sunsetbay

My boyfriend and I want to take a trip to Italy in October. Problem is we only have 1 week, very short time we know, but we want to make it happen. We are adventurous and we are eager to pack as much as possible into our short time off work! We are looking for more of an experience/adventure rather than relaxation. We were thinking we'd fly into Rome see the sights, then go to Venice. Any recommendations as far as a "perfect" itinerary for such a short trip would be most appreciated. If possible, we'd prefer to see the sights ourselves, i.e. the least amount of tour guided trips the better and we'd love to just rent a car and get around that way. We like to stay in beautiful hotels, eat great food, stay up late, burn the candle at both ends so to speak! So again ANY recommendations from any of you who are so familiar with Italy would be awesome. THANK YOU in advance.

dina4

Venice is a must see and so romantic!!! It would be great if you could fly into Venice, stay a bit, then train to Rome.

If you're really adventurous, not so into relaxing, and don't mind packing up a lot, you could add a third location -- Florence or a hill town in Tuscany. You could rent a car if you're going to include Tuscany.

Not sure if you've been to Italy before, but have a wonderful trip!!

dina

StCirq

Fly into one city, train to the other and fly out from there. Obviously you don't want a car in Venice - you don't want one in Rome, either, so you don't need a car at all.

Do you have a week (7 days) including travel to and from (which means 5 days on the ground), or 9 days with a full 7 days in Italy? Whichever, I'd divide my time with roughly twice as much time in Rome as in Venice.

sunsetbay

No, we have never been to Italy before and yes we are really adventurous and like to move alot. I really want to go to Venice and it seems like if you go to Italy you must go to Rome. The only reason we thought we'd rent a car is it's such a great way to see the countryside but it seems like for this trip it might be unrealistic? The longest our trip can be is 8 days including travel time. I would love to add Florence too but in reading alot of these posts there doesn't seem like there is as much to see in Florence - Accademia is the main thing I am seeing over and over. Any of your advice is most welcome and appreciated. Reading this site helps tremendously. Thank you!

tuscanlifeedit

Well, staying up late is questionable in Venice. This is a place that rolls its canals up kind of early. Are you coming from the US or Canada? If so, you could fly into Venice, and may not mind not staying up late after the long plane trip. Then you could go to Rome and whoop it up.

Driving around small towns also isn't really a stay up late activity. After dinner, that's usually it. Rome though seems to have really good night life.

You said you would love to go to Florence; what are you interested in there? I like Florence a lot, but its biggest draw for me is art and architecture, and food. Love Tuscan food.

You could fly to Venice, stay two nights. Train to Florence, stay two nights, then train to Rome and stay four nights. Or 3, 2, and 3.

I am much more into moving slowly these days, but I totally understand your desire to see as much as possible. Another option would be just Venice and Rome, and it isn't that hard to fly between the two if you need to make a connection or something like that. AirOne has reasonable flights.

But a real adventure would be to fly to Venice, stay three nights, then spend the rest of your time driving around the Veneto. See Verona, Padova, Mantova, Bassano del Grappa, and any other place you would like. That could be a great adventure.

There are just too many possibilities! Only you know what suites you. We all have our favorites here, that's for sure.

For hotels, what is your price range? And meals: you can eat better in Rome and Florence, or for that matter in the rest of Italy, than you generally can in Venice. But with careful planning, and if you don't mind spending, you can also eat pretty well in Venice. Just not as well as in the rest of, or most of the rest of, Italy.

tuscanlifeedit

that was supposed to be "suits you" rather than "suites you" but since you like nice hotels, maybe "suites you" is ok. ;-)

caroltis

Please tell me you didn't say there isnt much to see in Florence!!!! It's just about my most favorite city in Italy because there is so much to see and do. If I had 8 days total I would fly into Venice and stay 2 nights. Take the train to Florence and stay 3 nights. Take the train to Rome for 3 nights. You'll whet your appetite and vow to return and incude Tuscany hill towns the next time. You are going to fall in love with this country!

camelbak

I agree with caroltis and the night breakdown.

2 nights Venice, train to Florence, 3 nights (really, you WILL need all that time to see everything!) and then train to Rome and stay 3 nights (which will scratch the surface but have you drooling for more!).

Don't need to worry about renting a car and your time is too short to be spending time driving from place to place...

Train is super easy with great connections between the cities.

Where are you flying in from?

LoveItaly

Hi sunsetbay, you say you will have 8 days including travel time. So you will have 6 days in Italy.

Lets say you depart on a Monday (day one)..I assume you will be flying from North American. You will arrive day two and by the time you get to your hotel a good part of day two will be used up.

You will than have day the balance of day two to enjoy but you will no doubt have some jetlag.

You will than have day three, four, five, six and seven to enjoy beautiful Italy and on day eight you will be departing from your last hotel, getting to the airport, checking in and flying home.

So you will actually have five full days plus part of your arrival day.

If you say fly into Rome and fly home from Venice you will lose a good part of one of those five days to train between Rome and Venice keeping in mind the time you will lose checking out of your hotel and getting to the next hotel etc.

In that you say you two want to stay up late, burn the candles at both ends etc., I am thinking that you might enjoy flying into and departing from Rome and that you could enjoy your first time in Italy in vibrant Rome.

If you wanted you could take the train to say Orvieto for a day trip (about one hour or so) for a break from being in Rome. Or you could take a day trip to Florence via the train..Florence is lovely and you no doubt would enjoy it and the food is wonderful. Staying in one hotel would certainly give you more time to be out and about.

Rome sure has more nightlife than Venice which tends to close down early. The food in Rome is usually enjoyed so much more than the food in Venice.

I would save Venice for your next trip to Italy. And if you are like most people you will be taking more trips to Italy!!

Castellanese

Hi,

I know it sounds it may sound a bit crazy, but I'd 3 nights on Capri and 4 nights in Venice. I consider it a bit crazy because you'd have to take a 7-8 hour train from Naples to Venice and practically lose a day, but Rome and Venice are too much for a week. Venice is gorgeous and I can't think of a first time to Italy trip without visiting it. Capri is tiny and beautiful and it would make a great contrast with all the cultural sights of Venice. On Capri you can hike Monte Solaro, walk around Capri Town and spend some time on pebble beach of Marina Piccolathe. In Venice, you can visit the Rialto Market, the Basilica di San Marco and Palazzo Ducale on Piazza San Marco and Le Zattere.

Have a great trip wherever you decide to go. Italy is wonderful.

jabez

I'd skip Rome (did I really say that?) because Rome really needs at least 3 nights. Add to that the distance and I would fly into Rome and out of Florence.
Train to Florence from Venice and rent a car for a couple days in Tuscany and then finish in Florence.
It's a lot more than I would do, but it seems you are convinced that you can cram a lot in.
I respect Castellanese's idea, but have to totally disagree. Not just the lost travel time( which is huge with such a short trip), but October can be very iffy weather wise in Capri,
All you need is to travel that far for a couple days of fog.

kfusto

If you want lots of options and activity, Venice is not the right choice, IMO. Rome has an active nightlife and, if you really feel you need to move around a lot, then I would choose Rome and Florence. Rome is an exciting, bustling city and Florence is lovely (your comment about it only having the Accademia is way off base).

Florence would also feed your need to move a lot as daytrip options are plentiful and easy.

Florence is my favorite city in Italy, BTW, and I am type A times 2

annhig

hi, ssb,

I'm of the Venice and rome or just rome school.

ideally fly into Venice, do the whole romantic bit, recover from your jet-lag, etc.etc. then train to Rome, and hit the sights and the clubs.

alternatively, stick to rome, and do day trips - you certainly won't run out of things to do.

finally, if your want activity, why not think about a cycling or walking holiday - there are several companies organise them - you will see lots of the contryside and maybe have a bit of adventure as well.

good luck,

regards, ann

sunsetbay

Wow! You are all extremely helpful, thank you so much. Now we have a lot to digest. Knowing how we are, I am thinking we will fly into Rome and end up in Venice. Usually by the last day/2 days of vacation we are actually able to sit back and relax! But at first we are always go go go and we actually like packing up and moving around to different hotels. I know it probably sounds greuling to alot of you but we like to cover as much ground as poss on our vacations. I also think I have figured out a way to squeeze in another day.

Would this be a feasible - VERY tentative - itinerary:
Day 1 (Sat) - Leave NY
Day 2 (Sun) - Arrive Rome, settle into hotel, walk around see sights, etc
Day 3 (Mon) - Rome all day/night
Day 4 (Tues) - Rome all day. End of day head to Tuscany? Florence?
Day 5 (Wed) - Tuscany Hill Town
or Florence?
Day 6 (Thurs)-Tuscany Hill Town - maybe
or Florence?
Day 7 (Fri)- Venice
Day 8 (Sat) - Venice
Day 9 (Sun)- Fly out of Venice
Questions:
Would it be feasible to rent a car and drive from Rome to a Tuscany Hill town? If so, how long would it take? I am assuming if we did that, we'd have to drive back to Rome, get rid of the car and jump on the train to get to Venice, right?

If it is feasible, this way we would see hustle bustle of Rome, beautiful contryside of Tuscany (wineries, right?)and then end up in romantic Venice for maybe just 2 minutes of relaxation!

I am getting excited.

THANK YOU SO MUCH.

MFNYC

That doesn't leave you much time in Rome, especially if you've never been. My rec would be to stay in Rome, instead of spending a couple of days in Tuscany. White in Rome you can take day trips perhaps to Oriveto (Umbrian hill town) or Pompeii, or some of those other ruins, etc.

On your day 6 you can head to Venice by train. If you are more adventurous, on day 5, you can rent a car, drive to Venice and spend a night on the road in one of the smaller towns like San Giminagno or Sienna.

Highway driving in Italy is pretty easy, and overall well-marked. City driving, whether it be Rome, or even smaller places like Sienna or Orvieto, can be horrible. A good map and a good navigator are necessary.

enroute

There is of course yet another way:

Train to Florence from Rome for at least two, preferably three nights. Forget the car and hire a driver out of Florence to take you on a one-day tour of hilltowns. Plenty of recommendations on this forum.

Whatever you do, do not go back to Rome to return the car. Train to Venice out of Florence or connect from many available stops/drop locations in Tuscany.

I think going south in October is preferable for optimal weather, though not that significant for one week, but also flight schedules seem to be better into Venice and out of Rome.

All in all, not a bad plan

Flyergal

Is there any way you can fly out Friday night? That would give you another day for whatever route you decide.

dina4

I understand your intention to see "as much as possible" and so i think your plan is a really good one. I think you need to do some research, though, to decide what appeals to you more: a hill town in Tuscany or another city (Florence). It's a really tough decision, I know.
You could rent a car in Rome and drop it in Venice.
Or drop it in Florence and train to Venice.

However, I would recommend you fly into Venice instead of Rome. It is quite magical and dramatic to arrive in Venice by water taxi from the airport. It also might be an easier place to over come your jet lag.

ira

Hi S,

> it seems like if you go to Italy you must go to Rome. <

Not really.

>The longest our trip can be is 8 days including travel time.<

I would fly into Venice - 3 nights, train to Florence - 4 nights and fly home from Florence FLR or Pisa PSA.

Enjoy your visit.

gard

Hi

There is lots to see and do in Rome and I'm sure you will have a great time there. My wife and I went there a couple of years back and here in my trip report with pictures, links and maps: http://gardkarlsen.com/rome_italy.htm . Venice is also nice but if I only had a week I'm not sure I would take the trouble and time to get there. But here is a similar trip report from Venice: http://gardkarlsen.com/italy_venice.htm . Have you thought about going to Florence? Get in touch if you have any questions.

Regards
Gard
http://gardkarlsen.com - trip reports and pictures