Italy Sept. Trip Review
Dec 24, 2015, 9:22 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Boston
Posts: 130
Italy Sept. Trip Review
Wanted to review my anniversary trip I took with my wife in September this year. I use this forum so much for info / ideas so hopefully it will help someone!
*I do a lot of CC points, so many of the hotels were influenced in part by this.
We flew in from Boston to Venice (connecting in dublin) using Aer lingus. Can not beat the points flight from BOS-DUB with Avios.
Venice, we took a shared water taxi using Venice Link from the airport to the Boscolo Venezia Marriott hotel. The only complain would be that it took a while to actually get brought out with our group, around 30-40 minutes of waiting. Other than that, ride was perfect and we were the first stop.
Boscolo Venezia was in such a quaint part of Venice, I really liked being away from all the crowds. I would highly recommend this area to anyone visiting. Seemed like we were with more locals. Easily got a TIM Sim card for the rest of the trip when we first got there, helped having google maps everywhere we went. It is a little bit of a walk to attractions, but you can always take the Vap if needed. Hotel was old and charming, but we did not spend much time there. We had an amazing 1 year anniversary dinner outside by the water at Algiubagio. Do yourself a favor and go there (Thanks Perche!), it was amazing. Other than that we just got lost and explored. We did go over to Murano through the hotels "free tour", I expected the hard sell on some of that stuff so it was not a huge shock. Still spent more than I probably should have on some nice glasses the wife "had to have", be careful if you go. 2 nights spent in Venice at the Boscolo, could have used a third but not much more.
Train from venice --> Florence. The Vap stop is right behind the Boscolo so it was easy enough with luggage to use that to get to the train station. Florence we were staying a little outside the city center at the Hilton garden inn. Not the most glamorous hotel nor a great location to sight-see from, but to cut some costs this was our home base for 5 days. There was a bus line that would stop right outside the hotel and take you right in to the Duomo in about 15 minutes. Worked out pretty well to get in and out of the city center cheaply, just a little added inconvenience. Stay in the city if you can afford it though. Saw all the major sights, but we are not crowd people so we tended to try and get away from the major tourist attractions. Make sure you book tickets in advance for things like the david and the uffizi. Also get to the duomo early if you want to climb the stairs. Florence we ate at Za-Za's one night which was quirky but had decent food. central Market was cool along with the leather markets, don't miss that. Had a nice last meal at Di Poneta Novoli up near our hotel.
We took a day trip tough with Artivia The Best of Tuscany Tour to see the countryside as I did not want to drive. Worked out well enough, seeing the countryside was like out of a movie. Obviously with any tour you will be a little rushed in the cities. Still an awesome experience for the day though! We also last minute decided to do a day trip to cinque terre using walkabout Florence. This was the hiking one. Definitely one of the highlights for a busy day trip. While we didn't get to spend to much time in each city, I am very glad we did this. I was fine with the 5 days, but I wished we stayed in either the tuscan countryside or cinque terre. Florence just had so many people at all times!
Train from Florence to Rome. Stayed at the Intercontinental Roma, right at the top of the Spanish steps. Highly recommend this location, we walked to legit everything except maybe the Colosseum and Vatican (which we could still have walked). It was nice to take the taxi from the train station but the subway was just as easy when we left. We loved Rome! Did a Colosseum tour and a Vatican tour. Both were only for a few hours each, otherwise we just wandered around and did our own thing. Got lost, had some beers on the Spanish steps, etc. We were here for 4 nights total, so plenty of time to really get a feel for the city, especially where we were staying. The best standout restaurant here was Taverna Rippeta. It is this small quaint little place where the owner serves you fantastic home cooked food. Can not say enough about this place. At the end of our first night we loved it so much we made a reservation for the following night to come back (our last night, I know unoriginal to go twice...). When we came back she greeted us with prosecco and another fantastic night out. Highly recommend here. 4 days in Rome was enough to comfortably do what we wanted and relax. Probably could have used a day or two more, but there is always next time!
Took the train from Rome to Naples and then had a private car transfer from the train station to Positano. We used Amalfi Transfer for this, was reliable and on time (didn't speak much English though). Stopped at the cliffs above Sorrento for a picture opportunity and we also had paid for a two hour stop at the city of pompeii. I actually really recommend this. Sure we could have spent probably double that time exploring, but it was nice to get a taste of the ruins and you can see quite a bit in two hours. Was one of our favorite historical stops we did. Efficient to do on your way down or back from positano as the extra stop didn't cost a lot.
Positano we stayed at the Villa Rosa in a superior room. Holy *Explicit*! The view there was awesome and for the money that hotel / room is amazing. I loved the balcony we had and I am embarrassed to tell you how many bottles of wine I drank relaxing out there within the 4 days here. Breakfast each morning brought to your room and served outside on the balcony was a highlight. The location was perfect along the road, it was not incredibly far down to the beach area. I would say any higher though I would have been more annoyed with the distance. Otherwise this place is like a dream, if your on the fence about going just pull the trigger its worth it. All the places we went for dinner were great. restaurante max, Ristorante Caffè Positano, etc. We also rented a rubber dingy boat from Lucibello Boats at the beach on a whim. They just took my drivers license, gave us a boat. If your not comfortable driving a boat it may not be for you without a driver, but I had a fantastic time. We anchored at some private beaches to go swimming and drove down to see amalfi from the water. Really neat part of our Positano experience. We did not really leave Positano otherwise because, to be honest every time we thought about heading down to Amalfi or somewhere else the Balcony at the Villa Rosa was calling my name, and I am 100% OK with our decision even now looking back on it. We had a busy trip and needed to chill and relax! I would spend 7 days+ in this area if I had time and could afford it.
Stayed a last night in Naples along the bay at hotel excelsior before our flight the next morning. Hotel was nice enough and we went out that night for pizza. Went to Ristorante Nu' Murzill' Sapurito for pizza and it was cheap and very good. I tried to give Naples the benefit of the doubt with what people say about it, but my wife and I did feel pretty uncomfortable on the walk to the restaurant that night. We have lived in Boston for years so its not like cities are anything new for us, after all, any city can have bad spots. But everyone seemed to travel in groups / packs in Naples and just didn't give us the warm and fuzzy feelings. Anyway that could just be everyone's comments in the back of my mind, so take that with a grain of salt.
We flew out of Naples on Air France through Paris back to Boston using points. Worked out well on that front.
Like I said, a lot of the flight details, trip length and hotels were based primarily around points. We did though still try and pick locations that made sense. It was a busy trip also. When Peche or others on this board say stick to less destinations I can definitely see why. However, I do not regret doing what we did as I am unsure when we will be back next. We did strike a balance between seeing a lot and taking in each city. So just be real with yourself if you have to see every little detail in a city or can you walk around aimlessly? I think because we aren't super touristy people that have to see every last monument or attraction, it made visiting all those places easier for us.
Lot more detail than this post can probably convey for what we did. Happy to answer any questions on this thread or PM me.
*I do a lot of CC points, so many of the hotels were influenced in part by this.
We flew in from Boston to Venice (connecting in dublin) using Aer lingus. Can not beat the points flight from BOS-DUB with Avios.
Venice, we took a shared water taxi using Venice Link from the airport to the Boscolo Venezia Marriott hotel. The only complain would be that it took a while to actually get brought out with our group, around 30-40 minutes of waiting. Other than that, ride was perfect and we were the first stop.
Boscolo Venezia was in such a quaint part of Venice, I really liked being away from all the crowds. I would highly recommend this area to anyone visiting. Seemed like we were with more locals. Easily got a TIM Sim card for the rest of the trip when we first got there, helped having google maps everywhere we went. It is a little bit of a walk to attractions, but you can always take the Vap if needed. Hotel was old and charming, but we did not spend much time there. We had an amazing 1 year anniversary dinner outside by the water at Algiubagio. Do yourself a favor and go there (Thanks Perche!), it was amazing. Other than that we just got lost and explored. We did go over to Murano through the hotels "free tour", I expected the hard sell on some of that stuff so it was not a huge shock. Still spent more than I probably should have on some nice glasses the wife "had to have", be careful if you go. 2 nights spent in Venice at the Boscolo, could have used a third but not much more.
Train from venice --> Florence. The Vap stop is right behind the Boscolo so it was easy enough with luggage to use that to get to the train station. Florence we were staying a little outside the city center at the Hilton garden inn. Not the most glamorous hotel nor a great location to sight-see from, but to cut some costs this was our home base for 5 days. There was a bus line that would stop right outside the hotel and take you right in to the Duomo in about 15 minutes. Worked out pretty well to get in and out of the city center cheaply, just a little added inconvenience. Stay in the city if you can afford it though. Saw all the major sights, but we are not crowd people so we tended to try and get away from the major tourist attractions. Make sure you book tickets in advance for things like the david and the uffizi. Also get to the duomo early if you want to climb the stairs. Florence we ate at Za-Za's one night which was quirky but had decent food. central Market was cool along with the leather markets, don't miss that. Had a nice last meal at Di Poneta Novoli up near our hotel.
We took a day trip tough with Artivia The Best of Tuscany Tour to see the countryside as I did not want to drive. Worked out well enough, seeing the countryside was like out of a movie. Obviously with any tour you will be a little rushed in the cities. Still an awesome experience for the day though! We also last minute decided to do a day trip to cinque terre using walkabout Florence. This was the hiking one. Definitely one of the highlights for a busy day trip. While we didn't get to spend to much time in each city, I am very glad we did this. I was fine with the 5 days, but I wished we stayed in either the tuscan countryside or cinque terre. Florence just had so many people at all times!
Train from Florence to Rome. Stayed at the Intercontinental Roma, right at the top of the Spanish steps. Highly recommend this location, we walked to legit everything except maybe the Colosseum and Vatican (which we could still have walked). It was nice to take the taxi from the train station but the subway was just as easy when we left. We loved Rome! Did a Colosseum tour and a Vatican tour. Both were only for a few hours each, otherwise we just wandered around and did our own thing. Got lost, had some beers on the Spanish steps, etc. We were here for 4 nights total, so plenty of time to really get a feel for the city, especially where we were staying. The best standout restaurant here was Taverna Rippeta. It is this small quaint little place where the owner serves you fantastic home cooked food. Can not say enough about this place. At the end of our first night we loved it so much we made a reservation for the following night to come back (our last night, I know unoriginal to go twice...). When we came back she greeted us with prosecco and another fantastic night out. Highly recommend here. 4 days in Rome was enough to comfortably do what we wanted and relax. Probably could have used a day or two more, but there is always next time!
Took the train from Rome to Naples and then had a private car transfer from the train station to Positano. We used Amalfi Transfer for this, was reliable and on time (didn't speak much English though). Stopped at the cliffs above Sorrento for a picture opportunity and we also had paid for a two hour stop at the city of pompeii. I actually really recommend this. Sure we could have spent probably double that time exploring, but it was nice to get a taste of the ruins and you can see quite a bit in two hours. Was one of our favorite historical stops we did. Efficient to do on your way down or back from positano as the extra stop didn't cost a lot.
Positano we stayed at the Villa Rosa in a superior room. Holy *Explicit*! The view there was awesome and for the money that hotel / room is amazing. I loved the balcony we had and I am embarrassed to tell you how many bottles of wine I drank relaxing out there within the 4 days here. Breakfast each morning brought to your room and served outside on the balcony was a highlight. The location was perfect along the road, it was not incredibly far down to the beach area. I would say any higher though I would have been more annoyed with the distance. Otherwise this place is like a dream, if your on the fence about going just pull the trigger its worth it. All the places we went for dinner were great. restaurante max, Ristorante Caffè Positano, etc. We also rented a rubber dingy boat from Lucibello Boats at the beach on a whim. They just took my drivers license, gave us a boat. If your not comfortable driving a boat it may not be for you without a driver, but I had a fantastic time. We anchored at some private beaches to go swimming and drove down to see amalfi from the water. Really neat part of our Positano experience. We did not really leave Positano otherwise because, to be honest every time we thought about heading down to Amalfi or somewhere else the Balcony at the Villa Rosa was calling my name, and I am 100% OK with our decision even now looking back on it. We had a busy trip and needed to chill and relax! I would spend 7 days+ in this area if I had time and could afford it.
Stayed a last night in Naples along the bay at hotel excelsior before our flight the next morning. Hotel was nice enough and we went out that night for pizza. Went to Ristorante Nu' Murzill' Sapurito for pizza and it was cheap and very good. I tried to give Naples the benefit of the doubt with what people say about it, but my wife and I did feel pretty uncomfortable on the walk to the restaurant that night. We have lived in Boston for years so its not like cities are anything new for us, after all, any city can have bad spots. But everyone seemed to travel in groups / packs in Naples and just didn't give us the warm and fuzzy feelings. Anyway that could just be everyone's comments in the back of my mind, so take that with a grain of salt.
We flew out of Naples on Air France through Paris back to Boston using points. Worked out well on that front.
Like I said, a lot of the flight details, trip length and hotels were based primarily around points. We did though still try and pick locations that made sense. It was a busy trip also. When Peche or others on this board say stick to less destinations I can definitely see why. However, I do not regret doing what we did as I am unsure when we will be back next. We did strike a balance between seeing a lot and taking in each city. So just be real with yourself if you have to see every little detail in a city or can you walk around aimlessly? I think because we aren't super touristy people that have to see every last monument or attraction, it made visiting all those places easier for us.
Lot more detail than this post can probably convey for what we did. Happy to answer any questions on this thread or PM me.
Dec 24, 2015, 11:23 am
#3
Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: SNA
Programs: AA gold, DL Gold, HHonors Diamond, Hyatt Explorist, IHG Plat
Posts: 446
Re: Rome
I am doing a one-day stopover in Rome in spring 2016. I was considering either IC Rome or a 3* hotel near Termini station. Location is important. How far is the Coliseum from the IC and would you recommend the IC or a hotel near Termini from the perspective of good location? Thanks!
I am doing a one-day stopover in Rome in spring 2016. I was considering either IC Rome or a 3* hotel near Termini station. Location is important. How far is the Coliseum from the IC and would you recommend the IC or a hotel near Termini from the perspective of good location? Thanks!
Dec 25, 2015, 9:08 pm
#4
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Heraklion, Greece
Posts: 7,566
General rule for Rome: Unless one has a specific reason to stay in the area of the Termini station, it should avoided. It is certainly not particularly appealing (I am using a "politically correct" wording 
) As for the distance Colosseo-IC, very roughly, around 2 km. The "problem" is that unless you know Rome very well, you won't be able to take the shortest walk. Mind you, this is still going to be very pleasant, but if you want to do it in 30 minutes, it will be hard.
) As for the distance Colosseo-IC, very roughly, around 2 km. The "problem" is that unless you know Rome very well, you won't be able to take the shortest walk. Mind you, this is still going to be very pleasant, but if you want to do it in 30 minutes, it will be hard.
Dec 29, 2015, 1:05 pm
#5
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Boston
Posts: 130
Re: Rome
I am doing a one-day stopover in Rome in spring 2016. I was considering either IC Rome or a 3* hotel near Termini station. Location is important. How far is the Coliseum from the IC and would you recommend the IC or a hotel near Termini from the perspective of good location? Thanks!
I am doing a one-day stopover in Rome in spring 2016. I was considering either IC Rome or a 3* hotel near Termini station. Location is important. How far is the Coliseum from the IC and would you recommend the IC or a hotel near Termini from the perspective of good location? Thanks!
Also once your out there walking back and easy to hit other spots like the Pantheon, etc.