Hi…help. Finalizing our trip and need a little help. I don’t want to over book…but don’t want to miss significant sights. Traveling w/ kids – 22, 21, 19, 16 and hubby. I am sure the older 3 will want to find some fun nightlife – suggestions?

Friday 11/16 – 6:30 pm arrive in Rome
www.romeshuttlelimousine.com to Cavalieri Hilton for 4 nights
May head to city center to check things out or should we check out the hotel and hit the sack at a decent time???

Saturday 11/17 – breakfast at hotel
10:00 am – 1:30 pm Vatican Tour w/ ICON tours
Borghese tour…5:00 ish pm??? Tour or No Tour?

Sunday 11/18 – breakfast at hotel
Shopping Porte Portese market??? Early am – will kids like?
Mass @ Santa Maria Trastevere, Jewish Ghetto have lunch – trying to find a Mass schedule but no luck…does anyone know?
Ancient Rome Tour @ 1:00 w/ ICON tours?

Monday 11/19 – breakfast at hotel
10:45 – 12:30 am Scavi tour

Tuesday 11/20 – bfast at hotel
Pick up rental car 8 am
Drive to Assisi for day…but need to get to apt for check in
Assisi to Ciompi Apt in Florence (Santa Croche area)

Wednesday 11/21 – bfast in Santa Croche neighborhood
9:15 am Florence Walk and David w/ Artviva

Thursday 11/22 – day trip
Lucca ½ day
Sienna ½ day and dinner????
Do I need to choose just one of these towns? I think so!

Friday 11/23 – day in Florence
San Lorenzo Market? Open in the AM only
Ufizi tour 1:30 pm w/ Artviva
Trying to find an evening cooking class

Saturday 11/24 early am – drive to Venice - Staying at Hotel Marconi
Highlights of Venice Tour @ 2:00 pm (2 hours) w/ Artviva

Sunday 11/25 – 7:30-8:00 am water taxi to Venice airport for at 10:30 am flight home

Fill in the blanks with…

Shopping/Trevi Fountain/Spanish Steps
Pottery Shopping – nice stuff
Campo dei fiori – market??? Find out what this is
San Lorenzo Market –
Duomo in Florence
Pitti Palace

Any input would be sooo appreciated!

Hi Chan!

WAY TOO MUCH for only 8 days! Forget the day trips. You don't have time. Rome-Florence-Venice. Skipping Assisi will give you another day in Venice. Going to Venice for 1 day is a waste, honestly.

Please for the sake of your family sanity, re-think this itinerary.

Anything lerss than 5 days in Rome is a waste.

agree with richardab and dayle - waaaayyyy too much running around. 2 full days in venice at least (give yourself time to get lost). either lucca or sienna, not both. try not to spend so much of your trip getting from one point to another. good luck.

There is no tour of the Borghese Gallery. You should make reservations, although in mid-November you might be able get in without them. Entries are at specific times, so you can't just arrive at a random opening in your schedule. You're allowed two hours in the museum.

The concierge at the Hilton should be able to find out the mass schedule for Santa Maria in Trastevere.

Leaving Rome at 8 am and needing to be in Florence by late afternoon will not give you a day in Assisi. At best, you'll have a couple of hours. You should have detailed instructions of how to enter Florence in order to reach the apartment, and you should have a good street map that includes the suburbs you'll be driving through.

Lucca and Siena in the same day is possible (anything's possible) but not realistic.

I wouldn't drive all the way to Venice to spend less than 24 hours in the city. I'd turn in the car in Florence and take the earliest train all the way to the Venice Santa Lucia station.

You are getting up early and driving all the way from Florence to Venice just to spend one *afternoon* in Venice?? You don't even get one full day there? That makes no sense to me.

With only 8 days, you should stick to just two cities: Rome and Florence or Rome and Venice. If you must visit all 3, you need to cut out a night in Florence and add it to Venice. And forget day trips from Florence.

The trip is next week, so I doubt the OP will be interested in changing the framework of the itinerary.

We are leaving in 6 days so changing the itinerary isn't possible...hotels, apt and flights are set. I opted to spend a part of a day and night in Venice so we could get the flavor of the city...we'll be back someday. I realize this isn't going to be a relaxing vacation. We're a young active family...being on the move shouldn't be a huge issue.

I will figure out how to spend more of the day in Assisi...I'll arrange for a late check in at the Apt in Florence. We should see Assisi...right?

We have a GPS system so I am hoping we won't have too much trouble finding our way.

Jean...I was thinking of arranging a tour of the Borghese. Not sure if we need one or should just make reservations and do it on our own.

Which town would you do for the day...Sienna or Lucca.

SInce our basic itinerary is set...I am hoping to get feedback regarding what we are seeing/doing each day. Do our days make sense...what are we missing...and where are we missing it.

Thanks for the help so far!

Hi Chan - I agree with Jean - the detour to Assisi en route to Florence is time-consuming. For Assisi I suggest you substitute Orvieto.

'Which town would you do for the day ... Sienna or Lucca.'
Sienna

For mapping out your sightseeing in Rome see:
www.romaturismo.it

Porta Portese wouldn't figure on my list of priorities with only 3 days in Rome ...

Hope this helps ...

Steve

chanB, you mentioned looking for mass schedules for Rome. Go to website www.masstimes.org and enter mainpage where you can go to Rome, Italy. There are three churches listed with times and address which you can check out. I am sure there are tons more, but this is a strting point. I have found that hotels and tourist offices in many countries once you get there have lists.

A few thoughts

My guidebook and the only website I could find show 5:30 daily mass at Sta Maria in Trastevere so I am not sure there is one on Sunday morning.

At the end of your post you had some miscellaneous questions including one about the Campo de' Fiori "find out what this is." the Campo is a piazza between Corso Vittorio Emanuele and the Tiber, south of Piazza Navona. there is a large open air food market there Monday to Saturday in the mornings. There are lots of food stores, restaurants, bars, in the area. In the evenings it is quite lively with lots of teenagers/young adults congregating.

When we visited Rome earlier this year our 16 year old son really enjoyed taking a walking circuit in the evenings through the Piazza della Rotunda (by the Pantheon) to the Piazza Navona then to Campo de' Fiori to check out the street scene, artists, etc. He wasn't especially thrilled by the food market and had no interest in the Porta Portese flea market sunday a.m. in Trastevere.

You had another question about the Duomo in Florence. I strongly recommend climbing the dome both for the unique close-up view of "Brunelleschi's dome" and for the view of the city.

You ask what you're missing. The answer is a LOT! But with all those tours booked, you don't have a lot of time to fit more in this already way too busy schedule. All that moving around with 6 people takes a lot more time than you realize.

In Rome, your hotel is a long way from everything you want to see. I assume you're staying there because you have points to use. One other thing, is your breakfast included? If not, I believe you will find their breakfast very expensive, especially for 6 people.

As mentioned, you need a reservation for the Galleria Borghese, you can't just go anytime. Well worth it!

Monday afternoon in Rome, I would just do a walk around the Piazza Navona, Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, maybe up to Piazza del Popolo to give you a break from all those guided tours.

From Florence, I wouldn't do a daytrip at all, but if you insist, go to Siena. Then Wed afternoon, maybe just take a walk over the Ponte Vecchio, do a little shopping, relax in the Piazza d. Signoria. If the Baptistry isn't included in your tour, definitely go there. Amazing 13th C. Byzantine mosaic ceiling.

I'm not sure of the cost difference between your rental car and the train for 6 people, but I would skip Assisi and just take the train Rome-Florence and Florence-Venice. The best way to get to Siena from Florence for a daytrip is by bus.

You asked whether Assisi is "worth it." Well, yes and no. As you are attending mass in Rome, I assume you're a Catholic family. In that case, the basilica at Assisi will have meaning to you beyond the quality of the frescoes and the beauty of the architecture. But you add time there at the expense of your time in Florence which is one huge open-air museum itself.

You only have 8 days, and you're trying to see 3 of the greatest cities in the world plus 2 or 3 of the more interesting cities in Italy. And you're trying to keep 6 people focused and on time while assuming there will be no problems or diversions that cause even the slightest delay.

The good thing about booking so many tours is that it will encourage you all to keep moving and stick to the schedule. The bad thing is you can't take any little detours to check out something that catches your eye.

As far as I know, there are no tours of the Borghese Gallery. NO tours! (I repeat because you asked whether to see the gallery on a tour after I'd already mentioned there are no tours.) You should definitely see the gallery, and you should have reservations.

SusanP has made very good points. In particular, I agree that if you drop Assisi you should forget the rental car and travel by train. Checking the car out and in, getting lost on the road, finding parking, etc., all take valuable time away from a short trip. I don't know how the costs compare, but if you decide to train, don't hesitate to travel in 2nd class and do ask about any possible discounts.

In response to your question of Sienna vs. Lucca, I vote for Sienna.

More confused than ever, right? I know, I have to remind myself to "come in off of the ledge" every once in a while. ;o)

Good luck in your plans and I'll keep an eye out for you and your "entourage" at the Borghese Gallery on Saturday. SATURDAY! Woo hoo!

I agree with everyone who says you are trying to do too much in too little time. But, since you seem determined to see as much as possible, I'll just note that you don't realize how much time the "in between stuff" take. Like your Sunday in Rome. You want to go to Mass, see the Ghetto, have lunch and then go on an Ancient Rome tour at 1pm. Lunch in most restaurants doesn't start until 1 pm. Some places may open at 12:30 but VERY few. This is Sunday and that is when families have long, leisurely lunches together that can take up 3 hours. Even if you find someplace open at 12:30, how are you going to eat and get over to the Forum area where I assume you tour starts by 1 pm?
You ask "we should see Assisi, right?" Well, sure, everyone should see Assisi at some point. I just don't think you should work it into this already tight schedule. There are many towns and cities you should see in Italy. Assisi is just one of them. Save it for your next trip. If you have to see it and are renting a car, I hope you got a big van because you are traveling with six adults and luggage. Most rental cars in Italy, even the "large" one, won't accomodate that size group so make sure your rental van can. Driving and parking that size vehicle poses its own challenges. If you go to Assisi, park beneath town and take a bus or escalator up, don't attempt to bring the van up to tiny parking lots in the main town.

This is all soooo very helpful. I am revising our itinerary and will post shortly.

What do you think about us taking the Highlights of Venice tour w/ Artviva - 2:00pm Saturday for 2 hours. The tour consists of...
St Mark’s Square, Basilica of San Marco, Doge’s Palace, Bridge of Sighs, Pantheon of Venice, La Fenice Opera house, Campo San Beneto, Bovolo spiral staircase, Grand canal, Rialto Bridge.

My thinking is that since we have such little time we will get an overview in a few hours and then have the evening to wander, have dinner and maybe find some nightlife???

Thanks!!!

I'm not big on tours, but that tour in Venice will certainly help you see a lot in only two hours. I'm surprised they can do all those places in two hours. You could easily spend more than two hours just in the Doge Palace. Must be just walking past most of them, so you have to decide whether that's worth it.

Hi Phylish...I totally owe you an email. I've been reviewing all your notes...they've been helpful for sure.
Yes...way more confused than ever. But this info is helping me be realistic about what we can really do.

REVISED ITINERARY...BETTER? Assisi removed.

Friday 11/16 – 6:30 pm arrive in Rome
www.romeshuttlelimousine.com to Cavalieri Hilton for 4 nights…staying free w/ points
Arrive at Hotel by 8:30? Check it out and go to bed early.

Saturday 11/17 – breakfast at hotel/included w/ room
10:00 am – 1:30 pm Vatican Tour w/ ICON tours
Borghese Museum…5:00 ish pm – I’ll make reservations (thx Jean)

Sunday 11/18 – breakfast at hotel/included w/room
Mass @ Santa Maria Trastevere, Jewish Ghetto – (vttraveler & irishface – checked the website and no luck. I’ll check w/ the hotel…5:30 daily might work)
Ancient Rome Tour @ 1:00 w/ ICON tours?
(we’ll have a big breakfast so we don’t need to worry about stopping for lunch…thx Grinisa)

Monday 11/19 – breakfast at hotel/ included w/room
10:45 – 12:30 am Scavi tour
Lunch and walk around the Piazza Navona, Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, maybe up to Piazza del Popolo (thx SusanP)

Tuesday 11/20 – bfast at hotel/included w/ room.
Pick up rental car at 8:00 (rental car is free also w/ am ex points)
Off to Florence – staying at the Florence Ciompi Apts in Santa Croche area.
Drive to Florence at a leisurely pace…check into apt and have the rest of the day and evening to wander and have a great dinner.

Wednesday 11/21 – bfast in Santa Croche neighborhood
9:15 – 12:30 pm Florence Walk w/ Artviva
walk over the Ponte Vecchio, do a little shopping, relax in the Piazza d. Signoria. (thx SusanP) Baptistery is included in the Florence Walk
4:30 – 5:30 pm David w/ Artviva

Thursday 11/22 –
Sienna Day Trip

Friday 11/23 – day in Florence
San Lorenzo Market? Open in the AM only
1:30 – 4:00 Ufizi Tour w/ Artviva
Climb the Duomo

Saturday 11/24 early am – drive to Venice - Staying at Hotel Marconi
Highlights of Venice Tour @ 2:00 pm (2 hours) w/ Artviva – still thinking about this one
Wander, have dinner and wander some more

Sunday 11/25 – 7:30-8:00 am water taxi to Venice airport for at 10:30 am flight home

Fill in the blanks with…

Pottery Shopping
Campo dei fiori
San Lorenzo Market
Pitti Palace
Medici Skywalk
Basilica de Santa Croche