Bill

Not sure what people mean when they say 2 days in Venice are enought--see that a lot and wonder what they left out. Anyway, we spent 4-1/2 days in Venice and could easily have used another full day. Venice really does have more than the Grand Canal, Rialto, the Doges' Palace, and Basilica/P. San Marco. Even with 4-1/2 days we didn't have time to visit the Accademeia, the Guggenheim, the Arsenale area, or any of the smaller islands (Murano, Burano, etc.). What do people leave out when they stay only 2 days?

apc

OK, so after the great advice I got from everyone here, I picked up Rick Steve's Italy guide, I sketched out a rough itinerary of what order we'd like to hit each city and started getting really excited.<BR><BR>What us not so exciting was my initial internet search plus today's visit to a travel agent to scope out the airfare -- so expensive! I do not know why I thought I'd be able to find flights more in the $700 range (we live on the East coast), not $1000+ each! We have been saving up for this trip for a while now, but I feel queasy at the thought of spending over $2000 just on the flights. I know I sound pretty naive, but is this a totally normal price range that I should just be willing to pay? We are in our mid-twenties and for us this is quite a bit. Is a trip for two to Italy doable for $4000? <BR><BR>

xxx

I think you can find airfares for around 1000 per way. That only leaves you 2000 for hotel, food, museum passes, and transportation around. For all the movement you are doing, it will cost you more. Given the budget constraints, I'd stick with only the Venice, Florence, and Rome. You're looking at $100-$150 transportation right there, plus Rome bus passes and Venice ferries.<BR>Now, your hotels are a bit tricky. How high are your standards? You probably could do it with a $100/day hotel if you go to a hotel away from the city centre to where the locals live( it is much cheaper). Taking a 10-15min bus ride there is not too much of a hassel. In Venice, it is more of a hassel because the ferries are slow and aren't as often as you'd like.

xxx

Try this website for a feel of hotel prices. <BR>http://www.hotels-travel.net/italy/rome/hotall.asp

Anon

That airfare sounds high to me.... I live on the WEST coast and have never paid more than $750-800 for flights to Italy, in &quot;shoulder season&quot; (April, October, November.) <BR><BR>Ask your travel agent whether they deal with consolidator fares. Text search on this board for &quot;airfare&quot;, &quot;flight&quot;, etc. to get websites to search. <BR><BR>I've been able to get good fares from onetravel.com, flights.com, economytravel.com, the flights section of autoeurope.com (you may have to call for a quote), thetravelsite.com and by calling local travel agents and asking specifically for consolidator tickets. It is worth doing some work to save at least a few hundred dollars, no?<BR><BR>

Lesli

It is absolutely possible to find centrally located hotels at less than $100/night, though you may have to make some compromises re amenities/decor to come in at this budget. Frommers has an Italy at $__/day guidebook, which I've used before. Sandra Gustafson's &quot;Great Sleeps in Italy&quot; (and &quot;Great Eats in Italy&quot is a great resource.<BR><BR>There is an article in this month's (Feb.'03) &quot;Arthur Fommer's Budget Travel&quot; magazine has an article about &quot;Little Wonder Hotels of Florence &amp; Venice&quot; - 10 in each city, all $100/night or less.<BR><BR>Text search this board for &quot;(city name) and hotel&quot; to find tons of threads, many of which recommend budget properties.<BR><BR>And I agree that you can do better re airfares.

Aimee

I don't know how doable a $4000 budget for is for two weeks. We were in Italy last month on a similar itinerary, we went to Milan, Venice, Florence and Rome (open jaw tickets) and spent about $5500. And that was for 12 nights. I think 14 nights would definitely have pushed us to $6000. Plus we really got a deal on airfare, it was only $420 each. <BR>Maybe you can shorten your trip to 10 days to better accomodate your budget?

bill

You might try Justfares.com and Bestfares.com<BR><BR>Both are showing a number of fares from the east coast to Rome under $1000 in May--but based on our experience last year, you have to hurry because good deals sell out quickly.<BR><BR>We ended up using bestfares.com to Germany last year, but justfares had a deal almost as good. bestfares charges an annual membership fee that is refundable if you don't find a flight you want within 30 days. justfares does not have a membership fee.

Judy

Take a look at go-today.com. They have a trip in May that goes to Rome, Florence, and Venice. It costs $2781 for 2 out of JFK, Newark , or Boston. Includes flight into 1 city, out of another, 2 night hotel in each city, and rail tickets between. They have an instant message function that has been answered promptly when we have used it to ask about additional days and/or hotel that is not part of the standard on-line entry.<BR>It is much less expensive in Nov. We went to Rome in Nov. 2000 and the weather was great.

Ira

Hi<BR> You might be able to reduce your air fare by flying into London and taking a discount airline to Italy.<BR> www.ryanair.com offers one way London/Rome for $15.00.

Pam

Oh to be an Italy expert..but here's our info. We spent three weeks there in October. We planned everything ourselves and went to Rome, Tuscany and Venice in that order spending about one week in each place. We flew in to Rome and out of Venice on British Airways.<BR>We found the week's time in each place to be enough and not enough. Rome(and it has its fans on this board) was too much..very busy,crowded and that being said also very beautiful in many ways. There is so much to see there. Tuscany again..there is so much to see. Plan on only seeing a few hill towns but do spend time in each. We thought we would get in to Florence a few times while there but decided to save it for another trip. Venice..was our favorite and we spent a week there. It was the most relaxing of the places we visited. We felt we were just beginning to get a sense of it as a city after that much time. I will say..one of the sweet delights of this trip was getting so slowed down the feeling of which lingered with me a good month after our return. In short, my advice would be take time..go slowly and think of this as your survey trip.<BR>Find the places you hope to return to and enjoy the ones you find this time as much as possible. It's a great place!