Venice - Monaco - Nice
 

Hello!!

We're planning our first trip to Italy...and are totally lost! We have only one week...and would like to see basically Venice and Monaco. Would also like to spend a day or more in a winery (pref stay in a small village - at a winery?) Also do not want to rent a car... travel by bus/train. Any advice on how to do this. Or at least a starting point.

Hi Harmony,

You are planning to cover a lot of ground in just one week!

If it were me, I would do Venice and Florence with 2 days in the Tuscan or Umbrian countryside.

How about 3 days Venice, 2 days Florence, 2 days Siena or Orvieto? You could take a day tour of wineries from Siena for sure and maybe from Orvieto also, although I have not see anyone posting here who has done this.

I haven't been to Monaco yet myself, but friends who have say it's not that great....compared to all the other wonderful places to visit! Eze, St. Paul du Vence, San Remo.....
Buon viaggio!

I don't mean to be rude, but out of all the places to go in Europe, why Monaco? I personally find it one of the most boring and overrated places that I've ever been.

I agree with the Monaco comment. Of all the places to go if this is your first trip to Italy, I dont see Monaco as a good choice. Its like a disneyland or Vegas in my opinion.

Like the previous poster, I think that Venice plus another town would be a better choice. I think for the limited time, you should stay in Italy and soak in two places but no more. You could fly in and out of Venice or Florence/Siena. You could do day trips to Tuscany easily from Fl or Siena without changing hotels a lot.

You also would minimize the lost time in travel this way. Just getting back and forth from Monaco to Venice will chew up valuable valuable time.

Monaco is good for an amusing day if you;re already on the Riviera (makes much more sense from France (of which it is more or less part) than Italy - since it's only 30 minutes from Nice.

Don;t know what you expect to see there - but be aware that if you're thinking of doing the James Bond thing in the casino it's only certain nights that happens (you can usually tell from how many giant yachts there are in the harbor) - that it's late at night, requires fairly formal clothes and will be expensive.

Other than that (we did do it and it was fun - I love the croupiers and their "faites vos jeux" - for a little while - but we definitely didn;t have the funds to stay long) there's not so much to see/do unless you're into really expensive shopping.

Nice is in the title of your post, but you don't say anything about going there. ???

Thank you all for your comments!!! I've been to Moncao and would have liked to show my family around. I agree with your comments. Can anyone give me a specific 'wine town' near Venice? I agree that staying in Siena or Orvieto (looked it up, looks like it's what I'm looking for), problem is that we would like to see Venice and Monaco.. mabey fly in to Venice, stay a one or two days at a town between and then last 2 days Monaco before leaving from Nice. Or we could forget Venice and Monaco and arrive Rome, spend one or two days there and the rest in Orvieto exploring surroundings? Any better suggestions? What I would really like is to stay at a winery... and get the feel of everyday living in a village in Italy? Anyone got a specific one they can suggest. Don't like hotels... (I know this is confusing) Oh and I forgot to tell you planning to go mid-end of October.

Hi Harmony,

Before we can help you, you have to focus on what you want to do.

You are certainly not going to get the feel of everyday living in a village in Italy by zooming in and out.

You have one week in Italy, you want to see Venice, a small town and go to Monaco (2 days), don't want a car:

Fly into Venice - 3 days.
Train to Orvieto - overnight
Train to Monte Carlo - 10 hrs
See Monte Carlo - 2 days.

See http://plannerint.b-rail.be/bin/quer...n?L=profi&
for train schedules

Check www.whichbudget.com for cheap flights.

Myself, I would visit Venice and Florence.

Hope this helps.

((I))