djronh1

Hi All,

Doing our first trip to Italy this year.

Arriving in Venice (BOS-EWR-VCE) @ approx. 9AM on 8/24/15.
Flying back from Rome (FCO) 9 AM on 9/2/15

Thus have a solid 9 days to work with.

It will be guys only. Ages are 49, 49 & 23

Thinking maybe Venice, Florence/Siena, then Rome
But not sure how many days in each.

Spoke with some friends/family. None were huge Venice fans ...
so they recommend most time be spent in Rome & Florence/Siena.

But from reading both Rick Steves & Lonely Planet, they say Venice is amazing.

Decisions, decisions, decisions ....
Looking for itinerary suggestions.

TIA

Perche

Venice is amazing with one-of-a-kind beauty. Possibly the most beautiful city in the world. Unfortunately, 95% of the visitors are day trippers, or people who spend only one day and hang around Saint Marco Square, usually during the summer heat. It's like trying to walk in Times Square on New Years Eve, or walking on Rose Bowl Drive in Pasadena during the Bowl Game, or on Bourbon Street during the Mardi Gras Parade. It's packed, hot, and you can't wait to get away from the insanity.

Most visitors to Venice are clueless about it and just stand around Piazza San Marco, then walk along the alleyways trying to window shop. The alleys are very narrow so the tourists completely block the streets, causing gridlock, and nobody can see anything. Venetian old ladies trying to grocery shop or just go about their business just shove the tourists out of the way for blocking the streets. Street barkers are waving the tourists into their expensive, inauthentic restaurants advertising "tourist menu." On the bridges that come up every few dozen yards the tourists stop to take pictures or even to sit on the steps, completely blocking them, while Venetians curse at them and step over them, and every now and then the police come and move them off the bridge. This is the Venice that most tourists know.

Venice is possibly the most beautiful city in the universe but you have to not think like a tourist if you want to see it. I don't know what Rick Steves and Lonely Planet recommend, but by all means stay in an outlying local neighborhood like Castello or Canareggio, or if worse comes to worse, Dorsoduro. Venice is small, so that just means 15 minutes from the maddening crowd, where there will be no tourists, just Venetians, with real Venetian stores and food In any case, you will be going to Italy during the worst possible time. It's hot, and peak tourism season, so everything will be overrun if you go to the typical places in Venice, Florence, Rome.

The Italians know this, so they most flee from August 15th through the end of the month (Ferragosto, or August Holiday). Many places are closed except in the central tourist areas like Venice, Florence, Rome, and much of Tuscany, where they stay open to fleece the tourists while they can, then close during the winter months and relax somewhere on a warm beach.

It's kind of hard to recommend an itinerary without knowing your interests. Nightlife? Museums? Scenic countryside towns? Wine tasting? Food? The beach?

Realize that 9 days for a country is not a lot. It's basically enough time to see one city or one region, unless you just plan on just buzzing through the touristy spots to take pictures of them and check them off of a list, and come back not really having had any feel for what the Italian Dolce Vita experience is like. You've already listed four cities in 9 days, which includes your arrival day when you will be jet-lagged and exhausted. You won't get to experience much of any of those cities in two days each, and none of them are worth only going to for one day because you can't get to know them in one day.

All you can do is take a picture of yourself in San Marco Square, a picture in front of the Statue of David in Florence, then on to Rome for pictures at the Colosseum and Forum. Then home.

For three guys, one thing that I might consider, given how difficult it is to enjoy Italy at its best during August, is consider making this a road trip. Venice is a great place for an intro to Italy because it is slow paced. Stay there the 24th and 25th in Castello, then rent a car, maybe a nice little Fiat, and take a long, slow drive down to Rome hitting some of the great smaller towns, visiting some wineries and top restaurants. Depending on your interests, this sure beats standing in line for two hours in the steaming heat in a sweaty crowd to get into a packed museum to see a Renaissance statue in Florence. And, with a week driving around the central Italian countryside, you will be able to say that you, "get it," you will have some idea about the beautiful feeling of rural, small town Italy.

Some great driving itineraries can be put together, ambling down through Emilia-Romagna, Tuscany, Umbria, Lazio, and into Rome. Scenery where you'll come over a hilltop out in the country and see the next city up on a hill, and it will take your breath away. You can steer clear of the tourists, but drop into some of the big cities in the evening after the day-trippers have left and the crowds have thinned out. You can even head over to the beach for a day.

Consider that you'd need a week just to visit Rome. You just don't have the time. In the last week of August if you want to see the Vatican Museum you'll be standing in a line 3 hours long that barely moves, just to get in. Then it will be packed. Same for the Colosseum and Forum, and everything else. You can plan a two-day Rome itinerary, but with three drivers, consider exploring the better parts of Italy, as in the country side, as your focal point, then maybe two days in Rome with a guide and carefully planned itinerary. Explore the cities in the future, when you can do it at a time other than August.

exilencfc

I reckon that's a great idea.

Venice is beautiful - and totally unique but, as Perche says, it's hard work. It is very touristy and it's hard to get away from that. It's certainly more enjoyable in the mornings and the evenings when there are fewer people about.

TWA884

Both the Vatican Museums, and the Colosseum and Forum have advanced ticket sales for entry at reserved times. There is no need to stand in long lines.

Perche

I agree. That's why I said, "then maybe two days in Rome with a guide and carefully planned itinerary." OP can't just show up. With only 9 days, if they want to see the highlights of Rome there will need to be some planning.

dhammer53

Bolding mine. We spent 4 nights in Venice, and it's islands. ^
I didn't care for Florence. I really enjoyed the hill towns of Tuscany. You could easily spend a week there, and that's what we did in 2010. We stayed in a villa in Imprueneta (sp?).

pbiflyer

This. you can do a day trip to Siena from the Tuscany area.

Forstbetrieb

Siena is a part of tuscany...

pbiflyer

I meant that instead of staying in Siena as the OP posted, they could use the previous suggestion of a villa somewhere in Tuscany and still visit Siena. One did not preclude the other.

jabez

I'd do 3 nights in Venice. Train to Florence for two nights. Then train to Rome for 4. An alternative (which I would do if my first trip) is 3 nights Venice and train to Florence and rent a car. Take a scenic drive through Tuscany and stay in the Val D'Orcia or Chianti for 2 nights. If Chianti, leave car back at Florence airport and train to Rome. If southern Tuscany is your stay, I'd leave the car off at Rome's airport.