Rome/Florence
 

Visiting my daughter in Madrid in early November on her study abroad program. Taking her to Italy for four days. We will land in Rome on Thursday night and have a flight back to Madrid from Florence on Monday at 6:00 PM. We will only get two days in Rome and two days in Florence with a train ride between. How should we break up our time? Should we leave Rome on Saturday night or Sunday morning to head to Florence. Basically we will get two full days in one place and a day and a half in another. Any feedback would be appreciated, as well as a place to stay in each. Thanks :-)

You may be able to settle your dilemma by just considering size: Rome is a lot bigger and more spread out than Florence, which is pretty compact. You can see a lot in Florence in a short period if you plan things out.

There are variables, of course. If you're the type of person who could spend all day viewing art in the Uffizi, then hat changes things. But in general, you'll need less time in Florence and more in Rome.

You'll have to plan your sightseeing in Florence very carefully. Many of the main sights are not open every Sunday and/or Monday which are the only days you'll be there. If the Uffizi and the Accademia are priorities, you should make entry reservations so as not to spend time waiting in lines.

https://www.polomuseale.firenze.it/en/musei/tutti.php

http://www.museumsinflorence.com/

For lodging recommendations, you should tell us your budget, or you could waste a lot of time checking out places that won't work for you.

Good point about closures.

For the Uffizi and Accademia, I prefer the international phone service: no service charge, no payment in advance, pay only when you show up to pick up your tix; operators speak excellent English and are quick and efficient.

Jean and Vincenzo32951 THANK YOU SOOOO much! I had NO idea they may be closed!

I would spend all of your nights in Rome and just take a day trip to Florence with reservations to a couple of major sights that you can see in one day. Do be sure to check the opening days of the places you want to go - since some places are closed on Monday.

If it's not possible to change your flights to this I fear Monday is a very quiet day in florence since both the Uffizi and the Accademia are closed Mondays.

What wine tour should we go on when in Florence?
Leather Market?
If we can only go to the Accademia on Sunday since it is closed on Monday, should we do the wine tour and or leather market on Monday. We have a 6:00 PM flight back to Madrid on Monday.
What about Duomo and Ponte Vecchio?

Are you talking about a wine tour in the countryside? You won't have time for any trips outside of the city. You are also going to have luggage issues. You will need to check out in Florence and store your luggage. There is luggage storage at the train station, but you will have to plan time to drop and retrieve before heading to the airport.

Honestly, my opinion is that it really depends on what you want to see and experience, and none of us can speak to that! Just for comparison, I spent 5 full days in Florence, and did not see everything I wanted to see there; and I spent 5 full days in Rome, and did not see everything I wanted to see there.

My recommendation is to consult a few GOOD guidebooks (always a worthy investment, IME, or go to a library) and decide on YOUR highest priorities, noting opening hours. Jean's very helpful note that many things in Florence will be closed on some days is exactly the kind of thing you can often learn in guidebooks. With so little time, you need to decide what YOU want.

If you are already committed to times that aren't optimal, don't despair -- even if many things in Florence will be closed when you are there, you should be able to spend some very enjoyable time roaming around and visiting those things that are open -- but you would do well to "hit the books" to learn what your options are and what appeals to you.

Enjoy!

In early November you might find that a lot of best wineries are not accepting visitors because they are too busy with the grapes themselves -- or that your two days in Tuscany have 2 days of rain, which limits the appeal of spending a lot of money to go on a wine tour.

I suggest you do the research about what's available in November, including wine experiences inside Florence (like a wine focused dinner at Pitti Gola), but then see how you feel about booking any wine tour until you can see a weather report.