My wife is hoping to travel from Venice to Florence by train. Stay one night and return to Venice the next day (Oct 22-23).
Does anyone have any tips, tricks, suggestions, recommendations (including where to stay)?
She will be travelling alone.
Thank you
Greg
Florence is only 2 hours away on high speed trains. Trenitalia has a one-day return ticket for 69 euro per person, must be booked 24 hours in advance. So you could leave at 7:25 and be in Florence by 9:30, giving you up to 12 hours in Florence, returning on the 9:30 pm train and back in Venice at 11:35 pm. That would save getting a place to stay overnight, including the time spent checking in and out of 2 places.
The tickets are changeable on the date of travel before the first departure. Travel must be completed on the ticketed day. The price compares favorably with the normal Economy fares of 34 to 48 euro one-way prices.
Go to www.trenitalia.com to see schedules and prices. Italotreno also has trains between the two. Be aware that economy and especially super economy fares have restrictions regarding changes and are not refundable.
Florence has a lot to offer. Can your wife give at least two nights to my city?
Roberto's right - Florence has a lot to see. If she can't spend more than one night, she should get the earliest train she can from Venice, and the latest train back from Florence the next day. However, depending on where she's staying in Venice, it can take time to get to the station - allow for this. From central Florence, it's a short walk or an even shorter taxi ride back to the station, so getting a late train is not a problem.
Here's Rick's ideas for how to plan your time for a short visit: http://www.ricksteves.com/europe/italy/florence/planning-your-time
If you click the "At A Glance" tab on this page, you'll see his list of highlights (again, just his opinion, although he certainly covers the biggies): http://www.ricksteves.com/europe/italy/florence
If your wife wants to see the Uffizi or the Accademia (and I assume she does), she should get advance tickets (you'll see Rick emphasizes this on the pages I linked). On a short visit, she won't have time to waste in the (possibly hours-long) lines.
If she does decide to spend the night in Florence, I highly recommend Hotel Casci, which is an easy 12 minute walk from the train station, and 5 minute walk to the Duomo. I just stayed in a lovely single there, a month ago, for 6 days. Small, but very clean and well furnished room for 60E, very friendly, helpful, English-speaking family run this hotel, wonderful breakfast, and elevator from the ground floor to the hotel which is entirely on the 2nd floor. Look it up in tripadvisor. It would also be a convenient place to leave her luggage, if she decides to spend that second day in Florence, and pick up her luggage on her way from the historical center to the train station.
