2 Days In Florence and Venice

Posted by lloyd on 01/03/19 07:02 AM

My wife and I will be spending two days each in Florence and Venice - our first time to either city. I'd appreciate some advice on how to maximize our time.

I do have the Rick Steves' Italy book. I've also been looking at some half day and full day tours. I don't think we want to venture out of the city - just take in the sites within the cities themselves.

I was looking at a couple Walks Of Italy tours that look nice. But definitely open to others. Maybe one for museums and another that explores other cultural highlights.

I also just discovered the awesome Rick Steves Audio Europe app.

Thanks

Posted by Jennifer

Tunbridge Wells

01/03/19 11:50 AM

6113 posts

Is that 2 full days in each plus transit times? If you only have 4 days total, I would suggest that you pick one or the other, otherwise both will be a blur with more time spent in transit than actually seeing things. You can easily spend 5+ days in each city.

Posted by geovagriffith

01/03/19 12:13 PM

8451 posts

Agree, two full days might work for Venice, but not enough for Florence.

Florence is cheaper than Venice. Recommend the Hotel Balesteri on the Arno.

Posted by isabel

Massachusetts

01/03/19 01:16 PM

847 posts

That's a very short amount of time but it's not crazy. Here is the trip report I wrote about a very fast trip to those two cities (plus Rome). It may give you some ideas of what you can see in that amount of time.

https://andiamo.zenfolio.com/blog/2017/5/italy-through-fresh-eyes---chashing-the-sun-in-italy-in-march

Posted by DougMac

Rural Georgia

01/03/19 02:12 PM

2213 posts

When in Florence we took the Florence in a Day Walks of Italy Tour. The tour starts at 8:30 with a visit to the Accademia Gallery to see David. Our morning group was 10 folks. The receivers worked great, much better than the typical ones we got on a Viking Cruise. The morning section ran to a little after noon. We had a lunch break and reconvened at 2:00. Our group thinned down to 6 so our guide didn't have to use his transmitter. The tour ran to a little after 5, but the Uffizi was open late and we could stay as long as we wanted. Marco was great, he added a lot of information to make our day meaningful. We never stood in line.

I think your plan is doable only if you arrive at each city the night before and leave in the evening of the second day. You need two full days not including travel.

Posted by SandyO

San Franciso Bay Area, USA

01/03/19 03:46 PM

1043 posts

We went to Venice and Florence for the first time in June. We had more time in each city that you and your wife. Here are some of my recommendations for each:

Venice:

Doge’s Palace Secret Passage Tour + St. Marks with Walks of Italy: https://www.walksofitaly.com/venice-tours/doges-palace-secret-passages-vip-tour. This was a phenomenal tour. Because you are visiting the prison, it is small group. Our guide was a native and knew not only the history, but was amazingly knowledgeable about the architecture and construction techniques (to the delight of my carpenter friend).
Bar Tour with Alessandro: this is more of drinking then chichetti, but it is fun. You learn a lot about the city, food, and drink. This tour is very popular with RS travelers and in our trip, we had about 20 RS tour folks in our group. His email address is [email protected].
Skye McAlpine’s blog is a great resource for good eats: http://www.frommydiningtable.com.

Florence:

We took only one tour in Florence and that was the Sunset Food Tour: https://www.eatingeurope.com/florence-food-tours/florence-sunset-food-tour/. It was a great way to learn about the food and drink of Italy and was one of our favorite tours of the trip. Come hungry, because you start with a traditional appertivo, then move onto small bites at different local restaurants and shops and finish with a Florentine Steak. These are small tours (about 8-10 people) and provide a great introduction into the cuisine.
For the Uffizi, we bought our tickets for when it opened and then used the RS audio guide (which was excellent). We then went to the Accademia to see David and a few other works on our own. We saw the Duomo, climbed to the top and visited the museum the next day. Since you have so little time in Florence, my recommendation is to prioritize must sees and if you want to climb the dome, get tickets and be prepared to spend about an hour just on that.

Have a great trip,
Sandy

Posted by stephen

Greeley, co, usa

01/03/19 04:57 PM

2620 posts

We did a Walks of Italy tour in Venice 9- very good. We were 2 full days in both Florence and Venice. That was fine. We aren’t the type to spend hours in art museums.

Posted by lloyd OP

01/03/19 05:51 PM

2 posts

Thanks for the tips so far. I'd definitely like to spend more time in each but this is the best we can do for this trip. So we'll have to make the best of it.

Posted by SuzieeQQ

San Diego, CA

01/06/19 04:05 AM

344 posts

I just returned from my first trip to Florence and went to a restored home in the middle of Florence, a re-creation of how a wealthy merchant family lived. I found it very interesting, and it took about 1 hour. It's right in the middle of the tourist area so it would be convenient: Palazzo Davanzati. More info on Trip Advisor.
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g187895-d591563-Reviews-Museo_di_Palazzo_Davanzati-Florence_Tuscany.html