Need advice: We will be staying in Florence from December 15 - 22nd. Since the museums are closed on Mondays I was thinking about doing the day trips from Florence on Sat, Sun and Monday - then doing the sites in Florence the rest of the week. We are staying at the Duomo - should I make reservations to climb to the top before we arrive? We would like to take a day trip to Venice (considering staying overnight) - need advice on making this work efficiently. Also need recommendations for a tour guide in Rome. We are taking the train on the morning of the 22nd to Rome and flying out on the 23rd. I have an apartment booked - but need a tour guide to help us see as much as possible.
I'm sorry I have a lot of questions - any guidance is welcome. Thank you.
Posted by
Toledo, Ohio, US
11613 posts
Several museums in Firenze are closed in Tuesday instead of Monday, so make sure you check hours for what you want to see.
If you are visiting smaller cities on daytrips, the chance of Monday closing is greater, so you need to check hours in those places, too.
In general, state museums are closed on Monday.
Can't help with the other questions you have, except to suggest going to Venezia for a night or two before Firenze.
Posted by
Minnesota 🎒
16710 posts
We are taking the train on the morning of the 22nd to Rome and flying
out on the 23rd.
I don't know how flexible your arrangements are but you might think about taking an evening train to Rome on the 21st instead of the morning of the 22nd? By the time you got there, found your apartment and dumped the bags (what time are you allowed to check in?) you'd have limited time for "as much as possible" before dark. Walks of Italy (very highly regarded by RS contributors who've used them) has a "Rome in a Day" tour that might be a good choice but you have to be at the meeting place at 8:45 AM. That would be tough to do if coming from Florence with luggage. There is a bag check at Termini but still...
Posted by
64 posts
If you haven't been to Venice before, you may find a day trip too little. My daughter and I spent 5 days there two summers ago, and found plenty to do. In addition to touring, we did a mask making workshop, attended a classical music concert in a church, and an opera in a palazzo.
In both Florence and Rome we used Through Eternity Tours. We splurged on a private tour in Florence and had a group of 6 in Rome. Excellent tour guides. We also thought highly of Walks of Italy which we used in Venice, and Milan. Try to make sure you take small group tours.
I agree with the advice to get to Rome the night before.
Posted by
3124 posts
Frankly I would not use up one of your Florence days going to Venice because it will be a very long, exhausting day and won't give you much time to really see/enjoy Venice. There are plenty of lovely places nearer to Florence if you think you'll run out of things to do in Florence itself.
Posted by
Washington DC
28453 posts
To plan your transportation to Venice and Rome you can use the Deutsche Bahn website for scheduling. To check fares, use Trenitalia and ItaliaRail (two different companies). Note that you might save money by buying your tickets now rather than waiting until you get to Italy. You can look at prices for tomorrow, then prices for your travel dates to get an idea of the savings.
Station names are Firenze S. M. Novella, Roma Termini, and Venezia S. Lucia.
I, too, recommend an overnight in Venice. I would also suggest traveling Florence-Venice-Rome rather than Florence-Venice-Florence-Rome. Most of the trips take only 3 hr. 45 min. on the train, so there's no need to stop off in Florence.