Hi everyone! My boyfriend and I booked our flights to Italy and we are THRILLED and counting down the days!! We are flying into Venice the last week of October and will be flying home out of Rome. We have only 6 days on the ground for this initial trip. I would love your feedback on how many days to spend in Venice and how many to spend in Florence or Rome. I am thinking a couple of days in Venice, then train to Florence, spend two days there and then finish off in Rome (since our flight home is out of Rome). I would love to get your feedback on hotels to stay in, restaurants not to miss, little non-touristy spots to see. We are both 30 and love to just take in the culture and try lots of food! I will be taking my Nikon to get some awesome shots too. We love nightlife and would love any recommendations on that and any rooftop bars or restaurants with an amazing view/glass of vino.

Really excited to hear your thoughts! thank you!

Angela

6 days on ground

6 days I would just do Venice and Rome- anyway trains are best - bok your tickets very early for deep discounted fares - Acquista il biglietto con le nostre offerte - Trenitalia or www.italotreno.com- two competing railways using same tracks and stations - take whatever is cheapest. www.seat61.com has lots on booking your own online; general train info rickstves.com and BETS-European Rail Experts.

Unless Renaissance art and architecture are of special interest to you, with just six days on the ground, I would skip Florence and just do Venice and Rome. You hardly have enough time for those let alone a third city. And you can easily take a short day trip from Venice and/or Rome to see something different. "Little non-touristy" spots is almost impossible in the heavily touristed cities you are visiting. In Venice, I've purchased a Chorus Pass which gives you entrance to churches all over the city and makes for very interesting walks. Also, for me a trip out to Torcello is a must. It would probably count as a little non-touristy spot, but since only tourists go there, you'll be bound to see some others. Do you like food markets? All three cities have very good ones although the Rialto in Venice will also be full of tourists. In Rome, go out to Ostia Antica and.... well, maybe I'm on the wrong track here.

What do you like? Other than nice restaurants? Art? History? Hiking? Antiquities? Ruins? Museums? Galleries? Architecture? Both Venice and Rome and a plethora of fascinating sights, but it's hard to list some without knowing what interests you. I also have favorite dishes in each of these cities, but none that I know of are served in rooftop restaurants. For nightlife, maybe try a younger forum and pick up a copy of TimeOut Guide for Venice or Rome.

How are you counting "6 days on the ground"? Stating in terms of nights would have eliminated ambiguity.

Interpretation #1: 6 calendar days = 5 nights.
day 1 arrival
day 2 full day #1
day 3 full day #2
day 4 full day #3
day 5 full day #4
day 6 fly home

If this is the case, about the only way to split is between two cities, not three.

Interpretation #2: 6 duration days = 144 hours = 6 nights.
day 1 arrival
day 2 full day #1
day 3 full day #2
day 4 full day #3
day 5 full day #4
day 6 full day #5
day 7 fly home

Still is choice is to split is between two cities.

Interpretation #3: 6 full days = 7 nights.
day 1 arrival
day 2 full day #1
day 3 full day #2
day 4 full day #3
day 5 full day #4
day 6 full day #5
day 7 full day #6
day 8 fly home

You can add a short stay in the third city.

Rather than just working in abstract "couple of days in Venice, then train to Florence, spend two days there", substitute ACTUAL hours you are arriving and leaving each city and ACTUALLY verifying just how many hours you can dedicate to each activity taking into account time to move around and opening hours/day would quickly tell you if you are working in reality or in a fantasy land.

As others above wrote, so much depends upon your interests. You could spend the entire time in any of the towns, in my opinion.

You could skip Florence unless you wish to see the statue of David. To all: does one need a reservation for David? A walk across the Ponte Vecchio is not to be missed if you are in Florence.

My where to stay is getting old so look on venere or trip advisor and you'll get long lists with prices.

Again, old info but we stayed in Hotel Isa in Rome. It was very close to Piazza Cavour and that had scads of busses. It was a nice walk across the Tiber to Piazza Navona.

Please report back and have a super time. Oh, don't worry, Italy will grab your heart and you'll return many more times!

Sorry for the ambiguity. We will be have 6 days and 6 nights in Italy. The other days are travel days.

Thank you all so much for your responses. We will have actually 6 days and 6 nights. We have a 7th day and an 8th day for travel from the US. We love architecture and I definitely want to see the famous structures but I want to also spend time off of the beaten path. Do you think we should stay in Venice for 2 days/2 nights? or just 2 days, and on the 2nd night, train to Rome or Florence?

I'd do two nights in Venice and the rest in Rome.
Restaurants, I have two options that help me in Italy. 1) use tripadvisor which is relatively un spoiled system or 2) head to the loudest restaurant in your neighbourhood.
Note that Pranzo (lunch) is the main meal of the day, while Cena (supper) is the snack type meal. Clearly people swop all this around as you wish but you may run into a slight conflict in your mind with this. Not a crisis just making you aware

Do you understand the italian ordering system?? Get hold of a Rough Guide to italy and do some research. You'll also find water fountains in both cities, if you bring an empty water bottle from the aircraft you can top up all over "blue dot or acqua potabile" means it is drinkable.

Best spot for a snack and view in Rome; go to the typewriter, more formally the " Monumento Nazionale a Vittorio Emanuele II " cross to the right and climb steps until you reach a large open roof top with a restaurant on the right and queue of people witing to take a lift to the very top. Sit down at the front of the restaurant and get a drink. The monument was built on the top of the most famous hill in town, destroying goodness what under foot and you look down on the Forum and the Coloseum.

In Venice, pay to get into the Peggy Guggenheim, after choosing which piece of art would sit nicely in your lounge, walk out between the lion statues and sit and watch the canal go by.

Proposals are the norm in either place.

Oh heck, how could I NOT mention the Duomo in Florence! Do stop in Florence!

Thank you so much bilboburgler and TDudette ! I think I might do 2 days/2 nights in Venice, 1 day in Florence and the rest of the trip in Rome. I do not want to miss Florence but I feel more time should be dedicated to Rome!

What do you need to do or see in Florence? It is easy to get a taste of Florence as a stop along the way between Venice and Rome. You can arrive by train in the morning, check you luggage in the Depositi Bagagli at the train station, and spend the day in Florence before retrieving your bags and training to Rome.

You need to stop thinking in terms of days and start thinking in terms of nights instead. Two nights gives you one day, given that you can't teleport your way around Italy. You have time for two places, not three (unless you do what ellenem suggests), and you should be flying into City A and out of City B because you have no time for backtracking.

" I definitely want to see the famous structures but I want to also spend time off of the beaten path" You will have to choose because you have no time for both, unless by "structures" you mean buildings you can just walk by. And if you haven't been to these places at least a few times before, what could be "off the beaten path" for you?

6 days - stay on the beaten path. See the famous things in each city.

thank you everyone!

Sorry if this is a duplicate. There are day trips from Rome to Florence. A LONG day but probably hit all the good stuff and someone else would have schlepped for tickets.