resemo

Hi Everyone

Hope all is doing great

I'll be going to Rome in two weeks time for the Rome Marathon 2015, and I was planning my trip accordingly. Youll find below my trip iteniary and I would massively appreciate the help with tips, recommendations and links provided.

Sat March 21 to Wed March 25 - Rome:
Planning on doing most of the trips (coliseum, Spanish steps, Vatican City, etc..)

Checking out Wed and heading to Florence. Planning a mid-day train to Florence or Bus. Wanted to pass by Pisa, so not sure which is better, arrive in Florence, check in then take a train to Pisa or pass on way there by bus?

I need tips on train travel, prices, links for buying online and so forth. Recommendations for things to do there. Staying in Flirence till Friday the 27th of March.

Fly/Train from Florence to Venice on Friday night, overnight in Venice and spend one full day in Venice then move back to Rome and return on Sunday the 29th. Need recommendations for travel, things to do and so forth.

Appreciate all the help I coukd get, since Im planning on booking everything before I go

Looking forward to your replies! Massive thanks!

papillon20

You don't have to fly. Some friends of mine took the train from Rome straight to Venice and it was fine. It only takes about 4 hours, I believe, and 2 hours from Florence to Venice.

I did Florence as a day trip from Rome and it was only an hour and a half. I took a train around 8:15AM or so and it was full of Italian businessmen, ha. It was a very quick ride and I saw a lot of cute sheep. The tourist information centre is right across the street from the train station in Florence on the right side next to a cathedral. You can't miss it. Go there and get a free map. I did a self-guided walking tour which I found online from visitflorence.com, I believe - I checked first to make sure that the tour hit all the sights I wanted to see. In my case, the tour hit one thing I wasn't interested in and left out something I wanted to see so I modified it once I had a map to be able to see the thing that interested me.

Here's a sample 2 day itinerary from the site I used - feel free to modify it as you see fit but definitely go up to the Piazzale Michelangelo. It's a steep climb but the view is worth it.

I booked from the Italian rail site, Trenitalia.
http://www.trenitalia.com/cms/v/inde...005817f90aRCRD
It was quite simple and all you have to remember are the Italian names for the cities and know which stations you want to go to, Roma Termini, Venezia and Firenze S. M. Novella. I booked about 2 months in advance and the return trip cost me less than 50 euros. I would recommend getting to Termini a bit early to figure out where to go as it's a big station and it's easy to get a little turned around.

I believe you can take a bus to Pisa from Florence but I didn't have time and didn't know about that until I was back in Rome, unfortunately.

papillon20

Oh, oops, I forgot to link the 2 day itinerary: http://www.visitflorence.com/itinera...-florence.html

I usually use tripadvisor to see the most popular sights of an area to determine what is important to me when visiting a new city. I recommend you try that with Venice and maybe look into a self-guided itinerary for there as well, although it's very easy to get lost in Venice. Definitely see the Doge's Palace, the Piazza San Marco, the Bridge of Sighs and go to the top of the Campanile (all in the same area) and I'd say take vaporetto number one and two if you can. They both give you great views of the city but be careful with the vaporetti because they don't all stop at each stop. I really wanted to go to the top of the tower on San Giorgio Maggiore after we passed it on vaporetto number two but I could never find the right one to get across there after that. It was quite frustrating.

sandralist

If you want to see Pisa the same day you go to Florence, how you choose to do it may depend on how much luggage you are carrying and where you are staying in Florence, and what train schedule works best for you:

Your choices are:

a) take train to Florence, check into your hotel, return to the train station and do the round trip to Pisa

b) take train to Florence, stow your luggage at the train station, get on a train to Pisa, and return to Florence in time to pick up your luggage

c) take train to Florence, immediately switch to a train to Pisa, stow your luggage in the Pisa train station, go back to Pisa station in time to pick up the luggage and take train to Florence

d) take train to Pisa, stow your luggage in the train station, return in time to get luggage, take train to Florence

There are no fligths from Florence to Venice.

You can find information about trains on the Trenitalia website and the website Man in Seat 61.

For hotels, check out booking.com or venere.com

All your other questions, it is best to get a guidebook for italy.

kybourbon

I think you might be better off going to Venice first, then Florence as that puts you in easier reach to your departure point for your flight.

Once you decide you exact itinerary, you should go on and book trains for Florence and Venice if you want to snag any discount tickets that might be left for the fast trains.

The train for Pisa is a regional train and there are no discounts or reserved seats. Buy that ticket at the train station in Florence (validate your ticket before boarding).

Sassafrass

Good advice from Kybourbon. Venice first, then Florence.
What time is your flight on Sunday?

annhig

You can get a Frecciabianca directly from Rome to Pisa Centrale by using the direct line between Rome and Genoa - looking at the timetable for tomorrow on trenitalia.it there is an intercity leaving Termini at 9.57 getting in at just after 13.00 and a frecciabianca leaving Termini at 11.57 which gets in at 14.44.

you could leave your luggage, go and see the Tower etc, then get the train to Florence.

or do what ky suggests and go straight to Venice from Rome, then Florence, then Pisa - you could then use the line that I have shown above [Genoa - Rome] but in the other direction. it's a nice run and the scenery is quite varied.

Jean

I wouldn't go to Venice first if that means your days in Florence are Sunday/Monday as you might not be able to see all of the main sights. Check open/closed days for your itinerary.

www.polomuseale.firenze.it/en

bilboburgler

For goodness sake, let the train take the strain. Cars are useless in all three cities (esp Venice) use feet and local public transport which is fantastic.

sandralist

Going to Venice first means completely missing the marathon in Rome, which seems to be the point of the trip to a great extent.

annhig

i think that you have misunderstood, sandralist. the suggestion above by kyb and others was to reverse the order of Florence and Venice - using that meaning of the word first i.e. Venice first, Florence second.

The marathon is on Sunday 22nd March so as long as the OP is there for that, s/he can do what s/he likes the rest of the time.

resemo

Massive thanks for your replies guys!

Yes, aim of the trio is initially for the marathon, then doing the Florence/Venice trip.

Here's what I decided to do:

Arrive Friday night (20th)
Head to Florence by train Wednesday
Head to Venice by train Friday night
Take plane from Venice to Rome Sunday morning and take off 12 from Rome

Now just sorting out tickets for trains to Florence and Venice. I heard the train route has beautiful scenery to Venice. What's the recommended time to take the train to fully enjoy the view?

Now for the iteniary

worldinabag

Hi

The Uffizi Gallery in Florence is a must. But definitely pre book or you'll be stuck in a horrendous queue - http://www.uffizi.com/online-ticket-...zi-gallery.asp. Unless the procedure has changed you need to validate your tickets at their office across the street.

bvlenci

The route from Florence to Venice crosses the Apennines, and there are lots of tunnels until you get past Bologna, where it's mostly flat the rest of the way. In between the tunnels, there's some fairly nice scenery, but I find that on the high-speed trains it just whizzes by to fast to appreciate it. I can't remember any spectacular scenery between Bologna and Venice. Farmland, inluding vineyards and orchards, industrial zones, etc.

sandralist

The scenery between Florence and Venice that one sees from the train is not very interesting. So I would recommend that you pick a train time that is best for other things you want to see.

I disagree with advice that the Uffizi Gallery is a "must". It is a huge and very time consuming museum of mostly religious painting and not everybody is very interested in that. Many people find it much more interesting to spend their time in Florence in smaller places that contain beautiful artworks and walking the beautiful streets of the city, and visiting a few gardens and shops.

If you want to visit the Uffizi I'm not discouraging you and you do need a reservation. You will also need one for several other famous places in town, so as you look through a guidebook, take note of which ones those are.

Jean

Do I understand correctly that you're flying Venice to Rome Sunday morning and flying Rome to home the same day at noon? If so, what will happen if the first flight is delayed or cancelled? Are you flying into and out of the same airport in Rome?

bvlenci

The Uffizi is a museum that's only interesting for people with a specialized interest in Renaissance painting. As Sandralist says, it's huge, usually very crowded, and, to the untrained eye, it's "one *** Madonna after another", quoting someone on Tripadvisor. My daughter and I once spent 7 hours there, over two successive days, and didn't see everything.

Florence is a good place to see great Renaissance art displayed in the places where it was intended to be viewed: in the churches and convents of the city: San Marco, Santa Maria del Carmine, and Santa Croce are among the most famous.

One of the churches that's often overlooked is Santa Maria Novella, right by the train station. It has a number of major works of the Renaissance, including the frescoes of the Tornabuoni Chapel, a painted wooden crucifix by Giotto, another crucifix by Brunelleshi (who was the architect of the dome of the Duomo), and a Holy Trinity by Masaccio, which illustrates a very early use of perspective. There is also a very nice cloister there. Especially for someone who has a short time in the city, I think a visit to this and maybe one other church would be time better spent than a slog through the Uffizi. It would also allow you plenty of time for a stroll around the city.

lilsebastien

Book your trains with Italo trains.
http://www.italotreno.it/
It's much more comfortable, faster and not that pricey if you book early enough. Also I quite disagree that the train trip from Venice to Florence or vice versa is boring. If it's a crisp day, the snow covered mountains are gorgeous. I'd book an earlier trip so you're not trying to get situated in Venice at night when it's dark, when you're probably going to get lost anyway.

The best parts of Venice are simply walking around, getting a spritz at a local cafe and enjoying the view. As far as the 'touristy' bits... it really depends how many churches, art galleries, and old things you are interested in and how much you can handle. You can get quite the museum hangover in Italy.

If you're looking for a nice break and want to check out some modern art, the Peggy Guggenheim gallery is worth a look.

In Florence, I would highly recommend the Galleria dell'Accademia, if only to see the statue of David.

And remember to eat pizza in Rome!