Family trip to Italy in December

You can eek a bit more time out of the trip by either flying open-jaw, OR, on arrival morning, hop straight on a train to Florence, putting all of your Rome time together at the end. Don't underestimate the time-saving value of reducing a hotel change! You usually can't check in early anyway, so a nap on a train, dropping bags, lunch, and a lot of walking outdoors in sunlight is the key to day 1.
There is no amount of days that is ever enough, just an overall balance to strive for--play it by ear on the day trips. Otherwise, looks lovely!

You could take a train immediately to Florence upon your arrival to Italy. Then do your entire Rome stay at the end of your trip.

Go immediately to Bologna by train on arrival. Three nights. Take the Italian Days tour. Thank me later.
Train to Florence. Four nights. There is more to see and do in Florence than you can do in a month, so keep your day trip options flexible.
Spend the rest of your nights in Rome. Taxi to airport the morning you fly home.

Edited to change Bologna to three nights to allow you a day for jet lag. Think of your time in nights, not days.

Don't get your hopes up too much regarding Christmas markets. They aren't so much a thing in Italy as in Germany or even France.

I agree with the others! Put all your days for your departure city (Rome) at the end! I always love taking advantage of continuing to travel when I arrive in country (and later check in time) to make one less home base change

I've seen some recent remarks about being disappointed by Xmas markets in Florence, but there are more than one so look around. Siena has an Xmas market but they tend to center on craft goods and run just on certain days: https://www.visitsiena.it/en/christmas-shopping/
But Arezzo goes all out: https://www.italia.it/en/tuscany/arezzo/things-to-do/event-arezzo-city-of-christmas
Lucca: https://www.madeinlucca.it/en/flowers-craftsmanship/christmas-markets-town

Having stayed in all three towns Siena is the best day trip town to visit unless the Xmas experience is your top priority then I would recommend Arezzo. Lucca is the kind of middle crowd - a better day trip than Arezzo but Xmas markets will probably be tasteful and subdued.

Have a great trip,
=Tod

Ahh you are all wonderful, thank you! Not sure why I didn't think of going straight to Florence or Bologna right away!! And I had hoped for an open-jaw trip, but alas to make the most of our points had to do Rome round-trip.

Does anyone have thoughts on being in Bologna during the week vs the weekend? (I read a post somewhere that weekends were better, but not sure why)

Speculation: In the past Bologna was probably more a business destination than a tourist destination, which might have meant lower hotel rates on weekends. I believe there's more tourist traffic there now, so it may not make much difference. And if your trip is late in the month, there may not be much business travel going on, anyway.

Yeah, 3 destinations, 11 nights on the ground, if you've nailed down decent Rome roundtrip airfares already, when you arrive the start of Day 2 at Roma Fiumicino, you're getting on the train right there for 1+ hour to Florence SMN station. Scope out the schematics of the airport to know where the Trenitaiia station resides--if you don't know you could be walking around for days...we have!

So that would leave you 4 nights Florence, short train up to Bologna, 3 nights there, then fast train to Rome, for 4 nights. We just did in April of this year a Florence/Rome/Salerno (A.C.)/Taormina (Sicily)--15 nights on the ground, all by train, and we did 4,4,3,4 nights respectively, and that seemed just about right. March 2027, I want to do a deep dive in Rome for 2 weeks, but that's in the future.

I like how you're staying geographically sane, and your pace seems good. And daytrips are great--they're pricey but worth it to get out of town if you don't have a car. We did a Chianti winery/lunch out of Florence, a day on the A.C. from Salerno (w/driver), and a trip to Mt. Etna out of Taormina. And we've done in the past Orvieto in Umbria out of Rome, about 90 minutes each way by train from Termini station. Orvieto is different enough from Rome that it makes it worthwhile. Beautiful hilltop town.

Enjoy your planninng!

@Jay 'geographically sane' is exactly what I was shooting for lol. As much as I'd love to see places like Pompei, I just know that's trying to do too much in one trip. Next time!

I've been pondering Orvieto as a day trip from Rome, so I'm happy you mentioned that! Wasn't sure if we'd be missing too much of the magic of it by not staying overnight, but I've seen so many recommend it.

@Jay 'geographically sane' is exactly what I was shooting for lol. As
much as I'd love to see places like Pompei, I just know that's trying
to do too much in one trip. Next time!

I've been pondering Orvieto as a day trip from Rome, so I'm happy you
mentioned that! Wasn't sure if we'd be missing too much of the magic
of it by not staying overnight, but I've seen so many recommend it.

It is truly a 'daytrip' to Orvieto. We left Termini at 10:00 AM, arrived Orvieto station around 11:30. After a quick funicular up to the hilltop town of Orvieto, we walked a bit then found a recommended mom-and-pop family restaurant that had about 3 tables, and we were accompanied by a sleeping dog. Had homemade chitarra noodles and cinghiale (wild boar), then walked off our lunch on the rabbit-warren, cobblestoned streets, going in and out of cool shops, like the Pinocchio store. Finally we toured the cathedral (where the stained glass was shimmering in the afternoon sun) and walked over to the overlook to the Umbrian valley. Breathtaking! Then we caught the 5:30 train back to Termini, where we made it back to our neighborhood, just in time for dinner!

Perfect daytrip, but I'd spend the rest of your time...in Rome. SO much to see, experience.

Enjoy your planning!

Just be careful with Orvieto. We were in Italy for 5 weeks and Orvieto was towards the end of the trip. We should have been more diligent, but we just went with what we'd read in the Rick Steves guide and what we'd heard on the forum. Last I checked, his info was that direct trains leave termini almost hourly. Now, part of it, is I tend to learn towards overnighting vs. day trips. And in general, I feel like 2 hours round trip is about the max for a day trip.

We traveled to Termini on the fast train from Naples and expected to hop on a train to Orvieto. At Termini station, we discovered that there are few direct trains to Orvieto and they are mostly at the beginning and end of the day. During the day, most of the routes require a change to a bus. Then when you arrive Orvieto train station, there is a funicular up to the old town area and then either a walk of about a mile or you wait for a shuttle bus.

We ended up waiting a couple hours at Termini for a train. Then we changed to a bus in Orte. Although we arrived to termini at about 11:30am, we didn't get to our BnB close to the Orvieto cathedral until about 4:30pm. We loved Orvieto and we were there three nights. We did a day trip to Civita bagnoregio, which is an absolute must do.

When we returned to Rome after a week or so in Umbria, we had a choice between a direct train at about 3:30 that went to Tibertina, or getting back to Termini or Tibertina, well after dark (It was February). Tibertina is fine for the return and easily connects to Rome city center. We talked to a frustrated couple at the train station that loved Orvieto but ended up with only a couple hours in the town.

So my advice, if you want to go to Orvieto on a day trip, make sure you look at the train schedules in advance. Look at Termini and Tibertina. Make sure you understand that at a minimum the one way travel time to Orvieto, center of the old town is about 2 hours, one way. Also, the sun sets in December at about 4:40pm.

Orvieto is a gorgeous medieval city. It just comes down to what you consider a day trip and what sites you'd like to see in Orvieto and what you could do in Rome.

The other commenters give good advice about traveling onward on arrival day, it can be a good time saver, but two other considerations to note. First, if you have any checked luggage and it doesn’t arrive with your flight, reuniting with it can be much more complicated if you will be in a different city that night. This is very unlikely of course, but I’ve seen other travelers have a real problem with this whereas my delayed bag was delivered later that day to my hotel in city of arrival. Second, if you want to get cheaper advance fares for your onward train travel it can be a bit of a gamble and guessing game to time that right based on expected airport arrival time. Also, you don’t say when in December, obviously you know when Christmas is, but be careful of an Italian holiday on December 8 called Immaculate Conception if you are there then. We unknowingly ran into this one on a December trip to Italy — the problem wasn’t closures, but that this is a very busy travel weekend and trains are packed. We planned to go directly on arrival from Rome to Salerno, and we were able to do that, but couldn’t get reserved seats and had to sit on our luggage in the train aisle for 3 hours. Lesson learned, need reservations well in advance for that long weekend. Sounds like you have a great trip planned!

YES, good call, Slate.

I would definitely NOT book the Roma/Florence train in advance. Your flight into Fiumicino could be late, and/or the baggage question. That route is frequent, not super-expensive even purchased on the day of travel. Get in, get your bags, then buy your ticket to Firenze. Chances are your overseas flight was overnight and you're landing in Rome in the morning, so you have time get up there.

YES, good call, Slate.
I would definitely NOT book the Roma/Florence train in advance. Your flight into Fiumicino could be late, and/or the baggage question. That route is frequent, not super-expensive even purchased on the day of travel. Get in, get your bags, then buy your ticket to Firenze. Chances are your overseas flight was overnight and you're landing in Rome in the morning, so you have time get up there.

Not checking bags on the way there, but I agree seems smarter to book the train once we arrive. I think we'll do train to Bologna from Rome to knock out the longest leg the first day, as we arrive really early in the morn.

Also appreciate the feedback on Orvieto! As much as I know I would love it, again I think might be better saved for another trip. I'm already overwhelmed with what to pick to see and do in Rome!

Do yourself a favor and download the Trenitalia app on your phone. Very easy to navigate, actually better than on the computer. Then you'll have the QR codes for the tickets, itinerary, etc. But...I always print out hard copies of everything in case phone is inoperable.

And yes, Rome is a series of neighborhoods that all have different vibes. We like Campo de' Fiori (Parione), Trastevere and we've found Prati to be very cool as well.