Hi, My family(active adults + 2 male teens) arrive in Rome on a Sunday afternoon and fly out of Venice on Friday morning. I am looking for recommendations re travel. Rent a car vs take the train? Initially we were only going to stay in Rome and Venice, but one of my teens insists on Florence for a day...Teens
I was thinking 2 days in Rome, 1 in Florence, 1 in Venice.
Thoughts? Thanks!

If it is Florence for a day, you can see it enroute to Venice by parking your luggage at the train station.

What days in January are you looking at? Early January runs much less risk of truly lousy weather -- but I warn you, it has snowed in all three cities in December and January at various times over the past 10 years.

You face the real possibility of arriving in Rome and finding weather that is impossible for anything other than indoor activities, and likewise your other destinations. And transportation delays.

Don't foreget too that days will be short.

All that said, I went to Rome last year from Jan 8 - Jan 15 and enjoyed nothing but sunny skies and mild weather. I sat in outdoor cafes and toured the ruins and it was all pleasant.

But had it been freezing, I would have been glad for all those museums, churches and underground tombs.

We are there the 6th-11th. Hoping for agreable weather too! So it sounds like you would recommend taking the train?

Absolutely -- even if you were going in the middle of May. Definitely do not rent a car.

The train is so easy and your time is so short...we did the reverse itinerary last fall (albeit with several additional days) and would recommend the train.

Thanks, this is very helpful. How would you recommend breaking up the travel by train to maximize sight seeing?

Here's how you could do it, though with so little time I would stay the whole time in Venice or Rome and perhaps take a day trip to Florence from wherever I was staying:

Sun, Jan 6: arrive Rome
Mon, Jan 7: Rome
Tue, Jan 8: Rome
Wed, Jan 9: early train to Florence; check luggage at train station; see bits of Florence; have lunch; afternoon train to Venice
Thu, Jan 10: Venice
Fri, Jan 11: depart Venice

Or skip Florence and head straight to Venice on Wednesday.

Sorry - you don't have 5 days - you have 4 days - Mon to Thurs - and about 1.5 of those day will be spend in travel - so you have 2.5 days and 3 cities.

Honestly - you should just stay in Rome and get an idea of what it's really like.


IMHO what you are trying to do is a tour of the train stations and hotels of Italy.

Arriving Sunday afternoon from the US you'll have serious jet lag.

Ellenem's itinerary makes the most sense.
2 full days to see Rome (you really need a week or 2!)
An afternoon in Florence - make reservations for the 2 big museums or you'll spend all your time in line!
And a day in Venice.

It's a quick trip, the equivalent of seeing everything in New York, train to Philly, hurry and see Independence Hall and Liberty Bell, back on the train to Washington DC - in 5 days.

Agree with nytraveler and hollywoodsc. With your current itinerary, most of your time is going to be spent getting from one place to another without adequate time to experience any of these places.