I've read through many pages on this site recently, including the recent thread on '2 Weeks in Italy 5th anniversary" and must say thanks for all the great info. However, I wanted to pass along what I'm planning for January 2005 and see if anyone has any suggestions.

Day 1-2 - DFW-LGW-FCO (I'll be booking using AA miles for at least 1 out of 2 tickets, and like the 777 service to Gatwick from DFW.)

Day 3 - Rome (Vatican museums, Sistine Chapel, St. Peter's)

Day 4 - Rome (Forum, Colleseum, Pantheon, Trevi Fount., other central Rome stuff)

Day 5 - Rome (Possibly day trip -- Pompeii, Hadrian's Villa -- any suggestions? Or just stay in Rome for other sites)

Day 6 - Travel to Florence via Pisa and Sienna (what is the best way to go here? Is there easy bus/train service, or should I rent a car?)

Day 7 - Florence

Day 8 - Florence

Day 9 - Travel to Venice (I'm thinking train -- any better way? Anything I would miss on the way?)

Day 10 - Venice

Day 11 - Venice

Day 12 - FLIGHT VCE-London

Day 13 - London

Day 14 - FLIGHT LGW-DFW

A little background: I've been to Milan/Florence/Rome once (with a tour group, so all charter bus), wife has never been to Italy. Neither of us has been to Venice. We've been to London multiple times, and we love it, so I thought we'd spend a day and take in a show and do a little shopping. The one day in London is optional, but I hate to get that close and not go - especially if I'm flying through there. But we won't feel like we need to "see the sites".

The reason for flying via London is two-fold: 1) I love it and want to go for a day; 2) I'll probably be purchasing one of our tickets (the other will be on AA miles), and it has been my experience that its usually cheaper to fly to London and book Ryan Air or Easy Jet to my ultimate destination, than to book it all through AA/BA. Doing it this way also allows us to fly back from Venice instead of FCO, saving a little time.

Any thoughts or suggestions are appreciated. Thanks for your help.

Neither Pisa nor Siena is "on the way" from Rome to Florence. You can day trip to either - - but I would not recommend trying to day trip to both on the same day. Perhaps this is how you will want to use 5 or 6 or 9.

All in all, I think this is very well thought out. Maybe Galleria Borghese instead of getting out of towm on day 5.

And very minor thing - - I cannot tell what happens on "Day 1-2" - - if you want to know a typical "convention" for describing an itinerary - - it is customary to describe "night one" as the first night you sleep IN Europe.

So,

Day 0 - depart DFW
Day 1 - arrive Rome (is this what you mean by "day 2"?) or are you actually spending a day in London, coming AND going.

If you do "straight" to Rome (via LGW), then it seems that you are not plannign anything on your arrival day. That is smart - - but I bet you actually will want to go see SOMEthing that day. It might be as little as Pantheon, Trevi, Piazza Navona. Depends on what day of the week you arrive.

I hope it all works out as well for you as you have planned it.

Best wishes,

Rex

I think with one of your Rome days, you should definitely get out to Tivoli to see the Villa d'Este AND Villa Adriana (Hadrian's villa). The 2 places can be seen in one day and with public transportation. From Rome's Termini train station, take a 40 min train out to Tivoli, then a local bus to the villas. It was so refreshing to be out of the city and in a lush, beautiful place with magical gardens (Villa d'Este). Villa Adriana is rather spread out and it can get hot walking all around in the sun, but since you will be in Italy in January, the weather should be perfectly cool.

While in Venice, make sure you take a vaporetti to the island of Murano to purchase some famous glass piece(s). The glass dolphins, fruit clusters (grapes), and candies make both wonderful souvenirs and gifts.

Have a wonderful trip!

Rex - You are correct. I should have said Day 0 - Depart DFW, Day 1 - Arrive FCO. The way I wrote it, Day 1-2 refers to the overnight flight to Europe from Dallas. Sorry for the confusion.

Regarding arrival in Rome, the flights I'm looking at get in late afternoon from London, so I figure we'll check in at the hotel, go get dinner, and crash. We may do a little walking if we feel like it, but probably not to any specific "destination".
I did not mean to spend any time in London on the way, other than to change planes. The day in London was on the way home.

Regarding Pisa/Sienna. I guess I need to look at a map better -- I remembered visiting both on the same day when I was there before, but I might be wrong. What would be the best way to see these? Could one be done as a day trip leaving from Rome, going to Sienna/Pisa, then on to Florence? What is the best mode of transport here -- car? bus? train?


Huitres - thanks for the recommendations for day trips from Rome. My only concern is how nice will the gardens be in Jan.? The weather does not bother us, even if there is a little rain, but I don't know if I want to spend time/money to see gardens in Jan. Maybe I do -- any thoughts here?

Thanks for everyone's help thus far.

Suggestions for day 5 in Rome: the Villa Borghese Art Gallery (make reservation), the Etruscan museum in the Villa Giulia,.... I'm sure that you'll find lots to do on day 5 once you get in Rome,

Hi mek,

You could do a two-day drive from Rome to Florence via Orvieto, Siena, Pisa and Lucca, and drop the car in Florence.

You could also train to Florence and do Pisa and Lucca as a daytrip and Siena as another daytrip.

I would take the train between Florence and Venice.

January in Italy is fine, warmer than most other European cities. I live in Southern California and find the weather similar in Italy. Re: the Villa d'Este in Tivoli and its gardens, I don't know if all the fountains and jets will be open and functioning. To my knowledge, it is open year-round. I think it would be fine to go there, you might reference a website for further information. I just thought you might like to stop there, since you mentioned Hadrian's Villa and that is close by to Villa d'Este.

You will have more than enough to do in Rome. Don't Americanize your trip. Make sure you walk the two blocks to the Piazza Navonna from the Pantheon. See the spanish steps as you eat a gelato or in January, an espresso.
I agree that going to Orvieta or Siena on the way up is easier than Pisa

You realize that RyanAir only flies out of Stansted to Italy and Stansted is an hour East of London. The only way to get there (easily) is by train. You'd better carefully check your flight times and make sure that you have enough time to get to Stansted (assuming you go RyanAir). And the trains are running. Also, RyanAir's tickets are unbelievably cheap. Truly unbelievable because they exclude about 10 different fees and taxes. Oh...and then you're only allowed about 18 lbs for luggage...so they recover from the cheap tickets in excess baggage charges. This was our 2nd of about 10 wildly funny trip stories during our 4 wks in Italy & London last fall. I've just now recovered.