We are leaving for Italy on September 26-October 8th. We are flying into Rome and leaving from MIlan. We plan on visiting Rome for 3 nights, Florence for 5 nights with side trips, Venice for 2 nights and then on our way back to Milan, staying at L'Albereta, outside of Milan for 1 night. How does this itinerary sound and should we add one more night in Venice and take away one night from Florence? We will be arriving in Venice around noon on Oct. 5 and leaving in the morning on Oct. 7th. Is this enough time? Any prompt responses would be greatly appreciated since we need to finalize hotels. Thank you

Hi Paci,

Good itinerary.

>should we add one more night in Venice and take away one night from Florence?<

What daytrips have you planned?

Regardless of what daytrips you might be planning from Florence, I'd suggest you reduce your Florence visit to no more than 4 nights, and add a night to Venice. I think that will be a better balance of experiences for you. Good luck.

I agree with Wayne. A day and a half is cutting it a little short in Venice.

Yep, Venice definitely needs one more day, at the very least.

You need at least 3 days in Venice. I think 4 days in Florence might even allow for a day trip to someplace like Siena or San Gimignano.

I am guessing at your schedule but it appears you might arrive in Rome on the 27th mid day or morning and so the first day is devoted to getting to the hotel and settling in. That gives you two full days in Rome, perhaps not enough if this is your first trip.

Again, a day of traveling to Florence so you have 4 full days in Florenc. Depending on what you like to do, you could use 3 of those days seeing the sights in Florence and then only have one day for side trips. What do you want to see on the side trips?

Now Venice, again I am making the assumption you are taking the train which is an easy trip. You will have an afternoon to sightsee in Venice after arriving and then the full second day. You can get a taste of Venice with this time. As someone pointed out on this site once before, most of us have limited time on our trips and therefore we cannot see everything. It would be helpful for us to know more about what you want enjoy and want to see especially with regard to the side trips in Florence. Give us a litle more info and we can offer some ideas.

To all of you who have responded so far to my post, thank you so much. I am brand new to this "talk" thing but since this is such a big trip to us, we thought we could use a little help from all of you. Just a little aside to Ira - I have read a lot of postings today that you have written on Italy and you have been incredibly helpful. It's great to have people like you, yet you never sound like a know-it-all. Anyway, we do land in Rome mid-day on Sept. 27 and leave for Florence on the 30th in the am. Plan on possibly doing (2) 1/2 day tours in Florence with a guide and two side trips, one at least to Cinque Terre and the other to Siena. We were going to leave Florene on Oct. 5th for Venice but I could leave on the 4th and add a night. Why do many people, though, say 1-1/2 to 2 days in Venice is enough? I feel like we don't have enough time in any place but yet I know I can't see everything and hopefully, we will go back. We love art, the countryside, hiking, etc., and are major wine aficionados and that is why we thought we would spend more time in Florence. Any sight-seeing advice based on this itinerary would be greatly welcomed. Thanks, again, to everyone.

Hi Paci -
I agree with the group. I think another night in Venice will be a more balanced trip. I've been to Venice many times and can never get enough - but I know that people's opinions differ.
BTW - I had lunch at L'Albereta and it was wonderful...
Let us know what you decide...
Dona

Venice needs 3 days.

Sure, as someone pointed out, you can get a taste of a city in 1-1/2 days--so why not save yourself a lot of time and money and spend 1-1/2 days in each Rome, Florence, and Venice for a total of just 4-1/2 days?

Actually Venice needs more than 3 days, but at least with 3 you can see the majority of the most important sights.

Well, Paci, this might just make things more confusing for you, but after reading about your interests, and assuming that your flight out of Milan is fixed (i.e. you can't switch to Venice as a gateway) I would leave Venice to another trip. We chose this route and did Venice in conjunction with a trip to Austria (or you could just return to Italy for it.)

While Siena is a realistic day trip from Florence, hiking in the Cinque Terre as a day trip from Florence would be a bit rushed - it will be a 5 hour RT by train from Florence. So I'm going to suggest that you take those 2 Venice nights and put them in the Cinque Terre, from which you can go to Milan for your last night.

If you are going to be staying in the CT you can drop one of those 5 nights in Florence and add it to Rome.

If you really can't bear to drop Venice this trip, then consider dropping a night from Florence, killing the idea of hiking in the CT, and add this night to Venice. Good luck.

P.S., You asked why everyone seems to think 1.5 days in Venice is enough.

This is the hard part - people differ in their interests and so despite the responses you've received thus far, there is rarely consensus here on how long to spend on a first trip to Venice (or any other place for that matter.) That said, a minimum of two full days for Venice is a good idea, even if you have little interest in art and architecture (and of course you have said you do.) The speedier the trip (and a lot of us face the problem you have of being forced to be selective) the more likely it seems to be that things won't go perfectly smoothly; and what you had planned for that precious one or one and a half days has a way of going off the rails such that you need another day to catch up. Plus, some days just don't go well, period (you're tired, or whatever) and that can really colour how you view a place, so the second day is a second chance for a city you might otherwise write off for reasons that really had very little to do with the city itself.

So to cut this rather long reply short, if you're going to Venice, I suggest you give it at least two full days, or leave it for another trip.