Florence and surrounding area after HOI Tour

Yes, add 3 nights in Venice. It’s unique. Get lost in it. Watch sunset from a bench in the Park of Remembrance .

Could also spend a day/night in Milan to see the Last Supper. Pre book your tickets.

Welcome to the Forum! The RS tours are fabulous. I’ve done Florence and Istanbul. Both were great. Absolutely LOVED the fact we got to see David before doors opened to the public. Michelangelo's work is stunning. Our tour leader Dante brought in an art historian to describe the statue in detail. Walking in to the Accademia and then turning
right to see David at the end of the hallway. Breath taking!

Lots of nooks and crannies in Florence. Fabulous food. Great churches. Superb coffee and I loved climbing to steps up to the Pizzale Michelangelo. Great view and the adjoining cemetary fascinating.

Heart of Italy was my first RS tour and it is an excellent introduction both to Italy and to group touring! How many extra days do you have available?

Definitely add time on the front end for Rome and a day or two on the end for Florence. IF you can add on time in Venice that would be great as well. I agree that 3 nights is good. I should have done that on my HOI but was traveling with family including adult nephews and they had to get back to work. Our tour guide took everyone who needed to buy train tickets to the station in Florence and helped them purchase but nowadays I'd probably go ahead and buy your Florence to Venice ticket online ahead of time if there is a price break. Plus then you've got it in the train app so don't need to fool with paper. The only difficulty with ending in Venice is that there are rarely flights back to the US directly from there which means you need to fly to a hub, then make the hop home. That can sometimes mean leaving early, early from Venice. I've done that from Florence and Milan and after that decided if I need to fly from Italy to a European hub I'd do that on one day and then fly home directly from the hub a day or two (or more) after. Paris is always good....just saying, lolol!!

BTW, I loved Volterra! The wine tasting there was fun. In fact the "boys" still laugh about what they learned from the tasting session.

Pam

Since you hardly have any time in rural Tuscany, just Volterra, try to stay a few days in Siena and also visit the nearby towns of the Chianti region. And yes to any time you can spend in Venice! After the large expense and effort of flying internationally , make it worth your while and stay longer in Italy.

An extra day or two in Florence would give you time to climb the Duomo and visit a couple of smaller museums. Plus, Florence is known for leather, and several on our tour bought jackets etc. there, but would have been nice to have more time to wander the other streets and shops. Venice is a must, it is one of the most unique cities in the world. I just spent a week there in May, and would happily go back for longer. Give yourself at least three whole days ( four nights) so you have time to get out to the islands Murano, Burano and Torcello, and also see the Academia gallery, St. Marks, Does Palace, and just wander, get lost and ride the vaporetto.

Hi, Cheryl! I’m scheduled for this tour this Sept so I can give better feedback after that time.

I am adding additional time before my tour and will spend 3 days in Venice then. I am flying home from Milan because that is what worked best for my needs using frequent flier miles.

I wanted to encourage you to go ahead and give this a try. I also travel solo and sometimes do independent travel and sometimes RS tours. I wasn’t sure what to expect when I signed up for my first tour. Would I enjoy traveling with a group? Would it bother me that I didn’t get to pick the hotels? Lots of questions!

I ended up thoroughly enjoying myself. I enjoyed sharing travel experiences with a congenial group of people. I learned so much more having a guide than I would have done researching myself. I still had plenty of free time to do my own thing or join up with others. I do highly recommend the single supplement. It is nice to have a space that is just your own.

I wish you well in your planning and am glad you are thinking of expanding your choices for travel.

I'm not a fan of Venice but spend more time in Florence every time I go. If your trip doesn't go to Pisa or Siena, you could decide after your tour that you wanted to do those day trips from Florence. You can fly from Florence to Paris or if you go to Venice, from Venice to Paris.
I haven't done this(yet) but if you stay in Siena a couple of nights you could do a Tours by Roberto tour of Tuscany. Expensive, but easier than renting a car.

My first RS tour was the hill towns which began in Padua, so I flew into Venice and spent three nights there falling in love with the city. I have added time in Venice to other trips I have taken. I strongly recommend starting in Venice because of the early morning departures to get home, usually via Milan or Rome. It is also a great place to get the Italian “vibe” before the tour starts.

Good for you! Your ideas sound wonderful. I am in your age demographic, spent 5 lovely days solo in Florence this past spring and had a great time. I felt safe with my money belt, and the city is very walkable. I second the encouragement to make the hike to Piazzele Michelangelo, and definitely visit the nearby church and lovely cemetery. Also Mercado Centrale for picnic supplies, Piazza Santa Maria Novella for the church and nearby gelato and people watching. If you fly out of Florence, the tram to/from the airport is easy and handy. Venice and Burano are well worth it, especially if you stay out of the crowded core of Venice. (Be ready to enjoy getting lost there.)

Greeting, Cheryl D

Spouse & I recently returned from this RS tour. Booked one night in advance in Rome at the RS hotel (Dharma Style hotel); one can usually do this as RS hotels frequently keep some available for this purpose. On the other end, we booked mid-day (noon) train tickets from Florence to Rome & stayed over one more night, also at the Dharma Style. This gave us the ability to book direct flights (BOS-FCO, FCO-BOS), very important these days. FWIW, Florence airport is TINY, and does not have many direct flights to US cities, if any.

We had not been to Europe since 1980; This HOI RS tour would be perfect for a first-time traveler. The schedule was brisk, not boring, and there was sufficient time to do some exploring on our own. Our RS guide was very personable, as were the local ones who guided us for short intervals in Rome, Volterra, Cinque Terre & Florence.

An excellent tour: we highly recommend it! BTW, we were the oldest in the group, in our mid-sixties.

Our first RS tour was HOI. In those days it went the other direction, starting in Florence and ending in Rome. Other savvy travelers added days in Venice before the tour, but we were still new to traveling with a tour and didn’t. We regretted it for 12 years it took us to get back there. This year we finally made it to Venice and loved it. The crowds always seemed to disperse in the afternoon and it was magical watching the sunsets in St. Mark’s square. There is no wrong decision here and I’m sure you’ll love wherever you decide to go.

Thanks everyone for your warm welcome, ideas and encouragements! I will let all of these suggestions marinate and enjoy the process (trying not to get overwhelmed!). It will be interesting to see what I land on. Starting with Venice wasn't on my radar - Thanks Carol and Lanllubber. A fast train to Rome afterwards could work. And perhaps a day trip to either Siena or Chianti on the back end. Although if I'm true to myself, my preferences are usually to dive deep into an experience as opposed to quick jaunts, so perhaps enjoying all that Florence has to offer would be the ticket to drink it in. Thanks for your ideas KC and everyone!!! I originally was thinking of the VFR trip, but for whatever reason Florence is calling me to spend more time there. I feel I will return to Rome at some point in the future - Southern Italy and the Villages call to me too. I'm still working so only have about 6-7 days total to add onto to this trip.

Cala, I'm curious what it is about Florence that brings you back repeatedly?
Carol: I look forward to hearing about your trip when you return!
Everyone's ideas are great food for thought - your experiences are invaluable! Just like a good gumbo, everyone shakes in their spices and dolce vita unfolds!

Why do I love Florence so much(It's my 2nd favorite place I've ever been, after Charleston)? It's such a great place to walk and wander. I love Renaissance Art-I highly recommend the Museo San Marco as a rare opportunity to see great art in its original venue. 2019 was my 4th trip there and we took a food tour and heard a choir practicing in a church I hadn't been to before. You could also ride the bus to Fiesole, which I haven't done yet. If you're interested in the Medici family, you should visit their palace. If Florence is "calling to you", I don't think you'll regret spending more time there. Here is another recent thread that would give you ideas of things to do in Florence has to offer. Sorry I didn't know how to put it in as a link.

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/last-minute-trip-to-florence-yikes

Thanks again Cala. The post you sent the link to is very helpful. And of course, that info leads to other links. All are very helpful. Yes! Florence Is definitely going to be extended a number of days. I can feel the magic.

Cheryl,
If art is a major area if interest to you, staying in Florence may be where you want to extend your trip. We too this tour in 2019, arrived one day early. The RS hotel offered to make car arrangements to pick us up at the airport. It was the best 60€ I spent the whole time! Also if you make your flight way in advance, you can get premium economy seats at a much more reasonable price. (Not comfort + with extra leg room). The wider seat, separate cabin and dedicated overhead space is a wonderful pamper for a long overnight flight. The premium economy seats allowed us to be much more rested for our first day in Rome.

I pre booked an English tour at the Borghese. I had listened to The RS podcast, the English tour was superior and well worth the expense. We told the hotel where we wanted to go and they called us a cab. We arrived early and were able to wander the wonderful gardens/park. After the timed museum tour we wandered more to the taxi area and returned to hotel. There was a bar (and breakfast room) on top, we enjoyed a glass of wine and appetizers before heading to dinner across the street. We then had the whole next day to explore before our meet up around 4 or 5.

For us, it was enough time in Rome this trip. Bob has a limit on museums, churches and “big” cities. We were ready to head out. Our favorite place on the trip was Volterra. We loved Tuscany. Would have loved a 2nd day in CT as we stayed outside if the “main action”.

I want to visit Sienna (my sister says it was her favorite place in Italy), I’m with you, I’m not much one for “day trips”. I like to live there and absorb it overnight.

After Florence we took high speed train to Venice for 3 nights. I purchased those ahead of time along with a tour of Doges. We stayed at Hotel Ala. most of the hotels in RS Italy were booked for the nights we were staying. It was a late add on and expensive flight change when we decided it was worth the extra vacation days and €’s. Best decision ever. Hotel Ala is in the RS Venice guide book. It was a lovely hotel with good reviews. I wanted to stay near St Marks, not ion the Grand Canal due to noise and did not want to have to cross bridges with suitcase! We had a room over a canal, water taxi picked us up at hotel dock for our return to airport. Another large expense but the memories we have can’t be beat. You can check with hotel to see if anyone wants to share a boat to the airport. We spent a day visiting Burano and Murano.

I can’t imagine having done this trip and not included Venice. Feel free to message me if you have any questions.

Hi, neighbor! We did Heart of Italy in early June. One thing we found is that the AC was much less than we were used to, so depending on how late in the fall you go, keep that in mind. We flew United, left MSY about noon on Friday (late) and had a layover in Newark before getting to Rome about 11 on Saturday. WE are about your age. We took the train to Termini Station and then walked to the hotel. Consistent with the advice on dealing with jet lag, we got some lunch and then headed out for a walk, going to the nearby Roman bath ruins and attached church where we went to Mass. Then we went to dinner and then to bed early. We are church nerds so on Sunday we walked to some nearby churches to see them, and then back to the room for a nap after lunch. WE met the group Sunday afternoon. If taking more time hadn't been a problem work-wise I think it would have been good to get there a couple of days early both to let our body clock adjust and to see more stuff. I really think we had plenty of time in Cinque Terra and Volterra. We could have done another day in Florence but we didn't have anything we really wanted to see that we hadn't done. When the tour was over we headed to Venice on Monday and flew out of there on Thursday. I think that was a better use of our limited time than more time in Florence.