Fodor's Travel Talk Forums - Just returned from Rome & Florence

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Just returned from Rome & Florence

My wife and I have just returned from a fantastic trip. We ate at some great places and stayed at some great places. Thanks to all the info from this forum. E-mail if you wanted to know any particulars.

My family and I are spending spring break in Rome. Our kids are 12, 10 and 7. We'd love tips on your favorite "family" restaurants. Also, better to take tours or set out on your own? We are staying near the Vatican. We are planning a day trip to Pompei. Thanks!

Terry, We want details!! Where did you stay, what did you see? Your highlights? Great food? We are leaving at the end of April, staying at the Hotel Trevi in Rome. Then on to Florence and a week in Tuscany. Would love to hear anything you have to say!!

My husband and son are going to Florence in two weeks. Any suggestions for a quiet hotel within walking distance of the train station and all of the art?

Hi, Glad to hear you enjoyed your trip. Please provide restraunts you enjoyed in Rome. Also, how did you get around from your hotel to the sites in Rome? ARe the thieves in rome really that horrible? Are the lines "that bad" at the vatican if you don't arrive a hour before they open (can you go later in the day and not sit in line forever?) Thanks for any information

Hi, In Florence we stayed at the Ritz Hotel which is right on the Arno River. It was a couple of blocks from the main atractions. We walked everywhere with out any problems. On the first night we were so jet lagged that we were wide awake at 12:00 and out walking around looking for something to eat. I tell you this for two reasons. One that there is nothing open that late so have some snacks ready. the second is to let you know that we felt perfectly safe at any time walking the streests of Florence. There are police everywhere. The only thing that might be a problem for you will be that your son will want you to rent a motorscooter. They are the main means of transportation for the population and they are buzzing around all over the place. The only restaurant we ate at was on the corner of the Piazza della Signoria. All the other times we just walked into one of the many eat and go places located on every street. They all have pizza and Italian sandwiches. The one trattoria that we went to a couple of times was right across from the Battistero ( Baptistry), it had what we thought was the best selection. We had no problem with crowds. We arrived by train from Rome into Florence about 12:30pm, checked into our hotel, took a little nap, and then went to see "David." There were no lines in the afternoon. The next morning when we went by again the line was around the block. At the Uffizi there is always a line to buy tickests. What we did was go to the reserved ticket office and purchase tickest for the next day. When our time came we just went right in ahead of the line. It was great! In Rome it is a different story about walking everywhere, but the subway is so easy to ride and most of the main sights are close to a station that it was very easy to get around. We ate again on the street in Rome. We found that you can spend a ton of time trying to find recommended restrauants on the many small streets of these cities and end up going hungary. So my advise is to ask at you hotel for something close and then just try some place that looks good. We did not take any tours not because we didn't want but because they were never on the days we wanted to go. We tried to book with Enjoy Rome but they had a very limited schedule. The only place I wish we had had a tour was when we wereat the Forum. It is really hard to know what temple you are looking at when there are only two columns left standing. We bought a book at on of the vendors that show what it looks like today and then you flip over the overlay and it shows you what it use to look like, it was very helpful. At the Colosseum you can pay for a audio tour where everyone in your party has to have a phone or you can get a personal guide that makes it alot more interesting. i know this because we tagged along with one of these tours and he made the comment that there was alot of information on the audio tour. The thing that help us the most was Fodor's guidebooks on Florence and Rome. They have great maps on the cities and also great diagrams and information on what is inside the sights. We loved this vacation, hope yours will be as great as ours was. Terry

Dear Terry, This is the first time that I have tried obtaining travel infos from a Forum. I hope this goes well. I am going to Italy for my sister's wedding in May and was wondering if you have any suggestions regarding hotels near the airport in Florence or if it is difficult getting to the heart of Florence from the airport. We will be driving. I would appreciate any tips you may have thanks.

We stayed on the other side of town from the train station.The hotels were all small but very clean and very well run. The larger hotels are right across the street from the train station. Fodor's guidebook has a list of great places and if you post a question here asking for that information you will also get a wealth of suggestions. You said you are going to have a car. Unless you have participated in a car race you may want to leave your car in a garage and walk. The drivers are very aggresive and those are the one on the motorbikes (Vespas).Everything is very reachable by walking and you will miss alot not walking.

Terry: Thanks for all the info. I'll be visiting Rome & Florence next month. I noticed you mentioned how safe you felt in Florence, would you say the same for Rome? This will be my first trip to Italy, am travelling alone, and while I'm from New York City, still have reservations about heading out to enjoy the nightlife in Rome. Many thanks.

I too just returned from Rome and Florence. This was my third trip to Rome and second to Florence. It was my husbands first to both. We had five days in Rome and three in Florence. We wished we'd booked longer in Florence. I've always loved the Tuscan region and we plan on spending more time next year exploring it. We did get to one Fodor recommended restaurant in Florence. Il Lantini. It was fantastic. Fodor was right though, go around seven pm for dinner as that's when they start queing up. They don't accept reservations. Try everything and bring your appetite! We liked it so much we had lunch there the next day. Our hotel was the Hotel Baglioni which is located 500 meters from the train terminal Santa Maria Novella. It was very nice and surprisingly quite. If you want any more info, feel free to e-mail me.

For safety get a couple of wallets which hang inside your trousers or neck or sholder pouches. We spent two weeks in Italian cities and one in London with no trouble at all. Just use a normal level of caution as you would at home and wear something with lots of different pockets. The lines at the vatican museum are wierd. They are often longer around opening than later. However if you don't start by 1 you have no hope of even hurrying through everything. If you are there during the week for several days don't miss the excavations of the imperial era cemetary under St. Peters

This one's for Annette--I'm also from NYC and I can assure you that Rome is much much safer than our beloved Big Apple. The biggest threat is pickpockets (this should give you an idea about the general level of crime). Rome is also a city where everyone loves to walk about, thus the streets in the historic center (e.g., midtown NYC) are generally filled with people day and night. Can't help you with info about nightlife--I'm generally so knocked out from 12-hour days of sightseeing and wanderings about town, that I'm usually back in my hotel room by 9 or 10 pm.