June trip to Italy- please help

Two nights in Venice as your first stop is really too short. On your first day, many of you (perhaps all) will be sleep-deprived and jetlagged. You may struggle to stay away. That day shouldn't really be counted as a sightseeing day, though some of you may be alert enough to enjoy walking around outdoors--which is the best thing to do, for getting over jetlag.

Edited to add: If you have only one real sightseeing day in Venice, you'll probably spend all your time marching shoulder-to-shoulder with thousands of other visitors who want to see the same things you do. You need more time so you can get to the less-visited parts of the city.

I love Venice, but I wouldn't bother to go there for two nights at the beginning of a short trip like this.

You are also rather short in allowing only 2 or 3 nights in Florence. That's just 1.5 or 2.5 days. Most people going to Florence also want to see some of the Tuscan countryside.

I think 3 nights is too short in Rome and would consider 4 the bare minimum.

Unless you can extend your trip, my recommendation is that you pick 2 of the 3 cities.

I think your plan looks good. I love Florence, wasn't a fan of Rome, but that's me. I stayed near the train station in Venice, Hotel Olympia, quite by accident, thought I was taking "the cancel for free option" but chose the can't cancel option. For me it was a happy mistake, the thought of lugging my carry on up & down bridges was enough to for me to be happy with my mistake. I really enjoyed Grand Hotel Cavour in Florence. I didn't opt for the breakfast, I felt it was to expensive at €15 per person. It has a wonderful roof top bar with views Florence to die for. It was about a 13 minute walk from the train. Sorry, I don't have an option for Rome. Happy planning!

Hi Lisa
I agree that just 2 nights is Venice is too short
If you can add a night I think 3-3-4 can work. We loved all 3 cities.
Keep in mind 3 nights is really just 2.5 days and as mentioned your arrival day shouldn’t be counted.
Where are you flying from?

We stayed at Hotel Ala in Venice. I think it was around $170/night but I booked well in advance, I know they fill up quickly.
The location is great, a bit away from San Marco, yet still close to all the sights.
The best thing about Hotel Ala is the easy access, it is just steps from SM Giglio vaporetto stop, no bridges to cross with your luggage and the aliluguna boat from airports stops there as well.

How many nights do you have for this trip?

If you can do 3 nights in Venice, 3 nights in Florence and 4 nights in Rome, then you can make it worthwhile.

If you have fewer total nights you may be better off to 'pick 2' and spend less time moving and more time 'being there'.

Presumably the $200 per night is per couple?

The hotels mentioned in the RS guide book will fit your desire for hotels with 'charm'

I echo acraven-- Venice warrants more time. Suggest 4 nights. We were there in September for a week at Hotel Flora. Loved the location. Close to main attractions, quiet, great breakfast, room adequate size facing lovely courtyard, 5 min. walk from Giglio boat stop. Rome- Been there twice. Suggest 4 nights if possible. Hotel Residenza Cellini, near Termini. Florence- We felt 3 nights were perfect for our favorite attractions. Don't recall the name of our hotel (2006) but it was on the Arno River across from the Uffizi.

Thanks for the quick replies. We will add a night to Venice. We are now thinking 3 nights in Venice, 3 in Florence, and 3 in Rome. We may up that to 4 if the two other couples can add that day.

Love hearing the hotel recommendations. We were looking at Hotel Olimpia this morning so I'm especially glad to hear that it was a good choice. And yes, $200 per couple.

I'd also love tips on what places should be booked ahead of time and what, if any, guided tours are a good choice. For instance when we were in France, we did a one day guided tour of Normandy that 15 years later is still one of our favorite travel days ever.

In Florence we liked Hotel Albani Firenze on Via Fiume 12. It was on a quiet side street only one block from the train station and within easy walking to the Duomo, Ponte Vecchio, Plaza del Repubblica, Plaza del Signori, and the Uffizi, and Accademia. The breakfast was great and it had old world charm.

For Rome:

If you want to see the Vatican Museums (including the Sistine Chapel), you need a strategy. The most common recommendation is for a tour that gets you into the museums before the public opening time. The Vatican offers an early-entry option. Commercial tours will be more expensive. Dark Rome is a possibility, and there's the often-recommended "Pristine Sistine" tour run by Walks of Italy.

The Scavi Tour at the Vatican sells out extremely early.

The Borghese Gallery requires pre-booked tickets but is an opportunity to see great art in conditions that are not sardine-like.

You'll need to buy your Colosseum tickets in advance, as well. There is at least one more comprehensive ticket you can buy, but I think those sell out quite early. Read up on the options and decide what your plan will be.

The Domus Aurea is only open occasionally--I think on weekends--so anyone wanting to see it needs to plan way ahead.

I highly recommend not just running from one famous sight to another. Allow time for just walking around and being in Rome.

Lisa, a great resource for the top attractions of choice, I can recommend RS guidebooks. Great info. on schedules, the need to purchase tickets ahead, avoid lines, etc. Wealth of information! Well worth the small investment. Enjoy your planning!

** Edit. We enjoyed www.walksofitaly in Rome. Colosseum, Palatine Hill and Forum. Excellent knowledgeable guides, small group.

I'm a big fan of RS books. I just ordered Italy. Thank you for the recommendations.

Have ypu considered renting an apartment? You will have more space and between all of you, probably much less expensive.

I have stayed in several hotels in Venice, and my current favorite is Hotel Al Ponte Mocenigo. It's a great location: just about 200 FLAT steps from the San Stae vaporetto stop, which is the 3rd stop from the train station. Lovely, charming, very clean rooms, gracious and extremely helpful staff; great breakfast included which in good weather is served in the beautiful outdoor patio. About a 10 minute walk to the Rialto bridge area, yet in a quiet and lovely part of Venice. Definitely within your budget. Books up months in advance.

We just returned from Italy. I think 2 nights in Venice are enough unless you find tours to do or things to see. St Marks is great but other than that the best part of Venice is walking the town. My wife and I were fine with 2 days. We were very happy with our stay at the Hotel Antico Doge. It was a great hotel off the Grand Canal near the Rialto bridge. It was a 20 minute walk to the train station.
2 days in Florence would depend on what you like to see. The doumo/ Accademia (statue of David) tour and the Uffizzi gallery tour are each 1/2 day tours. I would consider adding an extra day in Florence to visit a few Tuscan towns via train or car. We have now stayed twice at the Hotel L'Orlogio. Especially if you are travelling by train this place is good as it is less than a 1/4 mile from the train station off the quiet Piazza Santa Maria Novella.
3 days in Rome are good. If you do tours look into Context Tours of the Vatican Museum and of the Colosseum/ Roman Forum. They are a little more expensive but limit their groups to 6 people and have talented tour guides. R Steves' audio tours are also very good. I do not have a good hotel here but will agree with you that location is the key. We stayed south of the Colosseum and found it was too much walking/too time consuming to get to other sites. I think the Trastevere area looks good.

Jimk, two nights in Venice at the beginning of a trip is not two days in Venice. It is one day in Venice plus some hours on the arrival day in the Land of Mental Fog

Another vote for Hotel Al Ponte Mocenigo!!! These rooms have it all. We stayed in the last room in the back on the first floor, and I would highly recommend this room. Venice was our first stop on our trip, and we measured all other rooms by that one. It is close to the vaporetto stop (San Stae), and there are lots of restaurants, (La Zucca), cichetti bars (Boresso) and gelato shops (Fontego delle Dolcezze) nearby. It is a quiet neighborhood that is a welcome retreat after the hustle and bustle of the tourist areas. Be sure to take a map and find Campo San Giacomo which is a quick walk in the back streets from the hotel. Eat at Majer which is right next to this Campo and enjoy a wonderful meal prepared by Allesandro. Enjoy Venice, and do get lost!

I think you should consider what you want to see in each city before deciding how many days to stay in each city. We found Venice to be extremely crowded in June, kind of a Disneyland for adults, and we enjoyed Florence a lot more. Italy in general tends to be an overload of churches, art and museums. Depending on your interest you could even make a side trip to Cinque Terre from Florence and enjoy some natural scenery as a change from museums etc.

For tickets to the Colliseum and other major attractions in Rome, always use this official site to book tickets:
https://www.coopculture.it/
As far as hotels in Rome, Ive only stayed in B&B and Apartments, but can recommend some if you like-feel free to private message me- with other couples travelling with you a Air BnB apartment might be a great option. Try to stay in either the neighborhoods of Prati, Trastevere, or Campo Marzio, or Trevi.
I would suggest to do 3 nights in each city if you can. In Venice the area near St. Marks square has some lovely hotels, and is very walkable. Be sure to check out Harrys Bar, a legendary 1930’s bar known for its Bellini.
Happy Travels 💫✨

Thank you all so much! We are taking notes and have decided to do 3 nights in each city.

Your plan of Venice 2 nights, Florence 2-3, Rome 3-4 are all too short. However, if you can't extend the times, you breakdown for the three cities is about right.

Venice Hotels or B&Bs are very expensive. To save use Kayak and TripAdvisor to book a place near the main train station.
Check out the Hotel Balesteri in Florence. Great location, modest prices.

Rome can be expensive as well, not sure where you want to stay, but the farther out the cheaper. On our first trip to Rome we stated at a convent (they rented out some rooms to visitors).