Can you help me plan Italy?

[brit]

DH and I have been trying to decide where to go for our 10 year anniversary. He lived in Europe for a year and has been pretty much everywhere, whereas I've never been to Europe at all. For that reason, it's basically letting me pick. Looks like we'll have 10 days and I'm thinking Venice --> Florence --> Rome. I know that it'll be packed trying to do three cities in 10 days, but I'd like to try. Can you give me any specifics regarding hotels, trains, really anything at all would be helpful! When DH was there, he was 19 and I'm sure things have changed a ton in 12 years. Besides, he just stayed in hostels lol.

[GilliC]

I'm probably not much help with hotels, since I tend to stick to simple privately-owned 2-star pensions. I just used TripAdvisor and then booked directly with the hotels (typically by email). I did find that venere.com had pretty good price and availability information for Italy (but if you're looking for higher-end accommodations, I don't know how much they cover).

For the trains, we were traveling Milan-Florence-Rome, and we had no problem buying tickets right before we traveled. And that was during Holy Week. However, we didn't get seats next to each other on all our trips (but we were in the same row), so if I go back, I'd probably just buy the onward ticket from a city on the day we arrived.

Since we were flying in/out of Milan, instead of scheduling the longer train trip back from Rome to Milan, we booked a cheap RyanAir flight to save time. I think it was similar or cheaper than the train trip would have been (but we were traveling with lightweight carry-ons already, having flown in on RyanAir).

[majesty318]

Lurker here but we were in Venice for 2 nights last month. We stayed at a B&B. It was 140 euro per night and it was excellent (and I am super picky) - great location, great service, very clean, good breakfast: www.venice3c.com/

If you fly into Venice, we took the Alilaguna ferry from the airport into the city. Tickets are cheaper if you prepay them online: www.alilaguna.com/?lang=en. It was not exactly a luxury ferry but the water taxis are over 100 euro, and the other option is a bus/ water bus combination which seemed like a headache with luggage.

We did the Doge's Palace Secret Itineraries tour and highly recommend it. You see a lot of rooms that are not open to the general public and hear some interesting history: palazzoducale.visitmuve.it/en/pianifica-la-tua-visita/secretitineraries/

[sporky]

Hi, I replied to your post on MM, but thought I would also throw out the Italy posts in my blog that have some additional recommendations and comments if you want them: quspork.wordpress.com/tag/italy/ Just skip the first two posts about pizza and wine, LOL.

[clseale]

I just got back from Italy last night, and I have a few things I can add. Everywhere we stayed was fine (but rooms aren't my priority, as long as they're clean and located well, I don't care), so it's not like I highly rec any of them. The only one I was completely in love with was in Positano (we splurged on this one for the views), so that won't help you. Hotel Mozart was nice in Rome, and close to a lot of things...however we spent most of our time (outside of sightseeing) in the Trastevere area, and would stay there if/when we go back. We had excellent pizza and dessert at Dar Poeta. Also, if you're on that side of town, the hike up to the top of Janiculum (Gianicolo)is well worth the views. You'll also find nice views and a fun atmosphere in the Borghese Gardens.

If you are in Florence, there really is no bad area of town, so don't get caught up in worrying about neighborhoods. Everything is close. I highly suggest taking the time to rent a car, and head out into the countryside. It was one of my favorite things that we did. I booked a lunch and wince tasting at Fattoria Poggio Alloro fattoriapoggioalloro.com/?lang=en (A family farm & winery in Tuscany), and then we explored nearby San Gimignano. The entire day was amazing. There is a fantastic panini place near the duomo in Florenec called PassaGuai ilpassaguai.wordpress.com/. We could have eaten here everyday. Fresh ingredients, and a steal at 3.50 euro. Also, make sure that you make the hike up to Piazzale Michelangelo, around sunset.

For Venice, it will depend on your personality. I basically wanted nothing to do with the area around St Mark's, but it will also depend on when you visit. This was the fourth city of our trip, so we were probably a bit sensitive to the insane crowds, but that area stressed us out. Once we moved away from that, and wandered into the smaller areas, we grew much more fond of Venice. We also took a day to see Murano & Burano, and that was nice. We also used the Alilaguna service to get to the airport.

In all of these cities, take the time to find the quiet streets, and some open spaces. We had the right balance of this with all of our activities, and while it was busy, it allowed us to feel relaxed, versus other vacations that were more hectic.

[Deleted]

We stayed here in Venice and had a great time: www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_Review-g187870-d289202-Reviews-Hotel_Antiche_Figure-Venice_Veneto.html

The hotel isn't amazingly fancy, but it's such a good location. 

[moreace01]

Sept 9, 2014 8:54:21 GMT -5 majesty318 said:

If you fly into Venice, we took the Alilaguna ferry from the airport into the city. Tickets are cheaper if you prepay them online: www.alilaguna.com/?lang=en. It was not exactly a luxury ferry but the water taxis are over 100 euro, and the other option is a bus/ water bus combination which seemed like a headache with luggage.

We did the Doge's Palace Secret Itineraries tour and highly recommend it. You see a lot of rooms that are not open to the general public and hear some interesting history: palazzoducale.visitmuve.it/en/pianifica-la-tua-visita/secretitineraries/

Ditto both of these.

I did Venice - Bologna - Florence - Rome in ten days. I could have skipped Bologna. I had 4 nights in Florence which might have been too much because I only had 2 nights in Venice and 2 in Rome - I would have liked more days in both of those cities (I'm an anomaly I guess in that I LOVED Venice and Rome more than Florence). Venice is very touristy. I was there in November and it was still packed with tourists. But it is such a unique place, you can see why. If you wander around away from the main square, you don't notice the tourists as much. I think I would have liked to tour some of the old houses - they are great to see from the canals, but would have been fun to go inside. 

My hotels were not worth mentioning. In Venice, I would stay overlooking a canal. Like...I might pony up extra cash to stay at some grand place in Venice just to experience the whole thing properly. 

I took Italo train and it was pretty awesome. The customer service was good - everyone very helpful. In some of the stations they had a very nice lounge. Free Wifi on board. 

[clseale]

moreace01, we preferred Rome to Florence as well (although Florence grew on us fairly quickly). Venice was a toss up for us. We loved every second of our trip, and I'm so glad we saw Venice (we really enjoyed it), but I don't have to go back, ya know? The point about splurging on a room in Venice might be a great point. We stayed in the Dorsoduro neighborhood, which we really liked, but spending an insane amount (because it would be), on a room overlooking the grand canal, would have been a different experience for sure. It was more important for us to splurge on views in Positano, so we stayed at a 2 star B&B in Venice. LOL

We also used Italo trains between all of the cities and had a great experience.

[majesty318]

We liked Venice more than we expected. We had started the trip in Sicily and both absolutely LOVED it. Between that and the fact that everyone we spoke to beforehand had negative things to say about Venice, we didn't have high hopes. Yes, it was packed (late July, we knew it would be) but we had fun exploring and getting lost on the winding streets.

I forgot to mention that we liked bar hopping in Campo Santa Margherita in the Dorsoduro neighborhood, and that the current rate for a gondola ride is 80 euro in the daytime or 100 euro at night. We shared with people because I am cheap.

[Deleted]

I 2nd the suggestion of doing a food tour!!! It was the best!!!