ljd144

Hi,
I posted a little while ago with my potential itinerary, and I'm back for some more feedback. I stil think its kinda rushed, but let me know what everyone else out there thinks.

Day 1 - 5/21/2006 - Fly to Venice (From Philadelphia)
Day 2 - 5/22/2006 - Arrive in Venice, Drive to Florence
Day 3 - 5/23/2006 - Florence
Day 4 - 5/24/2006 - Florence
Day 5 - 5/25/2006 - Drive to Siena
Day 6 - 5/26/2006 - Drive to Frosinone (visiting family)
Day 7 - 5/27/2006 - Drop Car off outside of Rome, train/taxi into Rome
Day 8 - 5/28/2006 - Rome
Day 9 - 5/29/2006 - Rome
Day 10 - 5/30/2006 - Rome
Day 11 - 5/31/2006 - Train to Venice
Day 12 - 6/1/2006 - Venice
Day 13 - 6/2/2006 - Venice
Day 14 - 6/3/2006 - Fly to back to Philadelphia

I personally think that driving to Florence right after arriving in Venice is a little rushed, but my mum is very determined about this part of the trip. Also, is four days in Rome too long. I would prefer spending another night in siena or another city in Tuscany, or adding another day in Florence and taking a side trip from Florence.

Any suggestions?

Thanks!

Laurie

lovisa

When we arrive from the West Coast, we have missed a night's sleep and are a little groggy and disoriented. We used to get a car and go a short distance. Now we take the train somewhere where we'll pick up the car the in a day or two. It's disconcerting and a little dangerous to try to adjust to Italian aggressive driving when you're really tired.

Why not go from the airport to the train station and hop on a train to Florence if you don't want to lose time? There is about one train every hour from Venice to Florence in the middle of the day. See www.trenitalia.com You really don't want a car in Florence anyway. Here is a link to the airport page about taking a bus to the Venice Santa Lucia or Mestre rail stations:

http://www.veniceairport.it/page/ser...mp;language=en

artlover

Why not fly open-jaw--into Venice and out of Rome--so that you don't have to backtrack like that? Then you can increase your time in Venice so that you won't be so jet-lagged to drive on to Florence.

lovisa

As to the rest of the logistics, I see that Hertz, www.hertz.com has a location in Frosinone. I would just skip the night in Siena, and take the train from Florence to Frosinone (2 1/2 or 3 hours) changing trains at Roma Termini.

I would rent my car for the Frosinone portion of the trip only, return it in Frosinone, and continue by train to Rome. Even though you may feel Frosinone doesn't have as much to offer touristically, I have found that anywhere you have roots takes on an added significance and you will enjoy getting to know the place. The Michelin Red Guide recommends 4 hotels and Frosinone, and you can look those up at www.viamichelin.com - you just need to register first with an e-mail address.

lovisa

Looking at the calendar, I see you are planning to drop your car off on Sunday, May 27th. Almost no car rental locations other than an airport or somewhere right in downtown Rome will be open on a Sunday. A lot of locations close at 12:30 or 1:00 P.M. on Saturday. You might also think about going to one of the seaside resorts south of Frosinone, Gaeta or Sperlonga for Sunday night, returning your car on Monday morning. Of course that would take a day off Rome.

lovisa

If you still want to return your can on Sunday, coming from Frosinone, it looks likeRome Ciampino Airport is your best bet.

dgg

You need to Open Jaw this itinerary. It can usually be done with very little, if any, cost. In fact, with the cost of flying into Venice and renting a car to drive to Florence you will probably save money. Fly to Florence and take a taxi into the city. You don't need a car there. Pick up your car the day you leave for Siena and drop it off in Rome. If you do this, you will add at least one productive day to your trip and you and your mother may have ore time to enjoy visiting your family. Conversely, fly into Rome and leave from Venice.

Four days is not too much for Rome.

ira

Hi ljd,

I also suggest flying into FLR or PSA and out of Venice if you want to stick to this chronology.

Or you could fly into PSA or FLR drive around, drop the car in Venice and leave from Rome.

See www.kayak.com for airfare.

lovisa

I see from you previous posts that you cannot change your air flights in and out of Venice, and that there are 4 of you including your mother. I would still discourage you from having a car in Florence because you won't use it, and it's expensive to park. You can pick one up as you leave.
Assuming your plane gets in around 9 a.m., with four of you I would take a taxi or transfer service from the Venice airport to Mestre train station and take a train to Florence from there. There are nonstop Eurostars from Mestre to Florence at 10:44a.m., 11:35a.m. and 12:44p.m., and the trip takes around 2 hours 40 minutes. Below is the website for transfer service from Treviso or Venice airports (I have not used them). I would expect the transfer fee to be similar to the 39 Euro rate from Venice Airport to Piazzale Roma:

http://www.mytransfer.it/rates/index.html

Lorac1127

On our last trip, we also had round trip tickets to Venice. But we wanted to begin our vacation in Naples because we would be visiting family there.

So we checked with our airline, and they added on a flight from Venice to Naples for a very small charge and we were there in just over an hour.

It doesn't hurt to ask, and it would make more sense for your trip.

sherhatfield

I agree with the other posters about waiting to pick up your car until later in the trip. If it were me, I'd pick it up in Florence. My husband and I really enjoyed having a car to drive through Tuscany and that way you aren't tied to bus or train schedules.

Regarding the number of days you plan to spend in Rome, I think you are fine. Depending on what time you plan to drop the car and get into Rome, you've lost part of the day already. DH and I only spent 3 nights at the end of our Italy trip and I wish we had spent at least another night (or two, or three...).

jgg

You don't need to worry that you can't drop off the car just because the car rental place is closed. We dropped our car off at the car rental location in Rome (near Borghese) after hours. They have a drop box where you can drop off the keys and we just left it in the lot.

BellaVitaItalia

Consider renting the car only for the two days you really need it. Otherwise, having a car in Florence and Rome is a waste, really. You can easily and comfortably travel by train between destinations.

Also, I am always inclined to "stay put" the first few days to get acclimated and not feel rushed. Consider spending the bulk of your Venice time upfront. If you don't buy an open jaw flight (which is a very good idea), then return to Venice the day before you leave.

Happy planning!