Itinerary Assistance - Rome, Florence, Venice July 2015

The train is much better than flying between these cities. Buy your tickets well in advance (like 3 months) on Trenitalia.com to get the lowest price (as low as 9 euros for Super Economy tickets.

Picnicking by the Grand Canal is not a good idea; there aren't really any places to sit. Picnics in general are frowned upon in Venice, and outright banned in come areas, such as Piazzo San Marco. Nor should you sit on the steps of bridges or churches. Benches are few, although some of the campos away from the tourist areas have them. But beware of benches under trees as you may get pigeon-bombed like my husband did.

There is a seaside near Venice, a vaporetto ride away. The Lido beaches are broad and sandy; you may have to pay to rent a chair and umbrella. We have only been there in April when it was empty (and free); hopefully someone will be able to tell you what it is like in summer.

A gondola ride sounds like fun in theory, but it is expensive and may not be what you imagine. Wait until the second or third day you are there and have had a chance to watch others doing this---you may change your mind. We spent a full month in Venice last October and saw many gondola riders looking bored or even a bit embarrassed. You are basically on display to all the populace as you glide the back canals and under bridges. A vaporetto ride down the Grand Canal in the bow of the boat is just as scenic, and a lot less money. And you won't feel like an exhibit.

What a fun trip! If you aren't setting up a tour or a guide for the Colosseum I HIGHLY recommend downloading the Rick Steves audio guide --- and as crazy as it sounds watch Russel Crowed Gladiator. They did a fairly good job of showing what it probably looked like.

If you can get a guide for the Uffizi or get on a tour do it there is so much to see but it is even more interesting when put into historical context. A fun book that I found after our trip to Florence is "Florence on 5 Florins a Day" it's written as a guide book for a traveler to Florence during the 16th century. Really gives you a feel for the architecture, politics etc.

Download the RS audio guides for the Renaissance Walk of Florence he also has one of the Uffizi I listened to it before we went to Florence, our guide gave us so much more "color" about the collection and the building.

I loved our gondola ride -- again download the RS audio guide to the sights in Venice. For the tour of the Grand Canal we took a vaporetto all the way to the bus station (first/last stop) got off then got on the vaporetto #1. We were first in line so got to sit in front on the right side then plugged in our iPhones and listened to the tour. Great way to spend 45 minutes and see all the sights.

Have a great time!

Rome: for a day and 1/2 (which is what you'll realistically have) and what's on your list, I wouldn't even consider the Roma Pass. The Pantheon is free, and the pass doesn't apply to St. Peter's so you'd only use it for the other two attractions. Rome is a very walkable city, and I wouldn't waste the money on a pass that you really don't need for transport unless you can't walk much at all.

The same applies to Florence: with 2 and 1/2 days and what's on your list, there's no need for a pass that you'd only use for the Uffizi and Science Museum. It's an even more walkable city than Rome.

Ditto to Lola's comment about picnicking near the Grand Canal (not a good idea) and waiting to commit to gondola ride until you've seen what it entails.

If you want to see what discounts are available on the Roma Pass, check the website:

http://www.romapass.it/?l=en

If you do not buy the pass, you'll really only need to purchase advance tickets for the Colosseum to skip longs lines:

http://www.coopculture.it/en/colosseo-e-shop.cfm

Tickets for the Uffizi should also be pre-ordered as lines can be very long:

http://www.uffizi.firenze.it/en/musei/?m=uffizi

Based on the sites you have listed the romapass won't save you any money. If you want to visit the colosseum and bypass the lines you can book entry tickets online or book a tour.

http://www.coopculture.it/en/colosseo-e-shop.cfm

For tickets use the link. If you want to book a tour of the colosseum you'll need to call the number at the bottom of the link to arrange that. The entry ticket will also be good for the forum and palatine hill.

Rome is a very easy city to walk and based on what you want to see you won't need much public transportation. You may want to take the metro from your hotel over to the Vatican area and then walk to the basilica. That will cost 1.5 euros.
donna

If you haven't got your plane tickets yet you may prefer to do the trip in reverse - landing in Venice, having your anti-Jetlag time there and properly kicking back with the girls, then get into the art and heat of Florence, saving the sidewalk pounding of Rome until the end with the big crowds.

The difference between Venice big crowds and Rome big crowds is the ones in Rome often speak Italian, and the ones in Venice often don't, and you can get away from the crowds in Venice by going one or two lanes away from the crowds and they won't follow. They follow a beaten trail and if you get just a little off it they just go by and you are blissfully alone.

Don't picnic unless you know you are allowed to.

No horse riding in Venice.

The best reason for the reverse order is flight times. Most flights connecting to the US from Venice leave very early in the morning and we then get many requests for help of how to get to the airport by leaving at 3 or 4 in the morning. Much easier the other way.

I would encourage you to reverse the order as well.
On the great advice I received from many here we did just that- arrived in Venice- 3 nights then train to Florence- 3 nights ( then 6 days in Tuscany/Umbria), then train to Rome- where we spent 5 nights. I can not imagine allotting only 1.5 days (in jet lag mode) to Rome!
If at all possible I'd try to add at least 1 more night- 3 nights in Venice, 3 nights in Florence- (skip the day trip to PIsa- too much to see/do in Florence!) then 3 nights in Rome. You could do your wine tour from Florence- maybe with a stop in San Gimignano or even Siena.

Gondola- very expensive and rather cheesy. For a less expensive and easy experience- take a traghetto- the one that goes from San Marco over to La Salute is probably the longest ride- still very short! but it only costs 2 Euros.

We found Rome to be very walkable- but 2 of the sites you have listed- Colosseum and St. Peter's need a substantial amount of time.

As for night life- I don't think there is really much a of a "nightclub" scene in Venice! But if you end in Rome- an evening in Trastevere might be of interest to you.

Good news is you have a lot of time to research and plan!

In Florence I would recommend seeing Michelangelo's David. That is at the Galleria dell'Accademia.
It is a smaller museum which could be toured in an hour. This was a highlight of my 3 day stop in Florence

Thanks so much guys! This is all very useful! Defintiely will scratch out the roma pass and the firenze card. I didnt know how walkable these cities were.

Jet lag didnt cross my mind. Reversing the order of my trip! Thanks!!

We are very budget conscious so finding cheaper options for the same experience and sights sounds great to us. Will defintely consider the vaporetto.

What have been some other highlights for you all in these cities? Any hidden treasures or non touristy things you found and enjoyed so much?

which airport is the best for flying into venice? I saw there was the marco polo one and another. Is one more central than the other?

You'll want to fly into Marco Polo.

Take a look at Alessandro's Cicchetti Tour- 30 euros which includes the food and drink.
http://www.schezzini.it

If you reverse the trip as suggested then you also start with getting your head in to Venice-time on the boat ride from the airport. Make sure you check a map see where your hotel is located and stay in Venice instead of an outlying area even if the price is more attractive in the other areas.

Its a boat ride from the airport? Thats awesome. Is it expected to use the boat ride to get around the town for sight seeing?

There are no cars in Venice (or streets to speak of- the "streets" are water)- so you'll either be on your feet on in a vaporetto! :) Venice is quite small- easy to walk but the vaporettos are a great way to get around as well.

I'd suggest you pick up RS Italy book and do some reading, as I said above you have lots of time to learn and plan.

Not sure what your actual budget is but we were very pleased with our hotel choice in Venice- see my review into Reviews section- Hotel Ala- super easy to get to from airport. It was our first trip and I wanted our arrival to be as easy as possible- which it was. I believe they have quite a few triple rooms.

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy-reviews/venice-hotel-ala-best-western

You can buy a vaporetto pass for 48 or 72 hours; since each ride costs €7, it pays for itself if you use the vaporetto a few times a day. It's slso a good way to get an orientation tour of Venice, and if you feel like relaxing at night, the vaporetto is a nice evening "cruise" between stops.

I like Locanda San Marcuolo, it's inexpensive, a couple of stops away from the train station, has a little courtyard, serves a nice breakfast. Quiet area but close to everything.

We were just in Venice and the 72hr vaporetto pass was a breath catching 40 euro. But - at 7 euro a pop for a single ride, you take more than 6 rides and it pays for itself, not to mention skipping the hassle of having to get a ticket every time. I can't speak for gondola rides...this was our 4th time there and I still haven't been tempted to drop that many euro on a ride, but for most it is a must do.

Not sure your budget for accoms. You may want to look at airbnb. We stayed at this place (me, hubby and mom)...
https://www.airbnb.ca/rooms/1683211

Nice big bed. Also pull out couch for two. Quiet and about 5 min walk to Rialto. Small kitchen and a washing machine (if you can figure the darn thing out - I wasn't able to). Quick walk from San Silvestro vap stop. And I will second and third the suggestions to stay in Venice proper - there is nothing like dragging yourself out of bed at 7am and heading for San Marco to see it with barely any people around. Breakfast can wait! This last trip my mom and I left hubby sleeping and were out both mornings at 7am...seeing the early morning sun while going down the Grand Canal...just - perfect. Seeing St Marks with maybe 20 other people in the square - unforgettable. Being able to stand on the bridge and look at the Bridge of Sighs without being knocked about by 100 other people trying to do the same thing - priceless!!!

In Rome, you can get just a 24 hr pass for the metro - so if you knew one day you were just going to stick to the heart of Rome, and the next day maybe to the outlying areas, it could be worth it. I think the 24 hr was 6 euro (mind you, it's only good until midnight). Each ind metro ride is 1.50, so if you are going to do more then 5 rides, it's nice to have the 24 hr pass (we bought from the ticket machine).

Delta Airlines has a flight out of Venice to JFK in season (all months except December, Jan, Feb, March) that departs at 1:00PM. I've taken this flight home before, and it absolutely beat the heck out of FCO (Rome airport re chaos and confusion). Provided, of course that you don't mind connecting through JFK. I don't.

You will be wanting a triple room (three twin beds) so be sure to focus your hotel search on that. Many of the smaller hotels in Venice have only double rooms with one large bed. You can use a search engine like Venere.commor booking.com to limit you search by price and room type.

Hotel bel sito & Berlino in Venice used to have single rooms, very small. The location is great, close to St. Mark's square, and it's a sweet little charming hotel. Just in case you don't all three want to share rooms.