Heart of Italy Tour - Adding Venice and Milan

It's easy enough to add either or both of those cities, provided you don't mind adding extra travel days to the trip. We did the HOI tour in October and started in Venice, but it was easy because we were coming off the BOCE tour and already in Lake Bled. If you are flying into Rome, take the AVE to Venice and then to Milan. Trains are easy to use in Italy. Just make sure to get tickets ahead of time, especially in high season. If you don't already have your flights, it would be easiest to fly either into Milan or Venice and take the train to the other, then to Rome. The tour ends in Florence, and we found better/cheaper flights out of Bologna. It was a great tour and you'll have a wonderful time!

The AVE is a train in Spain. The state owned rail line in Italy is Tren Italia and there is a highly rated private operator called Italo Treno. I’ve been on 15 Rick Steves Tours and have travelled in Italy many times. If at all possible, try to fly “open jaw” into Rome and out of either Milan or Venice so you don’t have to double back. With so much to see, you might consider an extra day or 2 in Florence to visit Lucca, Pisa and /or Sienna. Milan, which I have visited twice, is never on my list. Most folks on this board don’t find Milan a must see.

After leaving Florence, I would head to Bologna and/or Parma and then to my final stop in Venice. As far as luggage is concerned, I’ve never had a hotel in Italy or anywhere else deny holding my luggage before check -in or after check-out. They are very accommodating. There’s a wealth of info on train travel in the Travel Tips section of this website and also on the Man in Seat 61 website. Burn viaggio!!!

How many days do you have? You will need to spend the last night ain Rome or near the airport, before your flight.

Most hotels will allow you to drop off your bags before check-in.

You can do a simple loop, Florence-Milan-Venice-Rome. Book your train tickets in advance for the best prices. We like Italo for the routes they cover, which includes all of these. Their website is a a bit more user-friendly. You will need to specify the correct stations: Firenze Santa Maria Novella (or Firenze S.M Novella), Milano Centrale, Venezia Santa Lucia (or Venezia S.L.), Roma Termini.

https://www.italotreno.it/it

If you want to include a stop in Bologna as suggested above, it fits best on your way back to Rome from either Milan or Venice, to break up the 4-hour journey. However, I will caution that the Italo trains, and the Trenitalia Frecce fast trains, use the very deep tracks at the Bologna Station, and these can be a long and confusing walk down seemingly endless (but nice and well-lit) underground corridors. The good news is that there are very nice restrooms along the way.

Here is a station guide from the Man in Seat 61 that can help, but I would say he minimizes the complexity of navigating that station and the time it takes to reach those deep platforms.

https://www.seat61.com/stations/bologna-centrale.htm

If one is arriving and departing by Regional train, using the original street-level tracks (1-11), it is not a problem.

Phillip and Lola said it all about trains. I'll give you a couple ideas for hotels. Hotel Berna is very close to Milano Centrale, so an easy connection to go to Venice. I stayed there in 2022. https://hotelberna.com/en/
In Venice I have stayed at B&B Corte Campana and will be staying there again this year. It's shabby chic, close to everything but out of the busy tourist zone. https://www.cortecampana.com/
I'd book hotels ASAP. They are booking up. I booked mine in September, almost a year in advance. If you need a hotel in Rome, be sure to book that too.

In 2015 my husband and I flew into Venice where we spent 3 nights prior to taking the RS Village Italy tour. After the tour, which ended at up in the lake country, we shuttled down to Milan, where we spent 3 more nights. We'd heard all the negative stories about Milan, but went with the same up-beat attitude we try to apply in all our travels. Result - we really liked Milan. We oogled high end shop windows, we enjoyed the view from the on top of the Duomo, we were fascinated by the Sforza Castle, we found great food and had a wonderful stay before flying home from Milan. Don't let others warn you away from what can be a great experience.

Purchase a multi-city flight - all on one reservation; it’s not two 1-way tickets. That will save you a day of transportation. Fly into Rome, complete your RS tour, and may I ask if you’re interested in a cooking class? There’s some nice ones in Florence. My last one was “ Pasta Class Florence, The Art of Pasta – Authentic Recipes”. I’ve made homemade pasta dishes a lot since taking that class!

https://www.pastaclassflorence.com

Others have described the trains - very easy & convenient way to travel!

For Venice, my favorite is staying at Hotel Ala. Just take the vaporetto from the train station down the Grand Canal, and it’s at the S. Maria del Giglio vaporetto stop - no up/down bridges with your luggage. I’ve stayed at that hotel three times, so that’s a great recommendation itself. (But I didn’t care for their cappuccino. ; ). so have one elsewhere.)

If you’re going to Milan to see the Last Supper, be sure to check that you’re not there a day it’s closed. If flying home from Milan (Malpensa), I like to just stay at the hotel at the airport my last night for ease. There’s a MOXY and I think a Sheraton right at the airport area.

After Florence & Venice, I would be tempted to head over to Stresa instead of Milan - just throwing out a suggestion. It is your trip! ; ). It’s just a train from Venice over to Milan & a quick one up along Lake Maggiore. Such a gorgeous spot with beautiful tiny islands (villa & formal garden) with a 10-minute ferry out to them. There’s shuttles from Stresa to Malpensa.

Booking a multi-city flight is a great suggestion. Into Rome for the tour, and out of Milan for your after-tour exploration. It is easier to fly out of Milan than Venice, and usually less expensive. Why? Because most flights back to the US depart early morning, and it can be a hassle to get to the airport in time for the flight. (Our son and his family had to get up at 3 am to get to the airport for their 6:30 am).

Also, the Venice airport can be very crowded, with long lines for checking baggage and security, particularly in the morning. Even with the cruise ships using other cities for port, lost of people end up visiting Venice itself and flying out from that airport. We have decided never to fly out of Venice again, after our last experience there (September 2022).

And adding Stresa after Milan is a nice idea. There are buses to the airport (MXP) from Stresa.

How many extra days do you have?

Are you locked in to flying in/out Rome?

Hard to suggest itineraries not knowing the constraints/boundaries.

Thank you for all the tips. We will arrive for our tour one day early to adjust to the time. We learned last year that you can get some of your touring done the day the tour starts, so we will use that time to see the Rome sites not listed in the tour. We end the tour in Florence and plan to continue to Venice on our own and spend about 1.5 days there. Then we will travel to Milan. We were thinking we could take the train from Milan to Rome because we can get direct flights home from Rome. We would rather be on a train than an airplane. That's the idea anyway. Hope that helps those that asked for more details. I appreciate all the advice so far.

So you are thinking 2 nights in Venice, and how many in Milan? The direct train from Milano Centrale to Roma Termini takes 3 hours or a bit more. You should travel back to Rome the day before your flight—-do not try to travel down on the day of your flight.

We did HOI 2019. Went one day early. Strongly suggest booking afternoon tickets for English tour At Borghese. We took private car RS hotel suggested to hotel (worth every penny after long flight and little sleep) dropped bags, hotel called us a cab and we walked in the gardens waiting for our entry time. The English tour provided was much better than the RS audio guide. After museum we walked thru the gardens to taxi stand and back to hotel. This full day helped us adjust to the jet lag. Great spot on rooftop for a drink before dinner across the street.

After tour we took high speed train to Venice and stayed at Hotel Ala (which I also highly recommend, so easy to get to and wonderful accommodation).

We stayed 3 nights to fully soak in Venice and the islands. We flew home direct from Venice. (Multi city booking). I personally do not feel 1.5 days is enough time to experience Venice. I’m of the school I would pick Venice or Milan, not both especially if you must spend a day or 1.5 days traveling back to Rome. Agree with above poster, to travel to Rome day before flight. Things go wrong and train transportation in Italy can have strikes, or other issues.