers the whole time. I had packed other shoes, but only wore 1 other pair for half day (fashion sneakers). We did so much walking; sneakers were the only thing that would work for us. Even then at the end of the day, our feet were throbbing. I wish I had packed some peppermint foot lotion or something similar to use at the end of the day! I wish I had packed more socks too – I hadn’t planned on wearing sneakers every day and even to dinner most nights (which was fine at most of the places we ate at)
7. Paid attention to car and seat assignments on our train tickets. We didn’t at first and had to move with all our stuff!

annhig

hi slven,

wow - you cetainly packed in lots - your first day in Rome made MY feet ache in sympathy. but you were clearly well-organised and able to adapt - which always helps to make a holiday go well.

and your tips are well-thought out too.

a question on behalf of the many posters here who are planning the ROME -FLORENCE - VENICE combo - do you think you got the spread of the days right? [ie , if I've worked this out right, 4 nights Rome, 1 Florence, 3 Venice]. would you change it, and if so, how?

regards, ann

northqld

Great report slven ... am heading over in October, so have written down a few of your tips. Thank you!!

Byron1729

I am planning on travelling to Rome, Florence, and Venice as well in June. I plan to allocate our days there as follows: 4 in Rome, 2 in Florence, 2 in Venice, fly home on Day 9. Any thoughts as to whether that seems about right? Also, I plan to take the train each morning--does this seem reasonable? E.g., I plan to take the 7:00 am train to Venice from Florence. Is there any huge advantage to taking the train at a different time of the day? One thing that just occurred to me was that we could take the trains at night, which would give us more time during the day to sightsee, but obviously it's more inconvenient to travel at night in the sense that we'd arrive at inconvenient times at Florence and Venice. Any thoughts as to what makes more sense: early trains or late trains?

marigross

Thanks for the report.

teacherCanada

Nicley done Slven. You hints will be most useful. I like your travelling style.

tC

slven

Hi Annhig,
You are correct- we did 4 nights in Rome, 1 night in Florence, and 3 in Venice. If I was to change anything, I probably would have left for Florence an hour or so later to have time to hit the one church in Rome we missed. Overall, for us, I think we were happy with this. Florence somehow seemed even more crowded than the other cities (and with all Americans) that we couldn't wait to leave (I'm sure people will barrage me for saying that!). I really can't think of anything else in Florence we would have wanted to see that we didn't - though maybe an extra hour or 2 of shopping. Other people I have talked to though are shocked we didn't opt for 2 nights there. I guess we like the historical sites more than say arts, etc, so that probably has something to do with it.

Byron1729 - I think your allocation seems right. It was about ours - though we spent a bit more time in Rome and a bit less in Florence. We were in Rome 3 full days and a solid half day on either end of that - I could have used even another half day there, and as I said above, I didn't need anymore time in Florence. This is just us though because we seem to enjoy the ancient/historical sites more than just museums and art. As for the train, I would consider going in the evening because you would be there early in the morning to go get in line for anything you have planned. As I said, there is a huge crowd difference between just 8:30 and 9 or 9 and 9:30 as we discovered at many places. We took a 6pm train to Venice, which got us into the St. Lucia station around 9. We had no trouble with transportation at that time. We also figured traveling later in the day made us less dependent if there was an issue with the train or we missed it - we weren't really taking away time from spending it at our destination. Also, the other advantage to traveling a bit later in the day is you can usually check right into your hotel, which we liked - of course - most hotels will store your luggage until your room is ready anyway. We did use the hotel storage when we checked out but were not leaving until later and had no issue with this. I guess too we just like to wake up at the place we will be that day and had more energy in the morning to get out the door to go site-seeing

football

I had to laugh when I read your report. We, too, like to see as much as possible when on vacation so I really enjoyed reading about your trip. Will save this one for future reference. Thanks for taking the time to write it.

PamConlan

We leave for 12 days in Northern Italy on Friday, and I noticed that you stayed at the Westin Europa & Regina, which is where we will be spending 5 nights..you didn't say anything about the accomodations, and I was wondering how you liked it..the rooms?? the location?? etc. Also you said nothing was open at 8:00 am for coffee etc. and since we are early birds, I was wondering if you went to either of the 2 McDonalds for coffee or the Burger King? That's where we seem to get the best "American" coffee.. I enjoyed your trip report, since we will also be staying 2 nights in Florence.

crickmd

I'm traveling for two weeks in June with two adults, a 10 year old son and a grandmother to Rome, Sorrento and flying out of Venice with a few unscheduled days between Sorrento and Venice. You didn't comment much about your hotels. Would you recommend them? Also I know it will be hot then and would prefer air conditioning. Some reports I've read say that their hotels didn't have the air turned on. Was this a problem for you? Thanks