Another first-timer to Italy! Nervous!

That will be amazing!!! Just do your research on transportation so you know about the train stations, tickets, etc... (unless you are driving...). You might look in to vrbo for an apartment if you haven't gotten your hotels yet. This summer when we went, I researched restaurants in advance on tripadvisor and on the boards - and had even some reservations before we left... might be overkill but I am a planner. last time we were in itlay (2000) research was not as easy and we ended up disappointed in a lot of our meals. We could always change it up on the fly if we wanted to - but we had a plan in case.

Learn some italian phrases to be polite, but mostly we got by easily with a tiny bit of broken italian and english.

In Venice I recommend staying in Dorsoduro or Cannareggio - stay off the beaten path there as much as possible and it is really magical! Loved it!! :)

Have fun!

October should be a great time to visit - you'll miss the high heat and crowds of summer in Rome. We were there in December 2012 and it rained a couple of days and was cool but not freezing - we took jackets every day. October weather should be somewhere in between, but Rome is always busy, so you won't be completely alone.

Depending on how long you plan to be in a particular place, an apartment is a great way to be a temporary local in a neighborhood. We had an apartment in the Trastevere area of Rome, and have stayed both in the Ghetto/Cannaregio area and near the Arsenale in the Castello area of Venice. It's great to stop by the local market and pick up ingredients and fix some of your meals -- saves some money and it's a great experience! You may even find a place with a washer (and also maybe a dryer), if you don't want to pack a ton of clothes or wash our your underwear in the sink every couple of days:-)

In addition to www.vrbo.com, check out www.homeaway.com and www.vacanzeinfamiglia.it (they also have B&B listings - click on the British flag in the upper right-hand corner of your screen to get the English-language Website). Rick Steves' Italy guidebook (and/or individual guides for Rome and Venice) will have all kinds of tips for communicating, staying safe, getting around, and making the most of your time.
There are some fabulous museums, but also lots to do and see. North of Positano, the excavations at Pompeii and Herculaneum were among the highlights for us!

May I suggest a somewhat relaxed pace. Looks like you have 12 nights. Maybe something like this;

Rome- 4 nights
Tuscany -5 nights at an agriturismo
Venice- 3 nights

You would need a car for the Tuscany portion of the trip. If you are not familiar with the agriturismo of italy, they are wonderful.
They are farm stays that range from rustic and basic to luxurious and are in every price range.
There are thousands to choose from. Many offer fabulous meals, cooking classes,winery tours, pasta making, olive picking etc..
You can do day trips to many gorgeous towns from there.

Exciting trip, lots of planning to do, but fun planning. First buy the RS Italy book or take it from the library for now. Read it, think about how many days you want to spend in each city or place you want to go to. Take into consideration the train travel time and getting to and from hotels, which eats into the days. You may want to cut out Lake Como, as you do have a good amount of time in Italy but there is jet lag and the days you fly in and out are not sightseeing days. There is a lot to see and do in Venice and Rome! San Giamignano is a two nite stay at the most. I understand you don't care for museums but do consider the Borghese Galley in Rome, you need a reservation and you can only stay 2 hours so that is perfect and it is the best museum in Rome! Also consider churches to see in Venice and mostly in Rome, as that is where all the great art work is and each church will blow you away! Look at all the free Rick Steve videos on this website and on YouTube and the online scrapbooks on this website. Wealth of information and the free podcasts you can download from ITunes and other places. All give you a great insight of what to see and do. Must see the Vatican and that can be a day in itself or at least half a day. Must book a reservation for that too. Wear very comfortable shoes, all cobble stone streets, uneven sidewalks, old cities and layer. No shorts in the churches or sleeveless if the weather is warm. Plenty of places to throw back wine, no worries there. Great food and lots of walking in Italy. Have a great time. Make sure you book reservations in needed for any places you go to ( meaning sites you want to see). Will avoid long lines even in Oct. Have a great trip. I did not cover everything, but sure people will write in about your questions.

I highly recommend Varenna on lake como....you ride the train from Milan to Varenna, and walk down hill 3 blocks to the center of town. this is the link to the 2 bed, 2 bath apt we reented (with washing machine and clothes line) the same people have other apts, you should be able to access them off the link. great wine, food and views in Varenna!!! I'd recommend this over getting a car and doing an agriturismo.... IMHO http://www.apartmentsvarenna.com/clara.html
you can ride the ferry to belisimo, etc as a day trip.

Here's locations where you can take trains for everything; the train system is very easy to navigate. The suggestions are to maximize your time at locations, to see as much as possible & minimize transportation time.
(Dates below are the evenings at hotels)

Oct. 17 (jet lag) Rome
Oct. 18-19 Rome

Oct. 20-21 (3.5 hours to arrive @ Lucca & you could even stop shortly at Pisa), Lucca
Oct. 22-23 (1.5 hours to arrive @ Florence) great location for a cooking class
Oct. 24-25 (2.5 hours to arrive @ Lake Como) another option is to skip two of the above & go to Lake Garda/Verona. Verona is very tourist-friendly, and there's nice piazzas there, and the Romeo/Juliet connection.
Oct. 26-28 (3.5 hours to arrive @ Venice)
Oct. 29 (you probably have an early flight out of Venice, so that last day doesn't really count)

Italy is a wonderful choice for a vacation. You'll have a great time regardless of which locations you finally choose, so enjoy your trip!

Sounds like you have great places to visit. My husband and I went for the month of Sept 2013. We saw Positano, but stayed in Sorrento and fell in love with it. Cooking class/es are a wonderful idea, we did one in Florence (Florencetown). Do not worry at all about the trains at all, the first time you use it you'll be a pro. We found the the ticket window had people who spoke english and were very helpful. One thing we wish we had done, being around the same age, was take in more of the night life. We are early to bed people and if we ever go back that is the only thing we would do differently.
You are in for quite a treat!!

Char -
Wow a whole month! Lucky you! Could you tell me a bit more about your time in Sorrento?a How much time did you spend there?Did you get to Positano by train? Can you recommend where you stayed? I'll probably be the one to go to bed early while my husband and son enjoy the nights! Thank you for the tips.

audrey,

Given the fact that you have a RS phone consultation coming up, I'm not sure there's much point in offering suggestions now as they could conflict with the advice provided by the RS folks.

However, a few thoughts and comments I would like to mention.....

• with such a short trip, I'd suggest focusing on Rome and north, and leave Positano and the south for a future visit. Transportation to Positano is not as straight forward as other locations, as there's no rail service there. Getting there and back will use too much of your very short time in italy (IMO).
• the Italy guidebook has lots of good suggestions for lodgings, as well as extensive information on transportation, sightseeing, etc. I'd suggest packing along a copy on the trip, as it will be a good reference source. Even in October, I'd probably still pre-book accommodations.
• be sure to do some "homework" on using the trains and public transit there, as there are some potentially expensive "caveats" to be aware of.

You mentioned that you're a "first timer" in Italy. Have you travelled elsewhere in Europe? If not, it would be a good idea to do some research on use of ATM cards, operating North American appliances or electronic gadgets in Europe, etc.

If you need further suggestions after the RS consultation, post another note.

Check roninrome.com for info on Rome and train/bus info which will be helpful for all of your trip.

Hi,

I'm heading there for almost the whole month of October and have been doing a lot of research. Not sure if you need to make the trip on a budget or not, but here are a few suggestions. I bought this travelzoo voucher good for hotel and wine tastings+. I got mine for the three night stay, but there is a 1 night option. And you can add a 3rd person on to it (although they would have to stay in the same room). But I think it is a great deal. Here is the link

http://www.travelzoo.com/local-deals/International/Getaway/133413/Villa-la-Grotta

I've already made my reservation with the hotel and they were super nice. It's in an area of Tuscany called Arezzo, outside of Florence and Siena.

I have gone on to google maps and tried to figure out the areas I wanted to tour around and then zoomed in and clicked on the lodging symbol for the different hotels and then went to the websites of the ones I could afford to see what their rates and availability was. Also, airbnb.com is another great way to stay. Some places are whole rentals and some are just rooms in a home, but you get to hang with a local. I am also using couchsurfing.com. Maybe your son could look in to staying with someone on that site and you two could get a hotel room. Couchsurfing also has people who are just willing to meet up and show you around-just check out the references!
I ordered Rick Steves' Pocket Phrase book as I didn't get as far in my Italian course as I had hoped for!

I have been watching his videos and taking notes (actually copying them off the translated script on this site). Plan to put it all in a word file which I'll download on to my phone.

I ordered a SIM card for my phone so I could have data service in Italy. You all might look in to something for the three of you to share, but I would keep my American phone on airplane mode so it wouldn't get any unexpected charges.

I also opened a Capitol One 360 checking account which will allow for no fee withdrawal at ATMs (unless the ATM itself charges, but you can also use the cash back option at stores). It was super easy, plus they give you $50 just for using the card 3 times in the first month. And I got a credit card with no foreign transaction fees. This will help with a lot of unnecessary expenses.

I've found it's a lot to think about and do, but I'm a planner!

Good luck, Jill

This is definitely a dream vacation I am so happy for you. Many people wish they could go on a trip like yours so enjoy every minute. How to do that? you might want to consider if you and your family are Go Go Go Go people who like to be on the move and seeing the sights or if you are looking for a more relaxed vacation. When I travel I prefer to have at least two full days and nights in one location before moving on to the next stop. But many people like a more accelerated pace. If you are a go go go family your vacation itinerary sounds lovely. If you prefer a more relaxed pace, you might want to consider reducing the number of places that you will visit. This is always a difficult decision for us travelers, to see more destination for fewer night or to see fewer destinations but more in depth. Whatever you decide for your family, enjoy!

Ken, Linda, Zoe all correct! You don't have enough days to do everything you want to do without seeing Italy from the inside of a train.

Keep in mind that every change in location you spend a half day doing the following -- no way to get around it!: check out of current lodging, taxi/city bus to train station. Train to next location. Taxi/city bus (or walk) to next lodging. Check in. (clothing/toiletries rearranged?)

Three Locations is what I always advise for 10-12 days. First day doesn't count because of jet lag. Last day doesn't count because you need to get to the airport for your departure.

Choose THREE, and really, really enjoy where you are! I advise Rome, Florence, Venice. Lake Como is going to be ending the season in October. 4 nights Rome, 5 nights Florence (Reason: DAY TRIPS from Florence, you can day-trip to Siena, San Giamignano, and even a wine tour that will enable you to see the Tuscan Countryside, and still give you time to see the sites of
beautiful Florence, and the remainder in Venice. Venice is pretty compact and you can see it (especially at trips' end non-jetlagged) in a couple of days. You won't need a car at all with my itinerary.

For a Good Tutorial on how to use the trains/city transportation do as Zoe says and go to Roninrome.com Fabulous website!

I've never taken advantage of a RS telephone consult, however, keep in mind that they can travel faster than the rest of us, because they have the tour bus waiting outside the hotel, (check ins/outs/ are pre-arranged,) the drivers are experienced, they know where they're going, and they just move so much more efficiently than those of us doing it ourselves LOL!

If you can add a few days to your trip, you could add either Positano or Lake Como to your trip

Hi Audrey!!
Congrats! You will LOVE Italy and want to return again and again!! We went with our 3 grown sons 3 years ago and it was the BEST time ever! We are about the same age. When we went we did everything ourselves...bookings etc. Here was our trip:
4 days in Rome...wish we had stayed longer!!! Rented an awesome apartment on VRBO looking out right on Campo dei Fiori...(#336305) Felt like locals!!! (Roma Pass was so helpful!)
7 days -- Florence (used the train).....rented a great space there(apartmentsflorence.it) We based longer in Florence...LOTS to see..don't miss the David!! Also, they have cool travel buses in Florence where you pay one price and the ticket is good for 2 days. There are about 20 stops and you can get off at any stop and explore and then wait to get picked back up and go to another spot around Florence. Great way to see whole city!
1 day we packed back packs and hopped a train to Cinque Terre(www.cinqueterre-camere.com)....I haven't been to Lake Como, but I would highly recommend these 5 towns! Stunning beauty! We stayed in Riomaggiore overnight and explored the other 4 towns, by hiking and boat!
Then we headed by train back to Florence, but stopped in Pisa to see the Tower!!
Then 1 day we took a bullet train and visited Venice.
I day we did a bus trip to Siena !
We returned to Rome, but stayed in a hotel in Fiumincino for the airport the next day..cool little town
We were there for 12 days, and 2 days of flying.

We LOVED it so much...we are heading back Oct. 13th!! We will be in Rome same time you are!
This time we are staying a week in Rome! Then off to Paris to visit friends for 6 days, then flying into Naples and heading to the Amalfi Coast for 12 days and then home!
Do go out at night!! So much fun! Everyone is so friendly!!!
Any questions...just email!

Audrey,
To save money we investigated VRBO.com because we too would have had to get 2 hotel rooms each night we were there. After our trip we figured we only spent about $100.00 a night because we rented apartments. VRBO reviews are accurate...I have heard Airbnb, Flipkey, and Homeaway are other good rental spots.

Audrey

It looks like you have the flights all set and need the filling in the sandwich?

If you still have flexibility in the flights have a look at when your flights are into Rome and your flight home from Venice. Usually flights home from Venice are via a connection in another European city so the flight from Venice is often at some ungodly hour in the morning like 6am which leads to stress getting up in the middle of the night and worry for getting to the airport before then.

If you still have flexibility you might consider flying into Venice and out of Rome.

If you are stuck the other way, we can help you get to the airport early with less stress.

Delta flies direct from Venice to JFK "in Season."

A few weeks ago in May, I flew direct from Venice to Philadelphia on US Air, with an 11:00 AM departure, very easy arrangements.