10 Day Trip in and out of Rome

I'd start by looking at flight prices from your departure airport. When you plug in your dates, what is cheaper? Your airport to Rome, round trip? A multiple city trip (aka open jaw ticket) that starts in Venice and ends in Rome...or vice versa?

And what do you want to do during your honeymoon? What's important to the two of you? Museums? Art? History? Food? Wine? Beaches?

How many days do you want to stay in Rome?

And I loved Florence the second time I was there. The first time I was only there for the day and felt rushed and crowded. The second time I spent a couple of nights and enjoyed it much better.

Seconding Aquamarinesteph...

Also, we were in Florence for 2.5 days (3 nights). Wouldn't have wanted less...

For the amount of time Venice, Florence and Rome is the max. Or just Florence and Rome or Venice and Rome. In August it will be hot, humid, and crowded. It will be hard to be efficient when fighting crowds. Look at a flying into Venice or Florence and home from Rome. Rome is a much better departure airport because of flight options available. Florence would not work well as a day trip especially at that time of year. Being smaller, Florence can be wall to wall in August.

With only 11 days, including travel, I would stick to 2 places. Since you fly in and out of Rome, take the high speed to Venice when you arrive. You will already be jet-lagged, you can relax on the train, then relax in Venice. Try to stay at least 3 nights. You could go to Florence for a day or two, or just go back to Rome for the remainder of the time. You don't have time for Cinque Terre.

You really only have nine days for sightseeing. Therefore, I would limit your stops to two locations.

If you don't have your tickets yet, you could just barely do the 3 cities by flying into Venice and out of Rome. 3 nights in each place. But this is still doing a disservice to all 3.

If you already have your tickets, I agree that you're better off just doing Florence and Rome. You'd have time to squeak in a day trip to Pisa/Lucca or Siena while you are in Florence.

Your arrival time is very unfortunate, being so late in the day. By the time you clear immigration, perhaps collect bags, and then get into Rome, it will be dinner time. You'll have to decide if you want a hotel in Rome for the night, and then train to Florence in the morning, or hop on a train to Florence, arriving at your hotel at bedtime.

Rick Steve's has a 10 day tour with Venice, and Florence, Rome so it can be done! Take a look at the tour and the itinerary and maybe you could do something similar. Take the trains in between where you can relax and get ready for the next adventure!

As I read the post, air tickets are already purchased. Given that and assuming you are arriving from the US I would spend the arrival night in Rome.
With the number of days you have 3 locations is the absolute max you can hit, unless all you want to do is 'travel' on the trains.

Agree with the advice to 'pick 2'.. The day after arrival go to your farthest destination ( whatever you choose) and then do Rome at the end to facilitate your departure and give you at least some time on your departure day to do a bit of sightseeing in Rome before going to the airport.

If air tickets are not yet purchased, then the Venice-Florence-Rome itinerary could work if you fly into Venice and home from Rome

Rick Steve's has a 10 day tour with Venice, and Florence, Rome so it can be done!

Leonard Dove did a cartoon for the New Yorker whose caption was "But if it's Tuesday, it has to be Siena!". This cartoon was the basis of the movie "If It's Tuesday, It Must Be Belgium".

Yes, it can be done. The question is whether it should be done. Rushing to check off as many cities as possible runs the risk of it all being a superficial blur.

Amber, welcome to the forum! I get the feeling you have not been to Italy before. Have you traveled in Europe? I know the desire to see it all, but consider the kind of experience you are looking to have. I suggest you trim down your itinerary, spending more quality time at a few locations instead of trying to hit them all.

Also consider your temperament and interests. Some folk thrive on the energy of crowded cities, while some prefer more quiet, intimate and less crowded experiences.

Have you been to Disney World in the height of the summer season with throngs of people and long lines? Rome, Venice and Florence in August will be a lot like that. Also, the big cities are only one aspect of Italy. You might consider staying in Rome, then traveling to the Tuscan countryside and staying at an agriturismo.

We've been traveling for a while. It started way back in 1966 on a high school trip to Europe for 21 days in July and August. There were 8 of us in our little group on a tour with 64 total students and chaperones. We were in Venice, Assisi, Rome and Florence in early August. Rome was in a heat spell and it was over 100 degrees the two days we were there. It was a little cooler in Florence when we arrived on August 10. I remember the date because that's when we shared our first kiss that evening. We got married 4 years later on August 8. 50 years later we returned to Florence to re-enact that first kiss!

Rick Steve's has a 10 day tour with Venice, and Florence, Rome so it
can be done!

Sally, the RS tour starts in Venice and ends in Rome. it's doesn't include the unfortunate backtracking to Rome from Venice or Florence that the OP has to do. Also, touring independently without a bus waiting to take you directly to the next town, hotel or attraction and having to find your way around yourself is a different animal so I wouldn't recommend that anyone follow the tour itineraries unless they can add more time. That tour also isn't really 10 days: realistically, it's 8 days + one evening.

Amber, as someone else pointed out, you realistically have 9 full days and part of another for sightseeing. You will lose 1/2 a day every time you make a move to another location, and your late first-day arrival and need to backtrack to Rome further limits your time so two versus three locations would probably be best. In any case, I'm afraid you don't really have time for the CT.

If you really want to do all three cities, your itinerary might look like this:
Tues. - fly into Rome, train to Florence. Get to hotel, eat and crash.
Wed. - Florence
Thur - Florence
Friday - train to Venice (partial day)
Sat. - Venice
Sun. -Venice
Mon. - train to Rome (partial day)
Tues. Rome
Wed. - Rome
Thursday - Rome
Friday - fly home