yale

I'm going to frame this up as loosely as possible. My husband and I are trying to see if Italy is doable for us in the next year or two.

A little background on how we travel. We like to see highlights of the cities we're in - we don't like to go to every museum and look at every item in those museums - just give us the highlights. If a destination is truly skippable, then we'll skip it or be happy spending a few hours or only a day there. We don't mind driving or traveling to get where we need to be and don't mind staying one night at each stop. We've even battled through a full day of jetlag to get one destination out of the way in the past.

In Italy, from what I've read, we would like to see the highlights of Rome and Venice and maybe Florence. Would like to see the leaning tower before it collapses. Would love to visit Cinque Terre. I think Tuscany would be nice to drive through and spend a day or two. And I'd love to get down to the Amalfi coast for some beach time as well.

My questions for you all are,
1. How many days would you recommend for a trip like this?
2. How much should we budget each day?
3. What are the cheapest (while still being clean and comfortable) places to stay?
4. What can we truly skip and what are the highlights we shouldn't miss?
5. How should we travel from place to place?
6. When is off-season and will that save us some money?

Thanks.

ira

Hi Y,

You haven't given us much to work with.

>...we would like to see the highlights of Rome and Venice and maybe Florence. Would like to see the leaning tower before it collapses. Would love to visit Cinque Terre. I think Tuscany would be nice to drive through and spend a day or two. And I'd love to get down to the Amalfi coast for some beach time as well.<

My questions for you all are,
1. How many days would you recommend for a trip like this?

Rome 3 days, Florence 4 days (includes Pisa), Venice 3 days, CT 2 days, AC 3 days, Tuscany 3 days - and that is pushing it and you won't see very much and you will remember less.

2. How much should we budget each day?

What's your usual bar bill?

3. What are the cheapest (while still being clean and comfortable) places to stay?

In florence, I can recommend the B&B Peterson. www.bedinflorence.it

4. What can we truly skip and what are the highlights we shouldn't miss?

Impossible to answer.

5. How should we travel from place to place?

By train and car

6. When is off-season and will that save us some money?

August is low hotel rates, but higher air fares. April and Oct are good.

You might find this thread helpful:

Helpful Information: Italy 2
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34568596

After you have done some research on what you would like to do, when you would like to do it, and how long you will be in Italy, bring us a draft itinerary and we will be happy to help you refine it.

Enjoy your research.

MFNYC

Well, considering the big 3, CT and Tuscany, you would need at least 2 weeks, and even at that, it's a lot of moving around.

Rome deserves at least 3 full days, and that would just be scratching the surface of the highlights (there are just so many). Any other major area I think deserves at least 2 full days. You also have to consider travel and hotel check in/getting settle time. You can pick a central location in the tuscany area and take day trips FLorence, Pisa and some other towns.

Nothing is skippable in Italy in my opinion, so that's a tough call. I think you have to come up with a time frame and then from there look at the logistics of it all.

Much also depends on the time of year. The amalfi coat may not be as desirable in the middle of the winter, yet a high priority in the warm weather.

Whatever you do, if you want to do multi-cities, consider an open-jaw air ticket, they tend to be priced very similar to round trips, and make things more convenient when travelling around a country.

Budget is tricky, but there is definitely a wide range a decent lodging and restuarant at all prices. Also the prices vary depending on the season.

I suggest you narrow this to a tiem of year, time frame, and a reasonable itinerary for that timesframe.

From there people can help you with hotels and dining within a budget.

MFNYC

Keep in mind though, that Sugust may have the lowest hotel rates, but it's also very hot, and very crowded. Most Europeans are on vacation then.

Lexma90

Yale, you probably think you've given us background, and you have, just not enough. I, too, would suggest that you do a little research - I often start by getting Eyewitness guides, or any other book that has lots of pictures, from the local library.

What's a highlight to you - museums, art, sculpture, buildings, leaning towers?

Ira has given you the best answers already, but here's some additional input.

1. How many days would you recommend for a trip like this?

Rome 3 days, Florence 4 days (includes Pisa), Venice 3 days, CT 2 days, AC 3 days, Tuscany 3 days. This is what Ira said; I would generally agree, but remember this includes travel time. To, for example, travel to the Cinque Terre from just about anywhere else will take you about half a day, so your 2 days in the CT would be 1 1/2 days.

Also, the places you name are quite spread out, from the Amalfi Coast in southern Italy to the CT in northwestern Italy. If you think you might be back, I would strongly suggest that you visit only northern Italy (let's say, Venice, Florence, and the CT, and possibly Tuscany as well), and save Rome and the Amalfi Coast (and maybe more Tuscany) for the next time. Then you won't spend so much time traveling from place to place.

2. How much should we budget each day?

We're not budget travelers (any longer), though we're also not out to break the bank. I can't help much here, except to say that if you eat a stand-up breakfast of coffee and a pastry at an Italian bar, then a picnic lunch or pizza, it'll keep your costs down as well as being delicious.

3. What are the cheapest (while still being clean and comfortable) places to stay?

See my answer above.

4. What can we truly skip and what are the highlights we shouldn't miss?

Personally, I would give the leaning tower a miss (even though we visited it); it's just a tower on an angle, and there's not much else in the area for a first-time visitor to Italy who's trying to fit so much else in.

You'll be able to better answer this for yourself after doing more research. You may decide that Michelangelo's "David" is a must-see for you, while the Uffizi is not so important. Or you may want to spend more time in Rome on the ancient ruins, and less time on art treasures (I wouldn't miss the Borghese Museum in Rome, because I love the sculptures, but not everybody would rate it so high.) Guidebooks like Fodor's and Frommer's have lists of the "top 10" in various cities; that should give you most peoples' ideas of what's most important.

5. How should we travel from place to place?

Combination of train and car is the best. If you can fly open-jaws, that's the most efficient. To go between big cities, if you're not planning to visit anything in between, train is the best. And if you're going to rent a car (the best way to get to places in Tuscany and to the Cinque Terre), try to do it on your way out of a big city. The last thing you want is to have to deal with a rental car while you're in Florence, Rome or Venice, where you don't need a car at all.

6. When is off-season and will that save us some money?

yale

Ok, maybe I was too broad. We aren't museum crawlers. We like to see the famous stuff (e.g when you go to New York - Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building, Times Square, etc.), take some pictures, learn a bit of the history, eat some great local food and move on. I know some people on this board are going to look down on that description and I'm sure there's lots more to see, but it's just how we are.

And I want your recommendations on what you think are the not to miss items. I have done some research but appreciate your thoughts as people that I know have been to Italy more than me, which is never.

I was hoping to not have to list what I think are some of the highlights (those things that I think everyone who travels to Italy for the first time must want to see), but here goes (I’m sure you all have other recommendations, but again, we are looking for highlights). Don’t worry about time when you respond – just looking to keep moving and doing this as economically as possible.

Rome
Coliseum
Pantheon
Trevi Fountain
Church of Santa Maria - Mouth of truth
St. Peter’s
Sistine Chapel

Venice
Gondola ride
Ponte di Rialto
Others that I may be missing?

Florence (4 days here seems so long to me)
The Academy to see Michelangelo’s David
Others that I may be missing?

Leaning tower – someone said this is skippable – that’s fine

Eloise

You aren't planning to see Italy; you're planning to see a list of things that you have seen mentioned everywhere.

The Mouth of Truth at the church of Santa Maria in Cosmedin is something people normally go out of their way to see on their fourth or fifth visit. If you visit the Colosseum, the Roman Forum is just across the street. The Pantheon and the Trevi Fountain are within walking distance of Rome's loveliest square, the Piazza Navona. St. Peter's and the Sistine Chapel (which is in the Vatican Museums) is about half a day.

Venice: You've never heard of St. Mark's Basilica, the Doge's Palace or the most beautiful square in Europe, the Piazza San Marco?

Florence: What about the Duomo, one of the greatest buildings of the early Renaissance, and its Baptistery? The Uffizi is one of the most important museums in the world, but you don't like museums, so OK, skip it.

The Leaning Tower of Pisa is not going to fall down any time soon; it recently underwent a process of restabilization that lasted several years. It's skippable, unless you see it as part of a beautiful complex that includes the Cathedral and the Baptistery. But you haven't heard of them, so skip it.

So give Venice and Florence 1 1/2 days each, stretch Rome to 2 1/2 days, drive through Tuscany in 1 day (most people spend anywhere from 3 days to a week there...). You can spend 3 days each (including travel time of at least 1/2 day) fighting the crowds in the Cinque Terre and on the Amalfi Coast (which, incidentally, does not have beaches; it's a rocky shore).

Then you can go home and tell everyone you've seen Italy.

TexasAggie

Please do not miss the Frari Church in Venice, it is stunning and a treasure. I found it even more impressive than St. Mark's Basilica. You would also likely enjoy the Secret Itineraries tour of the Doge's Palace. It lasts about an hour and is interesting and entertaining. Not too long so that you'd get bored, but it gives you the highlights of Venetian history and shows off some areas of the Doge's Palace that are off limits to the general public.

suze

It sounds like 1 month would be good for what you want to see:
1 travel day
5 Rome
1 Pisa
3 Florence
5 Venice
3 CT
5 Tuscany
5 Amalfi Coast
1 travel day

Not necessarily in that order.

Winter is off season, summer high season, spring/fall in between.

A combination of train and car rental.

Lily

Get Rick Steves book on Italy 2006. He has itineraries that usually involve short stays in major cities which you might find helpful. He also includes budget accomodation and restaurants. Overall his books are geared to first time Europe travellers. Many of the travellers on this board, myself included, enjoy lingering in Europe as much as possible to soak up the culture and ambience rather than simply seeing the sights.

suze

After reading your second post, here's my second suggestion...

Skipping the country side you could really scale back and speed up the trip and keep expenses low. Fly into Rome, stay 3 days, train to Florence stay 1 day, train to Venice stay 3 days, fly home. One week total.

lanz

Although overview trips can be fun they are exhausting. As is adjusting to a new language and culture.Plan on a couple resting places where you can just hang out and relax as well as see something on your list.
We did this in Tuscany while recovering from jet lag.We leased a car and proceeded from Milano south to Genova, on to Tuscany (San Gimignano is wonderful,as is Sienna, Pisa was ok) then to Rome. Stayed there 3 days but wish we had had more time...the Amalfi coast was beautiful to behold(even in November--off season) then across to the Adriatic side and up up up to Venice.
See what grabs you and stay there more days. Sometimes you get better rates at B&Bs when you just show up (with cash) in the evening.
In any event do more research and see what you think would really be IT for you in all the places you mention. Get a good map and start estimating time and distance. We had 16 days.I wouldn't go with less if I had a say in it.More is better.
Good luck!

yale

Eloise,

Thanks for your sarcasm. That's why I hate posting on this forum sometimes. Honesty (about not being a museum crawler on this occasion) can almost always guarantee a remark like yours.

Unfortunately we can't afford to go back to Italy year after year. It may be 20 years before we get back. I'm sorry that I'd like to see the famous stuff this time around, but I don't know when or if I'll ever get back.

That said, thank you for pointing out some of the things I may not have known we should see. That's the kind of information I am looking for... along with the most economical forms of transportation and accomodations.

suze

Would you consider an organized tour for some of part of the trip? Because I believe they can manage to cover more ground in less time seeing more famous places than you can do independently, often at a reasonable price.

Lily

I agree with suze. An organized tour might best meet your needs. If not, try the Rick Steves books. He's not a favourite on this site but we used his recommendations for Italy last May for budget accomodation, restaurants, museum hightlights, etc., and we had a great time. I would recommend you use Eyewitness or Fodors books as well for more indepth planning. And this site can be great too but you have to have a tough skin!

yale

Thank you Suze and Lily. I will look into those.

Some initial research on this site seemed to indicate tour packages are pricier than doing it yourself. I am open to recommendations though.

suze

This site strongly leans towards do-it-yourself-ers maybe is why you have that impression?

Certainly it depends on the kind of tour company you choose to use and their level of ammenities and prices vs. planning on your own. With a tour you'd know up front your expenses but on your own you'd have more control as you went along as far as type of hotel, how much you choose to move around, where you want to save or spend money. But it's alot more work to put the trip together.

My suggestion for a tour came more in response to your wanting to see lots of well known places at a fast pace, so my thought was more for the logistics of the thing as much as budget considerations.

victoria_reynolds

Hi Yale,


First, because of the flight expense/jet lag, I can't imagine you would want to go unless you can manage at least 10 days. The itinerary you mentioned really merits a month, but we've never been able to manage that much time. This year, we'll be there for 10 days (but we have free flights) and only move once, between Venice and Rome. We find every move costs at least 1/2 - 1 full day on route (though the journeys can be nice too).

My suggestion is plan for a budget of $350 per day for a couple (lodging ~ 160 Euro) and food and sightseeing (95 Euro each on average). EXPENSIVE tours like Context Rome will cost more than 95 E per day (doesn't sound like your cup of tea) but days in the parks, walking will be less; EXPENSIVE restaurants with wine will cost more. Obviously you could go WAY higher and POSSIBLY cheaper in youth hostels or truly budget hotels or convents, but this is about half our budget for our family of four for our upcoming trip (we have to spend double what you would because the teenagers will need a separate room and eat like adults). Our hotels are not 5* but get rave reviews: i.e. La Calcina in Venice, Daphne Inn in Rome. Transportation is extra, souvenirs extra.

So, $350 x N = Between $3500 (10 days) and $10,500 (30 days) plus transportation and souvenirs...I'd prune the itinerary depending on what your budget is....either according to what makes sense geographically or the places you've dreamed of seeing most!

victoria_reynolds

Oops, better make that 350 E x N days or my scheme won't work...

TexasAggie

I have used the Rick Steves Italy book extensively and have always had luck with the hotels. I've had mixed results with the restaurants. The books do a GREAT job of giving you a taste of every city, hitting the high points and making recommendations on what to see when you don't have much time.