Need help for a Venice-Florence-Rome trip

Pompeii is looong day trip from Rome. You'll spend 6 hours in transit. I would visit Osita Antica, just outside of Rome instead. It may not be as well known as Pompeii but everyone that has been there loves it.

For tours check out http://italy.artviva.com/italytravel_best_tours_tour/florence_tuscany for Florence and http://www.througheternity.com/ for Rome.

While in Italy, we have 10 nights. We would like to split them b/t Rome, Florence and Venice, while being free for excursions.

Of interest in the Tuscany region are The wine territory of Chianti, Bologna, Pisa, San Gimignano, and perhaps anything else that may be enlightening but not creating a rush.

While in Rome, the major spots, Sistine Chapel, Forum, Colosseum, Pantheon, Palatine Hill, Borghese Gallery, National Museum, Vatican Museum. Catacombs are a high want, but not a must.

Venice is more about the canals, the romantic idea of what Venice is supposed to be. St. Mark's Square, Bridge of Sighs, Rialto Bridge, perhaps St. Mark's Basilica and the Doge Palace.

These are the majors for me. We are also looking at a couple of groups who do tours.

I must say we were looking at Pompeii, but it seems to be problematic to do Pompeii unless a whole day is devoted to the site.

I am looking for any and all input, suggestions or just plain thoughts on our plans.

Thanks again.

I would skip pompeii. Once in Florence I would skip Pisa and Bologna and concentrate on Tuscany and Chianti region since that seems to be where your interests are. That would be more than enough for 4 days

I agree with Linda. You need to save a couple of places for the next trip. Every city has TIs. And every TI has a bunch of local walking tours. We have always founds those tours to be very good and reasonably priced. Even if you don't reserve in advance, they will take walk ups. The Rome hop on/off bus is good for a overview of what to do and see.

We have all but decided to skip Pompeii. Do we really have to see everything? This time :), no we might just have to come back. The last bit is Venice. How long do we need to stay. Do we need to go? The romantic image of the city is astounding, but we just don't know. Help.

my first city that I visited in Italy was Venice. I love it. I have not been to Rome but I was in Florence for 2 nights about a month ago. I loved just walking around in Venice. I was there the first time last September.

I went on a gondola ride with someone special, St. Mark's at night, did the Rick Steves "canal tour", found a lovely place that was a little hidden from all the people- Osteria I Rusteghi, near Campo San Bortolomio. Glasses of wine and small paninis in a little court area. It was in Rick's 2008 Venice book. San Giorgio, St. Mark's Basilica, Accademia...Doge Palace, The Correr Museum...his book was really great. We just walked around ourselves with no tour guides. Venice is really small and you can see a lot in a few days. A lot of things in Florence are close also. Depending on how much you like walking. For me, Venice is just a magical place. I was there in February and it was chilly and rained. St. Mark's was flooded which was kind of interesting to see. The next time I went it was Valentine's Day and the first day of Carnevale. And there were people everywhere. The first time was the the first week of September and it was great. Some people but not really crowded, the weather was really nice- 80s. Rick's 1 day and 2 day guides on this site were handy too. Have fun.

Excellent guide in Rome is Francesca Caruso e-mail: [email protected]
and in Florence Lorella Migliorati e-mail [email protected]
Both fantastic and very easy to arrange. Have fun!

David,

As most have suggested, I would save Pompeii for your next visit; but as a couple of others have suggested, if you are interested in sites such as Pompeii, I would recommend Ostia Antica as a nice replacement for this trip. It's an easy daytrip (even half-daytrip, really) from Rome.

In terms of your overall schedule and where to visit, I was just wondering if you are renting a car while in the Tuscany area? You certainly don't need to, but that could effect which towns in Tuscany you can visit if your primary interest is wine. Overall, for simplicity, I would recommend just using the public transportation.

With that, for Venice, two nights is a good minimum. With at least that full day (plus half a day or more?), you will be able to see the key sites in the city while enjoying the ambience, etc. It will be a good way to finish your trip. As for Rome and Florence/Tuscany and the rest of your stay, I would either split it 4 and 4, or 3 and 5. 4 and 4 may be best here as that would give you more time to see the key sites in Rome along with a possible trip to Ostia Antica. With four nights in Florence, you can spend half the time seeing the city sites (museums, churches, etc.) and the other half doing daytrips to smaller towns in Tuscany. In picking a town to see I would recommend Siena overall, as it has many attractions, but if you are focusing on wine I would recommend heading over to Montepulciano and Montalcino. Of course, if wine, the countryside, etc. is in fact your big interest, then you can just do the three nights in Rome and have five for Florence and Tuscany.

Hope this helps-

I want to say thank you for the input I have received from everyone thus far. My schedule for Tuscany is looking like this:
- Chianti - full day
- Accademia - 1/2 day
- Siena & San Gimignano - full day
- Pisa & Lucca - full day
- with 1 or 2 days doing nothing or anything

This will allow for time in Venice at the end and Rome at the beginning.

Final thoughts?