Venice, Verona, FLorenece holiday advice

Cars are not a hassle, they are essential to see smaller towns. You will have better luck flying home out of Venice than out of Florence, you might consider that. You can certainly train between Venice, Verona, and Florence. You have 8 full days (remember, count nights as 2 = 1 full day) and those three cities will likely occupy your time sufficiently to not want to travel elsewhere. You can consider day trips by train, for example, Siena from Florence. Weather will be dicey so go prepared.

If you will be in Italy for only 10 days, then Venice, Verona and Florence is more than enough to fill your days. You won't have the time to visit small towns, by train or car.

Airbnb is an option that some people like, and some people don't, and "best" is a pretty subjective word. If it were me, I would rent two hotel rooms in each location, so that you can be assured of clean rooms to yourselves.

Will your daughter be meeting you in Venice? Are there fixed days that you need to be in Verona? Do you arrive on 9/19? Assuming that you will be in Verona from at least 24th-26th? The flow of the trip would help us on the forum. Is your daughter in an apartment in Verona where you will stay, what dates have you allocated to "Verona for Christmas". Has your daughter visited any of these cities?

With 10 days ( how many nights?) I would not consider seeing smaller towns on a first trip to Italy..especially since it is the dead of winter. Venice, Verona and Florence should fill the time, add Rome only about 1 hour from Florence. A car would only be useful in small towns.

Although it may be back tracking to Verona due to necessity of Christmas planning, I would do this if it were my trip because it gives you two cities before Christmas itself, then take a slow down in Verona, then see Rome and fly home. Florence only gives you Rennaissance, which is great but 4 days of it as some have suggested would not be for me. just say'n! :)
Fly into Venice 2 nights 19 & 20
train to Florence 2 nights 21 & 22
train to Verona 2 nights for Christmas itself, celebrated on the 24th eve in Italy 23-25th
train to Rome 3 nights fly home from here 26th- 29th

If your daughter speaks Italian and is familar with using kitchen etc the way things work in Italy then rent apartments, but as other pointed out, hotels offer a first time traveler a lot of support.

FYI..Italy shuts down around Christmastime.

I agree with the others that three locations in 10 days, especially since half of the 24th and all of the 25th will be limited in the sights you can see, is enough. And all three can be done by train easily. In fact, I would stay the 19th-20th-21st-22nd in Venice with a day trip to Verona, then the remaining 5 nights (23rd-27th) in Florence. Staying in Venice 4 nights instead of going to Verone makes for less chaos with 5 people changing locations for only a night or two. Fly out of Florence to eliminate backtracking.

Plan your time in Florence with an eye toward closures. By Noon or 13:00 on Christmas Eve, it's pretty hard to do sightseeing other than walking around. The 25th is a shutdown. Luckily although the 26th is a holiday (Santo Stefano) most sights are open. Plan plan plan for this. Make reservations for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day meals. I think Florence will offer a better Christmas experience than Verona.

As to lodging, I have had great luck with VRBO.com in Venice and Florence (and elsewhere).

Since this is your first trip to Italy, a hotel's front desk will be very, very helpful. They will make reservations for you, straighten out any problems you have and more. We never rent an apartment on our first visit to a city or area.
Buying train tickets for four or five may be way more expensive than a car rental. Plus I hate schlepping luggage on and off trains. Look at Autoeurope.com for car rentals. You can call them as well as they are in Portand, Maine. They are a rental car broker and you will have a car from a reputable agency. It is asier to start in Venice and end in another city/airport. Have fun. We loved visiting all of our kids on their Semesters Abroad.
Why don't you want to rent a car? Don't you rent cars in the US? It is the same, Fly into Venice, rent a car as you leave,
Drop car off in Florence as you arrive. Fly out of Florence. You can see more rural areas in between Venice and Florence. Your trip will be richer if you drive.

Hi sweetdeal
We are planning our trip in september to venice, paris and amsterdam. Flying to venice and rented an apartment, La Levantina thru booking.com Love the website, place your filters (left hand side scroll down to apartments) read reviews, description, fine print and payments, if security deposits, for cancellations or non refundable. We are taking a water taxi from airport, its 100 euros split 4 ways, and takes us right near apartment. Lots of walking, crossing bridges, getting lost, seeing the back canals not the touristy area, wear good walking shoes. Taking train to florence is easy, can buy ticket at station (venizia SL to firenze SM) on trainline.eu, italo or trenitralia. don't use raileurope. We are doing a private 4 hour prosecco tour out of venice, taking train to treviso then pickup driver, great price, if interested PM me. I would stay near the center of florence and walk around, it's crowded. We took a fun cooking class at mercato centrale, which is a market to walk around and see all kinds of stuff. Stop at cafes, sit relax, people watch, drink wine, gelato, ordered meat and cheese platter and good food. Florence is a small airport so you should book a mulitcity flight. BTW international flights out of venice are very early (6am) so i would go there first then florence. We flew KLM (florence-paris-sfo.) Hope this helps you someway
Aloha Princess Pupule