Venice & Rome combo question

Rome to Venice is almost 4 hours each way by train, so forget that as a day trip. Pompeii is possible as a day trip from Rome, but it's a very, very long day.

You only have 6 nights, and your first day is almost guaranteed to be a jet lagged blur due to fatigue. So only spending one night in Venice is IMO a waste of limited time. Either spend 2 nights in Venice, or none at all.

Fly on a multicity ticket into Venice and out of Rome if you choose the Venice option.

If it were me, I would choose option 2: get me to Rome ASAP. Pompeii is doable as a day trip, a long one. I know people who have done it on a tour. I don’t know the name of the tour company but I’m sure someone on the forum has ideas. A bus picks you up at your hotel at 7 am and brings you back 7 pm or so.
You would save money in Rome because of your hotel points.
I can’t answer the question of Venice as a day trip. Florence would be easier but you asked about Venice. I would plan to return to Venice some other trip and focus on Rome.

There will be a lot of travelers on school break at this time. I encountered school breakers when I spent a week in Rome in 2017!

Either spend at least two nights in Venice or skip it this trip.

Is that a $300 a piece savings if you fly into Venice? If so, it is worth considering. Can you do it in reverse? Fly in Rome out Venice? Even if no savings, you at least are better equipped to cope with it for a short day...though you may have to stay in an airport hotel if you have an early flight.
This is your trip and you have a burning desire to see Venice,so why not? I suspect you will regret it if you don't.
Here is Sarah Murdoch's article on Pompeii as a daytrip
https://adventureswithsarah.net/travel-tutorial-day-trip-rome-to-pompeii/

I agree with CJean, one jetlagged afternoon, overnight, and one partial day aren't enough for Venice. The city invites wandering and takes getting used to. Your airfare savings will be diminshed by hotel and train costs. And Venice is too far from Rome for a day trip. Try to spend at least two nights in Venice, even at the cost of losing time in Rome.

With only a week or so, you might do better to stick to Rome and one or two day trips from there, or maybe an overnight to Pompeii. Or stick to Venice and day trips from there (Padua is easy, Verona and Vicenza doable though better as an overnight). You really have a choice between fully experiencing one great city and rushing through two. Unless you think you're very unlikely to return to Italy, I'd say pick one.

You're key to not wasting time is an open-jaw ticket (as recommended above). Fly into one (Venice/Rome) and home from the other (Venice/Rome).

Save Pompeii for when you can see Naples, Sorrento, Capri and the Amalfi Coast. That day trip is brutal.
Venice deserves two days. I suggest mapping out what you want to see in Rome prior to planning your flights.
You can do a week in Rome and still not see it all.

I would fly into Venice and out of Rome. Flying home from Venice would be difficult because most flights are very early in the morning and it takes time to get to the Venice airport by boat. Venice is magical! I would spend 3 nights in Venice, then train to Rome and 3 nights in Rome. Save Pompeii for another trip to the Amalfi Coast area.

Thanks for some great insights. If we go that route, we would do flying into Venice and out of Rome. I also agree that two nights would be preferable to one in Venice. I wish there was a Hilton property in Venice that was more centrally located. The one Hilton I see is off the beaten trail for sure. I just think that would be a very bad idea for a potential short trip.
I know we are the only ones to figure this out, but my husband is concerned that the boys are going to balk at another grueling nonstop spring break. That is why I had thought originally that we would just stay at the Waldorf in Rome for six nights and not go on a break neck speed through the sites.

Some of this may also come down to whether rates do down for flights. If I can get us to Italy at a decent price on Delta with one changeover, I think I will do it.
But I just watched the Rick Steves on Venice and goodness it looks lovely...
The good news, I have a lot of time and planning is so much fun!

Venice is great for kids and teenagers. The whole business of getting around on water buses, the fact that there is no vehicle traffic, the pure crazy thing of building a city on a bunch of tiny islands and having that city become a major power. Think about spending three nights in Venice and three in Rome.
The Hilton Molino Stocky hotel, while not exactly being in down town Venice, is only a ten minute water bus ride from the centre of Venice.
The Alilaguna ferry service runs from Marco Polo airport to the Hilton - getting off a plane and onto a boat is fun.

You will spend a fortune staying at the Hilton in Venice.

There are more reasonable B&Bs in the area close to the Piazzale Roma and closer to the main train station.

my husband is concerned that the boys are going to balk at another
grueling nonstop spring break.

The good thing is that you should avoid the heaviest crowds that time of year. And it should be cool, so ideal and much less tiring for outdoor touring. Even with 2 locations it would only be grueling nonstop if you choose to make it so. Don't over schedule your days and allow for simply strolling and perhaps a little serendipity will come your way.

I wish there was a Hilton property in Venice that was more centrally
located. The one Hilton I see is off the beaten trail for sure. I just
think that would be a very bad idea for a potential short trip.

Yes it would be a bad idea, IMHO. If you want to experience Venice - especially on a very short timetable - you'll want to stay IN Venice and not on the island the Hilton is located on and requires water transport to travel to/from. Also, there's no better way to get a negative impression of a city you WANT to love than trying to love it jet lagged and seriously time constrained. And with two potentially cranky teens?

If willing to book something other than that Hilton - and you should be able to find reasonable rooms in March - you need a minimum of two nights here or just go directly to Rome. The savings otherwise isn't worth it if everyone is too tired and too stressed to even enjoy the experience.. Also, add time and the cost of "fast" train tickets from Venice to Rome. Booking ahead will likely save you some $$ but it's still part of the overall cost.

And no, Venice is not a day trip from Rome; it's much too far and daylight is short in March. Something to think about? There may very well be other trips to Italy where you can give Venice the time it deserves rather than trying to stuff the square peg into the round hole. :O)

Editing to add? Check the location of the Rome Cavalieri Waldorf Astoria? It's lovely, for sure, but quite some distance from the main attractions and not near any metro stations. Yes there are local buses but.... Make sure you understand what it will involve to travel to and from the hotel to the historic center every day.

https://romecavalieri.com/directions/

Also, have you checked to see if they have family rooms which will accommodate 4 or were you going to book 2 adjoining rooms?

On our 2 stays in Venice, we got a place each time thru Vacanze in Famiglia (http://www.vacanzeinfamiglia.it/?lang=en ), where we found great apartments. First time was in the old Jewish quarter for 2 of us, second time in the Arsenal neighborhood for 3. Alternative to a hotel, and you’ll all be a bit more like temporary locals, but you’ll have to see how the dates, number of nights, and prices could work for you. Get to wonderful Venice while you can ... it’ll be more crowded and sunken if you wait for another time.

Open jaw flights can really work well, for time and cost.

Not to take away too much from Rome, but if you’re heading there after 2 or 3 nights in Venice, is a stop en route worth considering? Padua? Verona? Bologna? Florence?

That are about a thousand better hotel locations in Rome than the Waldorf. It is not particularly close the center of Rome so you would be needing to use local transportation and taxis to get to most of the sights.

If you're looking for a day trip for Pompeii/Amalfi coast, I found this one from Walks of Italy: https://www.walksofitaly.com/pompeii-tours/pompeii-tours-from-rome/

I can't speak to how it is (gets very good reviews on their website), but I could let you know in a couple of weeks, as I booked this for my family of 4 (including a 12 year old and 15 year old) the first week in August!

If you are thinking about staying at an American based property (Hilton, Marriot, etc.) when in Europe. You're doing it wrong.

If you are thinking about staying at an American based property
(Hilton, Marriot, etc.) when in Europe. You're doing it wrong.

We may have to agree to disagree on that. IMO there 's nothing wrong with staying at any chain hotel in Europe, providing the location is a good one or is handy to good transportation. These folks want to use their points, thus potentially a big saving on the overall cost of their vacation. We've done exactly that in many parts of the world, including Europe. But you also don't want to waste precious vacation time with long commutes to the tourist sites. So it's a balancing act. OP has to weigh those factors and decide which is more important on this trip. Someone may comment on the sterility of American chains and lack of European charm, and that's very true. But you can get all the charm you want outside the hotel doors.

Well said, CJean. IMHO, there's not a thing wrong with saving $ by using points, and not a thing wrong with a chain hotel if it fits the bill price, amenity and location-wise. It's the location of this one some of us are questioning, especially for first-timers and if traveling with a family. Looking a little deeper, it does appear to have a family room (a 2-room suite, actually) that will accommodate 4, though.

One of the reasons to stay at the WA in Rome would be that the stay would be free - two rooms for six nights all on points. In addition, as Hilton considers it a resort, we would have $500 of credit to blow on meals, spa, whatever else (this is due to each of us having the Hilton Aspire cc)
We also get free full breakfasts as we are both diamonds.
There is also a shuttle to the city plus I wouldn't care about paying for cabs since we aren't paying for anything else.
But I certainly agree that the location is not ideal, except one could make the argument that it gets us away from the hustle bustle of the city and allows one to unwind.

I do think about the location as a deterrent - we stayed at the Conrad in London this spring break, and I loved the location. Walking distance to so many places.

How far is the hotel from the sites and how long would it take to get you to the main sites? I agree being able to walk places is very attractive but having a free hotel accommodation is wonderful as well. Plus you mentioned your kids might want a spring break where they are not dashing about to different places. So staying put in Rome might fit the bill this year. And a day to Ostia Antica or Pompeii - either one would be very interesting. I have done both and enjoyed them very much.

"How far is the hotel from the sites and how long would it take to get you to the main sites?"

Looking at Google Maps, the Vatican Museums are about the closest "tourist site" to that hotel. Google Maps estimates that from the hotel to the museums it's a 25-30 minute bus ride or a 8-13 minute drive, using 9 AM tomorrow morning as your departure time from the hotel. Google Maps times are often optimistic (I certainly wouldn't rely on them if I had to be on time for a reservation), and anything else you wanted to see would be farther away and take more time to get to.

On the other hand, with four people, taking taxis everywhere is not unreasonable, so you will save time compared to buses for many routes. (As a solo traveler staying in the center, I mostly took buses or walked when I was in Rome).

This is a tough one. On the one hand, I certainly understand the allure of a free hotel stay. On the other hand, I would definitely want to stay in a more central area of Rome.