Trip to Rome and Florence
 

Planning a trip to Rome and Florence Sept 30 to Oct 12, 2010. Very excited. Any travel advice would be helpful. What kind of tour companies are the best and less expensive? I arrive Oct 1 in Rome and would like to go to Florence right away. Do I hire a car/driver or take the train? What is an unexpensive way to see all the sights? If you use a tour company you can skip the lines. If you do it on your own you may be standing in line for hours - any suggestions. Day trips? Any info would be appreciated? Is the train better and less expensive than a shuttle?
Thanks
Audrey

"What kind of tour companies are the best and less expensive?...What is an unexpensive way to see all the sights?"

If budget is a concern, don't use any tour companies, buy tickets and then just go to the sites.

"If you use a tour company you can skip the lines. If you do it on your own you may be standing in line for hours - any suggestions."

Don't go during the busy season?

"Do I hire a car/driver or take the train?"

If you can't switch to fly to Florence instead of Rome, you can take the Leonardo Express from FCO (assuming that's the Rome airport you are flying into) to Termini and then take the train to Florence.

"Day trips?"

From Florence - Siena, maybe?
From Rome - Ostia Antica or Orvieto, maybe?

"Is the train better and less expensive than a shuttle?"

Train where? shuttle where?

If you haven't already booked your air tickets, consider flying DIRECTLY into Florence airport, even if you have to make a switch in Rome or another airport. Since yours is such a short trip, you should be able to do carry-on, so no risk of lost luggage.

Flying directly into Florence is often the CHEAPEST way to get there.

HOWEVER:

How interested are you in Renaissance art and history? Many people find it just as thrilling and satisfying to see Florence as day trip from Rome. It is only 90 minutes from Rome by fast train. If your main interest in seeing Florence is the highlights, you can go up for a day and book a guided day tour.

Obviously this won't work if you already have your heart set on seeing several museums and many sights. But just a thought.

There are dozens of fascinating day trips available from both Rome and Florence. You should identify your interests -- gardens, wine, archeology, great architecture, ceramics -- what have you -- to get the best suggestions.

You do not have to use a tour company to skip the lines, there are many ways of doing it. As an example, with the Colosseum-don't buy tickets at the Colosseum, instead purchase your ticket at either the Roman Forum entry on Via Imperiali or the Palatine entry on Via San Gregorio or purchase the Roma Pass. Vatican Museums-do the 8am entry (if it is still available) or wait until mid-afternoon when the lines are often very short or non-existent. Don't go on a Wednesday or the free Sunday (last Sunday of the month).

good advice above

I have been to Rome and Florence a number of times and am still pondering daveesl's advice to not go on a Wednesday if you want to avoid lines. Are you speaking only of the Vatican Museums? Can you elaborate?

Alabrash, if at all possible fly into Florence and out of Rome. That will save you extra travel on the day you arrive and are likely to be somewhat jet lagged.

In rome, if you buy a Roma Pass, you get free admission to two museums or historical sites. One of those should be the Forum/Palatine/Colosseum site, which is considered all one place for ticketing purposes. Then at the Colosseum you can keep to the left of the big line waiting to buy tickets, and get in much faster.

The RomaPass also allows you to ride the buses free for three days. (Just be sure to stamp your pass in the yellow box the first time you get on the bus.) That means you don't have to worry about having change, or how much it costs, etc. You also get a very good map of the bus system with your pass.

For museums in Rome and Florence, reserve your tickets online before you go. then you don't have to stand in line for hours.

What I should have made more clear in my post is that in many cases after the Wednesday mass many people will go around to the Vatican Museums in the afternoon, thus creating afternoon lines.

dave

I just got back from Itlay--Florence, Tuscany and Rome.
If you search Leonardo Espress or train to
Florence -you will get find very specific info as to how to do it. We took the train to Florence and then a cab to our hotel. It was easy and no problem. We also down loaded Rick Steve's pod casts on our ipods. They were great--check his sight --there is not charge for them. He has several for Florence and Rome.

We did not do any formal tours in Florence, but walked all over and saw a lot. In Rome we ordered our tickets ahead of time for the Vatican. It probably is worth taking a tour--it could be a group tour --on the Vatican site. It was sold out when we tried to book it. We did take a tour that we signed up for at the coloseum. I think it was Rome Tours.
Have a great trip.

We were in both Rome and Florence last month. From Florence, book THE BEST OF TUSCANY day tour 8am-8pm from walkabout tours

http://www.walkaboutpass.comnqconten...ytour_homepage

It was by far the BEST and most reasonable, comprehensive, fabulous tour day ever! (And we've been on some pretty cool tours in Italy, Germany, Austria, Australia, Bangkok etc etc..)

Tours in Rome: Antica Roma by context tours...

We've done this tour three times in the last 10 years and each one different and GREAT! NOT CHEAP but worth every euro!!!

http://www.contexttravel.com/city/Rome

Good luck and have a WONDERFUL trip!

bookmarking

If you want to use an inexpensive tour company within Rome, I recommend this one: I've taken a few of their walking tours and been satisfied. Groups are usually small and the guides have been native English speakers. I do not think they are on the level of Context Tours, linked above, but they are much less pricey:

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

I've also taken a private tour with a wonderful guide, Francesca Caruso, who I highly recommend.

You can pre-book some of the sights in Florence such as the Efuzzi Gallery and the Accademia (David by Michaelangelo).

Strongly recommend against day-trip to Florence. You have a good amount of time to split between Rome and Florence with maybe even a daytrip via tourguide or by train to Sienna or the like. I think Italy is a country easily explored without a tourguide other than a good tour book. I found Rick Steves to be particularly good. Some of his guidebooks are hit or miss, but I think Italy is his specialty and if you get his book there are many tips on how to avoid lines. Making an appointment at some places is one of them.

A word of advice on the Effuzi, in Rome and Florence there is a massive amount of Renaissance Art. Some is found in churches (mainly copies) and their associated museums (with the originals). There is also the Vatican. Others may disagree, but if you're not a Renaissance Art buff, I really recommend against Effuzzi if you're not spending much time in Florence. There are so many places to see there, that it's not worth the money or exhaustion.

A museum that I wholeheartedly recommend is the Borghese Gallery in Rome. For this museum, you MUST book in advance and will not be admitted without an appointment (though a good concierge can do it for you if necessary). Every visitor is given a 2 hour block and that's it. IMHO, it's the most wonderful museum, and best kept secret, in Italy.

I realize that my opinion on Effuzzi may be a bit harsh and many will disagree because it is a major attraction. Perhaps better advice would've been just to take your interest in this type of art into consideration when planning how much time to spend there.

If you do like that kind of art by the way, you will absolutely love this museum.

Chadnycity, actually I was intrigued by your opinion. I found the Uffizi at the same time overwhelming and underwhelming. It was overwhelming in that it was so big and sprawling, and there was art stashed everywhere -- so many marble busts of whosit and whatsit that they lined the ceiling like plates on a plate rail.

On the other hand, the Uffizi was huge and (I felt) poorly organized. We wandered room after room, stumbling on hidden treasures along the way. It just seemed to go on and on, but I didn't feel as if I dared miss a room. Frankly, I was exhausted and unable to appreciate the art by the time we got maybe halfway through. But we still slogged through the rest. (Even so, I'm not sure I would have wanted to totally miss it.)

I also enjoyed the Borghese Gallery. We took advantage of the tour they offered in English...our guide was great and really helped me get a feel for the art, the family, and the times. I'd highly recommend it.

beeswing, you're probably more on point than I was with first opinion, so I tried to soften it with the second. My wife and I used the audio-guide and it was pretty redundant, talking about 4 Virgin Marys and pointing out how the covering on her hair changed by an inch across several paintings. Thanks for the spelling correction.

We didn't do the audio guides; they drive me crazy. I don't know if using one would have made our Uffizi visit better or worse. How long were you at the Uffizi using the audio guide?

Over 3 hours and then another 1.5 to recover. Wish we had spent more time at Pitti Palace instead. How about you?

Interestingly enough, about the same (although more recovery time, on my part!).

We went to the Pitti Palace primarily to see the Boboli Gardens...and I really wished I'd saved more energy for the place and could have spent more time there. By the time we'd walked there from our hotel, fighting the crowds and the heat, we were already exhausted. We walked around the gardens a bit, took several pictures of the one cat we found there, and then caught a taxi back. I would have liked to have seen more.

It's really a shame that the Uffizi is so poorly organized. I found it so when I first went there 20 years ago, and people still complain about it. I don't know if it's their attitude that "here's all this great art we stuck in here -- enjoy" or what is the problem.