Flying into Venice and out of Rome is great. Good decision.
I would suggest taking the Alilaguna ferry from Marco Polo airport to Venice proper. It is such a change of pace from travelling. You walk from the terminal to the ferry dock (about 600 metres), buy a ticket and then have this slightly dreamy transit to Venice. Magic, and the ferry will take you to San Marco.

I would suggest three nights in Venice, or maybe more, so you will have at least two full days there, and then train to Florence, which is a couple of hours, maybe three hours

It’s really hard to nominate “Must See” things in Venice, as it depends what you are into. San Marco, Doge Palace, Grand Canal, the Piazza are all big ticket things that you would not want to miss, and the Piazza and San Marco become very crowded around 10:00 AM when the day tourists arrive, so it’s worth going there early. I love the Frari church, and I also love just meandering around. The Rialto markets are fun, and it is good to go there really early in the morning – think 6:00 AM when the fish is being unloaded and the stalls are setting up, and it is worth missing the hotel breakfast to do this.

Have breakfast the way Venetians do – a coffee and a croissant standing at the bar – it’ll cost you about 3 Euro.

The Guggenheim is great if you like modern art, and the Academe if you like more classical.

Get a copy of “Venice” by Jan Morris – arguably the best English language book about Venice, and freely available second hand. And at the risk of being named an idiot, or worse, I think that Rick Steve’s Venice book is not that bad in terms of guided walks.

Genevieve, I have only been to Rome and Florence once and it was last year. But here are a few things that might help.

In Rome we stayed at a nice B&B called Roma B&B www.roma-bandb.it It was out a ways, but a block from a bus that takes you straight to the Vatican. Cost was 90 euro a night with a nice breakfast.

We took buses everywhere in Rome and had no problems. We went to the Vatican, Forum, Coliseum, Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, etc.

We took the train to Florence and splurged a little and stayed at Hotel La Scaletta www.hotellascaletta.it which was one block from Ponte Vechio. Large rooms and wonderful terraces overlooking the Duomo. It was 120 euro a night cash. They also have a lower cost facility www.florenceoldbridge.com I would recommend reservations for Galleria Accademia and the Uffizi,otherwise it takes forever to get in. We used TickItlay for the tickets. Again, we used the local buses to go everywhere, or walked.

All of Italy was wonderful, but I particularly loved Florence and would go back in a heart beat. I hope this helps and have a wonderful time!

Racer042

The must-sees depend on what you like.

We like art and architecture. On our recent trip (repeat visits) to Venice, Florence and Rome, here were some places that we made sure to visit, which you didn't mention on your list:

Venice
- Just walking around and enjoying the canals and the old buildings
- The museum in San Marco. While walking through San Marco, you MUST look around, and not just shuffle through - look up at the amazing mosaics, some of which date back to the original construction of the church - and down at the beautiful floor mosaics, in hundreds of different patterns
- Santa Maria dei Miracoli; beautiful little jewel-box church
- Scuola di San Giorgio degli Schiavoni; beautiful paintings by Corregio
- San Zaccharia - really cool crypt under the church
- Scuola Grande di San Rocco; many large paintings by Tintoretto

Florence
- Piazzale Michelangelo, high above the city with a great view. I went up here on my morning run, which made it even better - there was hardly anyone there
- Bargello has great statues, if you like statues

Rome
- San Luigi has several beautiful Caravaggios
- San Agostino has one beautiful Caravaggio
- Santa Maria sopra Minerva has Michelangelo's "Christ Carrying the Cross"
- Saint Peter in Chains has Michelangelo's "Moses"
- The National Museum of Rome is good, but I'd put it lower on the list, unless you really like mosaics
- Palazzo Barbarini has a nice group of paintings, including Raphael's "The Fornarina."

The good thing about visiting churches, or art in churches, is that you can visit them while on the way to something else, and you can enjoy them without spending hours doing so.

Genevieve,

If you can manage a day trip to Siena by bus, I'd recommend it. The SITA bus station in Florence is located right across the street from the main train station.

Since this is your first trip, I'd recommend checking out Ron in Rome's website www.roninrome.com. His website is EXTREMELY helpful for first time visitors to Rome as he gives step by step instructions on how to use the trains, how to use the buses, provides lists of markets, list of good gelato places (probably my favourite article of his), information on the Roma Pass, etc. It helped me a lot when I planned out my trip.

Also, I'd recommend seeing the Capitoline Museums before seeing the National Museums of Rome.

A nice budget hotel in Florence is Hotel Casci (www.hotelcasci.com).

I would also suggest an additional night in Venice. Fly into Venice, stay there 3 nights, train to Florence, stay there 3 nights with one daytrip to do your wineries, train to Rome and stay there for the last 5 nights. A perfect trip!

The Arco del Lauro b&b in Rome was mentioned by Graziellia5B but I can't get the website to work - does anyone know if it has closed down?

I also recommend flying into Venice and out of Rome as I think Rome is best seen at the end of the trip. It is a busy city and we like to end our trips there when it is on our itinerary.

Two nights in Venice is enough for me so I would suggest 2/5/4. I also find it to be the most expensive of the three so if you want more time there, stay late on the third day and take a train to Florence in time to arrive for dinner.

I agree with the recommendation of Luca Grappa for your winery tour in Tuscany. We have spent 6 days with Luca over the past 4 years and enjoyed every one. With one day for the wineries, you could take a bus to Siena for another and then enjoy two full days in Florence.

You can check Tourist House Ghilberti and Alloro B&B in Florence for good locations and reasonable prices. Hotel Balestri is another good option.

In Rome, Arco del Lauro has already been mentioned. Hotel Panda and Nicholas Inn are two other often recommended 3 star hotels with reasonable rates. Albergo Santa Chiara behind the Pantheon is another good option.

In Rome, look into the Roma Pass to save on entry fees. Book second class Eurostar trains between cities for fast connections.

Wow! Thank you for those responses! Looks like we're booking tonite and we'll be flying out of Ottawa into Venice and flying home from Rome. You guys were right on about flights being extremely early out of Rome when heading back to Ottawa. So, into Venice and out from Rome! Total of 12 days.

Should I also book the train between cities prior to our arrival or not? How about visits? I guess I should only book those on arrival right?

So, excited, can't wait!
Genevieve

I'll leave the train info for someone else here to explain as they'd be much better (and accurate) about giving advice on that.

In Florence, you will want to make reservations if you are planning on going to the Uffizi and Accademia. See if your hotel can make the reservations for you and they will send an email to you with the reservation number. You will not have to pre-pay. The reservations will be an additional 3-4 euro and I believe it is cash only. Then once you get to the museums, if you see there is little or no wait in the regular line, you can hop in that line and save yourself the extra charge for the reservations.

In Rome, if you plan on going to the Galleria Borghese, reservations are mandatory. Again, no pre-pay. You just get a number when you call or if you request for your hotel to do this for you.

If you buy a Roma pass, the Borghese (one of my favorite places in Rome and one of the very few which is actually capacity controlled) is one of the choices on the pass. The other can be used for Colosseum and Forum.

Wait until you arrive in Venice to buy train tickets then buy all of them at once from the station or any travel agency (no extra fees). Seat reservations are included in the fares on Eurostar trains.

You might get a good rate at Hotel Giorgone in November, a solid 4 star hotel in a nice area.

what kind of weather can we expect in the 3 cities?

We have often been there at that time of year and I would pack in layers so you can adjust and also definitely bring an umbrella and/or all weather jacket.