Nitasha

I have only 5 days in Italy....I land in venice on 4th July 16:35 and have to be in Trieste on the 10th july afternoon for a seminar on the 10th and 11th and then get back home.

My intended itinerary is 4th & 5th- Venice, 6th- Milan, 7th- Florence, 8th&9th- Rome

Any suggestions on the itinerary ?? Also if any recommendations for youth hostels in these cities.

artsnletters

Not possible. Have you looked up how much of your limited time you'll spend on trains? You'll lose most of a morning getting to Milan, then have only a few hours to see the city. Same thing for Florence. Rome takes a minimum of three full days (not including train time) - one for ancient Rome, one for St Peter's and the Vatican Museum, and one for as much of everything else as you can cram in. At least drop Milan. Otherwise you aren't going to enough of anything.

ira

Hi Nit,

I hope that you can stay awake for your seminar on the 10th.

You are landing in Venice in the late afternoon. You actually have only 1 day there.

What draws you to Milan?

I would add one day to Venice and visit either Florence or Rome.

Have you looked at the train schedules from Rome to Trieste?
www.bahn.de

quokka

Neither of these cities can be visited in half a day - which is all you have, due to travel time.
Pick Venice and ONE other destination. Anything more does not make sense if your trip is about seeing places, not only ticking off a list.

Nitasha

I thought of taking a easyjet flight from rome to venice and then a train to Trieste.....and I could probably leave out Milan and add a day to florence, Since I will be in venice for one more day after the seminar.

Nitasha

That was my initial plan.....but then i got greedy....its so difficult to choose between Florence and Rome.

J62

With the energy of youth you can see quite a bit in your limited time. Cutting Milan out of your itinerary makes it a more feasible itinerary; Venice, Rome, Florence, Trieste in that order.

Here's what you could do.

- July 4 - arrive Venice. Stay in Mestre. - easy bus ride from the airport. Drop off luggage, take shuttle train to Venice mainland, ride vaporetto on the Grand Canal. Overnight in Mestre. I suggest Mestre since you can burn a lot of time getting you and your luggage to/from a hotel in Venice proper.

- July 5 - leave luggage at either hotel or Venice Mestre or Venice St. Lucia train station. Visit Venice during the day. Take an afternoon/evening 4.5hr train to Rome.

- July 6 & 7 visit Rome.
- July 8, train Rome to Florence (90min train). Morning train if you want more time in Florence, afternoon if you want to dwell in Rome.
- July 8, 9 visit Florence,
- July 10 take early train Florence to Trieste (? 4hrs )

It's not a leisurely trip, but quite doable.

J62

One reason this is doable is that all trains from Rome to Venice pass through & stop in Florence, so it's not out of your way.

Nitasha

Are train tickets easily available at the stations or do i have to book online in advance?


Thanks for all the suggestions ....really helped me.

J62

Yes you can get tickets for all these trains when you arrive in Italy. There are some discounts available if you purchase a day or more in advance (I don't know specifics on this) - you can look into that once you arrive in Italy at the 1st train station you come across.

SCFoodie

With only a couple of days in Venice, I recommend staying in Venice, not Mestre. It is not difficult to get from the airport to a hotel in the city. There are multiple transporation options from the airport ranging from bus (inexpensive) to private water taxi (expensive.) And the train station (Stazione Ferroviaría Santa Lucia) is right in the city.

Nitasha

I checked online....i think there are direct buses from airport to venice city which take 20 mins. So I guess I dont want to miss the opportunity of staying in the city.

Any recommendations on the youth hostels??

For venice I was planning to stay at the YHA hostel which is at Fondamenta Zitelle 86, Isola della Giudecca

For Florence:

Backpackers Florence Hostel-Ponte Vecchio

or
Hostel Plus which claims to be 10mins walking distance from all the main attractions.

or
Hostel Santa Monaca located in the quarter of S. Spirito.

For Rome:

Ivanhoe Hostel: Located close to main attractions

Mosaic Hostel

there are so many in Rome I am confussed.

any suggestions???

WillTravel

Venice can be a bit tricky for hostels, but I don't know I'd choose that one. Because it's on Giudeca, you are not on the main island. I haven't been to Giudeca, and it may have its charms (there's at least one major luxury hotel on it), but most likely you want to see Venice proper. Due to when the vaporetto runs, you have to be back to Giudeca reasonably early, 9:30 PM by memory.
Have you looked at these hostel sites:
www.hostelz.com
www.hostelbookers.com
www.hostelworld.com

For the times of your stay, if any hostel offers air conditioning, that's the one I'd consider (although admittedly the supposed air conditioning doesn't always work).

ira

Hi Nit,

For Florence, you might want to consider www.bedinflorence.it

zeppole

I highly recommend that you take a trip to Verona and see the Roman colloseo there, and save rome for another trip.

If you want to be floored by art and architecture, you could have a fabulously memorable if rushed trip doing a loop from Venice (with a day trip to Verona) to Firenze to Ravenna and back.

Otherwise, if you don't want to rush, I would split the time between Venice and Firenze, with a peek at Verona.

Matt_Lombardi

I agree with Zeppole. If I were in your shoes, I'd simplify things even more: I'd spend the whole time in Venice. There's more than enough to see and do there, and it's the kind of place where the more time you spend, the more rewarding your visit becomes, as you get a feel for the place and have some experiences beyond the top tourist spots. Venice isn't just churches and palaces (and canals) -- you can add trips to the outer islands for variety, and even spend some beach time on the Lido.

Do that and you'd save both the time and money required for transportation. If you want to cover some additional turf, you could spend a day in Padua or a night in Verona, or add a day to your time in Trieste. There are interesting things to see in all three towns.

SCFoodie

Agree with WillTravel - the hostel on Giudecca is probably not where you want to stay. Try to find something on the main island. It would be a shame to be in Venice and miss out on experiences because of the vaporetto schedule and the hostel's "lock up" time.

And as others have suggested, spending the entire time in Venice might not be a bad idea. There really is so much there to see and do. I was there last year for a week and am going back this fall - and looking forward to continuing the adventure!

nytraveler

Agree - in 5 days you can do a little of Venice and a little of one ther city. Otherwise you will be making a grand tour of the train stations of Italy - and spending a lot as well.

pat

I have been to Venice twice and sure have missed a lot. I`d also stay in Venice and maybe do a day trip. I love Venice.

Nitasha

I had planned on 2 day venice 1 day Florence and 2 day rome.......but now I am totally confused...stayin at one place sounds really good....but not going to Rome when ur in Italy