Tips for make it best for the limited time - Rome, Venice and Florence

To be honest, with only 5 actual days at your disposal, I would eliminate Venice from your itinerary. Even your half-day trip to Pisa is cramming it.

You are flying open jaw (arrive Rome, depart Florence), is that right? Just those two cities will give you plenty to see and do.

Sorry to be so discouraging, but with this itinerary, all you'll be able to do in Florence is walk around and look at the outside of buildings. You won't be able to see museums or the beautiful stained glass inside some of the churches. Most of this trip will be spent traveling, not sightseeing. With the late arrival in Rome, you will spend the morning of Day 1 sleeping. If your teens are like my daughter, they will be very opposed to getting up early in the morning when jetlagged (and you will be 3 more hours behind Europe time when compared to travelers from the East Coast) to travel to Venice, Pisa, and leave Florence. This doesn't sound like fun for any of you.

From your other post, it appears you are going to Interlaken after your blitz through Italy, correct?

If so, why not do Rome, Florence, Venice, then to Interlaken?

Rome to Venice to Florence and on to Interlaken looks like a lot of unneeded backtracking.

I think you would enjoy your trip more if you spent one more day in Rome and chose EITHER Florence or Venice as your other stop.

If you want to climb the Tower in Pisa an advance ticket is recommended.

Thanks Friends for the feedback, Yes I do understand it's cramming lot of stuff but now I already have my bookings (train and hotels) done so trying to see how best I can good use of the time I have available and what tours to book in advance that might help, and where to book from.

To save some money on expensive hotels in Venice than Florence have decided to alter my trip to leave out from Florence instead of Venice and still get same time to enjoy in Venice.

Thanks
Rakesh

You are attempting to do too much in too little time. You will not enjoy the real beauty of Italy. I would decide on the 2 cities that you want to see the most and forget the others. Having been to all the cities twice that you mentioned i would personally split my time in Rome and Florence (or leave one these cities out and go to Venice). Most hotels allow you to cancel in advance without a fee. You may not get your train fares back but that is a small price to pay. In my opinion you are doomed to have a miserable time with your proposed itinerary.

OP, did you delete a previous thread? What time of year is this Amazing Race occurring? It's really unfortunate that you chose to make all of your bookings before asking for advice on your itinerary. The very short amount of time you have allotted in each place, plus the number of places you've committed to, means you will see very, very little of the sights you've travelled so far to see.

Use the search bar at the top of the page to find threads recommending tours of the Colosseum and Vatican. Definitely book them in advance.

Since you only have less than one full day in Venice, pick one or 2 things to see or do. Look those up in the search bar as well (ie Doges Palace).

Florence? Forget the Museum pass. By the time you arrive, the museums and galleries will be closed. By the time you return from Pisa the next day, you'll only have time for 1 or at the most 2 of the museums. Make reservations for those well in advance.

Pisa doesn't require a bus tour. There are frequent trains there and back. Buy the Tower climb tickets in advance.

As far as things to do or see in each city, get a copy of Rick's Italy book. He describes all of the top tourist attractions, their hours, costs, how to get tickets, etc. He also has some excellent self guided walking tours for these cities. Decide which places you will have time to see in your jam packed days, based on your family's interests. And good luck.

Thanks for your time and responding to my question.