aliska

This trip to Italy is pretty spur of the moment, and have not yet bought tickets. We were planning to go in the fall of 2006, but decided to do this over spring vacation. Have found airfare on Delta for CMH – FCO and return VCE-CMH. I have quite a few questions and would appreciate some help:
1) The flight to FCO includes a stopover in CDG that is only 1 hr, 5 minutes –will there be enough time? The continued flight CDG – FCO is also on Delta but a Codeshare Partner. Will we have to go through customs in CDG or FCO? I am nervous about this.
2) Any suggestion for triple occupancy hotels in Rome, Florence, and Venice?
3) We will be arriving in Rome March 18 and leaving from Venice March 27. Is this itinerary too ambitious? Three nights in Rome, train to Florence – 3 nights, hire a car & driver (other suggestions appreciated!) to tour Tuscany countryside (San Gimignano??), train to Venice, spend 3 nights in Venice and fly home.
4) What will the weather be like? What types of clothes should we bring? Jackets or coats? Is this the rainy season?(hope not!)
Any suggestions or critique would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

annabelle2

For question #2:
Stayed in triple rooms in May at these places:

Rome -- Nicolas Inn (nicolasinn.com). There are lots of comments on Nicolas Inn (including mine!) on this site...in a nutshell, I highly recommend it.

Venice -- Ca' Turelli B&B. Booked it through the veniceby.com site, listed under B&Bs. Good location; I would also recommend it.

I can give you more details if you need them.
Have fun

rex

Plan on the weather being more similar to Columbus, than different. See www.weatherbase.com or www.worldclimate.com for the statistical facts.

P.S. - - you're not really too far to be part of the IN-KY-OH Fodorites "group" - - watch for our third annual GTG - - see http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34598144 and/or http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34635480

Best wishes,

Rex Bickers
formerly of Westerville (OH)...

knoxvillecouple

Regarding question #1, I believe you might have a problem. That is a very short connection time for CDG, and you do go through a second security line at CDG which adds time and anxiety to making a connection. As long as there are later flights from CDG to FCO, however, you might be OK (I suspect that the Delta codeshare is Alitalia).

Question #2 - I concur with Annabelle on the Nicolas Inn - the location is superb, the B&B is VERY clean, the hosts (Francois and Melissa Nicolas) are extremely helpful, and the cost is good. Others here and at Trip Advisor appear to agree.

Question #3 - I think your itinerary, though ambitious, is doable and sufficient.

Question #4 - I'm not sure about the weather. Rex appears to have a handle on that for you.

KC

rex

ttt...

dutyfree

Delta starts up their nonstop to Rome from Cincinnati March 1st-could you use that routing to get over? CMH-CVG-FCO
Dress in layers for Italy in March-sometimes it can be very warm and other times chilly.I think that you will love Italy in March as the crowds are not there yet and the countryside is gorgeous.I would add the following for hotels to check for family rooms: Hotel Aberdeen in Rome/Hotel Residenza in Florence and the Hotel Bologna in Venice (actually Mestra-a 7 minute train ride across the water that is wonderful).We had family rooms at all three and were very happy! Have fun!

aliska

Thanks everyone for the advice but it appears we are not going! The Nicolas Inn did not have availability. My spoiled rotten children were very upset that we would not be going to a beach or somewhere warm in March. I am not kidding! The fare is 50% less than if we go June - August, which is what they would like. So, we are going forward with our fall 2006 plans without them.
Rex, would like to learn more about IN-KY-OH Fodorites "group" third annual GTG.

rex

No set plans for third IN-KY-OH get0together - - there was mention of possibly Brown County Indiana; summer? - - e-mail me and I will be sure you get informed when a plan emerges.

ira

>My spoiled rotten children were very upset that we would not be going to a beach...So, we are going forward with our fall 2006 plans without them.<

Good for you, Aliska. Italy is nicer in Sept than in March, anyway.

Re, short connection times. I get unhappy with less than 90 min, especially at CDG.

Re, itinerary. As much as I like Florence, with your short time I suggest:

Add 2 nights to Rome. Rome can be overwhelming until you get used to it, and your first day will be taken up just getting there and settled in.

Visit Orvieto for a "hill town" experience. 1 hr by train

Train to Florence. Leave your luggage at the SMN station and tour the city. Take an evening train to Venice.

Add a night to Venice.

Have a lovely visit.