Traveling by train

For an 11 night trip you should be able to travel with just 1 carry on each and 1 personal item- small backpack or whatever.
Handling that amount of luggage is fairly easy on trains.

Taking a taxi from airport to/from Rome hotel is a set rate- 50 euros- to us- worth it.
Getting to/from VCE is often worth the cost of a water taxi.
Let us know if you need advice on arriving/departing.

Post your actual itinerary for more specific advice.

Seriously you will thank yourself- pack light! Most of us take only a carry on for trips much much longer than yours.

If you need help packing light- read thru here:
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/packing

https://www.ricksteves.com/travel-tips/packing-light

As far as where to stay- near train stations in all 3 of your locations are good places to stay.
Florence is so compact you can walk everywhere. Pick anywhere between station Duomo and Ponte Veccio and you'll be fine
Venice- near train station is great, also puts you near vaporettos. Important ot know the route from train station or VCE- avoid too many bridges and stairs.
Rome- I'd stay in the historic center- near the Pantheon. You can walk most everywhere from there or take an inexpensive cab to places like Vatican (about 10 euros).

Use booking.com to search- set the filters- location budget, amenities (you must have AC), etc
You can read the reviews there as they are only posted by folks who have actually stayed at property.
You can book with Booking.com or go to the hotel website. Compare the rates offered.

Search here on this forum for hotel- Rome, hotel- Florence, hotel- Venice,
Be sure to set filter by Date- 6 months, 1 year, etc and Type- Travel Forum

Moderately priced hotel recommendations would be appreciated if available, otherwise sections or neighborhoods and train station names would be so very much appreciated.

Just a suggestion - for 11 nights in Italy, a guidebook, such as one or more from Rick Steves [individual cities vs One for all Italy] would prove invaluable. In the RS guidebooks, arriving by train in each city is covered, as are recommendations for lodging convenient to the stations.

You can also search here on the forum - for example, a search on "rome Termini hotel" for the past year will give you these results:

https://search.ricksteves.com/?button=&date_range=1y&filter=Travel+Forum&query=Rome+Termini+hotel&utf8=%E2%9C%93

Depending on how you are accessing the RS site, you may see a search box at the top of the screen, or else find it under the menu icon - the three horizontal lines usually displayed upper left.

I haven't been to Venice yet. However, what I know from my planning is that the train station is not close to the area you'll want to be visiting.

Florence--We stayed about 1/2 mile from the Santa Maria Novella train station. The buses also work out of that area. We walked everywhere in Florence.

Rome-We stayed in two places. One was by the coliseum and very close to the metro station. We walked no more than 1/2 mile to our hotel. We also spent a night near the Rome Termini Train Station. It is a fine area for transportation purposes, but other area in Rome are more picturesque. From Termini you can take the Leonardo Express train to the airport or get a train to Florence.

Hi, just a couple of quick comments since I’m currently in Italy and needing to fall asleep for a cooking class tomorrow morning. I can be more helpful later. : )

Unless I am taking an early train from Rome, I don’t stay near the train stations in any if those cities. Look at where you want to be during the day - your top sites, and pick a hotel near those areas.

And, trains running on Sunday can be unpredictable. I try not to have any substantial train ride on any Sundays in Italy. Sometimes your train doesn’t show up at all.

How soon are you going?

The train stations you will likely use for your main cities- Venezia Santa Lucia, Firenze Santa Maria Novella, Roma Termini. Note the use of the Italian place names. It's necessary when using the Trenitalia train website.

Hotels near those train stations are OK. Use booking.com to review hotels. But hotels in neighborhoods further away in Venice can be good too if they are close to a vaporetto stop. All of the hotels in the historic center of Florence are walkable from SMN. In Rome we prefer to stay in Trastevere or near the Vatican, reached by taxi.

~3 nights Florence (Thurs-Sat, leave Sunday)-considering a, not yet
determined, day trip ~1 -2 night somewhere not yet determined
(Sunday-Monday ?) ~travel to Rome

I'd suggest Siena or Lucca as your day trip. Although there is plenty to keep you occupied in Florence over 2.5 days. Make a list of what you want to see/do in Florence then decide if you've got time for a day trip.
Lucca can be combined with Pisa if you like.
Both of these are super easy.
Bus to Siena is easier than train
Train to Lucca/Pisa.

For your 1-2 night stay- strongly suggest making this a 2 night stay. 1 night stays don't really give you much time- it's well past noon by the time you get there, get checked in/drop bags, get oriented etc.

Take a look at Orvieto. A lovely Umbrian hill town with a stunning Duomo, great restaurants, fantastic views, quiet after tourists are gone, gorgeous ceramics, underground activities. easy train ride from Florence and to Rome. It would be a nice break between your busy tourist towns.

Hi everyone. I need some help with taking trains in Switzerland and France this July. We are arriving in Zurich and then want to take the train to Grindelwald. Then after a few days, we will travel from Grindelwald to Strasbourg, France for a few days. Then we want to take the train from Strasbourg to Marseille. Finally after being in Marseille for a few days, we want to take a train from Marseille to Paris. I am looking at train passes and it is a bit confusing. I wonder do I need to buy a Swiss Train Pass but will it take me from Grindelwald to Strasbourg or is it only good for travel in Switzerland? Or do I buy a Europe Pass? The Europe Pass is expensive and it doesn't look like it includes Grindelwald as a destination/stop. :( I hate to buy individual train tickets for each of the 4 train rides ut I am concerned if I buy a pass, it won't be the right one. Love some help! Thanks

As we age we've decided that $$ spent on easing our transportation is money well spent.
We don't like walking far with luggage either.
Taxis are fairly inexpensive in Italy. No Uber. They are all required to take credit cards but we do often use our cash for taxis.

We would taxi from Florence station to our hotel near Ponte Vecchio (for example) Probably 10-12 euros. Have the hotel address on a slip of paper and hand it to the driver. There are taxi stands right outside the station.
Same for Rome- arrive at Termini- go right out front to taxi stand and hand driver address on a slip.
We almost always stay in Centro Storico- taxi is about 12 euros IIRC

No need to tip the driver.

There are multiple ways to get from VCE to your hotel. Most hotel websites will have a page with "Arrival" instructions.
Of course there are no taxis with wheels there! Look for a hotel that is on a canal or very near a water dock.
Let us know once you have something booked and we can help with how to get there.
A Vaporetto Pass is a must for us. A single ride costs 9.50 euros - so the length of stay pass is definitely worth it.
We have loved Hotel Ala and it's a forum favorite but last I looked their rates had really increased.
https://www.hotelala.it/

Another near there is Hotel Flora
https://www.hotelflora.it

Station Names:
Venezia Santa Lucia
Firenze SM Novella
Roma Termini

Official train site:
https://www.trenitalia.com/content/tcom/en.html

They also have easy to use app.

Welcome!
You will get more and better responses if you post your own question- new Subject line in the Switzerland or France forum.
This thread is linfoley6's thread- your post will get lost here.

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/switzerland
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/france

Also lots of info here:
https://www.seat61.com

Posted by kerrywittman USA 05/19/24 05:23 PM 1 posts Report Hi
everyone. I need some help with taking trains in Switzerland and
France this July. We are arriving in Zurich and then want to take the
train to Grindelwald. Then after a few days, we will travel from
Grindelwald to Strasbourg, France for a few days. Then we want to take
the train from Strasbourg to Marseille. Finally after being in
Marseille for a few days, we want to take a train from Marseille to
Paris. I am looking at train passes and it is a bit confusing. I
wonder do I need to buy a Swiss Train Pass but will it take me from
Grindelwald to Strasbourg or is it only good for travel in
Switzerland? Or do I buy a Europe Pass? The Europe Pass is expensive
and it doesn't look like it includes Grindelwald as a
destination/stop. :( I hate to buy individual train tickets for each
of the 4 train rides ut I am concerned if I buy a pass, it won't be
the right one. Love some help! Thanks

If this is your first time in Venice, I don’t think staying close the train station is a good idea. It would be best to stay within 5 minutes or so of St. Marks Square. You’ll probably be in and around San Mark’s Square often (like everyday, more than once a day), and with only 2.5 days in Venice, it makes sense to be 5 minutes away instead of 20 minutes away.

In Rome the train station is outside the circle in which most of the main attractions are. I would stay close to the Pantheon and Piazza Navona, you can walk everywhere from there. If you stay by the train station, you’ll have long walks everyday to and from your hotel or you’ll be often using public transportation.

With only 2.5 days in Florence I wouldn’t do any day trips except Siena (duomo, piazza del campo) or a couple of hours in a late fternoon in Pisa (field of miracles sites). For any other day trips, honestly just stay in Florence, wherever you go in Florence will be better than any other day trip. If you had a week, maybe other day trips would be worth it, not with 2.5 days.