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Florence & Venice in 6 days?

Can family of four w 18 and 16 yr old do both in 6 days in August ? Need to be back for school. Don’t need a ton of museums in Florence. Planning to train by the two but don’t know if too rushed. Thoughts? Itinerary suggestions?

Posted by
8377 posts

zweiflers are you counting the travel days in that? Coming and going? If so that means you have only 5 nights, 4 whole days, and thats not enough. Not to mention the half day you burn up getting from Venice to Florence. Have you dealt with jet lag before? It can make the first couple of days less fun, and many people find it worse on the return to America (if that's where you're from).

Posted by
4256 posts

For that short of a time period, you need to choose 1 city with maybe a day trip or two.

Posted by
4761 posts

As asked already, is this 6 days IN Italy, or does that include your 2 transatlantic travel days? Would this be a RT ticket or open jaw into Venice and out of Florence? 6 full days in country would allow time for a superficial visit of the top sights in both places. But it will be the height of tourist crowds and HOT. So careful planning and advance reservations for some sights would be required.
If this is 6 days incuding travel, then no way.

Posted by
1647 posts

You can do anywhere in any amount of time depending on your desires on what you want to see or experience. Florence is only a 2 hour train trip from Venice. Need more itinerary info to really help. Good Luck.

Posted by
6 posts

What would be minimum number of days to just do highlights without seeming too rushed? My kids don’t love museums so it would be a lot of strolling, eating etc. any suggestions on how many days in each??

Posted by
1647 posts

Minimum strolling days in Venice is 1-2 days. Going to Florence without seeing the Accademia Gallery is like going to Paris and refusing to see the Eiffel Tower or the Mona Lisa. You may think they won't like it, but the experience of seeing Michelangelo's David is an memorable experience. One they will remember in years to come. Get tickets in advance. The rest of Florence strolling can be as long as you want it to be without a sightseeing agenda.

PS I mean this nicely. I would never let my teens dictate my enjoyment of seeing Venice and Florence to the fullest. Enjoy your trip.

Posted by
1025 posts

I laughed out loud at Threadwear's comment about teens directing the trip. Clearly he/she didn't live with my daughter as she was growing up.

With that said, there are places and things which have to be seen to be appreciated. Michelangelo's David is one such thing. So is Galileo's finger in a jar. So is the armory in the Doge's Palace in Venice. When teens are engaged to suggest things that they might want to see on a vacation, they cease to be whining complainers and begin to be reasonably responsible fellow travelers who want to see stuff that is interesting. Donatello's Mary Magdalene sculpture in the Duomo Museum in Florence puts anything from the Walking Dead to shame, creepwise. The smelly Rialto fish market is an endangered sight--see it while you can, and see it with the teens.

Posted by
6 posts

Ha! Yes- we will of course see the main museums and historical sights. I meant do we need more than 3ish days to see the highlights of Florence if we’re short on time & kids will want plenty of time to explore and stroll.

Posted by
7595 posts

Lots of great comments already.

You can do both cities in 6 days, but good advance planning is necessary. I would do open jaw into Venice, spend two or three nights there, visiting St. Mark's Cathedral and Doges Palace as well as a gondola ride. If you have time go up to the top of the tower at St. Marks and visit some of the other islands like Murano and Borano.

Florence is wonderful, recommend the Hotel Balesteri on the Arno at a great location. Do 3-4 nights there and don't miss Academia Museum, the Duomo, Ponte Vecchio and San Croce.
https://www.visitflorence.com/itineraries-in-florence/3-days-in-florence.html

Posted by
15560 posts

Are you asking about a 1 week trip, landing in Florence on Day 1 from the US and flying back to the US on Day 6 from Venice? Or is this a segment of a longer trip? If you are coming from the US, you have to take into account that at least some of you won't sleep well on the overnight flight, you'll be tired and jetlagged on arrival so the first day isn't going to be very productive. One or more of you may still be in a haze on Day 2. Unless you have an evening departure, don't count your last day - by the time you have breakfast and spend an hour getting to the airport 2-3 hours before your flight home, you won't have time to sightsee on your last day.

Please give us more details or you won't get good advice.