Italy HELP
 

My husband and I are leaving for Italy on Wednesday. We are going to Florence, Tuscany, Venice, and Rome for a 6 day period (Wednesday to Wednesday). I am making a list of things we must bring to help us out along the way, places we must see, and listed restaurants that seem appetizing and good atmosphere but at the same time under $20 a plate.
Here's the Itenerary

Thurs Nov 23: arrive in Rome at 8:30 am, rent a car and travel to Tuscany and spend the day. Around 7ish drive to Florence and stay in our booked hotel.

Friday: Spend the day in Florence

Saturday: leave early in morning and drive to Venice. Arrive mid-morning and spend the rest of the day getting lost in the city

Sunday: Venice, and boat rides

Monday:spend morning in Venice and early afternoon. Around 2pm leave for Rome. Arrive in Rome just in time for dinner, and Trevi Fountain.

Tuesday:Rome - colleseum or Vatican City?? don't know which one yet. or do the Christain Rome tour.

Wednesday: leave Rome on plane at 11 am


So what do you think? any suggestions of what to do or not to do? Also what about tip, gas, money, Italian traditions? And also, what do I need to bring with me to help my trip in Italy?

Hi B,

To be very honest, with only 6 days I would completely change your itinerary to make your trip much more enjoyable.

Arrive Rome and train to Florence. Stay 2 nights. Train back to Rome and stay 4 nights.

Winter is a great time to do major cities and Tuscany is better during nicer weather. One day driving jet lagged through Tuscany is not really a great use of limited time, not fun either.

You really don't have time to include Tuscany or Venice (given the longer distance to get there) unless you can change your flight and fly in or out of Venice.

Do yourself a big favor and rethink this.

Buon viaggio!

Wow, that's an action packed trip! It is doable however. Since you seem to like a busy trip I think you could do both the Colosseum and Vatican City in the same day. Do one in the morning and one in the afternoon.

I would also rethink driving around Tuscany jet lagged. I think I would just head to Florence the day you arrive.

Have a great trip!

Hi B,

Based on your arrival time, luggage, customs, renting a car, driving to Tuscany and arriving in Florence "around 7ish", you should have an hour or two in Tuscany.

I'm assuming you didn't like any of the other responses you received from your other thread, "3 cities in 6 days". I think it's a little late to be making any drastic changes to your schedule, but I'm tired just reading it. It seems really hectic and not doing much justice to any one city.

http://www.rome.world-guides.com/

http://www.florence.world-guides.com/

http://www.venice.world-guides.com/

Not that much in Florence really. Book a ticket for the Uffizi gallery online as queues can be hours long. Pop over to Pisa, about 30 miles west, in the afternoon and see the leaning tower.

Venice isn't bad but boat rides are short and quickly finished. Monday morning head for Rome. I don't know how near you can get to Venice by car. You'll probably have to park up somewhere and take a boat in. That ios the way most people do it. Staying off of Venice is a lot cheaper.

Colluseum is great but is easy to get in any time. Take the Vatican tour first. Queues start very early and there is a long wait if you get there late. I think a car would be more trouble than it is worth in Rome. A pity you don't have another day, to do Naples and Pompeii, not far south of Rome.


Just one point. Venice can get hit by high tides this time of year which means St. Mark's square and Venice can get flooded, rarely with feet of water.

wow - this is some trip in 8 days.
Are you flying in from the UK or US? -if the latter, you need to factor in the possibility of jet-lag too!
but assuming your hotel are already booked - be kind to yourselves, and don't try to do too much. In florence for example, don't try to get into the uffizi or the accademia- you'll waste too much time in the queues!
but you could have a very pleasant day seeing the duomo, the baptistry and the camanile, then lunch, then shopping & wandering around the markets and teh beautiful churches.
your Venice plan is quite good [try to see the inside of st. Marco on a sunday when the lights are turned on the mosaics] and there shouldn't be any queues for the accademia, which will take you about an hour, or the doge's palace, which will take you two.
As for Rome, i would advise against the Vatican in the time you've got.
go for the coloseum and the forum [take a guided tour, you won't regret it]then get a taxi to St. Peter's and see the basilica. THen take a boat ride down to tratevere [get off at the island in the tiber] and see the mosaics in the crypt under St. Cecilia's church.
follw this with some shopping and you can't go far wrong.

Good luck and buon viaggio!

BTW, you received 19 responses to your other post without a single response from you. This thread is basically the same as the other one.

I completely agree with the comments by other posters on both of your threads. This is a very rushed itinerary.

However, assuming you insist on or must keep your hotels for 2 nights each in Venice, Florence and Rome then perhaps you would reconsider on the car rental. You do not need or want a car in any of those 3 cities. The only reason a car makes sense is for Tuscany and you really don't have any time for this to be worth the hassle.

How about taking the train straight to Florence, then train to Venice, then train back to Rome? In the future, you might want to consider flying "open jaw" into one city and out of another to avoid backtracking.

I hope this helps. It may not be the optimal itinerary for most of us, but you certainly can and should have a wonderful trip! Just enjoy whatever it is you are doing and don't worry about what you miss. Hotels/B&Bs can be useful with restaurant recs. It is hard to give exact meal recs without knowing where you are staying. Also, with so little time, it may just be easiest and best to look at a few menus when it is time to stop and eat (wherever you are at that point). It is probably not worth it to spend precious time tracking down a particular restaurant.

Have fun. :-)

Well you know barbmike, I have been unavailable the past couple weeks to reach an internet and that is why I have not posted anything previously, but thanks for your time.

Thanks for the help guys. Especially with Rome and some of the different ideas you had. And I never considered the Venice tide being high, so.. thanks=)