jul4

looking for your suggestions-My Husband and I are going to Italy in July and have two days in Venice and and three in a half days in Rome. From Rome i know that one day I want to do a trip to pompeii and the Alfami(spelling??) coast. what else are the must do and sees. Also on the way to Rome we will take the train and do a quick visit to Florence and maybe Pisa for a picture which I know people say is over rated but still i want to see it. Thanks (pretty please no comments about length of our trip-this is all the time we have)

PalenQ

Florence makes an easy stop by train but going to Pisa is not if you want to see anything of Florence. Book trains far ahead of time for nice discounts - www.trenitalia.com or www.italotreno.com - 2 competing rail systems using same tracks and stations - book your own tickets online - www.seat61.com has loads on doing that - general info trains www.ricksteves.com and BETS-European Rail Experts.

What do you mean 3 1/2 days in Rome - does that include train from Venice and Florence stopover - if not you have 3 days in Rome - Pompeii is a long day trip but possible by train or excursion bus.

StCirq

Sounds like you'd benefit greatly from reading a guidebook and making some choices. And learning to spell, and hopefully pronounce, the names of the places you might visit. Like AMALFI.

You don't have even half enough time to do everything you have outlined.

geetika

PalenQ

It will cost more I think to jump off in Florence and taking later train to Rome - needing two tickets though there may be a way of building a stop into discounted tickets but I expect not. Full-fare tickets probably allow that.

Jean

The issue is not the length of your trip. The issue is how much is advisable/realistic in the amount of time you have. It sounds like you fly into Venice and out of Rome. It sounds like you have 6 days, not including your arrival or departure days. If correct, I suggest (since you asked) that you only visit Venice and Rome. The train ride from one to the other takes 4 hours.

If you tried to do Florence and Pisa, you'd have to store and retrieve your luggage twice, once at the Florence train station and again at the Pisa train station. You need timed entry reservations for things you'd want to see/do in Florence if you didn't want to spend your precious time waiting in lines, and you need a timed entry reservation if you want to climb the Leaning Tower in Pisa.

Traveler_Nick

I'm not suggesting a side trip to Pisa but the OP could just store the bags at in Florence. They'll have to go back to Florence from Pisa so no point hauling the bags first to Pisa and then back.

Still not enough time for what the OP is asking for.

jul4

thanks for train info. maybe we will have to skip Pisa-someone had said they thought you could stop for a quick picture but sounds like it might not be worth it.
Once we get to Rome we will have three full days and a half day the day we leave. One day i will book a bus tour to Pompeii and the coast. i am trying to figure out how to best organize and use my time in Rome to see as much as possible.

Jean

Before you book your bus tour to Pompeii/AC, decide on your Rome priorities and work up a daily itinerary to make sure you actually could sacrifice an entire day. If you don't tolerate heat and humidity well, consider how fast a pace you could maintain especially during the middle of the day.

Some standard train connections in Florence on the Pisa-Rome route would be too short (16 minutes), others are longer (36 minutes), so if buying tickets in advance you'd have to be careful about which train you book. Even the longer connection might not work if the train from Pisa is late. But there are some trains from Pisa to Roma Termini that are direct with no connection in Florence. However, I'm glad to hear you're willing to skip Pisa.

Calabria62

Ok, so if you do a day trip from Rome to Pompeii, you will have two days in Rome itself. You can do imperial Rome, i.e. the Forum,Colisseum, etc., or perhaps religious Rome, i.e. the Vatican, the Sistine Chapel, or any of the more than 300 churches in Rome and their wonderful art, Monumental Rome, i.e. the famous monuments.....Trevi Fountain, Vittorio Emmanuele, Pantheon, etc. or a smattering of each.

You will have to choose which of these are most important to you. Try looking at different websites, or books, i.e. Frommer's Rome Day by Day, Rick Steves' books, or visitacity.com. All will be helpful to you.

Sassafrass

July will be cooking hot all over, but absolutely baking in Pompeii and there is no shade. Take plenty of water and sunscreen. Venice will be crowded to the point of hardly space to move, plus muggy and hot. Rome, hot but at least has restaurants and shade. Sightsee outside as much as possible in the morning. Inside museums in the afternoon.

This may sound totally insane at first pass, and, being a super slow and lazy traveler, I would not do it, but you seem determined to do the nearly impossible, so I suggest this plan would work. It would help greatly to know your exact arrival time in Venice. I hope you are not counting arrival day as a day there. If so. . . might not work.

Day 1, Venice
Day 2, Venice in the morning - mid afternoon. late afternoon train to Florence. Stay near station. Nice walk and dinner. Florence is small. Walk to the Arno and Ponte Vecchio.
Day 3, Get up very early, quick walk of Duomo area, perhaps see Santa Croce (good, fast dose of history and great architecture). By noon, catch train and go all the way to Naples. If you are up to it and get there in time, do archeological museum. Otherwise, stay in a hotel with a pool. relax.
Day 4, Two options:
A. Leave luggage with hotel or take it to the station (do not remember if they have left luggage), head out as early as possible (coolest part of day) via the Circumvesuvianna local train to Pompeii. Hire guide right at the entrance to save time doing it yourself. By noon, head back to Naples, retrieve luggage and catch train directly to Rome.
B. Expensive, but easiest if you really want to see part of the AC. Have a driver pick you up at your hotel and take you to Pompeii. Do a short two hour tour. Have driver take you on down the AC and back to Naples. Catch a late train to Rome. It will be hot and crowded on the coastal road, but you could at least enjoy the views while someone else deals with traffic and curvy road, in a car rather than a bus.

jul4

how soon do i have to book train venice-florance -rome? will it sell out??

jul4

i got a map and guide book and am gong to plan out my time in Rome and get back with any questions. thanks

PalenQ

Venice-Florence-Rome trains will rarely sell out but you'll pay top dollar by buying once there. Reason for pre-booking is to get discounted tickets - you can always buy full-fare tickets even once there - there are so many trains.

jul4

[QUOTE=

You will have to choose which of these are most important to you. Try looking at different websites, or books, i.e. Frommer's Rome Day by Day, Rick Steves' books, or visitacity.com. All will be helpful to you.[/QUOTE]
visit a city has been so helpful !!! thanks

suze

how soon do i have to book train venice-florance -rome? As long as you are a bit flexible with when you go, you can just buy a ticket at the train station day before or day of travel.

I am not saying you should take a longer trip, I understand that you can't BUT 5.5 days is simply not enough to: see Venice, take a train to Florence, stop by Pisa, train to Rome, do a day trip to Pompeii, see the sights in Rome, and swing by the Almafi coast.

You need to do more realistic planning. That's good you got a map and a guidebook. That will help a lot. Cheers!

PalenQ

Yes, 5.5 days not including travel means to me Venice - brief look at Florence - Rome. Period. The vast ruins of Ostia Antica, Rome's ancient port, is a site some compare to Pompeii and is a short train ride from Rome on the metro: https://www.google.com/search?q=osti...iw=645&bih=613 .

AlessandraZoe

jul4--It sounds as though you've taken so much of the advice to heart already. GREAT!

We might be able to help you a bit more if you told us your arrival and departure times in and out of Italy and then your estimated departure time from Venice to Rome.

example:
Day One: Arrival time in Venice?
Day Two: Still in Venice or departing?
Day Three:
Day Four:
Day Five:
Day Six:

I totally understand why you'd want to see Pisa. Right now I'm not seeing that as working at all.

I also totally understand why you'd want to take an entire day of your time in Rome to see Pompeii. For me, it was a lifelong dream, and even though it was terribly hard on my kids (and we were visiting in a much cooler month), they agreed it was worth their dehydration and sunburns. But the outing truly does wipe out so many other things you might want to see in Rome. We had had a week to "splurge" for our outing; you, in comparison, have just hours.

I never had the opportunity to visit Ostia Antica, PalenQ's very smart alternative, so I can't compare it personally. But I would support anything that allows you more time to see other things in Rome during such a short visit.

Good luck planning. It's both exciting and frustrating, right?
AZ

jul4

jul4