Italy in 12 days

If you haven't made your flight reservations you might want to fly into Venice and out of Rome. This will save you a lot of travel time back tracking. 12 days isn't a lot and you plan to cover a lot of Italy. Flying into one city and out of the other will save you a day of train travel. Donna

Barb: What a wonderful gift to give your grandson! The highlight of our time in Rome (Oct 2010) was a private tour of Acncient Rome with Francesca Caruso. She guided us expertly through the Colosseum, Palatine Hill, and Forum. She is very engaging and knowledgable, and was able to tailor her narrative to our interests. At the end of 4 hours, she deposited us at the Vittorio where we ascended the Rome in the Sky elevator to take in the view before sunset. This is, IMHO, a perfect intro to Rome because you get the historical background that colors the rest of your touring. While Ancient Rome is not exactly off the beaten track, a personalized tour like this was intimate, interesting and educational. Francesca allowed us to see Rome through the eyes of a Roman. [email protected]. Charges by the hour. In Venice, my favorite thing was just walking all over the place, but an 18 year old may need more focused activity. See St. Mark's Basilica, but be sure to ascend the stairs to the Treasury in the attic. So many people miss this. The view is magnifcent, and you have the opportunity to examine the original bronze horses from 167 B.C. Also, instead of the Campanile, take the 5 minute vaporetto ride across the Laguna to San Giorgio Maggiore and ascend that tower. Less crowded, and you can view the Laguna all the way to the Lido. Like viewing Venice from the sky, you get more of a sense of the geography.

I tried, but the cost was $400 a ticket more & we're getting a Eurail Pass.

A railpass is not really a good idea in Italy. You can buy point to point tickets a lot cheaper and now with the new "mini" fares it makes buying a pass even more expensive. I would crunch the numbers for the pass to see if this will really help you. If you are only going to Italy and these are the only cities you'll be visiting then a pass won't save you and will actually cost you more when you add in the additional seat reservation charges of 10 euros per person per leg of each trip. Check out the trenitalia site for fares and schedules. http://www.trenitalia.com/cms/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=ad1ce14114bc9110VgnVCM10000080a3e90aRCRD Donna

I would also question the need or wisdom of a rail pass. Given reservation fees, etc. I doubt if the pass would have any significant savings. You might check into Milan and home from Rome with a short train ride to Venice. Not knowing your travel time, but for us we always find the open jaw tickets to be nearly the same price. A $400 differences seems unusual and very high. Last year we flew into Rome and home from Zurich for $200 less per person than RT to Rome. We are just back from Strasbourg to Prague for just a $100 over a RT into either Frankfurt or Munich. PS - Just did a quick search PHX to Venice and ROM to PHX for 2 weeks in mid June and found tickets ranging from $1300 - $1500. The RT to Rome was $1200-$1400. About a hundred dollars difference and about what I would expect. You should recheck your fares.

Keep trying for "open-jaw" tickets - I've never had them be more expensive than round trip. Also, the savings in your time is worth a small added expense.

Thanks for the advise of Eurail. I purchased the 3 tickets for $1,040 each & it was $1,400 for an open jaw. I figured with an 8-day Eurail Pass it wouldn't be a problem. I thought we could go to 2 of the towns in Cinque Terre for 2 days. Any suggestions as we have each a small piece of luggage & maybe do it by boat & then go on by train to Venice.

Barb: Assuming worst case you are in-and-out of Rome and cannot do open jaw, adding on the Cinque Terre is going to spread you pretty thin. You'll cover a lot of Italy but not see or experience much. Each time you change locations it will take you at least 1/2 a day. Example, a 0845 train to Venice arrives about 1230. Allow an hour to find your lodging and check in, and you have less than half a day left by the time you eat lunch. A 0910 train from Florence to Naples arrives at 1210, so similar scenario. Squeezing in the CT would mean at least dropping Naples/Pompeii. Personally I hate to stay anywhere less than 3 nights. It's too exhausting and you never really get to "feel" a place. An itinerary based on your original post might look like this. Day 1 - arrive Rome (presumably AM), tour a bit, to bed about 2100, you'll be on local time by the next morning Day 2 - Rome Day 3 - Rome Day 4 - to Venice Day 5 - Venice Day 6 - Venice
Day 7 - to Florence Day 8 - Florence Day 9 - to Naples Day 10 - Naples/Pompeii Day 11 - to Rome Day 12 - fly home Depends on whether your 12 days are actually days on-the-ground. I assumed you arrive Day 1, leaving Scottsdale the previous day. If you actually fly home on "day 13" then you can add a day to Naples/Pompeii, perhaps, and get down to Sorrento or even stay in Sorrento. I suggest you take time to plot it out day by day. That really helps me understand how my time is likely to be used and to even plan in somd down time to shop, do laundry, just hang out and ENJOY. Also, you want to make certain the things you want to see are open when you are there. Not everything is open all the time.

Thanks so much for everyone's input. We actually have 14 days in May & lose 2 in travel which leaves 12. We didn't plan to see Naples. We'd leave Rome on arrival in the AM to Pompeii & we'd have 1/2 day there, spend the night. Next day go to Florence & have 2 days there (David, Pitti Palace, Santa Croce, & the Duomo). Then to Cinque Terre for 2 days & onto Venice for 2 days (St. Marks, Doges Palace, Academy of Fine Arts, & the Guggenheim). Lastly back to Rome the rest of the time. I realize we lose time traveling. We'll have full days filled with a big taste of Italy. Please critique as we're open to advice.

Donna,
I Skyped the train company in Italy & found you were so right. It will take some time to figure out the schedules & train connections, but it's definitely cheaper. Thanks. Where would you suggest we go as a 1 day trip to a unique town enroute to any of our destinations? Maybe a hilltop town or one we could just walk through to see a quaint town.

Based on the given itinerary this is how much point to point tickets will cost: Rome - Naples- base fare 44 euros each, mini fare 19 each Naples - Florence- base fare 71 euros, mini fare 57 each Florence - riomaggiore- 9.60 euros riomaggiore- Venice- taking the train back to Florence is the cheapest option Riomaggiore- Florence- 9.60 plus Florence- Venice- 42 euros base fare, 34 euros mini fare. Venice - Rome - base fare 73 euros, mini fare 58. You don't say how much a rail pass was going to cost but if you can get the mini fares you can save a lot of money. Also with the rail pass you'll have to add on the seat reservation fee of 10 euros each. this fee is included in the cost if you buy point to point tickets so no additional fees. Donna

Donna, I've checked with Eurail Pass & the Saver Fare is $262 for 7 days as we probably can't make it to Pompei the first day. We'll spend the first night in Naples & see the Archaeological Museum that day. They didn't know what the mini fare was. I'm not sure, but checking fares from Pompei to Florence was about $200 US. I'm realizing that Cinque Terre is not possible.

I'm not sure what site you're looking at for fares but mine are right off the trenitalia website. If you're going through a travel agent and they don't know about the mini fares they are not up to speed on their Italy information. On top of the price for the pass you will have to add 30 euros in seat reservation fees for your trips. That's an extra 40 euros each on top of the price of the pass. If you are only going from Rome-Naples-Florence-Venice-Rome then PTP will cost 193 euros if you get the base fare for the trip to Naples and the mini fares for the rest of the trips. This is a big savings over 262 pass and the 40 seat reservations. You can check the fares yourself at: http://www.trenitalia.com/cms/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=ad1ce14114bc9110VgnVCM10000080a3e90aRCRD Donna

If you choose to stop somewhere on your way, say you want to go to Viterbo on your way to Florence, you have to buy two separate tickets. The tickets are for a specific train so if you get off somewhere along the route your train will continue on and you and your ticket won't be valid on another train. It's easy to do, just buy a ticket to Viterbo and then another ticket from Viterbo to Florence. One ticket from Rome to Florence won't allow you to get off at Viterbo. You could go to Viterbo, it's a really nice town. You might also want to stop in Orvieto as a day trip from Rome and then leave from there to your next stop. I hope this makes sense. Donna

Absolutely. Thanks

the MINI train ticket, what is it, and how is it different than the standard...besides price!

The Mini is a cheaper fare. Check it out on Donna's response on 1-5-11.