Italy with out the "tour"
 

I am planning a trip to Italy with my wife to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary. This will be our first time, and we are planning to go sometime this summer. Would love to hear some suggestion on itinerary's, hotel accommodations (we prefer the higher end, I save to go on vacation, NOT go on vacation to save) and modes of transportation.
I am not looking for a tour package, from what I hear you are rushed for time and generally go to places the tour wants to go to. I would like to do this on my own....Am I asking for trouble?
Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.
Thank you,
C_Gagnon

It would help to know how long your trip will be and what are your interests (art, historic sights, bucolic countryside, seaside, etc.) A typical first trip to Italy includes Venice, Florence and Rome and those remain my favorite destinations after 8 trips to Italy. I would try to go in late May or early June to avoid the crowds.

You are not at all alking for trouble by planning and arranging the trip yourself. You will have a much better vacation if you have done the research and made the decisions. Most posters on this board prefer this approach. Train travel in Italy is excellent.

Let us know what you have in mind for your trip and we can be of help with the details.

Thank you mamcalice, we are looking at 7-10 days, our interest are historic sights, art and just leisure time without having the pressure of being somewhere. Venice, Florence and Rome are n the top of our list, and would also like to see the Amalfi coast as well if doable without renting a car.

You can certainly visit the AC without a car. Train to get there, bus to get around. What you CAN'T do is see Venice, florence, Rome and the AC

[oops] in 10 days, especially if that includes travel to/from Italy. You need to drop the AC or one city. Personally I would drop Florence, but I still haven't made it there despite several trips to Italy. Remember that one full day requires two nights, and allow for travel time.

Thanks folks, has anyone stayed in one central location (without changing hotels) if so, what would be the best recommendation.

Decide on exact # of days first---to sleep in Italy.
That will determine what you can do. If the answer is 9 then you may be able to see the big 3 art cities---if less then only 2.

Not if you want to see Venice, Florence, Rome and the AC, or even a subset. If you want to chill out in Tuscany for a week, you could do that, but it would be a different trip and would probably need a car.

For train times between cities, see bahn.de or trenitalia.it. Sorrento is a good base for the AC, although I didn't care for it otherwise.

All good suggestions, especially deleting the AC with only 9 days: Now --

I don't do tours, but realize that doing your first trip w/o a tour entails a lot of work and research on your part. Well worth it, IMHO, but still a lot of work.

Also, you can go independently but schedule day tours through your hotel or a travel agent. Some are better than others, and again, you'll have to do some research on that.

You can't stay in one location and visit Venice, Florence, Rome, and AC. Not possible unless you want to spend your entire day traveling to and from places.

If you have 10 full days you can visit 2 or 3 locations. You need to account for travel time between places plus getting to and from train stations, packing, unpacking, checking out and in to hotels. Takes lots of time.

To maximize your time fly into one city and home from another. You could start in Venice, spend 2 days (not counting arrival day), travel to the AC (a whole day), 2 days in AC, travel to Rome (1/2 day), Rome 5 days.

You need to decide how much time you have in Italy and what you want to see. Then plan the number of days in each location.

Im probably looking at 7 days due to my business commitments. Staying in Rome seems like the best answer. Don't want to get wrapped up in trying to see too much, just for the sake of saying I have been there. Would rather focus on less than more, and enjoy the full experience.

You can do Rome and Florence in 7 days---they are only 1:32 apart by train. If so, I would fly into Rome but go to Florence on day one for 3 nites, and then end in Rome.

Or fly into Venice and out of Rome. Venice is magical, and a different experience to Rome.

In summary: you are trying to "see" too many places in the time you have allotted..SUPPOSEDLY. Ten days. It all depends on how much you want to see in each place.

Obviously a whole bunch of people here have decided you cannot see all the stuff <B>they think you should</B> be seeing. Do you believe that?

Do you travel like everyone here?

Are you willing to skip some of the art in Florence? The art and churches in Venice and in Rome to include a couple of days on the Amalfi Coast?

With so few day you can do cities at best - and o you can;t stay in one and really see much of the other.

You could stay in a single city and do a couple of day trips - but that would eliminate the other major cities.

Separately I may have missed it - but I haven;t seen a budget here. Everything in Italy is going to cost about 1/3 more than in a major city in the US (compare Rome prices to NYC for example). If you want an upscale hotel you will probably need to allow abut $400 per night for a hotel (the top hotels can be twice that). Food is generally very good, even in fairly modest places, as long as you avoid tourist traps (places right near major sights with menus in 6 languages- or worse - pictures) so you can more easily control prices there. But we generally so one splurge dinner in each city we visit - and allow about $300 per couple - including a nice but not deluxe wine but not drinks (hard liquor tends to be very expensive).

So I would suggest you do some research to pick 2 places to see/stay and also some work deciding what your budget is.

I agree that 7-10 days is a short time to visit the three cities you've mentioned. If it were my trip, I'd spend most of my time in Rome, with a side trip to Florence.

The first thing I do before a new trip is to buy a guidebook. It will list hotels, restaurants, sights, distance from one city to another, etc.

Out last trip we stayed the entire week in Rome and could have stayed longer. Having said that, you could do Rome and Florence as previously suggested. Or Florence and Venice.(Or since this is your anniversary trip, and you don't want to be rushed, you might just stay in one place, and explore. We walked everywhere in Rome, and took a day trip via train to Bracciano. On a previous trip to Rome, we took the train to Ostia Antica, which was fabulous. Seek out a good guidebook, decide what's most important to you, and go from there.

Dukey: >><i>In summary: you are trying to "see" too many places in the time you have allotted..SUPPOSEDLY. Ten days. It all depends on how much you want to see in each place.

Obviously a whole bunch of people here have decided you cannot see all the stuff <B>they think you should</B> be seeing. Do you believe that?</i><<

the OP now says 7 days is probably the limit. Perhaps <i>you</i> should explain to him how he can visit 3 or 4 of those places in <u>seven days</u> which is likely 5 days plus travel time . . .

C_Gagnon: "<i>we prefer the higher end, I save to go on vacation, NOT go on vacation to save</i>"

That really doesn't help much -- are you talking about $300 a night, $500, $1200 . . . ? What is your actual budget for accommodations?

Thank you all, with all your input and suggestions. My wife has friends who love the tour aspect because of the value -vs- cities visited. All sounds good if you like to be herded around like cattle and spend limited time at each city.
I would like to stay in one location and perhaps a day trip or two throughout the week. So happy I joined this forum this morning, all your suggestions and ideas have really helped out....keep them coming.
I did go out to Barnes and Noble earlier today to buy a few guide books on Italy.

I am looking at a budget of $500 per night for accommodations

Day trips: Ostia Antica, Tivoli. Theoretically possible to do Pompeii as a day trip from Rome, but less stress to settle for Ostia Antica.

In your original post, you mentioned "this summer" by which I assume you mean summer 2014. Does it have to be "summer" or could you go sometime in spring or fall when the weather would likely be less hot?

$500/€360 will certainly get you a nice property -- but not 'high end'/uber posh.

We stayed in a high end house in Tuscany for our 30th anniversary. It was wonderful. I do not know how to post a link but the website is casaMoricianni.com. Isabel the owner has a nice website. The "Stay in the Heart of Tuscany" tab has some good info about the area.

We are considering May, based on the excellent info received on this forum.

Www.casamoricciani.com

Thought I would try again.

Thank you nubbyrose, I researched it and it looks wonderful. Not sure if this is what we have planned but will consider....after all its Tuscany!

From Rome you can easily day trip by train to Florence (90 minutes), Orvieto (60 minutes) and there are several other towns within an hour or so by train or bus (Frascati, Tivoli, etc.). With only 7 days in Rome, I wouldn't plan more than 2 day trips. You will find plenty in Rome to keep you busy.

If you have 7 hotel nights in Italy, you could possibly stay two places. Fly into Naples and spend 3 nights on the Amalfi Coast, train to Rome for your last 4 nights. Venice/Rome would be possible also (4 hours apart by train).

I love your plan for a week in Rome! No need to go anywhere else, though there are great possibilities for day trips, as mentioned above, if you are so inclined. Enjoy Rome!

Thank you all for your suggestions.
Any thoughts on what airline would be best (Boston to Rome) and hotel suggestions in Rome.
Thanks

if you are just staying in Rome, maybe think about an apartment. Is much cheaper, so you get more for your money.

Walks of Italy do really nice day trips to Pompei from Rome too ...

If you actually have 7 days on the ground (that assumes 9 with days for transportation), then I would do two places 3 days and 4 days each to get the experience of two places. Fly into Venice and out of Rome or in and out of Rome with time in Rome and Tuscany or time in Rome and the AC.

Another suggestion - IF you are going to Rome and then a day trip to Florence, I would fly to Rome then at the end take the train to Florence and stay maybe 2 nights at the Granduomo right across the street from the Duomo. Get the room shown on the website with the 3 windows (that's about $500) overlooking the Duomo. It is simply beautiful. Have a full day in Florence and fly back to Boston from there instead of going back and forth to Rome. Very easy. We just flew to Rome 2 weeks ago and flew home from Florence last Friday. This hotel was amazing!

http://granduomo.com

My hotel suggestion for Rome is Hotel Raphael, it is within your budget, very well located just off the Piazza Navona and it is gorgeous. If you decide on it, ask for one of the Richard Meier rooms.
Have a great trip.

I like kwren's suggestion if you still want to do Florence as well as Rome. That hotel looks lovely.
My favourite hotel in Florence in your price range is JK Place, the best staff anywhere, also a great location, gorgeous decor, very stylish but not stuffy.

In Summer 2011 me and my OH spent two weeks on a rather hectic tour (probably made more so by the heat!). We flew into Milan and got a train to Lake Garda for about three nights, then from there we went to Venice then to Bologna, Florence, Rome, Cinqe Terre and Genoa. The trains are great - cheap, easy to buy tickets, on time.. we couldn't fault them. You get to see so much when travelling by train as well. The best bit of scenery on our travels was the train that runs along the Cinqe Terre coastline.
We booked all our accommodation in advance and looked up timetables. We had a variety of accommodation from house tents to 4* hotels but were on a strict budget!
All worked out well.. apart from almost missing the flight home!

A great hotel in Rome that I think is in your price range is Hotel Campo de Fiori. It's in an outstanding location and has a gorgeous rooftop deck which is a great place to relax with a glass of wine after a day of touring.