Italy - Quick Trip - Tuscany / Venice

Option 1 - Fly Malta to Venice, stay in Venice two nights. Fly to Paris Monday. Option 2 - Fly to Florence, rent a car and drive to a hill town. Spend two nights there, driving around to see other hill towns and scenery. Fly to Paris on Monday. With a weekend, there is not enough time to "see" Venice and Tuscany. They are far apart and far too complicated to do a drive by. Tuscany is vast. Even a week doesn't do it justice. Trains not feasible from Malta. :-) Train to Paris is a long ride....

Trains won't do. It's too far from Italy to Paris and they haven't built the bridge yet to Malta. You'll have to spend some time at the computer to search for flights. A good start is the Malta airport site - look at arrivals and departures. You'll see which airlines fly to which Italian cities. Then you can start looking for prices and schedules. Then look at how you get from the airport to whichever town you want to visit. Next, look for flights from Venice to Paris the same way. Beware of budget airlines that say "Paris" but land somewhere far away like Beauvais. When you are looking at prices, find all the costs for flying "budget" - there may be lots: service charges, baggage charges, extra costs to get from a more remote airport. You may be able to fit in a full day of sightseeing in a Tuscan city and another in Venice, depending on your flights AND on which Tuscan city. It's a relatively short train ride from Florence to Venice, but it will take a lot longer if you're in Pisa or Siena. Also consider what time you will need to leave from your hotel in Venice to the airport. Venice is small but transportation is either very slow or very expensive. While you may have most of Monday to sightsee in Venice, you may end up needing to leave whatever sight you're at by noon to get back to your hotel to collect your luggage head for Marco Polo.

To be clearer, your choice will be determined by flights and your budget, not by sightseeing recommendations.

Thanks
Leaning toward Tuscany area. In fact there is a neat trip via ferry / train from Malta up through Rome and then connecting further depending on plans. So a bridge not needed :)

That ferry/train trip takes a long time, Randy. And it's not cheap as I recall.

I like Laurel's suggestions. A flight in and out of Venice makes sense. It's a compact city and you can see the highlights in 2 days.

Would like to add Rome to the list of places to go for 2 days/nights early October. Would any of you pick it over Tuscany area / Venice and why ? A good friend just said if only one place to visit - go to Rome ... Hands Down...
Opinions ? THANKS

Well I love Rome...but you said Venice or Tuscany, so I didn't contradict your desires. Easy to trade it out. Fly Malta to Rome, stay put, fly to Paris. You can do a whirlwind of the highlights in two days. See Rick Steves' guide for a two-day itinerary to contemplate. You will see a lot, but you won't be relaxed.

Thanks Laurel Everyone seems to have their favorite
Why do you Love Rome if you don't mind my asking ?