italy In 6 days/7 nights? Starting in Rome and then what...

Have you been to Italy before?

You could easily keep occupied for the entire time in Rome.

If you do choose to go elsewhere, I would suggest a max of two places- 4 nights Rome and 3 in whatever your other choice is.
Enjoy

Concur with the above. You could easily spend a full week in Rome and environs. But, if you want to visit a big second city, I would choose only one, and either visit Florence or Venice. Or, you could visit someplace smaller. Like a hill town, or the Cinqueterre, or Assisi.

On my last trip to Italy, we (including teenaged kids) had 17 days, and limited ourselves to Venice, Florence, Assisi, and Rome. And that felt about right.

I agree what the above posters have said about splitting your time between no more than two places. Rome & Florence make the most sense, especially if this is your first visit to Italy.

Of course, a week in Rome would be very cool as well. ;-)

I loved Verona- its a beautiful
City with great restaurants and shopping and a Arena older than the Colosseum! I took a fast train from Rome to Verona and it only took a few hours- buy your tickets in advance for better pricing.

Happy Travels💫✨

You could very easily spend it all in Rome but if you want to add another destination, I'd choose just Florence or Venice but not both: I consider 4 nights/3.5 days the minimum for getting one's head around Rome, and Florence would be my personal choice for the 2nd destination as it's closer and won't take as long to get to on arrival day.

As you're flying out of Rome, you're going to want to put it at the back end of the trip so I'd take a train directly to Florence on Monday, spend Mon. - Wed. there, transfer to Rome for Thurs. - Sunday, and fly to Paris on Monday.

As you're not getting into Rome until the afternoon, most of your first day will be shot but the above itinerary will at least give you two full days in Florence and 3 in Rome.

Also agree with others. We were 6 adults and spent 9nights/8 days in Rome. We were going to do day trips but were so busy and enjoying ourselves we never got around to them. Of course the more people you have the slower you move so you could do 2 cities but 3 would be hectic.

Thank you guys! I also figured out how to search the forum (on my iPad the search bar is hidden!) and read some other responses to this question. This isn’t my first time but the last time I was in Italy was 27 (!j years ago (drove from Athens to Florence) and it is the first time for the rest of my family. I’m “old” now so the whole week in Rome sounds just fine to me but my daughters want to see as much as possible. Thanks again for the feedback!

I agree with the others that either all Rome with day trips or add either Florence or Venice but not both. That's what I would do and that's the advice I always give. BUT - two years ago I was in Italy with a friend who had never been and wanted to see as much as possible so we ended up with 8 days that included Venice, (Vicenza day trip), Florence, Rome and (last half day) Milan. And it was great. Very fast paced obviously and so much was left out (but then you'll leave out a whole lot even with 3 or 4 days in any of those). So while I still think slower is better, for some people who want a 'taste' or 'introduction' it is possible to do a wonderful fast trip that would include Rome, Florence and Venice, especially is you plan it right. Here's the trip report I wrote describing that trip. https://andiamo.zenfolio.com/blog/2017/5/italy-through-fresh-eyes---chashing-the-sun-in-italy-in-march

my daughters want to see as much as possible

LOL. We get that a lot on the forums. :O)

But they might look at it this way? Just two locations DOES mean seeing more: more of two fascinating Italian cities and less of the inside of trains and train stations! Longer versus shorter stays also provide some flexibility to work around things like the weather, and can be a welcome cushion should something not go according to plan, such as most of a day we lost to a train strike once. It also means not having to dash madly from one big attraction to the next to squeeze them all in and spending ALL of your time smack in the middle of the mobs at those attractions. That can wear on a person.

Florence in 2 days will be a dash if you/they like art and architecture - we spent 5 nights there without coming close to running out of stuff to see!! - but you should be able to catch your breath a little bit in Rome. I've nearly two weeks of that one under the belt and still have a long wish list so there's a lot of ground which can be covered.

Of the folks who said they didn't care for the Eternal City, many of them just didn't give it enough time. They felt hurried, hot and trampled as they didn't build in breathing room to escape the masses and sit DOWN now and again. The same might be said for Florence. It's helpful to remember as well that every move to a new location means getting your bearings in that new spot. That's not a biggie if it's a smaller town but can take some time if it's a larger (Rome) or more complex (Venice) city.

Thank you all! I think We'll stay in Rome, then go to Venice on Friday. Isabel, thank you for the blog link - it looks so fabulous in your photos and I'm taking notes!

We'll stay in Rome, then go to Venice on Friday.

Kelly, are you planning on flying out of Venice? I could have sworn your first post stated that you were flying out of Rome but probably dreamt it. Ha.

I said "we need to fly from Italy to Paris on Monday" meaning from whereever we are in Italy at that time! I booked the flights this morning and a hotel near the airport for Sunday night since the flight is at 6:25 a.m.!

Gotcha! You're well on your way!

If you feel like a change of pace when in Rome I highly recommend, as does RS, the very special harbour of ancient Rome, Ostia Antica. https://www.ostia-antica.org. I prefer it over Pompeii as you can walk among the ruins and it's very easy to get to.

Stick with Rome and really enjoy it.
If you insist on another, Florence.

There are many great places to see in Italy, but Rome, Florence and Venice are the big three.
Plan on coming back.

Thank you for that recommendation Karen! That's right up my husband's alley - we are going to check that out!

For this trip, do I need to invest in the full Rome guidebook or is the pocket guide informational enough?