Italy trip over Easter.
 

Just starting to plan a 2 week trip from April 4/09 until April 18/09!! Considering Rome, Florence and Venice with DH and 2 teens, but my preliminary investigations have me concerned about Easter falling right in the middle of these 2 weeks. Specifically, will these major sites be even busier then usual, will there be a number of closed sites and will we have more problems then usual with accomodations?

Thanks in advance for any replies.

We have been at the Vatican over Easter weekend and it was very busy but managable.

As to closed sites, find your particular museum and see if they are closed. Some holidays are open verses closed.

I would book you places soon, not because it's Easter but because it is only a few weeks away. If you go to slowtrav.com you will find good recommondations for places to stay.

I don't think Rome is a problem, although of course the Vatican will be a zoo on Easter itself, but I'd be concerned somewhat about the other places, especially in the week right after easter, if you really dislike crowds. They are going to pack into Firenze and Venice.

If that doesn't bother you, then march forward!

Unless you want an apartment, I wouldn't use slow travel to find a place (and if you do want an apartment, I still suggest you try to find recommendations beyond them). I would suggest using venere.com, which can give you instant feedback on availability, plus photos and reviews from lots and lots and lots of travelers, not just a handful of the same people.

Thanks so much to both of you.
I am not familiar with venere.com but it looks great and I will definitely use it. Lodgings are next on my list.

Zeppole, would you recommend we start with Venice and end in Rome (therefore being in Rome the week after Easter) to try and minimize the crowds?

Yes, I think so. Rome is so capacious, it doesn't matter how many millions of people show up. Plus, a lot of Romans go off and be tourists during Easter week in Italy, so you get some elbow room that way. The only time you'll notice it's easter is the day AFTER -- which is a bigtime national holiday -- and a great many museums and most stores will shut up (anywhere you go). So you just have to plan around that -- and I'm sure you won't have a problem. Also, if you had planned to visit churches during your stay, Good Friday may inhibit your ability to walk around and take snaps -- not to mention the churches will look a bit more glorious once all the black and purple comes down and the lilies come in.

When traveling during Christian holidays, I always make sure I know where the Jewish restaurants are in town, because the food is great and they stay open.

HAT: Keep in mind that in Italy, Easter Monday is also a full fledged holiday. Most everything is closed and public transportation is completely unpredictable.

ZEPPOLE: This year Easter falls in the middle of Passover, so truly Jewish restaurants may be serving matza!

ssteve,

Are restaurants in Jewish quarters likely to be closed any of those days?

Hi Hat,

we stayed in both Rome and Venice over recent Easters, so i have some personal experience.

Firstly, Rome. we arrived on Easter Sunday - not a good idea if you are self-catering in an apartment - the shops and many sights didn't really open until Easter Tuesday. However, the colosseum & forum were open as were many churches. but there were more than enough restaurants open during that period. during the week we were there, the numbers of people gradually reduced until by the end of the week, it was quite bearable!

secondly Venice. we arrived on Good Friday. [very late, so it didn't matter that everything was shut]. Easter SAt we spend the mornnig getting in supplies in the Rialto market and supermarket. this was a GOOD IDEA - again, not much was open in the way of food shops again til the Tuesday, but most of the restautants were open.

I broadly agree that it would be best to do Venice first, Rome second. do try to be in Venice on easter Sunday - we went to the easter morning mass in San marco, and although we are not religious, it was very moving; also it gave us a terific opportunity to have a proper long look at the mosaics. it was much easier than I imagine it is to get into St. Peter's square for the easter sunday celebrations there.

as for accommodations, I too was worried about booking somewhere for easter so did it well in advance. But so far as Venice was concerned there was loads of availability of apartments [all I was interested in] right up to when we went. Rome might be harder, but I suspect it gets easier after easter.

if the trains are running, easter monday might be a good day to travel.

regards, ann

ann, Train service in Italy is very different from train service in the UK.

Unless there is a train strike - almost always announced in advance and generally only a few hours in duration, with certain trains guaranteed to run - trains run every day in Italy. Service on holidays is somewhat reduced; they run on a Sunday schedule.

hat, If you decide to travel by train on Easter Monday, you would be well advised to do so in the morning. In the evening, half of Italy will be traveling home after the long weekend.

Incidentally, most museums (and in Rome, archeological sites) are open on Easter Monday.

just in general, if you are traveling by train the week after easter or christmas, or around april 25 or the last two weeks in august, you should buy your train tickets very shortly after arriving in Italy.

Thank you all for your advice. I have been having trouble logging on all day and this is the first time I have been able to do so.

Your advice has helped me to frame this last minute trip with Venice at the start and Rome at the end. I will definitely keep the Easter holidays in mind when planning our days.

Annhig-thank you for the words of encouragement about booking lodgings late. It always worries me but this was a last minute trip so I will just enjoy the process and continue.

I have to say that I am feeling a little overwelmed planning this trip with all of the fabulous places mentionned on this site. Hopefully, it will start to become a little clearer after I do more research. I will certainly ask a few more questions if I get stumped along the way.

ZEP:

During the passover holiday, there are 2 real holidays, the first day (April 9) and and the last day (April 15). If the owners of a restaurant are the least bit observant, they will be closed on these days, and in addition, part or all of April 8, the day of the seder night.
The days in between they should be open, but really observant restaurants may be closed so as not to go through the tedious procedure of making the place "kosher for passover".

Thanks. I think there are some that serve passover menus. But I'm not sure.

ZEP:

I'm sure there are "passover menus". Also, with the advancement of "food engineering"' there are plenty of "bread like things" made with matza that are kosher for passover but don't taste anything like matza!

We (four of us) are arriving into FCO (from California) the morning of Easter Monday. Will there be taxis available at the airport? I don't want to reserve car service because we are arriving on different airlines about 45 minutes apart. The good thing is we are traveling with carry-on.

Where would we find Jewish restaurants? I'll be missing Passover dinner with my family, so a little matzo would be nice and certainly different from what I've had in Italy before. In Paris and London we have options of so many different ethnic cuisines, but in Italy it's pasta, pasta, pasta. Of course, I love the pasta.

Thanks.

Here are a few links with relevant information:

http://www.floridajewishnews.com/sit...urish_in_Rome/

http://tinyurl.com/a8nnyn

http://www.romeforjews.com/kosher.html

http://www.jewishitaly.org/city.asp?citymenu=Rome

Check out the festivities on Easter Sunday in Florence and decide if you want to be there for that. The streets were packed with tourists from all over, but we did see a little bit of the activity in front of the duomo, and certainly heard the fireworks. After a few minutes, we took off for the side streets, away from the crowds and explored the city on the south side of the river where it was quieter that day.

regarding taxis at the airport, I would reserve a car service. Time it to the arrival of the second flight. The airports will be hectic that day, and lots of comepetition for taxis.

But if you just have carry-on, why don't you take the train into town?

Zeppole, I was thinking of a taxi because I seem to frequently encounter delays when traveling to Europe. Since we're arriving on different airlines, I'm aware one or both flights could be delayed. So I don't want to reserve car service. With four people, the cost of a taxi equals what it would cost for the train and we will be a bit tired after flying from California. I'm still unsure what we will do. Maybe just wing it.

taxi drivers deal with delayed flights all the time. If you go through one of the big services, they speak English and you can work it out with them.

Don't spend more than 50 euros for 4 people in a taxi from FCO to the city. Rome limosine service runs about 35 euros.