Museums/Florence/Vatican City Rome
 

Question:
We are traveling to Rome in early June. We will have a Friday-Monday to see Rome sites and Florence. Which is the better day to see Florence Saturday or Sunday?
We arrive in Rome early Friday morning.
I heard that Vatican city is closed on Sunday. Should we go to Florence on Sunday and see Vatican city Saturday? or Go to Florence Saturday and go and see Vatican city Friday when we arrive?
thank you so much for any help.

Are you dead set on seeing Florence? Have you been to Rome before? Are you staying the night in Florence? What time do you leave on Monday? You barely have enough time to see the "main" sites in Rome. The Vatican/Sistine Chapel/St. Peter's and the surrounding area will take about one full day. You can do Florence as a day trip-I wouldn't, but it can be done. However, it will exhaust you and depending on where you are flying from, you will probably have jet lag on Friday. That being said, if you must go to Florence, I would go on Sunday.

I'm not one of those who say you must watch the grass grow and paint dry in each city you go to, but even I think you only really have time for one or the other.

Where are you arriving from?
Where are you going to after Rome?

If you're coming from the US and flying to Rome it will be mid day before you're settled in your hotel what with immigration and picking up bags; cab to hotel; checking in or leaving bags if the room isn't ready.

You can do the Vatican Museums and St Peters Friday afternoon but if you are flying from a distance you'll be tired. The museums are open (and free) the first Sunday of the month.

Florence - what do you want to see in Florence. That will determine which day you choose as some things may be closed Sunday afternoons. If you want to see the Accademia, Uffizi, and the cathedral then they will be open Sundays. The cathedral museum is closed Sunday afternoons.

We are flying from the US Thursday evening. We will be on Rome Friday through Monday 6 ish our ship leaves from the port outside of Rome for 11 days along Medit.
I have always wanted to see Florence!
Ponte Vecchio, David etc!! Dying to see all of it!
I thought we would leave early Sat am cone back late evening. You are now saying to go on Sunday?
What about touring Vatican Mon am how long is tour?
Thank you so much!!

Hi,

If you have always wanted to see Florence (with 2 exclamations!!) then why don't you spend most of your time there and see the Vatican Museums and St Peters on Monday and take a car service (or train) to the port.

The Vatican tours are usually 3 to 4 hours but you can do it on your own and spend as long as you want. There are audio guides you can use for a self-paced tour of the museums. The Vatican offers a 2 hour tour.

I've taken and can recommend the Enjoy Rome tour which is a 3 hour tour of the museums and St Peters. There's one at 9:00 for 22 Euro each.

http://www.enjoyrome.com/walking/index.html

The best tour I've taken is Context Rome (4 hours) but they do not offer the Vatican tours every day and they are quite expensive.

http://www.contexttravel.com/rome/

You can arrive in Rome Friday morning. Take the train to Florence until late Sunday night. Spend Sunday night in Rome and tour the Vatican Monday then go to your ship. Just allow enough time to get to the port - about 1.5 hours.

Adrienne
We already have our hotel booked in Rome. I just figured. It would be easier to stay in one hotel rather then checking in and out of hotels - would save time??
You think one day in to the evening is not enough time for Florence? We would go to Florence on Saturday. Friday we would so the Vatican tour and Monday what would you recommend doing from 9 until about 1:00 pm?
Thanks again for all of your help. I am not sure if I need Friday Saturday and part of Sunday in Florence. I also want to see Rome as well.

If you are worried about saving time, scratch off Florence for this trip and enjoy Rome.

But for the sake of argument, please provide us with your proposed one day itinerary of Florence, including train arrival and departure times, info on which museums, and maybe we can help you there or at least opine as to whether you are being realistic.

We were thinking of taking a 9 am train or even earlier (8 am?) I have not made reservations at the Museums yet. I first want to make sure that it will all work, that is why I am writing on this forum.

I know I want to see the Academia and Uffizi and Ponte Vecchio. Possibly have lunch at an outside cafe maybe browse thru one of the famous Florence flea mkts that have all the wonderful handmade items I have read on here so much about. We can pass on the cathedral museum if we are pressed for time. I saw that there were trains as late as 9:00 pm back we could take an 8:oo pm back. Does that help?
Thanks so much.

If I'm not mistaken, if you leave Rome at 9 you won't be into Florence until closer to 11, so I would think you might want to leave earlier. You'll want to double check museum days and times, but the Academia will take as long or as short as you want, but the Uffizi is another (longer) matter. I don't know how the lines work in the summer and that may hurt you. The Ponte can take 3 minutes.

I personally would hit the duomo and the baptistry before a flea market.

IMO a month is not enough in Florence or Rome but you can see some of Florence in a day. Take the earliest train you can and doze on the train both ways.

I'm a lover of churches and frescoes and that is usually my priority in Italy. If I had one day in Florence this is what I would do (not in priority or geographic order):

- Accademia (David)
- Bargello (compare Donatello's David with Michelangelo's and see the original competition panels for the Bapistery doors - Brunelleschi and Ghiberti)
- Santa Croce church
- Santa Maria del Fiore (Duomo)
- Santo Spirito church (for its stunning simplicity; designed by Brunelleschi (the designer of the cathedral dome))
- Brancacci chapel (frescoes)
- San Marco museum (frescoes)
- Piazzale Michelangelo and San Miniato
- Bapistery doors

If you like Italian paintings in a dim environment then go to the Uffizi. If you're not crazy about Italian paintings then give it a miss.

Here's what you'll see in the Brancacci chapel:

http://www.museumsinflorence.com/mus...ci_chapel.html

Your itinerary is:

Friday - Vatican City
Saturday - Florence
Sunday - ???

You're looking for suggestions for Monday morning. What do you have planned for Sunday? I think you really need to tell us what you enjoy doing in terms of sightseeing. Here's a list of things to consider:

Colosseum
Piazza Navona
Some churches
Trevi fountain
Spanish steps
Borghese museum

Before you start planning what to see/do in Rome on Monday morning, consider how long it will take you to get to the port, Civtevechia (sp?) is far from Rome. Check what time you need to be at the port with your cruise ship company. Realistically, you won't have much time to sightsee in Rome.

You need to plan the Vatican Museum tour for Saturday because you will be too tired and jetlagged on Friday to enjoy or appreciate it. I would enjoy some outside sites on Firday (Piazza Navona, Trevi Fountain, Pantheon, Spanish Steps) and tour the Vatican Museum on Saturday. Train to Florence for the day on Sunday (make advance reservations if you want to see David and the Uffizi). Monday could be a visit to the Colosseum before hoping the train to Civitavecchia.

Vatican City is not closed on Sunday, only the Vatican Museum.

Hi Thank you everyone for your quick responses.
The port is about 45 min away. Ship sales at 6pm. We want to be there probably about 4 the latest on Monday.

I heard that Vatican city was closed on Sunday. I figure we will be tired on Friday but I plan on sitghtseeing anyway I have come a long way and waited a long tiem for this trip. Iiwll sleep on the plane!!
What interests me
Art, Italian art work, painting - not so much on the churches we are Jewish but I love the history behind all of it.

In Rome I want to see the Colosseum,Trevi Fountain,Spanish steps,Piazza Navona
and enjoy the culture of Rome
Peopel keep telling me do not forget to enjoy teh cities you are in.Eat the food, experience the culture, find some neighborhood places that are not so "touristy" and really see the city this way.
I plan on doing more of this when we hit our ports
I was thinking that Saturday would be a much better day then Sunday to go to Florence as far as most things being open or closing early.
We will plan on taking a very early train. Should we book our tickets for the train in advance?
If we wind up going on the Vatican city tour on Friday we need to book that in advance?
Then what would we do on Sunday the other sites?
Monday - morning any suggestions? 9-1:00pm
Thank you all for your suggestions. We have been wanting to take this trip forever and are very excited it is almost here!

Even though you leave the US on Thursday it will be at least noon on Fri before you're on the streets in Rome and you'll be exhausted. And you need to leave Mon by 1 pm. So in fact you have 2 days in Rome (Sat and Sun) and parts of 2 other days. This is really minimal time to see the most basic sights in Rome.

If Florence is really your dream and you want to see something you need to be on a 6 am train and buy your museum tickets in advance - and assume you will get back to Rome at midnight - or you really won;t see anything there either. I've been to Florence 4 times and still have new things to see. You can (barely) scratch the surface of a few of the most important sights in 12 hours or so.

i just added a day on to our trip. we now arrive on Thursday 9:30 am. So now we will have Thursday figure from noon on ,Friday,Saturday,Sunday and Monday until 1pm
Any suggestions...

>>>>I heard that Vatican city was closed on Sunday<<<<

You "heard" wrong. The museums is closed, but not St. Peter's.

twin98, once you arrive in Rome on Thursday, take the train to Florence. Stroll around a little on Thursday, depending on hwo much jetlag has affected you. Make reservations for the Uffizi and Accademia for Friday. Explore more of Florence on Friday and depart for Rome in the evening. On Saturday, head to the Vatican. Make reservations for the Vatican Museums, visit their website to book a tour if you'd like, this way you can avoid the long lines, but not the crowds. Explore Rome for the remainder of Saturday, Sunday and Monday morning.

Hope this helps.

SWILLIAMS thank you...
So.. you would not stay over in Florence on Friday too and come back to Rome early afternoon Saturday?
Your itinerary sounds very nice. I should be in Florence 2pm latest with customs at airport and catching train and all. Explore rest Thursday then Friday all day see museums late Friday take train and still have my 3 nights in Rome. This way I have all of Saturday - Sunday/ Monday morning in Rome.
What else is there to do Sat - Spanish steps, Trevi Fountain, Colosseum.
Will Vatican Tour takes most of day?
Thank you again. Any hotels in Florence that you can recommend?