We will be in Rome and only have time to visit one of the two cities listed above. We will have our children ages 17 and 15 with us. Which one or should we only concentrate on Rome and vicinity??? Thanks!

how much time do you have all together, and how many days of that are you devoting to Rome as of now? What time of year?

Florence is certainly closer, about 90 minutes by train, as opposed to 4.5 hours by train to Venice.

Florence is especially rich in museums
and in Renaissance art. Michelangelo's David is there, reason enough imo to consider going. On the other hand, Venice has some wonderful art as well, but just wandering around in that unique city is memorable and rewarding, even if you don't go into any museums or churches, so the teens might prefer it

I have long files on both cities, if you'd like to see them email me at
[email protected]

Hi dfo,

Hmmmmmmmmmm.

I would go to Venice and Florence and skip Rome.

However, for how long will you be in Rome?

All you need is 2-3 days in Florence and the 3-4 days in Venice. Maybe not that much. I would do Venice before Florence. Although I would stop at Piza on the way for a while and see the leaning tower if you can. Not that great but why go so close and not see it. I like to spend 4 days at the most as it is nice to move to the next city. The trains are easy and cheap. Take the Eurpstar between the cities.

We have 8 days all together.

If you didn't already get your tickets, fly into Venice and out of Rome or vice versa. I have been there 6 times and every city has its own beauty. You can see a lot, when you are young, in a few days. We saw a lot in 3 days in Rome and we are in our 60's. But if you can only do one city, I would vote for Florence.

Eight days, huh? That's a tough one. If you do an open-jaw itinerary, you could conceivably do a 4-2-2 split. But that's a lot of moving around, I guess.

Without knowing the time of year, I'd say: 5 in Roma, 3 in Venizia. Ciao!

I suppose that it really depends on how much you want to see in Rome, but there's no reason why you couldn't do all 3. Use the Trenitalia ES (superfast) trains. I would do 3 days in Rome, 2 in Venice, 3 in Florence - you could even incorporate a morning excursion to Pisa from Florence as it isn't far. Gosh, some people only do a 1/2 day in Venice on some of those dreadful package tours.

Whilst you won't see everything there is to see at any one place it will certainly give you and your children a very nice taste.

Hi dfo,

With only 8 days, I suggest that you limit your visit to Rome.

Both Florence and Venice should be no less than an overnight.

Start planning your next trip - 3 nights in Venice, 4 nights in Florence.

Two very nice daytrips from Rome - Ostia Antica and Orvieto.

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Everybody is making this soooo complicated. Simple answer? ROME & VENICE.

I echo the Rome and Venice theme. 4 or 5 Days Rome and 4 or 3 days Venice.

Normally no hesitation - Venice. BUT they have had unusually high flooding so I would check that out. Right now to walk San Marco square you have to walk on boards. If it's still expected to be that way when you get there, go Florence.

We went to Rome for 9 days and still feel like we have so much we want to see. But I do wish that we would have gone somewhere else for part of the time. I vote for Rome and Venice.

Rome and Venice
or
3 days in Rome, 2 in Florence, 3 Venice

I loved Venice, but would definitely be scared away by the flooding -- I saw on TV there is 18 inches of water in many places now! Better to go when it's dry (if there is such a time of year -- I was there in June two years ago and a slight rain flooded the main square).
I too would vote for Florence and Venice and skip Rome. But if you have your heart set on Rome, Florence is wonderful and very easy to get to via train.

I agree with Ira, less Rome, more Florence and Venice. Agree with Nlingfel see about flying into Rome and out of Venice or vice versa. Perhaps 2 Rome, 3 Florence, 3 Venice.

dfo, definitely choose Rome and Venice, especially with a 15 and 17 year old along! We just did our first family trip to Italy in June with a 22-year-old son, and daughters 18 and 17 years. The "kids" voted unanimously that Rome was their #1 favorite, followed by Venice. Florence was their least favorite.

Plenty to do in rome and Venice. My teens were awed by St. Peter's Basilica...it's size alone is magnificent! Their mouths were hanging open, literally, at the size and grandeur of it.

Teens also loved the Pantheon in rome. It is especially fun if you can choose a hotel within walking distance of the Pantheon so you can go more than once. It's free and it's in a very fun walkable neighborhood.

Trevi fountain in rome was another big hit.

In Venice stay for at least 3 days and buy each person the 3-day (72-hour) vaporetto pass which gives you unlimited on and off privileges for the vaporettos, including the ones that go to the little islands (murano, burano, etc.)

What a great trip! Buon viaggio!

dfo, if you are going when Venice is flooded that could be a problem.

To add more on Rome, we were just discussing our trip to Italy and my son said that to him, Florence seemed more like just another city, whereas Rome was more unique...Rome has the Colosseum and the Roman Forum, for example...Also, we found the Italian families running businesses in Rome (restaurants, gelato shops, etc.) to be especially warm and friendly. Florence seemed colder, my son reflected, like you are just another tourist there.

Although we saw the Uffizzi gallery in Florence my teens didn't get too excited about it. They did like Michelangelo's David (florence.)

But they were much more thrilled with the sights in Rome: the colosseum, St. Peter's, Sistine chapel, Pantheon, Trevi fountain, etc.

They also liked our private licensed tour guide in Rome, who guided us through the Ancient Rome sights (colosseum, roman forum, pantheon...) We saw the rest of Rome on our own... tour guide's name was Francesca Caruso...she's fluent in english and italian and I found her name in the Rick Steve's guidebook.

An excellent plan, which my teens loved, is to have 3 full days in a city. Plan 2 of those full days to spend together, taking into account everyone's major interests. Leave the 3rd day unplanned, as free choice day. By the 3rd day everyone will be excited and know just how they want to spend their time! On our 3rd day in rome I stayed near the hotel writing poetry and revisiting the Pantheon and Piazza Navonna. My teens were eager to return for a second look at St. Peter's, and to climb the tower, which they hadn't had time to do before. My husband went with my teens.

Food is expensive in Italy and the worst thing is to have bad, expensive food. so bring restaurant recommendations with you! If you choose restaurants randomly you'll be disappointed. I have the frommers and also the fodors guidebooks for Italy but I happened to bring the Rick Steve's guidebook with me to Italy. I used the others at home in planning. since I only had the rick steve's guidebook with us in Italy my teens begged to choose restaurant out of it because we had had some bad food choosing on our own. Rick STeve's restaurant recommendations for rome were great, very fun, authentic atmosphere, good prices.

Frommers guidebook helps a lot in planning the trip, trying to prioritize sights, etc.

I love Florence and it is closer. But for the ages you describe I'd probably have to agree with the majority that Rome and Venice would be most interesting. When are you going? Those pictures of the knee-high water in St Mark's were pretty disturbing. I've only been to Venice in summer months and it was always fine. But if you are going between now and March that would be a consideration.

I agree with what Melissa just said about having a "free" day for people to go off on their own. However, I don't agree with her suggestion to only in restaurants that you have recommendations for. Food in Italy is wonderful, even really cheap food is great. You'd have to be pretty unlucky to get bad meals there and I think you can waste alot of time looking for specific restaurants, making sure you are near one when you happen to want to eat, etc. It's just my opinion, but I say wing it when it comes to meals. My teen age children preferred pizza and gelato for many of their meals anyway.

nothing wrong with winging it, but in a city like Venice that depends almost solely on tourism, 'winging it' can have you end up in overpriced places with low quality food unless you have some ideas about where to go or at least what to avoid.

Turn a visitor loose here in New York's Times Square, aka Tourist Central, and too many of them are going to end up with lighter wallets and/or bellyaches.
Suggest that the visitor walk a few blocks away in any direction, and they will eat quite well, even on pizza or icecream.