We plan to spend 3-4 days in Rome and then head off to Florence for another 3 days around the first week of August.
- Looking for good but inexpensive places to eat
- Best way to maximize time in both cities
- Train info from Rome to Florence
- Any other suggestions (interesting stuff off the beaten path, etc.)
We will be 3-4 adults and 4 college-age kids who are open to anything.
Thank you.
There's a high speed train from Rome to Florence, see the Trenitalia website.
You walk in Florence.
Make sure you have AC in both cities. It's not universal there (as opposed to here).
Best way to maximize time is the same as at any city: sightsee by area. Get a map before you go and mark the attractions which interest you so you aren't jumping all over the place. Florence is compact so it doesn't take a lot of time to get from one to another; Rome is also very walkable but it can be a bit of a distance from, say, the Colosseum to the Vatican.
Pre-ordering tickets to eliminate long, long lines is also a must. It makes sense to do the Colosseum, Forum and Palatine together on the same day as they're very close to each other, and one ticket covers all three. Do St Peter's and the Vatican Museums on the same day, and pre-order tickets to the museums. For Florence, you'll want to pre-order for the Uffizi and Accademia if those are on the Wish List.
You also need to be aware of which days/hours attractions are closed (i.e. most Sundays for the Vatican Museums) and try to avoid free museum days if your trip should happen to fall on any of those. The first Sunday of every month is free admission to all Italian State museums…which in theory sounds like a good deal except that the biggies (Uffizi, Colosseum, etc.) will be insane. I'd advise choosing different activities on these days.
It's going to be hot and sticky in August: booking hotels with air conditioning is very definitely a good idea!
Lastly? Read. Have your college-age young people read. Use guidebooks and the net to come up with things that you all want to do and/or are willing to do separately on different schedules. For instance, your college students may be night owls and not early risers? Some of you may also have art museums high on the list where others would rather do ANYTHING but one of those! :O)
In Florence, we ate several meals at the Mercato Centrale in the San Lorenzo area. Downstairs is a market during the day. Upstairs are food booths and a large bar where you can get pasta, salads, roast meats etc. Its kinda like a very very nice food court. There are tables where you can gather to eat. Very clean, music sometimes, We liked it as it was reasonable, everyone could get what they wanted and Dad and I could linger over a wine or cappachino while my more energetic teenager wandered Florence.
Second the suggestion - it should be a commandment - to prebook reservations and tours especially for those must do/s . We were there in August and the lines were hours long for the Coliseum , Vatican, and museums. Biggest regret was not prebooking a better tour of Coliseum.
Also dont force yourselfs to travel in a pack. Split up according to your interests. We gave our teenager one pre-paid cell phone and we had the other. Somedays Nick and I went together and Dad did something else, sometimes I paired with Dad
Enjoy
