Italy in the summer
 

Is it easy traveling by train in Italy? Thinking of going to Rome,Florence, and Venice. Not necessarily in that order.Thank for your help. Beth

Yes, it is very easy to travel by train. We did Rome, Venice and Florence with our two kids last March and travelled by train from city to city. It was easy, simple and very enjoyable!

scan thru the last 100 threads here (there's 50 per page) and I'm sure you'll find other posts about traveling in Italy. Also try a text search too.

We traveled from Florence to Venice via Eurostar and it was quite easy. We even waited until our arrival in Florence to book and buy our tickets.

IMO it is reasonably straight forward. My own experience is with Venice a couple different trips. I bought tickets at the train station a few days before travel.

thanks for you help. It is appreciated.

It is quite possibly, one of the most simple and straightforward things a traveler (especially a novice) will encounter about Italy - - not that Itaky is difficult, mind you.

But the trains work, the way they are supposed to, and generally right on time... not everything in Italy does that.

Best wishes,

Rex

Hi S,

The Big Three are the standard route for 1st-time visitors.

I would fly into Venice (3-4 days), train to Florence (4-5 days, with a daytrip to Siena and one to Bologna), train to Rome (4-5 days, with a daytrip to Orvieto).

Enjoy your visit.

((I))

what if we only have 8 days to see Italy? would you still see these three cities?

With only 8 days, I would choose only two cities in Italy, with perhaps a day trip from each.

Where are you coming from? Where are you going after? It can influence the decision about which two Italian cities to see.

I'm coming from new york sometime in early july. Any suggestions? Thanks

I agree with Eloise.

OK. I presume you are not only flying to Italy from New York but also flying back to New York.

From a practical point of view, Rome is the easiest to fly into.

And if you only do two cities, you want to save time and not backtrack, so you should buy an open jaw ticket (into one city, out of another). They normally cost only a tiny bit more than regular return tickets, but they save you time and energy. (If the second city is Florence, you can buy a return ticket to Rome; it's only 1.5 hours with a fast Eurostar train between the two cities.)

At this point, you should probably beg, borrow or buy a few guidebooks about Rome, Florence and Venice to see which two appeal to you most.

There are two camps. One camp says fly into Rome, get the intense, busy city out of the way, then relax in Florence or, even more so, in Venice. The other camp says fly into Venice or Florence, taking it slowly at the beginning and working up to Rome. You probably know best which would suit you personally. (I personally find Florence as intense as Rome, if not even more intense: It's smaller, it's more crowded, and in the summer it even seems hotter.)

Possible day trips:
From Rome, Orvieto;
from Florence, Siena;
from Venice, Padua or Verona;
all by train, except Florence to Siena by bus, because it takes you right into the city and the train station is far below the town.

I suggest you go do a bit of homework, and when you have a clearer idea of what you want to do and more specific questions, come back and ask.

I will definitely do more homework now that I have food for thought. I will get back to you as soon as I know.Thanks for you help.
Singer

Be aware, (not afraid), of occasional random daily strikes. The locals know about them from the news but not speaking or really reading Italian, I didn't know until we were waiting for the long since late train/bus that something was amiss. I remember that they lasted only 8 hours so we didn't miss any accomodations but it did mess up some day trips. Be flexible.

I took the train on the same itinerary and it was pretty easy.

all of your advice has been very helpful. My husband and I are going to fly into Milan, perhaps take another plane to Venice as per advice from my sister in-law, then go to Florence, and Rome. I have to price everything out. We will hopefully stay at the Metropole in Venice, the Plaza Luchesse in Florence, and the Intercontinental in Rome. I am using mostly American points. How does this sound? Any other suggestions?

In addition to the myriad of info on this travel forum, also check "Slow Travel", which is very good for info on Italy > > > www.slowtrav.com/italy

thanks for the information. singer8