JAY_IAH

I need your input to finalize my short two and half days trip to Rome this July. We are a family with two teenagers arriving in Rome on a Tuesday at noon and return flight is on Friday noon.

1. Any recommendations on a good hotel - Budget is $300/night
2. Do I buy a day trip to Florence on one of those days and spent the rest in Rome?


Thank you in advance,

Jay

HappyTrvlr

Spend all of your short time in Rome where there is so much to see. Save Florence for another trip.

Jean

Is that $300 for two double rooms?

You can go to websites like booking.com and venere.com and search by rate and location.

greg

I think there are much info missing. Do you just materialize Tuesday afternoon in Rome without coming from somewhere else?
How compelling is a trip to Florence to YOU? If Florence is just another city, the overhead in getting there and back eats up what little time you have in this area and therefore HappyTrvlr's response. It is not necessary to "buy" a day trip. It is a trivial train round trip from Rome.

I don't know if you are doing this at the end of a cruise. If this is the case,there are some trade-off you can make such as if the boat ends in Livorno then Civitavecchia, you can usually make an arrangement to get off the boat at Livorno, head to Florence, do overnight, then come to Rome.

JAY_IAH

Thank you Y'all for your advise. Actually, I am not arriving on a boat. I have planned a 7-day trip from US to spend 2 days each in London, Paris and rest in Rome. I will be arriving in London and departing from Rome.

Regards,

Jay

suec1

Brace yourself - incoming! But I have to agree - doing those 3 cities in 7 days IMO is way trying to do way too much. You lose most of a day each time you swtich cities. Can you do just 2 of them? and really, I wouldn't even think about Florence too. Each of the 3 cities have at least 3 / 4 days of A list sights.

KTtravel

How do you plan to get from London to Paris and then to Rome? Keep in mind you lose at least half a day just in travel between these places. If possible, I would cut Paris and just do London and Rome this trip as you barely have enough time to get a sense of those two places. See Paris on your next trip.

HowardR

Doing three of the greatest cities in the world in a week's time is not the best idea! A week in each of the three cities is barely enough time! As the previous posters have hinted, you'll actually end up with not that much time to see much of anything! As for including a side trip to Florence, you've got to be kidding!

Blueeyedcod

That's around 280 euro per night for a quad room in July. A tough call. I've just done a quick search and found this - location near Piazza Navona is a good one.

http://www.venere.com/bandb/rome/flo...rgval=2||12_15

Please book something ASAP as July is high season and your options will become increasingly limited.

I would just spend your time in Rome and skip Florence, unless you have a huge interest in the Renaissance.

Calabria62

Please, please, please consider spending your short week in ONE of those cities! As people have said, there is so much to see in each one, and if you must....you can do a day trip or two from any of them. I truly believe that your vacation will be much more enjoyable for everyone if you limit yourself to one major city. Just look at any guidebook to see the many sights to see in each one, in addition to the joy of wandering, people watching and hitting on interesting things serendipitusly. (To say nothing of saving time and money)

Blueeyedcod

@ everyone saying the OP needs to keep the schedule smaller - please consider that this may be their only chance they have to visit these destinations for reasons unknown to us. Not everyone has the means - financial or otherwise - to hop across the Atlantic multiple times to spend quality time in their destination of choice.

JAY_IAH

Thanks each and everyone for taking time to respond to my post. I really appreciate it. Unfortunately, I am tied up as I have already booked my Airline and Train tickets and I cannot extend the stay now. I would love to spend an extra day in each city, but I will plan properly next time and God willing it may in a year or two.

Best Regards,

Jay

Diane60030

For affordable rooms you might look at one of the area's convents. They are one of the more affordable options. They tend to be basic, but I value clean and in good locations over extra toiletries and lux towels.

nytraveler

There is SO much to see and do in Rome that I wouldn't consider a trip to Florence with teens unless they are really into Italian pre-and renaissance art.

denisea

Definitely stay in Rome. If you can throw some money at companies like Walks of Italy that can provide tours for small groups and bypass some of the ticket lines---do it. We used them for the Colisseum (including the top tier and the "basement" and the Forum) and it was worth it. We also used them for the Vatican museums, great tour, bypassed entry lines---worth it to us to do that way. You can check prices and book online.

If you feel like you need to venture out of Rome, go to Tivoli (short train ride) and visit Hadrian's Villa and Villa d'Este. Villa d'Este is a fountain lovers paradise!

Get pizza at Roscioli or Forno in Campo dei Fiori--very affordable and so much better than what passes for pizza in the US!

Enjoy your trip.

JAY_IAH

Thank You all for the good information.