Adding Venice to Heart of Italy

IMHO Venice is too unique to miss.

If you can work it out, it's quite easy to train to Venice from Rome, so I don't know why you wouldn't go unless it's not practical for you somehow. I would point out that you might want to go BACK to Venice a second time after your first visit (I certainly have been back!). So...you can do both: visit Venice for a few days on this trip, then return on a future trip if you want to.

Don't rule out departing out of Venice without seeing what flight options you would have. It is NOT a nuisance to get to Venice Marco Polo (VCE) airport unless you have a flight out at the crack of dawn. I've flown out of Venice a few times and have been lucky enough not to have an early flight - I've just taken the airport express bus from Piazzale Roma, the only part of Venice where cars and buses are allowed. You can take a vaporetto (water bus) boat there from anywhere else you are in Venice, though I stayed nearby so was able to walk directly to Piazzale Roma in Venice. (Or you can take a boat directly to the airport depending on where you are stayign in Venice.) If your only good flight option turns out to be a super early flight out of Venice, then you can decide based on that.

Not every flight departs Venice at 6AM. Perhaps you can find a late AM or early afternoon departure. Only you know where you are, so you will have to search for yourself.

Last time I took the time to do research, there are late morning to afternoon flights that head to N. America. The later flights were usually priced a bit higher than the o'dark early ones.

Getting to Venice from Florence at the end of the tour would be a bit easier than going Venice to Rome at the front end, but certainly is manageable. Really depends on flight schedules ( and possibly how price sensitive you are)

We have flown both IN to and OUT of Venice.
We had a later am flight out 11ish?- direct to EWR I believe. I think American has a direct to PHL which would leave later am
As posted above it is not a problem if your flight is later. (and not impossible if earlier, just needs more planning)

Since you have chosen a guided tour as first timers you will probably be more comfortable adding Venice to the end. Although it is a great place to get over jet lag, so that's a decision you'll need to make. Will you be comfortable on your own at start of trip? Does the travel from Venice to Rome feel doable?
It's not complicated at all and you'll get plenty of help here if you want it.

HOI is 8 nights.
How any more nights can you add in total?
Going to assume 5?

The tour is rather fast paced so I would want to add a night to Rome at start and a night to Florence at end. That's 2 nights.
Train to Venice for 3 nights would be a very nice way to end your trip.
(We look for ways to fit Venice in every time we go to Italy!)

Check your flight options. There will definitely be no direct flights home from Florence.

ETA- now I see you are in Canada.

Lori, I would encourage you to fly into Venice for 3 days before your tour, for several reasons:
1. Venice is unique and wonderful!
2. Venice is a great contrast with other cities in Italy, since there are no cars, trucks, etc. it is an easy place to start a first trip to Italy, compared to Rome and Florence, also wonderful but often very congested with traffic.
3. Assuming you are arriving from your home in Canada, one or both of you may arrive quite jet-lagged, which often calls for a relaxing first day, especially outside in the fresh air. If you wander a few minutes off the main drag through Venice, it is not very crowded with pedestrians either.
If you can possibly also add one extra day in Rome before the tour begins, that would be great too. There is so much to see and do in Rome, beyond the tour itinerary, and you would avoid feeling rushed getting from Venice to the beginning of your tour on the same day.
You can probably arrange to fly from Florence home to Canada, hopefully with just one stop in a major European city such as Frankfort, Munich, maybe Madrid or Barcelona.

Venice is our favorite city in Europe and we have been several times for as long as a month. It is almost like our second home. I would much rather fly INTO Venice than out, for many reasons. The train to Rome to meet your tour is very easy to manage. Try to plan at least 3 nights there and read up on the history, you will appreciate Venice so much more.

There’s no better place to get over jet lag than Venice. You can wander at your own pace. Explore the back alleys. The city itself is magical. No need to fill your days with a long list of “must sees”. The city itself is the attraction. You can sleep in if jet lag hits you hard, and stay up late listening to the dueling orchestras in St. Mark’s square after all the day trippers leave. If you can fly into Venice and spend 3 nights, that would be perfect. Then take the train to Rome a couple days before the tour starts. Rome is a much more bustling city, so Venice would be a more gentle way to ease into the trip.

Lori,

Sounds like a great trip for you and your daughter. I second the advice of many of the other posters and recommend that you start your trip in Venice. It is a lovely city to get over jet lag. You can easily take the train to Rome. If you have time in your trip, I would recommend taking an extra day in Rome before the start of your tour. You still have time to go to Florence and fly out of there or take the extra time in Rome at the end and fly out of Rome. It really depends on your interests and how active you want to be after an active tour.

If you want to ease into Venice, you could consider taking some walking tours. Walks of Italy has an excellent tour of the Doges Palace & St. Mark's Basilica. I also love taking food tours when I am in a new city. Last time I was in Venice in 2018, my college-aged girls and our friends took Alessandro Schezzini's Bar/Cicchetti Tour. It was more of a drinking than eating tour, but super fun and entertaining. Here is the link to his site: https://www.schezzini.it/. This time we are going to take the Devour Tour. We loved them in Spain and we wanted to do a bit more of the food experience.

Enjoy our trip.

Sandy

Venice is not to be missed, it is one of the most unique cities on the planet. It is not a nuisance to get there. I would suggest adding it to the start of your trip and finding a place to stay near the train station. This will make it easy to catch a train to Rome to join your tour. It’s easy to get a bus from the airport across the bridge to the city. Then just purchase a vaporetto pass for the length of your stay and you are good to go. I would say three days would be the minimum, but I was there for a week in May and could have stayed another week. Three days will give you time to see the main sights, and allow you to get out to Murano and Burano, also.

The most important thing, in my opinion, is that you not miss Venice. It is truely one of the most unique cities in the world, and as long as you are that close, you just have to go. It might be better to fly into Venice and then go to Rome at least four days later. Why? Simply because Venice is a get place to recover from a long flight and get acclimated to a new culture.

I'll be the contrarian! I'd go to Rome a few days before the Heart of Italy starts. You really only have 2 nights/1 full day plus the morning you transit to Volterra and there is so much to see! I would also add the extra day on to Florence at the end as again, lots to see here!

You can add on Venice next year when you do the Village Italy trip which starts in Padua, lolol.

I'm not saying Venice is "too hard" for you to do...just there is so much in Rome to wrap your head around!

Heart of Italy is a wonderful, wonderful tour!

Thank you all so very much. This makes my decision so much easier. I was kind of leaning toward the MWI tour because it included Venice, but I was really uneasy about navigating the sights on our own. In keeping with the original plan to do HOI and adding Venice on our own, it adds a whole new layer of excitement to the trip.
Definitely adding a day in Rome, too.
Thank you again!

All of your comments got me to thinking… maybe with my concern about hitting the big sights in Florence and Rome as well as wanting to add on Venice, the answer was right in front of me all along. The Best of Venice, Florence and Rome Tour would hit the marks. I’d be sad to not see the Cinque Terre this time, but for a first trip to Italy, my main concern is seeing all ‘the biggies’ as Rick puts it. Flying into Venice a day or two before the tour begins, and staying in Rome a day or two afterward just makes sense.
Pam, don’t think your comments are lost on me either. Doing the HOI and tacking on extra days in Rome and Florence is major consideration that I’m weighing.
Either way, I’m not seeing everything on my first trip to Italy. The task for me now is figuring out which is the most important for my first trip.
You’ve all helped so much.
Thank you!

My first RS tour was the Venice/Florence/Rome tour and I picked it for the exact reason you are considering it. These three cities are the absolute must sees in Italy and this tour hits the highlights of all three, plus gives you enough time to do something on your own. I added extra days to both Venice and Rome and really enjoyed it.

For a first tour, you can’t go wrong with V/F/Rome. It’s a much slower pace, which will give you more time to experience
where you are. Adding the extra days, you’ll have hours to explore on your own making it a relaxing intro to italy.

"Either way, I’m not seeing everything on my first trip to Italy. The task for me now is figuring out which is the most important for my first trip."

Yes, this! What works for others may or may not work for you.

HOI was my first RS tour and my first trip to Italy. We went as a family group - myself, my brother, SIL, their 2 adult sons. One of the kids was still at university so had plenty of time. The other could literally only take 2 weeks off including travel days. We added 2 nights at the beginning in Rome and one at the end for Florence and it worked well for us. None of us are "big city" folks....living in N. Idaho I think we all felt Rome was a bit overwhelming so it was nice to move to Volterra with a different pace, rural landscape outside the hill town and not so much frantic traffic, lol. CT had a totally different feel although quite crowded and then Florence at the end did not seem so overwhelming because you could walk everywhere. So....that worked for our group and gave us a wonderful taste of Italy. Your needs may vary from ours!

You'd mentioned you're restricted to 14 days....so I guess the the 17 day Best of Italy is out? lol....