Possible Rome Itinerary

Brad, may I suggest you start by buying or borrowing the Rick Steves Italy book? Once you do a little research,come back to the board. We don't know what you would be interested in at this point. You could probably spend the whole week in Rome, you know.

4 Rome, 3 Florence, 2 Venice is just about right for a first trip visiting the big 3. You won't be able to add anything else this time*, and you don't have any time available to take from Venice to add to Florence, unless you dropped Venice all-together. 1) Fly open jaw as other suggested. Takes far too long to back-track. 2) Do Florence in the middle as it's in-between the other two. *You might be able to see Siena as a daytrip from Florence if you don't mind sacrificing some of your time there. Cinque Terra is definitely not do-able though!

Claudette is right. Without knowing what interests you it's impossible to help you plan your trip. Getting a guidebook and deciding what interests you will help decide if you should stay in Rome or venture to other cities. If you do decide to go somewhere else I would suggest just one other city with only 9 days. This will give you plenty of time to enjoy the sites and relax. Some really good guiedbooks are the Rick Steves guide books, Eyewitness travel guides, National geographic traveler Rome and the spiral guides. Donna

Hi Brad..buying the book withstanding....which, if we all bought the book we wouldn't need this messageboard...I would suggest Siena, we are going over in 3 weeks and Siena is definitely on our list

Hi Brad, 9 days isnt so long. I'd stick with 3 destinations. AND I'd fly open-jaw into Venice, then train to Florence, then train to Rome. For me Venice is the best place to start your trip, it's easy to enjoy even after a long-haul flight. I think your allocation is good. I like Venice more than Florence, but you will find as many people who prefer Florence as those who prefer Venice. . . . . kinda like cat people and dog people. With 3 days in Florence, you can easily take a day trip to Siena as a spur-of-the-moment decision once you are in Florence.

We just returned from doing Italy in 9 days with our 4 grandchildren. Our itinery was this: flew into Milan-stored luggage at Centrale Statione, took taxi to Duomo & went to roof to view city, took taxi to The Last Supper frescoe (buy tickets ahead of time), take taxi to LaScala and/or Galleria[INVALID]you do not need a walking tour of Milan. Took train to Pisa & stayed with family. Thursday-took train with family to Florence-did Uffizi, Academia, Medici Chapels, duomo, leather market, Church of San Croce. back to Pisa Friday-family took us by car to Sienna and San Giamano Saturday-Leaning Tower-climb steps (296) 15 euros reserve ahead, walking tour of city on own late afternoon train to Rome Sunday-guided tour of Antiqua Rome about 4 hrs.-can recommend a guide- PM toured churches and fountains Monday-toured Vatican, St. Peter's and sistine Chapel-guide is most effective way to go Tuesday-bus from Rome to Pompeii Wed-train from Rome to Venice; checked carry-ons at Venice Centrale; took water taxi to St. Mark's; gondola ride thru Grand Canal; PM train to Milan Thurs. flew out of Milan to home in St. Louis did not miss a beat. Fantastic trip

Marilyn: What you accomplished in 9 days stagges the mind. Good for you if you could make it work and remember it all, but I would never have taken on such an itinerary :)

Marilyn - you're the best, thanks for your help! I think that your itinerary sounds wonderful! Glad that you enjoyed it, hope our trip turns out as great as yours!