Help with Florence and Venice
 

My wife and I will be going to Italy between June 25 and July 3. We have 5 nights and full days (our flight out of VCE to FRA leaves at 7:30pm on the 3rd).

Should we do 2 or 3 days in Florence? We keep hearing how great it is but the question then becomes, is 2 days enough in Venice as well? Saldly we only have 5 days between the two cities.

If it helps, we will be staying at the Sheraton FIRENZE in FLorence and the Sheraton Regina Europa in Venice. Both are on points and I know the Westin in Florence is to die for but 4k vs 16k per night (high season for this hotel) makes it impossilbe to choose anything else).

Thanks for any suggestions and insights :)

Ouch. I'd say go for the three days in Venice. Florence is probably a *little* easier to power-tour than Venice.

Both cities are great. It all depends what your tastes and expectations are.
You shall visit these cities during high season. Both will be very crowded. Depending on the weather, both cities will be equally hot, Venice might be quite smelly. At both places it is going to be expensive. Terraces in Venice have prices close to highway robbery.

If you go for sights (buildings, romantic, water, bridges) Venice is the place you should stay longer. Maybe take a sisetrip to the blowing glass factories at Murano.

If you go for culture, museums, nice buildings, good food, nice terraces to enjoy life, more affordability, choose Florence as the place.

As I don't know what you are looking for, I can say no more at present.

Enjoy both anyway, both worth to see, but Florence is my favourite, especially because you can at least get away from the tourists if you try. Not possible in Venice.

Well . . . .
 

Honestly--do you HAVE to do both in this short trip? Why not take your time? Relax, don't feel pressured, enjoy yourselves. Because I just have these visions of "Hurry! Hurry! We can make one more sight before sundown!" I spent a whole week in Venice a couple of years ago, and still left many stones unturned.

I agree, however, that if you like picturesque, go for Venice. If you like history and culture, go for Florence. Both cities are rather like amusement parks, but Venice more so. Venice is also scandalously expensive, the most expensive city in Italy.

I think there is so much more to see in Florence - but it will be crowded! And I think the Uffizi will be closed for renovations.

I personally am not a fan of either. Especially VCE is too touristy and way too humid for my taste. If I had to choose between the two I 'd prefer Firenze and would probably invest in a daytrip to Siena, too.

Tough choice. You can spend three days just in the areas sorrounding Florence and not see a thing in the city. I'd base it on what you want to see and do, we spent a week in Florence this time last year and didn't even come close to seeing all we wanted.

I would blow off Venice altogether in favor of Florence.....

Florence and Sienna. Venice is very, very touristy and I won't suggest spending more then a day there. I would say that out of the 3, I loved Sienna the most.

Thanks very much for all of your replies everyone :)

Sounds like we are going to change some plans and stay in Florence longer than Venice. We could only get reward seats flights out of Venice (at the time of booking) and since they are *reward tickets it would cost $250 to change them now. Besides, even if Venice is really touristy, I still think we should at least see it since we have gone all the way there ;)

Thanks again everyone.

Where's the Roma? If it is far from Venice, you are not in Venice. Plan to go elsewhere.

Woah, I just noticed that too. Roma is Rome!
Sheraton Roma is located at Viale Del Pattinaggio, 100 Rome 00144 Italy .

Cattle, are you seriously expecting to make day-trips from Rome to Venice or did you just type the wrong hotel name?

Well, he apparently said that the "Sheraton Roma" is in Venice. But the distance between the two cities (Venice and Firenze that is) isn't big at all- shouldn't take more than a couple of hours by train so staying in one city and flying from the other isn't a big problem....

Great catch and thanks to the sharp FTers ^

Ok here is the itineary

June 25th - June 28th - Sheraton Roma (we arrive at 6:00pm the 25th so it's a write off except for sleep)

June 28th to July 1st - Sheraton Firenze (1 extra day thanks to you guys)

July 1st to 3rd - Venice at the Europa Regina (we will arrive at the end of the day to maximize time in Florence then that will give us 1 full day and night in Venice followed by another 3/4 day in Venice as we fly out at 7:30pm on the 3rd)

Very sorry for the confussion. Too many bookings going on between work and planning this vacation and keeping them straight is a full time job some times :D

Thank you again so much everyone ^

Remember that Florence has driving limits, times you can not drive into or out of the city, varies by season, etc. If you are driving they will usually let you though if you are a tourist heading to the hotel, and once you get there the Hotel can give you something to get back out again.

You can preorder tickets for most of the museums too, saves you some time in line.

Thanks for the heads up. We are leaning heavily towards taking the train to make things easier. Also the idea about pre-ordering museum tickets ^

You can't imagine how excited Mrs Cattle is getting over this trip :D

If you are thinking about getting a car and driving from Rome to Florence and then on to Venice, forget it.

Car rental is very expensive in Italy. You may not have a place to put your car in Florence, even though you are not really going to the center of the city to park.(that Sheraton is quite a few miles from center city, as the Roma). Parking in centeral Florence is very expensive, and you cant go there, since you are not staying there. There is very little to see along the way, if you take the direct route R-F-V.

Take the train. Take the local, first class. Pack a lunch. However, the trip from the train station to the hotel in Florence will require a cab. Check to see what the hotel does for transport to center city.

The train is closer in Venice than the car park. I do not know where you dump the car in venice. The airport would be ok, as then you could ride the Alilaguno to San Marco, and it is a short walk to the E&R.

Dear Cattle,

there's always so much disagreement about these types of questions because some people can't see past the tourists in either place, and because eveyone has a different opinion about what's worth it or not..but nevertheless here's my 2 cents...

I've visted Italy on numerous ocassions and until this January I never bothered to visit Venice. I visted my cousin in Padua and didn't bother with the side trip to Venice because I really don't like alot of crowds and for me I'd rather not go to somewhere swamped by alot of other tourists. For this very reason I'm not that keen on Florence or Assisi and generally prefer the hill towns in Le Marche to Tuscany.


However, this January I finally made it to Venice and I wish I'd visited years ago...sometimes there's a reason why people flock to a place. Tourism in Venice isn't a new phenomenon, the tourists today are following in the steps of Byron and Shelley! I found Venice overwhelmingly beautiful...the silence (particularly at night) because there are no cars was extraordinary. It's a wonderful city to walk through. The food was fabulous (I recommend La Columbina) and we stayed in a quieter quarter that wasn't too busy (Dorsoduro is recommended). I was charmed by the city, the architecture and the surrounding islands. I can't wait to go back.

Perhaps it was because I was there in January and perhaps it would be entirely different in the summer but I wish I had gone there years ago when I first visited Italy and hadn't been put off by the crowds.

Hope that helps!

Although it looks like you've already made your plans, I'm just going to second the opinion of staying in Florence longer than Venice. I was just there three weeks ago. We got bored with Venice in half a day and left. We only spent two days in Florence, and walked non-stop to everything we could possibly squeeze in. Lovely city, just don't plan on driving anywhere.

Also, Pisa is a short train ride from Florence, and Lucca is nice to visit too.

Stay in Florence for 3 days, that is what I did, and it was great. Everything in Florence is in walking distance, and the Uffizi and Micheangelo Gallerias are great! If you don't have a hotel, I recommend the Hotel Fenice Palace- near a ATAF (local bus) stop, and super close to the duomo!

They also have great desk staff, if you go, say hi to Pasquale for me :cool:

Hotel Fenice Palace

Take the train although you might want a car for a day trip out of Florence. We liked San Gimignano much more than Siena. For the museum tickets, you can make a reservation by phone and jump the line to pick them up.

Arriving in Venice by train and walking out face to face with the Grand Canal is an unbelievable experience! Sheer magic. Hotel is a quick and cheap hop by the water bus.

Cattle as some have suggested getting out of Firenze nd down to Siena and a drive around some of the little towns there will blow your mind (we know that's easy due to your hockey allegiance). Lots of wineries and little museums and art shops,etc.

If I was to do Italy on your timing I would do Rome and Firenze not that Venice isn't worth it. My wife has just come back from studying Italian in Rome and just continues to marvel at the sites she saw there and we have been there and to many places in Italy numerous times. Italy has something to see everywhere you go so your choices will not disapoint.