First Time to Italy, 9 days, need help

First suggestion is don't rent a car. You don't need it in any of your places Driving in Rome is a nightmare and parking is very expensive. All the sights in Florence are an easy walk from each other and all are in the restricted driving zone and you physically cannot drive in Venice. Pisa is a 1/2 day trip from Florence by train, Siena is an all-day trip by bus.

Second suggestion is start in Venice and end in Rome. Most flights leave in the morning and it's difficult and time-consuming, or really expensive to get to the Venice airport in the early hours. Also Venice is a better place to relax and soak up the atmosphere while you get over jetlag.

You can save a lot of money by buying train tickets in advance. There are fast trains from Venice to Florence and Florence to Rome. The trains travel at speeds up to about 300 kph so they are faster than driving.

I would take one of the nights from Florence and add it to Venice. If this is your first trip, I would not try and do Siena or Pisa and save them for another trip. There is a lot to see in Florence. I also would not have a rental car and would travel by train. There are so many restrictions for a car in Florence, one wrong turn could result in very large fines. A car is a liability in Florence and in Rome. Rick Steves has said that if he were given a car for travels to Venice, Florence, and Rome, he would decline. He has a great video on his website regarding Italy travel tips. You might want to watch it.

Good responses so far. We went for 10 days in 2015 and I was nervous about the trains...and it actually turned out to be quite easy. Do the fast trains! We reserved our tickets early and did Italo as it fit the times we wanted to leave better. I also agree on Venice-Florence-Rome.

I also agree to give up one night of Florence. However, 2 nights of Venice was enough for me, so I guess I'm in the camp of putting it to Rome. You would have 4 nights and if you absolutely had to do a day trip to Siena it wouldn't be far...but there's so much to see in Rome. We arrived in Venice at 11:00 am, took the water taxi and were walking around by 12:30. So we had almost 2 full days and nights.

I agree with Chani, you can do this best by public transportation.

Thanks all. We are certainly not averse to trains. My thought was the drive from Rome up the coast to Pisa and then over to Florence would be nice sightseeing. And we could make a short stop in Pisa. We will have my 25 year old daughter with us who has traveled in Italy before but certainly never driven there... LOL. Sounds like driving in Italy isn't as easy as other European countries. What if we just rented a car for that portion? Does that make sense?

You itinerary is similar to our trip we are taking in two weeks, except we are doing four nights in Rome, one night in Monticchiello, hree in Florence (with a side trip to Pisa.), and two in Venice.

We are renting a car for two days only because we want to go to a couple of personal favorites We are taking the train from Rome to Spoleto and renting car and visiting Assisi, Monepulciano, a night in Monticchiello, PIenza and Siena before heading to Florence. The rest of the trip we are taking trains, including a morning from Florence to Pisa.

I think your itinerary is fine.

Thank you gpawilli. Our family did rethink the arrival/departure and we will fly into Venice and out of Rome. So do you think we would be silly to rent a car on our last day in Florence and drive to Pisa and then down to Rome? My husband would really like to do a little scenic driving while there even if it's only for a day. Is that even doable? Now it looks like we'll be 2 nights in Venice, 3 nights in Florence, 4 nights in Rome.

I have no experience driving in Italy, but a quick check of ViaMichelin for driving times (reported to tend toward optimism, and not including stops) shows a total of 5-1/2 hours for the Florence-Pisa-Rome drive. TrenItalia times for the two legs on the train add up to about 4-1/4 hours. This is pretty typical: If you're traveling between major cities, the train is usually quite a bit faster.

To the driving time you'd need to add two trips through the Italian car-rental bureaucracy, a stop to gas up, and a search for parking in Pisa. By the time you include those, plus of course the stop in Pisa, I don't know how much extra time you'll have for random sightseeing along the way. If you take a more rural route between Pisa and Rome, the pure driving time could be substantially longer than 5-1/2 hours. And you'll need to eat at some point. If you take the train, you can munch while you ride if you choose to.

While this is doable, I'd think a car would be far better used for a day tooling through some small Tuscan hill towns.

thank you acraven. that makes a lot of sense.

Also keep in mind that if ANY of your luggage is visible in the main portion of the car you will be tempting a break-in while it is parked. European cars are generally smaller and space in the trunk will be tighter. Make sure to pack lightly!

Don't rent the car and skip Pisa.

A little torn Siena was so nice as a day trip I would want to keep that in the plans but I also feel your time in Venice could use a another night and your time in Rome could as well.
If you do keep Siena, 4 nights in Florence is good. If not 3 nights in Florence and move a night to Venice for a 3/3/3 split would be better.

On a train, everyone can enjoy the scenery. In a car, the driver an, to a lesser extent the navigator, will be focused on driving.

I agree and stick to the trains.

I would also suggest sticking with trains for this itinerary simply because of time and the logistics of your places to visit. We drive much of the time that we go to Italy, but I wouldn't for this itinerary.

While I understand your husband wanting to have a scenic drive, keep in mind that the train rides are very scenic and he will actually be able to enjoy it too. For an added scenic day, I would suggest a day trip to either Siena or the Tuscan countryside with a tour company that will come to your hotel and pick you up and do all of the driving. Florence for Foodies and Tours by Roberto are two great options. They both have several options and itineraries.

krw,

I agree with the others that well planned public transportation would be a better option, given the places you'll be visiting. Especially on routes served by the high speed trains which run at up to 300 km/h, that will also be faster than a car. There are some potentially expensive "caveats" to be aware of when using rental cars in Italy. Here's a brief summary.....

Note that for driving in Italy, each driver listed on the rental form must have the compulsory International Driver's Permit, which is used in conjunction with your home D.L. These are valid for one year, and easily obtained at any CAA/AAA office (two Passport-sized photos required, which may be provided by the issuing office). Failure to produce an IDP if requested can result in fines on the spot! Have a look at https://it.usembassy.gov/u-s-citizen-services/local-resources-of-u-s-citizens/transportation-driving/ for more information on I.D.P's and driving in Italy.

You may also want to have a look at some of the other posts here concerning the dreaded Zona Traffico Limitato areas that are becoming increasingly prevalent in many Italian towns & cities especially Florence, which is almost saturated with automated ZTL cameras. EACH PASS through one of the automated Cameras will result in a €100+ ticket, which you won't know about until several months after you return home! This website provides more information - http://www.slowtrav.com/italy/driving/traffic_cameras_speeding.htm

There's also the issue of parking tickets, high fuel costs, tolls and automated speed cameras including the devious Traffic Tutor system which measures not only instantaneous speed but also average between two points. Violate either or both parameter and expensive tickets will follow.

There are also some potentially expensive "caveats" to be aware of when using trains and other public transit in Italy, but those are easy to deal with once you've learned the rules. If you need more information on that, post another note here.

You can easily visit Siena and Pisa as day trips from Florence. As this is your first trip to Italy, I'd highly recommend packing along a copy of the RS Italy 2017 guidebook as there's a lot of information that will help not only in planning but also for sightseeing in Italy.

Pisa is not exactly on the way to Rome . . . by train. From Pisa, you either take a slow direct train to Rome (takes between 3-4 hours), or you take the train back to Florence and change to the high-speed train (1.5 hours). If Pisa is a high priority, then do it as a half-day trip from Florence. Why mess around with checking luggage in either Pisa or Florence? That will take time too.

Thanks Chani. My teenager is hell bent on going to Pisa. Is Siena on the way to Rome from Florence by train? Would that be a nice stop? We are now 2 nights Venice, 3 nights Florence and 4 nights Rome. We have a very nice guidebook that covers the 3 cities and have highlighted are top priority things to see. We realize that we will really only get a taste of Venice but that's ok.....a gondola ride, maybe a trip over to Murano....we'll be good with that. Because of my and my husband's businesses here in the states, we just can't be out of the country longer than 10 days (including the 2 travel days).

With only 2 nights in Venice I would not recommend going over to Murano, there is plenty to see and do around Venice. Murano is mostly about shopping for glass and otherwise not nearly as charming as Venice. We loved Burano for its character and charm, but it takes much longer to get to Burano as it is further out. In fact, I googled images of Murano Italy and many of the images that came up were actually of Burano. How do you tell? Burano is filled with very brightly colored buildings and Murano is a little more modest in color. I would not recommend going to Burano either with only 2 nights as Venice itself is just magical. Unfortunately limited time means that you cannot see everything on one trip, it just means you have to come back!

If you want Murano glass you can still buy it at shops in Venice, just look for the sticker that signifies it is authentic. Otherwise you might be buying something made in China.
http://www.muranoglass.com/en/

Thank you JenC! The trip to Murano is more about me wanting to go.....but thanks for the tip on the glass. We love blown glass and have quite a few pieces so I definitely have to bring something home.

Then by all means go to Pisa. Without luggage (storage only at the Central station in Pisa), I believe you can take the train to the other Pisa station, much closer to the "Field of Miracles." If you want to climb the tower, you need to reserve in advance. The campus is lovely, don't miss the baptistry (the church is nice too). Siena is best as a day trip by bus from Florence. There isn't anything "on the way" from Florence to Rome if you take the high speed train - high speed is around 150 mph.

You can take an all day tour by bus from Florence. They go to Siena, San Giminangno, and Pisa plus lunch at a Tuscan farmhouse. It's called Walkabout The Best Tour of Tuscany-and it is! Long day but you get to see the Tuscan countryside and the above towns plus a delicious lunch, Linda

Thanks Linda! I will check that out! Sounds like a good time.

Did these three cities along with more in 14 days on my first trip to Italy. I add another vote for trains. Fun and interesting in addition to convenience and ease. I loved Florence but would recommend spending a fourth day in Rome. Florence, most everything is within walking distance of everything else. Rome, wider spread with broader offerings. I can't say much about Venice other than I didn't love it like you're supposed to. Tired at the end of a trip, rushed and frequently very lost with achey feet. Makes sense to start there and end in Rome for logistical reasons.