A big hello to Italy!

Well, you could start here on this very website:rick steves italy planner And also click on the menu link on the left side of this page under "Watch, Read, Listen". Then there is the old-fashioned way of reading a guidebook on the subject. Rick's book (and videos) on Italy are pretty good. There's a lot to know, and without something to trigger specific questions, you'll get a shotgun-load of information without any organization.

Budget info is particularly difficult to address since no one but you knows your expected level-of-comfort. Transportation and hotels are the biggest cost and you need to recognize the options abroad can be very different from what you might be used to at home.

Lastly, you're planning for twelve days, but you must understand that traveling from one location to another eats up a lot of that time. So the more places you visit, the less time to see anything. It helps to count nights, instead of days, as you wont have whole days anywhere on the days you are re-locating. Then there is jet lag which can make the first couple of days less than optimal.

The first thing is your homework not ours. Go to your public library and check out guide books and travel DVDs for these locations and spend time deciding what you and the group wants to see. All must-sees are well covered in all guide books. We cannot write a guidebook for you here because of limited space. I could lay out a schedule for you that you might find totally unacceptable. So do some planning first.

Divide you budget into two parts. Separate the to and from air transportation from the daily budget. After that maybe a $100 to $125 per person/per day. And that is very variable because it is dependent on the level of hotel acceptable to you and, of course, additional travel. And time of year will impact costs. Personally think you budget could be way over the top. I think $10,000 for air and another $10.000 on the ground would be closer to the budget we would follow.

I am not the biggest fan of Venice so I would reduce it by a day and add it to Rome or even Florence. Keep in mind that everytime you change location you lost most of that day for sightseeing. So 12 days is really 9 days and I assume that the 12 days does not include arrival or departure day. And definitely do an open jaw ticket into Venice and home from Rome. Cheaper and save time.

Come back with specific questions, that we can more easily address for you.

What time of year will you take the trip?

What is the make-up of the traveling party: parents and 4 young children (in that case ages might help responders)? Parents, two adult children and their spouses?

What sleeping arrangements do you need--three double or twin rooms, or something else?

What class of hotel are you considering? There's a huge price range out there. You can go to a website like booking.com and explore current costs in your target cities for your planned travel period.

On the surface your budget looks extremely generous to me, especially since it appears you don't intend for it to cover the transatlantic airfare. If I'm wrong about that, please correct me and give us your origin airport.

I see you have ".ca" in your user name--so are you talking Canadian dollars for your budget?

It would be helpful to know the experience(s) of you and your group related to European travel. If this is the first European venture for any in your group, I recommend reading "Europe Through the Back Door" by Rick Steves (usually available through your nearest library). It contains a wealth of information!

When you book airfare, look at the "multi city" option to fly into Venice and out of Rome.

If you plan to travel between cities by train (highly recommended, even/especially by those who have spent a lot of time in Italy) the website www.seat61.com will give you a good idea of how to best use Italian trains.

You didn't mention anything about the make-up of your group. Speaking as one who is also the family trip planner, I advise you to strongly encourage the others in the group to give input in what they wish to see/do. Even if each person gives you just one must-see for each city it will help you plan a trip that is meaningful to all. If you're talking six adults (or even a family of 2 adults and 4 kids), remember that you don't have to spend every moment of every day together--maybe two want to wander the back streets of Venice and four want to visit an art museum--this is fine!

Once you start firming up the sites you want to visit, make sure to post specific questions on this Forum. I've found it very helpful to get advice related to pre-booking visits to major sites, using (or not) tourist cards/passes, and pacing/organizing visits to museums, churches, etc.

Enjoy your planning!

"Where should we stay? Where to eat? Where to shop?What to all see?"

https://www.ricksteves.com/travel-tips

https://www.ricksteves.com/europe/italy

Welcome to the RS forums, Daniel. :O)

You've already been given excellent advice above that I'll just echo: go to the bookstore and library and get your hands on travel guides about Italy and, more specifically, the 3 cities you are planning to visit. As you browse, jot down attractions and activities which will appeal to you and your group, and then come back with any specific questions about them you may have. Oh, and assuming your travel companions are old enough to pack their own suitcases, get that group of yours to help!

See, not knowing anything about you or your group, we've no idea what to recommend. I can, for instance, send you to churches and art museums all day long but if you don't care for those, then I haven't been any help. Accommodations? How much do you want to spend per night and how may rooms will you need? Do you normally prefer budget properties or posh, 5-star hotels? Lots and lots of variables....

Additionally, the forum history is a wealth of info so you can search, say, for recent discussions/articles about accommodations or restaurants in Florence, Rome or Venice, along with other topics. See the search box at the very top of this page? If you type "restaurants, Rome" into the box and hit "go", it'll take you to a list of prior discussions/articles.

If you then click "travel forum" in the grey box on the left: that will narrow the search JUST to forum discussions. Then in same box, you can narrow further to most recent threads under "filter by date" to only those in the past 2 years, 1 year or 6 months.

12 days isn't really an "extended period" for Italy. To realistically weigh the amount of sightseeing time you actually have to work with, it's best to count by number of nights you'll have on the ground in Italy. In other words, days spent getting there and coming home don't count. Days you transfer from one city to another are counted as partials versus FULL days, as does arrival day as it can be a jet-lagged haze and your biggest risk of a schedule delay where flights are concerned.

A terrific website for understanding train travel in Italy; spend some time with it and come back with questions? It's really not at all as complicated as you might be thinking. Seriously, if my transport-challenged brain figured most of it out, ANYONE can!

https://www.seat61.com/Italy-trains.htm

Editing to add....
One caveat about guide books? It's usually impossible for them to be absolutely current when it comes to hours, entry fees, closures for restorations/repairs, etc. so it's always best to use the websites for the attractions themselves for gathering those details. We can send you to some of those once you've sketched out a rough must-see list.

I suggest Rome 5 days, Florence 4 and Venice 3.

In Florence, I suggest the Hotel Balesteri, on the Arno, great location.

In Rome, we like the area around the Pantheon.

Of course, since you are a party of 6, it might make sense to find an apartment on airb&b

Verona is nice, but with the time you have, I would stick with the big three.

Dear wife and I spent about $12,000 for the two of us for 28 days in Wales and England. Italy is not more expensive, although Venice is relatively expensive.

I've not done multi city stays in Italy other than a flight to Milan and straight onto a train to Rome for a Six Nations match as it was far cheaper to fly to Milan, take the fast train to Rome than it was to fly direct to Rome. On that occasion we left London on an 09:20 flight to Milan Linate landing at 12:20, took a bus to Milan Central train station for the 15:00 train to Rome Termini arriving at 17:55. Our lodging was in the Termini area and took 10 minutes of so to walk to, after a bit of time spent checking in, in addition to getting stuck in the lift (four adult men unwisely cramming themselves into an elevator probably installed 100 years ago was not going to end well and it gave up between floors). After rescuing, checking in and dropping off bags it was just gone 20:30 so a quick walk to a local bar and scope for a restaurant resulted in sitting down for dinner around 22:00. I tell you this just as an example of how much time inter city travel can take (although admittedly we started out in a different country) but also take into account that this was four, well travelled men who did not need cajoling, entertaining, comforting or dealing with whingeing as will be inevitable with children.

I've been to Rome many times, it's my favourite city in the world and I could easily spend the entire 12 days you have there however everyone is different and as you haven't provided any details of interests or make up of the party I will agree that 5 days is probably a good amount of time for a first visit taste of Rome. The Vatican needn't be considered as a side trip as it is in Rome itself and can easily be reached on foot from many of the other major sights (or quicker and easier via the metro). My interest in Rome is centred more around the pre-Christianity period so The Vatican holds little interest for me although St Peter's Square and the Basillica are impressive. I've yet to be persuaded to join the throngs to view the Sistine Chapel mainly because there are other thngs I'd rather view, I can't stand waiting in long queues and there's always food to be searching out for but others hold different views.

Florence is nice enough but for me it doesn't have a patch on Rome. The Uffizi Gallery was enjoyable up to a certain point but much like the British Museum where you turn a corner only to be confronted with yet another row of tombed mummies the same applies to turning a corner to be confronted by rows of more statues and carvings. There's some interesting art, much of it religious in nature and certainly repetetive in theme. I enjoyed the food more in Rome and other parts of southern Italy I've been to and I found three days to be sufficient. I sense a general split of opinion between those who prefer Rome and those who prefer Florence. Whilst in Florence we took the opportunity to drop off our luggage at the train station just outside Pisa airport and took the brief walk to leaning tower. Maybe it's just me, I'm not the most excitable person but my wife is the complete opposite and even she found it underwhelming. It's just become a commercialised circus, crammed full of tourists all doing the "look at me holding up the tower" photo pose (even in February, I can't imagine what it's like in peak season). It's an interesting looking building that happens to be subsiding but having travelled throughout Europe looking at far more interesting buildings it just feels gimmicky. For us, it was a 20 minute walk there and back that managed to kill some time before our flight. Would I advocate a dedicated trip to see it? No. Will others claim otherwise? Absolutely.

I've never been to Venice so cannot offer any advice of use. It's low on my list of places to visit simply because of the saturation point with tourists (much like Cinque Terre). I only have limited opportunity to travel (until released from the burden of school holidays) so there are plenty of other places that I would prefer to visit first.

I like to watch the Rick Steves tv shows and clips for places that I will be visiting. I actually watch them several times. My favorite guidebooks are RS, Lonely Planet and Eyewitness Travel(because of the photos and building diagrams). I have traveled to Europe quite a few times now, just not to Italy. I am in the process of planning our October trip to Italy. I have a bit more than 3 weeks. If it helps, my itinerary is Varenna (2 nights) Cinque Terre (Manarola, 2 nights) Florence (3 nights) Sienna (2 nights) Rome (RS tour, 7 nights) Sorrento (3 nights) Rome prior to flight home (1 night). I have booked all my hotel/inn rooms. I'm finding it comparable to other countries, perhaps less expensive than Germany, Austria, and much less than Switzerland. It is more expensive than Spain. My rooms range from 55euro for 2 people near Termini station in Rome, to 95euro in Cinque Terre. Florence, Sienna, Varenna rooms were all 80-90 euro. Sorrento seemed to really vary by day of the week. 1st night is 89 euro, 2nd and 3rd 59Euro. I typically stay at what I would characterize as mid range, small inns, with breakfast in or close to city center. I tend to use RS guides and booking.com to scope out inns and then book directly with the inn mentioning RS.

More time in Florence, less time in Venice if it were me.

I agree with geovagriffith above: the area around the Pantheon is also my favorite. With 6 people, I also think an apartment/AirBnB in that area is the way to go. I just love wandering through the little alley ways, and then BAM! there's the Pantheon. I also love wandering around from fountain to fountain in the evenings.

In my humble opinion, Vatican City is good for a half day while in Rome, not necessarily a side excursion. If you're going to have 3 extra days, I'd get out of the cities and check out a Tuscan or Umbrian hill town. We stayed in Volterra for two nights and loved it. Did the walking tour with the guide Rick recommends in his guide book. But there are many other options for places to stay. Alternatively, I'd start by flying into Milan (or Venice, whichever is cheapest and the best connection for you), and driving or taking the train to Lake Como. 3 full days - 4 nights - in Varenna. Then train to Venice and start your previously mentioned itinerary from that point. So, Como > Venice > Florence > Rome (if you fly into Venice obviously do your 3 days in Venice at that point) -- OR-- Venice > Florence > Volterra/hill town> Rome.

Budget seems high for that length of time. When are you going?

Also, unless you're flying business or first and you're planning on 5* accommodation then your budget appears quite high (assuming US$).

In comparison I've been looking for 14 nights, in August, for two adults and two children, somewhere pleasant in Europe at all inclusive resort (or nearest to) with a family suite/villa with at least two rooms. Generally prices have come in between £12,000 to £20,000 (including flights) circa $15,000 to $25,500. I'm not prepared to pay those prices even though the resorts look very nice and come highly recommended so your budget is very generous, this may be entirely in keeping with your expectations and intentions which is absolutely fine but if you're not intending to go full out luxury it may be worth spending a bit more time revewing potential expenditure to achieve a better rough idea of what you'll need.

As a rough guide, a long weekend over a school holiday (where flights can pretty much triple in price) staying in a 5* hotel in a 2 bedroom suite and taking into account food and drink, entrance fees, a couple of rip off drinks in Harry's Bar (should have known better!) for a family of four came to around £2000 ($2533). You can eat as expensively or as cheaply in Rome as you want. I've had some excellent meals, predominantly in places off the main drag. I recall a fantastic pizza, sat on my own outside the tiniest pizzeria served by a woman who looked in her 70's in a little side street off of Via Veneto, one of the most expensive and exclusive streets in Rome. The pizza was very inexpensive and was served alongside a very acceptable glass of wine. In comparison, my wife and I once ate at a high end restaurant on Via Veneto because it was close to our hotel and we wanted somewhere close for lunch before leaving for the airport. My wife ordered a pizza but requested it without artichokes. What arrived clearly had the imprint of where the artichokes had once been, was evidetly a bought in frozen pizza, cost significantly more than the one I'd had a few hundred metres away and tasted awful.

I agree that you really need to dive into a number of guide books and generally start doing a lot of your own preliminary research in order to narrow down the scope of your questions.
That said, for starters I'd suggest focusing your search for accommodations on rental apartments or holiday homes. With a group as large as yours hotels would cost you an arm and a leg. We like the booking.com search engine - their filters are very helpful narrowing things down. The other advantage to booking an apartment or holiday home is that you"ll have a lot more room to stretch out, and cooking some of your meals in will save you a lot of money too - you really don't need to eat out for every meal.
Everybody has a favorite area in Rome, but my suggestion is to study the metro system and overlaying that onto your search for a place to stay. Having access to the metro makes getting around the city pretty easy (and cheap), and you might save yourself some Euros by staying a little further away from the city center. It's a tradeoff worth considering at any rate.

https://www.ricksteves.com/tours/italy/venice-florence-rome-2020

This may help with planning and a yardstick for budgeting. Note the tour price does NOT include airfare.

Check the "What's Included" and "Itinerary" tabs to see what the price includes

Florence is nice enough but for me it doesn't have a patch on Rome.

We'll have to agree to disagree on that. I dearly love Rome but Florence is a treasure as well. They are different animals but equally as fascinating.

In my humble opinion, Vatican City is good for a half day while in
Rome, not necessarily a side excursion

Vatican City is essentially IN Rome, We've walked to it from our central Rome hotels so it doesn't involve the sort of day-trip transport planning that locations outside of the city involve. Just consider it part of Rome.

... you might save yourself some Euros by staying a little further
away from the city center (Rome). It's a tradeoff worth considering at any
rate.

...and cooking some of your meals in will save you a lot of money too

As you appear not to be working with a scrimp-every-penny budget, I'd absolutely stay in the city center, especially if traveling with a group. The center where the things most tourists want to see are located, it'll be easier for your group to split up and explore on their own, and ya'll will be reasonably close to your accommodation for a brief rest, dropping shopping items off or retrieving needed items you might have left behind.

Cooking? That is NO vacation for this girl! We only eat a sit-down meal for dinner. Most of our hotels have provided breakfast of a sort, and we grab a snack midday. Doesn't cost us a fortune. Some tourists enjoy the kitchen thing but I can stir pots and and do dishes at home. Different strokes for different folks! :O)

We'll have to agree to disagree on that. I dearly love Rome but Florence is a treasure as well. They are different animals but equally as fascinating.

Which is why I wrote that there is a split on opinion between those who prefer Rome and those who prefer Florence. As with everything, it's all subjective and I understand that people find Florence more appealing than Rome. Of course, if you asked me whether I prefer Florence or Swindon then Florence is going to win hands down. I would never seek to discourage anyone from visiting Florence (I only tend to do that with Tangier), I simply state that I prefer Rome and give my reasons, others give those and hopefully the OP can reach an answer to their question(s).

My 2 cents (whether CA or US):

As you appear not to be working with a scrimp-every-penny budget, I'd
absolutely stay in the city center,

Yes - that gives you a much better time budget. And time is the most precious commodity when on vacation.

Cooking? That is NO vacation for this girl!

Each to his/her own. Some thoughts:

1. Some times I get vacation fatigue and just want to cook a light meal or buy some take-away and eat in my apartment with my feet on the sofa and the TV running
2. If staying in a hotel I would most often go breakfast as a group and I would definitely shower and dress first. In an apartment everybody can wake up in their time and have breakfast in a pajama in front of the TV or while perusing guide books and maps.

Welcome to the forum Daniel. You have already received great advice from folks on the forum. I will add my perspective as the "unofficial family travel planner" for my group of 6 last June to Italy. I hope that my experience will help you in your planning.

Locations: when traveling with a group, I would recommend no more than three cities for the 12 days. Moving locations as a rule-of-thumb takes about 1/2 day and it is a bigger logistical effort with 6 people. I would recommend flying into Venice and then staying 3 days in Venice, 4 in Florence, and 5 in Rome and flying out from there.

Transportation: traveling by train for the places you are visiting.

Travel LIght: I cannot recommend this enough. It was the most traumatic part of the planning for our group (my niece & friend normally travel with a suitcase just for make-up/hair). After the trip everyone agreed that traveling light was one of the best things.

Lodging: your budget is more than adequate. You will have a choice between hotels and apartments. There are pros and cons with each. We went at the end of May and early June. I booked hotels in February and had issues in some cities finding rooms together in a hotel (e.g. Venice & Florence), so I opted for apartments. Note: I was traveling with my husband, my niece, my friends and their daughter, so we needed three rooms (two with twin beds).

Apartment Pros:
- Usually less expensive than hotel rooms
- Flexibility to eat meals at home, saves money and if you like to cook, a good use of local markets.
- Common area to relax and share experiences of the day
- Washing machines (typically, you will not get a dryer)

Apartment Cons:
- Too much together time, sometimes it is nice to go back to a hotel room and relax. This is especially true if you and your group do everything together during the day. Many of the apartments will have one "master" and then smaller rooms, so relaxing in the rooms are hit/miss.
- Work load management: during the trip. As the more experienced traveler (all but my husband had never been out of the country before), I led all the grocery shopping, pharmacy runs, and much of the clean up.

Siteseeing: planning for a group of 6 takes a lot more effort and more advanced planning for reservations for popular attractions. Depending upon the time of year you are traveling, I would suggest booking advanced tickets and/or tours for major attractions.

Venice
Here are some of the things that we did in Venice that I would recommend, including the place that we stayed.
-Historic apartment in Cannaregio, 10 minute walk to Rialto Bridge, but an oasis. We rented through Truly Venice and the experience was excellent from arranging transport (private water taxi from the airport, highly recommended for 6), to meeting us at the dock. They provided great recommendations for local restaurants and we had a couple of accidents (a few broken dishes, a stained comforter) and they couldn't have been nicer, no charge. They have other properties and I would rent again: https://www.trulyveniceapartments.com/truly-venice-accommodation/exclusive-rental-of-michiel-apartment-in-sestiere-cannaregio-venice-italy
- Gondola ride: take from the Rialto Bridge area and ask to go down the back canals. My husband and friend did not want to take the Gondola, but went because the price was the same if they went or not, they loved it.
- Food tour, we went with Alessando (with about 12 other RS folks on a tour). It is more drinking than eating, but it is a great overview of the cicchetti culture of Venice. Here is the contact info: alessandro alessandro@schezzini.it
- Secret Passages Tour (Doges Palace) and St. Marks with Walks of Italy: https://www.walksofitaly.com/venice-tours/doges-palace-secret-passages-vip-tour/.
- Wandering, especially in the early morning and evening through Venice. Wished we did this more and skipped Murano.