italy for a week

in venice, the best advice i can give you is to get lost : ) walk up and down the streets, and just enjoy the whole experience. you can see san marco's basilica and the piazza, see the islands (murano, burano, torcello), the campanile, and ofcourse, rialto bridge. i think in a day you can do all of these except the islands (or maybe one island if you're really motivated) for rome, the list is endless really. you could go to the vatican and the vatican museums (a whole day affair), castel san angelo, the colosseum, the forum, the pantheon, the spanish steps, the cappuchin crypt, the pasta museum, the trevi fountain, the campo dei fiori .. phew! it's not called the eternal city for nothing! ;) just remember to have tons of the amazing gelato (i found the best in venice) and food ;)

Agree with ashesf, I think 1-2 days in Venice is more than enough. It's a tiny place, you could see the St. Mark's Square (feed the pigeons) and the bell tower, Saint Mark's Basilica, Rialto Bridge the grand canal and ride on a gondola and the rest of your time in Rome.

spend more days in rome, but keep a day for venice if you can. it's hard to compare much rather choose between the two, but if you can, do both. for an overview/idea/feel of venice, a day is good enough, rome requires more time. : )

Ok another question - looks like I might have to cut length of trip down so might consider just doing Rome or Venice rather than trying to do both. If you had a choice which one would you choose!? and what would you visit! TIA

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An interesting thread. We want to go to Italy over the spring bank holiday week (uk). We will be flying to the uk first ( we have two grownup kids there) and then I was thinking fly to Rome have 2 or 3 days then train to Venice have 2 or three days and fly back out of Venice. (Or vice versa) I could either do this using the budget airlines one way at a time and booking my own accommodation or maybe it is easier to find a uk travel agent to arrange the trip for me - what do you think?

I think 1 week is far too short. I had 2 weeks to cover Rome(7d), FLorence(4d) and Venice(4d) 3 years ago and I found that I did not have the time to cover so many things.... LOL...we've now spent a combined total of 5 weeks in Tuscany and feel that we only just scratched the surface of what there is to see, do and eat (!!) in Italy. splash...given you only have a week, I really think you should stay in Rome and do day trips out once or twice. Rome is AMAZING and I think you'd need a month to see it all. :) edited by Green-ish on 13/03/2011 I agree with you totally Green-ish! I think I can spend months and it still won't be enough. :)

A really beautiful spot in Italy is the Amalfi coast south of Naples. You could base yourself in Sorrento and from there visit: Amalfi, Positano, Ravello and islands of Capri and Ischia. It is a truly beautiful coast with wonderful food and so many places of cultural and natural beauty to visit.... I had to cancel Sorrento this trip coz I couldn't handle the luggages and MIL climbing the stairs at Naple station, which means I will visit Italy again! :) I'll suggest OP to stay in Rome for the week and take the train to Pompeii or Herculaneum on her own. Personally, between Rome, Florence and Venice, I enjoyed Venice the least eventhough I went there for my 10th anniversary. I very much prefer Rome and Florence. I could spend the whole day at Sistine Chapel alone and the view of Vatican from the top of St Peter's Bassilica is amazing. You can join one of the many tours at the Coloseum and Palatine Hills when you're there. Hopefully, the weather will get better so that I could visit Sienna. When is OP visiting Italy? Start looking at some of the popular hotels as it can get full quite fast. Enjoy and have lots of fun! :) I would highly recommend that you check out tripadvior.com for more info! <em>edited by xanzec on 14/03/2011</em>

A really beautiful spot in Italy is the Amalfi coast south of Naples. You could base yourself in Sorrento and from there visit: Amalfi, Positano, Ravello and islands of Capri and Ischia. It is a truly beautiful coast with wonderful food and so many places of cultural and natural beauty to visit....

If I were you, I would see Venice before it sinks and do (some of them long) day trips from there (Florence, Bologna, Verona, Padua, Milano). I love Rome, but I find Venice an absolutely magical place and could spend days just wandering round there, on the vaporettos or on foot.

The kids and I had a week in Rome a few years ago and had a great time. We did a day trip to Pompeii one day. Pompeii itself was great but it was a very long day (most spent on the bus) and very little of it was actually spent at Pompeii which i found incredibly frustrating. I did not want to stop en route to spend time at a jewellery factory or stop at another place for a long lunch break! I think we ended up with about 1 1/2 hour max at the site when that was all I really wanted to see! If you opt to do a tour then check out v carefully exactly how much time you will have at Pompeii.

I think 1 week is far too short. I had 2 weeks to cover Rome(7d), FLorence(4d) and Venice(4d) 3 years ago and I found that I did not have the time to cover so many things.... LOL...we've now spent a combined total of 5 weeks in Tuscany and feel that we only just scratched the surface of what there is to see, do and eat (!!) in Italy. splash...given you only have a week, I really think you should stay in Rome and do day trips out once or twice. Rome is AMAZING and I think you'd need a month to see it all. :) <em>edited by Green-ish on 13/03/2011</em>

I think 1 week is far too short. I had 2 weeks to cover Rome(7d), FLorence(4d) and Venice(4d) 3 years ago and I found that I did not have the time to cover so many things. Florence is my favourite! I would probably consider staying in Rome for the week and do a trip to Pompeii/Herculaneum as day trip? There are just too many places to see in Italy. I am currently doing Rome/Florence with my MIL for 2 weeks. Check out tripadvisor for ideas and itinerary. The forums give you good ideas and suggestions. Don't forget the travelling time do take up almost half a day eventhough the train ride is only 1.5 hours. I am sure you will enjoy Italy whichever place you choose to vist.:) <em>edited by xanzec on 13/03/2011</em>

How about going from Rome to lake Garda and then onto to a few days in Venice. I love lake Garda and there are plenty of towns around the lake worth looking at. It is also near to Verona which is worth seeing.

Oh my gosh, I'm Green-ish with envy! :D I can't help much from personal experience. Although we've spent two glorious holidays in Tuscany, we had very young children with us and didn't travel far from our home base near Arezzo. My in-laws however, did a fairly extensive tour (with a group) and they said they would have happily missed everything else to spend more time in Rome and Venice, especially Venice. I hope that's a teeny bit helpful. I hope you will adore Italy as much as we do. ETA - oops, I just read Swiss Sandy's post. Pompei was the other place my in-laws said is an absolute must see! Wrong direction for what you're considering so far, but worth throwing into the pot as an option. <em>edited by Green-ish on 12/03/2011</em>

We went to Italy couple of years ago from Switzerland where we lived and spent a week in Rome with a couple of nights in Naples to see Pompei and Herculeum. You could spend a week in most of the main Italian cities it all depends how much you want to see. Rome would easily eat up 4 or 5 days by itself. On a separate trip we spent 5 days in Venice. I wouldn't try and do too much in one go as you might feel rushed and might not be able to see all you want. We used to the trains in Italy and public transport in Rome and Venice and all were very efficient. Whatever you choose to do Italy is a great country to visit and I'm sure you'll have a great time!

We flew to Rome and got the train to Florence - a beautiful train journey and the rail system is very efficient. I assumme the trip to Venice would work just as well. Can't help with accommodation as we had a week in a farmhouse in Tuscany before the journey back to Rome and a few nights in the city - numerous hotels to choose from. Rome is easily negotiated by public transport wherever you stay.

A week in Italy is a great idea :-) I lived and worked in central Rome for a while, not so long ago, and when I return to visit friends I stay at theHotel Villa Del Parco on Via Nomentana. It is a small friendly hotel, only 3 stars but clean, traditional and comfortable and ,when I last used it 18 months ago, the rates were good too. It is conveniently situated, close enough to the centre but far enough out to have its own garden, which is lovely to relax, unwind in and have a glass of wine. Public transport is easily and frequently available within a couple of minutes walk and gets you to the city centre in about 10 to 15 minutes. It's possible to walk the distance in 25 to 30 minutes – which I frequently did – as the traffic in Rome is horrendous and I'd rather walk than sit on a bus! Sites wise there is more than enough to keep you busy for a week in Rome alone although Florence and Venice each have their delights too. In Rome my favourite places are: 1.Villa Borghese (huge park area with great views over Rome) 2.Spanish Steps 3.Castello Saint Angelo 4.Boat trips on the Tiber 5.Campo di fiori 6.Trevi Fountain 7.Colosseum 8.Pantheon And many many more...... eating out is a delight in Rome and you do need time to see all the different sides.... however if you love art then Florence is a must too. The Uffizi galleries, cathedral and museums plus the beautiful Giardini di Boboli take several days of exploration easily... and then the history and romance of the canals of Venice are pretty amazing too. I guess it's about choices. Factors such as whether you are travelling alone or have children may play their part as will what time of year you are planning a trip. Rome in August, for example, is not a good idea – the heat is claustrophobic (worse than Dubai due to the pollution and problems with old buildings) and many Romans close their businesses for the month and head for the cooler mountain areas. As far as transport goes I used the trains between Milan and Rome quite a lot and the service is regular and fast. One word of caution is that levels of theft are very high. I learned the hard way by having my suitcase stolen from the luggage store at the end of the carriage in which I was sitting. Pick pocketing is an ongoing problem as is begging.... however the pluses far out weigh the minuses. Happy holidays, whatever you decide :-)