Italy

Yes! Venice at night when all the cruise ships leaves. It's so much fun to wander and get lost. Get up early and go to St. Mark's Square and it's deserted. Take all the photos you want!!

std,

I don't believe there's any good central location to take day trips to Rome, Florence and Venice. None of those cities are ideal as a "day trip" location and it would be prudent to spend at least a few days in each one, as there is so MUCH to see in each one. It would be better to use each of those cities as a home base and take day trips to other locations.

Ken is absolutely right, in two senses:

1) Rome, Venice and Florence cannot be seen from one base; they're too far apart. You need to stay in each of these places to see it.

2) Each of these places is best if you stay in it, rather than in some suburb and commute. Much like New York City, the suburbs are not only not of interest compared to the city, but you will waste a lot of time commuting. Furthermore, the cities are much nicer in the evenings, when the cruise ship crowds and tour groups (who are like commuters) leave.

So, if you want "small town" feel, look for neighborhoods in these cities that have that. In Venice, stay anywhere but San Marco; Dorsoduro is particularly nice, but not the only place where tourists are rare. In Florence, stay in the Oltrarno (the south side of the Arno). And in Rome, look at places like Trastevere.

Agreed with Ken and Harold.

Just to prove what the others are saying. Take a map. Put pins in the cities. I think you will quickly see that it is huge expanse of territory. And small towns will have rail connects but not necessarily good rail connects unless they are on a direct line between two major cities. Rob, you need a plan B.

And another ditto to all of the above. These locations are too far apart - and each have too much to see - to be able to base any one place to do them justice.

You can use Rome2rio.com to get a quick idea of the amount of time involved in traveling between those places. Italy is bigger than you think, even with the fast trains. How much time are you going to have in Italy?

Due to its central position, you could stay in Florence and do day trips to Rome and Venice by train. The cities are very distant but the trains are very fast. While expensive, it is not impossible. The problem is, a day trip from Florence to Rome or Venice makes sense if you have just to see a sight or attend a single event; you cannot really see these cities on day trips.

As you would need fast trains to do these trips, only Florence and, to a lesser extent, Bologna are the places where these trips would be possible. Smaller towns are not serviced by fast trains.

stdfeed, can't tell where you're from but assuming you are from the US, day trips to these large exciting places would be like taking a trip to New York City to do day trips to Boston and Philadelphia. Really, you can say you've been there for a few hours, but won't really have time to see anything