* Venice + Rome 2 or 3 days each? *
 

I love Venice, have been there once and it clearly is one of my favorite cities. We will go this August with our kids (14 + 11)and also visit Rome. I would like 3 full days in Venice with 2 in Rome and my husband just opposite. Might you feel 3 in both? May not be able to do 3 each as will take one day from else where if then.

What would you do and why? Thank you!

I love Venice, but Rome is much larger.

My suggestion would be six days in Venice.

notbob~ So would mine, but I don't think that will make her husband very happy.
:-)

Go to Florence. Then you'll both be unhappy. :D

Can't spend more than 3 nights in Venice, guys. Want kids to see as much as possible, inc. Rome. Florence planned for one day.

Deb,

Where and when's the "elsewhere" you referred to? Hopefully, you're de-jetlagging prior to the Venice/Rome thing?

I think that there is just too much for your kids to see in Rome, to give it less time than Venice.

But I'm confused about your time line. Can you explain it a little more clearly in terms of where you land, when, when you leave, etc.?

Yes, folks, I have it below and it is NOT set in stone, yet. Recouping from jet lag on train to Venice:

Trip 8-24 August

* Lv. NY 8 August, arrive Milano 10:30 AM. on 9 August. Shuttle from Malpensa Airport to Milano's Centrale Stazione, train to Venice (rest from jet lag on train) arrive late afternoon.

* Venice- 9, 10 & 11, leave Venice, early AM train to Rome.

* Rome 12, 13 & 14 pick up a car, drive to Itri (near Gaeta).

* 15 Itri see cousins.

* 16 drive to Naples, take ferry/hydrofoil to Capri, remain at night.

* 17 ferry/hydrofoil back to Naples, see Pompii, drive to Perugia/Assis, stay night.

* 18 Siena/Pisa/ San Gimignano.

* 19 Florence.

* 20 Bologna/ Modena, see cousins in Reggio Emelia.

* 21 Drive to Lake Como, stay overnight.

* 22 Return to Milano, stay until departure.

* 24 Morning departure Malpensa to NY.

Don't you know, you need a vacation at home, AFTER your real vacation? We are trying to get in what we can without a rat race. ANY advice is welcome! Thanks!

Wow - your trip is very ambitious! Are you sure you want to cover so much? Just the thought of trying to see Siena, Pisa and San Gimignano in one day makes me exhausted.

In response to your question, I love Venice, but if forced to choose, I'd definitely spend more time in Rome. It's just so much bigger than Venice, in terms of physical space and also the history of the place.

We need to finalize trip, it is not there yet. I hear Cinque Terre is nice, want to look into and delete another area if so be. Need to further tweak trip! We do not get to Europe that often and when we do, cannot take more than 2 wks. due to my husband's job.

Did not mention that my daughter (will be 15 this June) won a scholarship to study Italian for two weeks, first in Florence then another week outside of Venice. She returns 2 Aug. and we leave 8th!! I may fly over earlier, pick her up and spend few days in Paris, then meet rest of family in Milano on 9th!! The opportunity struck and we accepted her trip, even though ours was planned way before her winning this. How's that for craziness!!! You know, when it rains, it pours . . .!!

Ciaodeb, I am sorry to say there is no way I would take the trip with your itinerary. The 17th for example. Leave Capri, arrive Naples, visit Pompeii and than drive to either Assisi or Perugia. No that wouldn't work for me. What time to do you plan on leaving Capri and how long do you plan on visiting Pompeii? The 18th..as txtree posted. No, this itinerary gives me a headache and tires me out just thinking about it ciaodeb.

LoveItaly-- We are trying to get a lot in for the kids and too much, indeed.

We just took another look and must eliminate Capri and Naples. Figure kids may not enjoy the hiking we want to do. When we go again, whenever, they will be older and we will see Capri, Sardegna, Sicily (see cousins) and Pompii in Naples. When we thought about Capri earlier this evening, we felt it might be too much and you guys confirmed that.

So, when we leave my cousins in Itri on Sat. 16 Aug. we will have showed our kids the family farms and area of old castle, where my dad was from. We then will not be under pressure to drive north and now feel better with this. Our goal is try and reach Assisi/Perugia, stay night in one of those areas. We then spend few days in Tuscany, which is not 100% planned yet . Need to read about areas to see what interests us. Have any ideas for lovely, mid-evil Tuscan towns/areas? Grosseto?

One-night stays eat up a lot of time besides the travel time between the different cities. Getting four people packed up and out of one hotel, actually checking out, traveling to another city, then checking into the next hotel will take at least half a day, probably more.

For August 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, and 21 you are changing hotels and traveling to another city every day. August 15 is the beginning of the traditional italian summer vacation, Ferragosto. You and a good percentage of the Italian population will all be on vacation together.

3 days in Venice and 2 days in Rome is beginning to sound relaxing.

Are you locked in to the Milan arrive and depart? Much easier and maybe even cheaper to fly into Marco Polo in Venice. rather than train.

Here are my suggestions, because quite frankly your itinerary would probably kill me or put me in an Italian prison after killing someone else.

Venice arrive 8/9 depart 8/12
Rome arrive 8/12 depart 8/14 or 8/15
Itri arrive 8/14/15 depart 8/17

Assisi arrive 8/17 depart 8/18
Siena arrive 8/18 depart 8/21
Reggio Emelia arrive 8/21 depart 8/23
stay night of 8/23 near Malpensa
fly home 8/24

You have day trips possble to Tuscan sites from Siena and Bologna, Modena and Parma from Reggio Emelia and the area around Itri looks interesting as well. I'd suggest skipping Florence with amount of time you allotted.

Don't short change family or underestimate the amount of time needed with them once you get there. Heck it takes my dad and I all day to go see my Italian cousins and they only live about 30 miles away.

The other thing to remember is that even though it not seem very far away or that Mappy or another website says it will take a certain amount of time to drive. WE have always found that it just takes longer.

My dad and took my son to the village where my grandfather was born up the Dolomites for three nights when he was 13. This is a place where "watching paint dry" would be the excitement for the day. Even now 8 years later thats the part of the 14 day trip he talks the most about.

notbob-- Indeed we are locked into Milano as American Airlines only flies Rome but and of late, added Milano. Since we heard about it, we used our freq. flyer miles and Rome flight did not offer any seats for us, so had to take Milano both ways. Most people did not know of this new city for American so there were freq. flyer seats open for the four of us.

I am not thrilled with this as we easily could have fit all in if we could have flown into Venice, opr even Milano, seen all northern Italy first and then central/south to Naples/Capri last, departing from Roma.

Thank you for all the day trip suggestions. That is funny about the, "paint drying" -- and your son will always remember it!!!

“Want kids to see as much as possible”

Why? Italy is not going anywhere (hopefully). It might be more enjoyable to have a more relaxing time and see things in more depth.

Just to add in my 2cents... if I have a choice I'd do 3 days in Rome, 1 day traveling to Venice, and 2 days in Venice. There are SO many things to see & do in Roma!

Hi ciaodeb,

here's my two penn'oth.

First of all, look at your fixed points - flights and [i asssume] dates of family visits.

The trick is to fit a sensible itinerary around these.

What you get is this:

9 aug - arrive milano

15 aug - cousins in itri

20 aug - cousins in reggio emelia

24 aug - fly home out of Milano


what does this show you? - your fixed points are all in Nothern Italy. so why not arrange your trip in that area? - there's plenty to see after all.

how about this:

9 aug - arrive milan - transfer to Venice. stay until

15 aug - visit cousins [not sure where itri is??]

16 aug - travel to CT/Florence/ tuscany, stay til

20 aug - visit cousins in reggio emelia

21 aug - drive to como

24 aug - go home.

Rome will still be there another time. Venice may not be. also there is water in venice, plus the beach at the lido and therefore the possiblity of its being cooler than Rome in august, which could be hell.

regards, ann

ann--Itri is in the south of Rome, near Gaeta.