Please sign in to post.

First trip to Italy, itinerary check please

My wife and I are taking our first trip to Italy in April. We are flying out of Charlotte direct into Rome and are taking the train to Florence. Here is our current itinerary:

Day 1 : We should arrive in Florence around noon and will check into our hotel. We plan to spend the day adjusting to the time and doing RS's Renaissance Walk to see the city.

Day 2: Accademia, Duomo including the Baptistry, Belltower, and the museum. Spend the afternoon walking and viewing some of the churches like Santa Croce and Santa Maria Novella and possibly the Medici Chapels.

Day 3: Uffizi Gallery, Pitti Palace and Boboli Gardens. Walk around the city.
Day 4: First train back to Rome should be there before 10 A.M. Plan on checking into the hotel and seeing the Capitoline Museum and Hill. (This will be a Monday so most museums closed). Then spend time walking we want to see Trastevere and do RS's Heart of Rome walk in the evening to view the stops along this route including Pantheon, Trevi Fountain and Spanish Steps.
Day 5: Colosseum, Roman Forum, Palatine Hill in the morning. Borghese Gallery in the afternoon
Day 6: Vatican Day. If time allows we may walk around a few other neighborhoods in Rome
Day 7: If there is more we want to see in Rome we will leave this day open for it, but we will most likely take a day and visit Orvieto to see what it has to offer and get a day away from the city.
Day 8: fly back home

Should we buy any of our train tickets ahead of time?
We currently have our museum tickets for Florence but need to buy all tickets for Rome, would you recommend skip the line tickets? Any of the passes worth the money for our trip based on our sites?

Posted by
7252 posts

That’s a very nice plan, I wouldn’t change a thing

Don’t buy tix to Florence in advance
Any delays you lose

DO buy tix from Florence to Rome if you know exact date and want to take advantage of discounts

No need to buy tix to Orvieto in advance, that’s a regional train

https://www.trenitalia.com/content/tcom/en.html
Also get the easy to use app

I would book an early entry to Vatican
And a tour of Colosseum/Forum

Book with the actual tour companies, not a reseller like Viator
www.walksofItaly.com is one, there are others

You must book Borghese in advance
https://www.tosc.it/en/city/roma-216/venue/galleria-borghese-17529/

I’ve never seen a pass for Rome that was worthwhile

Posted by
3292 posts

Day 3: Uffizi Gallery – buy tickets two months out to guarantee a reservation, otherwise expect to wait in a 4h line.

Posted by
2501 posts

That does look like an excellent plan. I hope you make it to Orvieto - lovely place.

Posted by
1158 posts

I'll agree with everyone about your plan - it's busy but you're seeing the highlight list of things. (The new Duomo museum is awesome BTW.) My only caution is keep track of your days of the week and watch for museum closures in both cities. If you arrive Tuesday you shouldn't have any issues but Sundays and Mondays could complicate your planning.

Have a great trip,
=Tod

Posted by
28 posts

Thanks for the replies, we will go ahead and purchase the train ticket back to Rome from Florence and the tickets for the major sights in Rome. I knew it was a busy itinerary but feel like we are leaving plenty of free time to just walk and enjoy the city.