Girls who vacationed in Italy (Rome, Florence, Venice)...

DH and I are thinking about planning a trip to Italy either in May or September b/c we want to avoid the heat in the summer and the crowds. I went on an organized tour of Italy in 2004 with my Mom in July and it was HOT..DH and I will not be doing an organized tour but we want to see Rome, Venice, Florence and Capri.

A few questions:
1. Has anyone been there in May or September? How warm is it?

2. Instead of doing roundtrip airfare to and from Rome, I was thinking of spending the extra $$ to fly to Venice, work our way down by train and then fly home from Naples. (Venice, then Florence, then Rome then Capri/Naples). The airfare would be $200 more to do it this way but we would save on train tickets and time...is it worth it?


TIA!!!

Re: Girls who vacationed in Italy (Rome, Florence, Venice)...

oooooh can I pick your brain?? DH and I were thinking about doing this for our anniversary in October. I may want to add Paris.. I dont know.

sorry i cant answer your questions!

Re: Girls who vacationed in Italy (Rome, Florence, Venice)...

Beginning to Mid may... and then mid Sept to end of Sept is better weather wise and usually price wise too...

I would definately suggest flying direct to Venice and working your way down... you will then be able to make the most of your time there. The train system is very easy to navigate and its only about 2 hrs 20 min from Venice to Florence... about 2 hrs from Florence to Rome.. and about 2 to Naples from there.

I'd honestly plan to spend the LEAST amount of time in Rome.. you can see all the important sites in a full 2 days... and then make the most of your time in Venice - or explore some of Tuscany when you are in Florence... Naples too... a day or so.. and definately try to include Sorrento and/or Capri.. they are both beautiful!!

If you want more info... Fell free to FM me!!

Re: Girls who vacationed in Italy (Rome, Florence, Venice)...

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Posted by SoonToBeMrsCampos

oooooh can I pick your brain?? DH and I were thinking about doing this for our anniversary in October. I may want to add Paris.. I dont know.

sorry i cant answer your questions!

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Oct is a good time to go too........and I'm all for adding Paris into any European trip!! Been there too so if you want info - feel free to FM me!

Re: Girls who vacationed in Italy (Rome, Florence, Venice)...

we ended our honeymoon in italy in may. the weather was gorgeous, warm some days but not terrible. we started in venice, then went to florence, porto venere and rome. we took the train and it was such a breeze. if you can, i would definitely suggest porto venere. its amazing, theres literally one road in the entire town, and its a one way; we stayed at the royal sporting; the views are breathtaking. we had to rent a car and drive from florence but it wasnt really a big deal at all.

Re: Girls who vacationed in Italy (Rome, Florence, Venice)...

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Posted by dctead

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Posted by SoonToBeMrsCampos

oooooh can I pick your brain?? DH and I were thinking about doing this for our anniversary in October. I may want to add Paris.. I dont know.

sorry i cant answer your questions!

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Oct is a good time to go too........and I'm all for adding Paris into any European trip!! Been there too so if you want info - feel free to FM me!

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paris was nice, but i think we ended up staying 4 nights there? and by the end of day two i was just done. definitely try and do the boat tour by the eiffel tower.

Re: Girls who vacationed in Italy (Rome, Florence, Venice)...

thanks girls! I will keep you updated and if we end up going (hopefully we will) , will post a review!

Re: Girls who vacationed in Italy (Rome, Florence, Venice)...

For our honeymoon we flew into Paris, spent 4 nights, flew from Paris to Florence, spent 5 nights, and then took the train from Florence to Naples and then the SNAV to Capri for 5 nights. We flew home from Naples, but had to change in Paris again.

I studied abroad in Florence and knew this was something I wanted to share with my husband. I have flown into Venice before and would recommend it. It's super easy to get from the airport into Venice and the airport is just much smaller so you miss the craziness of Rome's airport. You could easily take the train from Venice to Florence and Florence to Rome. I'm happy to give you hotel recs in each city if you are interested. I've been to Rome at least a dozen times. We skipped it on our hm because we felt like it was something we could do entirely separately on a future trip to Italy - fly directly to and from Rome and just spend 5 nights there or something. I hope you have a great trip.

Re: Girls who vacationed in Italy (Rome, Florence, Venice)...

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Posted by dctead

Beginning to Mid may... and then mid Sept to end of Sept is better weather wise and usually price wise too...

I would definately suggest flying direct to Venice and working your way down... you will then be able to make the most of your time there. The train system is very easy to navigate and its only about 2 hrs 20 min from Venice to Florence... about 2 hrs from Florence to Rome.. and about 2 to Naples from there.

I'd honestly plan to spend the LEAST amount of time in Rome.. you can see all the important sites in a full 2 days... and then make the most of your time in Venice - or explore some of Tuscany when you are in Florence... Naples too... a day or so.. and definately try to include Sorrento and/or Capri.. they are both beautiful!!

If you want more info... Fell free to FM me!!

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ITA with the weather and the travelling part. However, I disagree with spending 2 days in Rome. I'm definitely biased cuz I lived there, but there is SO much to see that shouldnt be missed. I wouldnt think of spending less than 5 days there but thats just me. Definitly dont miss Tuscany and I honestly think you can do Florence in a day or two. Dont miss Capri or Ischia!!! Im so jealous!

Re: Girls who vacationed in Italy (Rome, Florence, Venice)...

We went to Italy for our HM at the end of June. The northern regions were very chilly (even during the day) and the southern were comparable to NY in June. We did Venice (3 days), Florence (4 days), Capri (5 days), Rome (5 days). Traveling from city to city was super quick and easy - we took the train (booked our tix in advance with the travel agent).

IMO: Venice was nothing wonderful. Not much to do there, super expensive, food isn't the best. BUT, should everyone take a Gondola ride once in their life? Sure.

Florence was my favorite. We took a tour called 'The Best of Tuscany' - look for it on tripadvisor. It was perfect - we got to see so much of Tuscany in one day! I've reco'd it to a few friends after and they loved it too.

Capri - this was the most relaxing part of the vaca and the island has THE MOST UNBELIEVABLE food. I can still taste the olives! You MUST dine at L'Olivo in Ana Capri and you must eat Gelato en Brioche outside of Hotel Qvisisan in Capri.

Rome - I felt most at home in Rome. It was very NYC only with this amazing history. 5 days was a good amount of time to see all the major sites without running ragged. Of course, it would take months to enjoy all of Rome but who has that kind of money? My only regret was ending the trip in Rome. The reason is that it was the most exhausting part of the trip so we went home super tired. Luckily we had another 5 days at home before going back to work - don't know what we would have done without it.

Good luck and Bon Viaggio!

ETA: Happy to give you tour, hotel, other info if you'd like. Just FM me. And if you can attempt to make sure you're in Rome on a Wednesday, you can go to the Pope's Blessing at the Vatican. Even if you're not Catholic or not religious, it's an amazing thing to see.