Rome,Orvieto,Florence, Venice in 8 days

Are you flying out of Venice or do you have to return to Rome? I'd make Orvieto a short stop on the way to Florence and still try to get to Venice, knowing that it will be a rushed trip.

You can do this. There's lots of advice on this site about communication skills in Italy. But if you use the basic courtesies, you'll do fine.

I have been to Italy 4 times and will be going my 5 time in April. Don't worry about not speaking the language. In the major cities almost everyone speaks english. I only know a few words in Italian and I get by everytime.

I have not been to Orvieto, so I can't comment on that. Be sure to plan at LEAST 3 days in Rome (LOTS to see). I would plan for 2 days in Florence and Venice. Rushing though these ciites you will be able to say that you were there, spending some time in each city you will be to take it in and enjoy it.

If you are looking for a great (cheap) hotel in Florence, please let me know. I have a great recommendaion. I have stayed there 3 times. Great staff, clean and cheap.

I think you're trying to do too much. You will loose at least half of a day every time you check out of a hotel, train to the next city and check-in to your next hotel. I love Orvieto but I'd skip it this trip and stick to the trains on the EuroStar routes.

Not speaking Italian will not be an issue in the main cities.

If Rome is your set airport to fly in an out of I'd also suggest to drop Venice from this itinerary and visit the city on your next trip. It can be done but you have to account for a full day to travel back from Venice to Rome. That doesn't really leave much time to see the places.

Rome and Florence with a stop in Orvieto either on the way to Florence or on the way back to Rome would still make for a very hectic week but is much more doable.

I appreciate your advice and encouragement. It is much less expensive for us to fly out of Rome, i/o Venice, So we have to go back to Rome. From your responses it sounds like I should leave out Orvieto. I don't want to be too stressed. Is there a day trip I could take from Florence to somewhere close by with beautiful, provincial scenery? Thanks so much for responding!!

Having been to each of those except Venice, I have two suggestions. First one is a shocker--drop Venice. Then you can do Rome - Orvieto - Florence - Rome in a nice, controlled loop using the trains and not feel rushed.

Otherwise, I would stick to the standard Rome - Florence - Venice. I love Orvieto, but you would be sacrificing one or more of the major sights in one of the other cities. Likewise, if you are interested in seeing more of Florence than the Uffizi and David, you won't have time for a day trip elsewhere. You will see nice scenery on the Eurostar though.

One final suggestion: if you are only interested in the Uffizi/David, then either add Orvieto back in as a day stop, getting to Florence late, or consider staying in Siena or Lucca and then daytrip out to Florence from there.

Learn a few basic Italian phrases (buon giorno, grazie, per favore) just to be polite. You won't have any trouble, and my experience in Rome especially was that everyone would answer my Italian with English!

One last tip--research your train schedules in advance. Write down exactly what you want. Train numbers, times, stations (as listed on trenitalia). Then if you use an agent at the train station to purchase your tickets, you can simply show them the paper and eliminate a lot of language confusion.

Tammy I spent 45 days last summer in Italy on limited Italian vocab, so dont worry about speaking the language you will be fine. The people are friendly & are very helpful to tourists. Your schedule is to hectic! I would personally drop Orvieto. Rome at minimum 3 days... Venice is fairly small 2 days... Florence 3 days. There is a lot to see in Rome & Florence, so use the term I'll be back because you can not see all that Rome & Florence offers. Venice is magical - no other city like it in my opinion.

If the suggestion to Tammy is to do 3 days in Rome, 3 days in Florence and 2 in Venice she'll be still sitting in the train while her flight from Rome is already leaving without her. The train ride from Venice to Rome airport takes about 6 hours. Most flights from Rome to the US leave in the early morning so it probably means leaving Venice the day before. Unless you're willing to take a night train and switch from there straight onto your flight home. Personally, I think that makes for a very tiring trip home after a very busy week.

My daughter & I went to Italy on our own last May for the first time, and it went fine as far as the language. We bought train tickets as we needed them in the machines at the train stations. If you must fly in and out of Rome, I would skip Venice and concentrate on Rome, Orvieto (an easy day trip from Rome) and Florence.

You are not nuts at all, go, have fun and make good memories.

From what I'm hearing, it sounds like what I need to do is add at least one more day to my trip! I'm going to pursue that possibility. Thanks for your advise!

And another day, and another... :-)

Like most everyone has said, don't try to do all of Italy in one trip, because you will go back. My wife & I are heading back again in April. In order to not spend all of your time travelling, leave Venice for your next trip. Spend your time in Rome & Florence; take a day trip out of Florence to Siena (the bus is best). Then start planning your next trip as soon as you get home.

I have to add my 2 cents here also. For a short 8 day trip, I would limit it to rome and Florence with maybe 1 day trip to either Siena or Orvieto. Then on the flight home, start planning your next trip to Venice and points north.
do not worry about the language for a second. Learn please, thank you and good day and you will be fine.

Tammy, can I ask you a few questions? How old are you and your daughter and what is your basic fitness level? What are you hoping your experience of Italy will be? Art and Architecture? Beautiful scenery? Food and Wine? Shopping? Relaxing?

The answers to those questions will give people here a better idea of what to recommend.

Try going to this site and download the free pretrip planning guide. http://illustratapress.com/books-guides/instruction-for-use-travel-series/italy-instructions-for-use/
It's very useful to get into the Italian travel mindset. This is a link to free Italian lessons from the BBChttp://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/italian/

It's very basic daily life kind of stuff and our students have found it very useful.

My gut feeling on your trip is that you should consider skipping Venice and make this trip focus on Rome and Tuscany strictly from the standpoint of your actual groundtime in Italy.

Hi Tammy,

Are you in my Italian class in Charleston ? :) .... Here is another thought... If you want to do all, have you considered the numerous, often very inexpensive small airlines that now run in Europe?
From Venice, you could catch a plane back to Rome instead of taking the train for less than $100 ea. Just watch out for extra baggage restrictions and costs. A good search engine for this is www.dohop.com.
The last poster was right... What are YOUR interests, fitness level, etc?

I have traveled to all cities mentioned but Orvieto, and I plan to do all (including Orvieto) this May also. FYI, Rome is a huge city. Personally, as far as cities go, I much preferred Florence and Venice to Rome. But of course, you can not miss Rome due to all of its art and history. Orvieto looks really appealing from a very small town aspect.

Tammy, When you checked airfares, did you use the multi-city function? It seems a lot of people try for two one way tickets and that is why they seem so expensive. Mutli-city is easy to use-try kayak.com-they list many airlines and provide the multi- city function. If you are using frequent flyer miles, you have to call the airline and pay a fee but they will help you fly in one city, out another.

Drop Venice from the 8-day itenerary. Orvieto requires 2-days because it is 2-days that you will take with you in your memories for the rest of your life. It is a place simply to be. It is restful and magestic, particularly after the helter skelter of Rome. But Rome is magical in its own right and deserves time in one of its neihborhoods for the farmers market, dropping into a mass or just checking out the neighborhood church (usually an amazing marble structure about ready to fall over), dining in the sidewalf cafes (probably the best food you will ever experience) and just hanging out. The trains are fanstastic for getting out of Rome and onto other destinations, but nothing beats a good nites sleep once you land at Rome. We recommend the Hilton at Rome Airport. It is connected to one of the terminals, so it is a brief walk from your gate, as well as a brief walk from the train into Rome. The first day of sleep is critical to shake the jet lag. Orvieto is restful and amzing - a place to be, a place to walk, a place to hold hands, a place to mozy, a place to take life in.

You are not nuts for wanting to travel independently. With help from this venue and Frommer's Forum you can find valuable assistance.

IMHO I think you have too much stuff planned. First of all, does the 8 days include travel days? If, so, you are down to 5-6 travel days. To maximize your time a good strategy would be to fly open jaws into Venice or Pisa and home from Roma to avoid time consuming backtracking. If all you want to do is briefly see things, then you will still need to drop Orvieto. If you are interested in seeing a bunch of things, then drop Florence or Venice. Italy will seduce you, so always plan on returning.

I grew up in an Italian-American home, but we did not speak Italian. My first trip was in 1980 and English was not spoken as it is now. We went to Calabria to stay with my father's family and they spoke no English. We all did just fine and still laugh about it today. Now I speak Italian and we still do just fine. Since you will be in the big 3 almost everyone connected with the travel industry there will speak some English. Go and have fun.

Buon viaggio,

RB

Remember to check the date of the original post before responding. Example: This post is a zombie from over a year ago. Please do not continue posting in it. Tammy and her daughter have returned from Rome long, long ago.

If you have a similar question, please start a new post.

Thanks all.