Rick James
Footballguy
Later this month my wife and I will be taking our first trip to Italy. We will be over there for 14 nights-- we're jokingly telling ourselves that this is our last big hurrah before we settle down and have kids, so we want to really go all out here. I've got a pretty thorough itinerary setup so far. I was wondering if you would be so kind and give it a look and let me know what you think. I've listed some questions at the end.
Edit- we're doing Rome (6), Florence (6), and Venice (2) while taking some day trips from Rome and Florence. I'm not into touring a whole country in 2 weeks. We would rather sink our teeth into a city and blow right through it.
SAT May 23 ROME - arrive @ FCO around 11:00am. take cab to hotel and maybe take a nap if we're exhausted. Booked a B&B in Trastevere for 6 nights. If we're up for it, walk around the streets of Trastevere and soak it in for a while. I booked two things that evening, after we've rested. (1) a 7:00pm quick tour [30min] of the Pantheon with a local guide, and (2) an 8:45pm tour of Ancient Rome & The Colosseum after dark. This will end around 11:30 and we'll probably be dead by the end. Pass out at our B&B.
SUN May 24 ROME - 13:00pm tour of the other side of Ancient Rome not covered in last night's tour...Capitoline Hill, Circus Maximus, etc. Just a quick, cheap 2 hr guided tour. Rest of day is OPEN. Thinking about taking bikes down the Appian Way b/c I heard cars are banned on sundays and it's a cool bike ride. Maybe see the catacombs. Head back to the city and just walk around.
MON May 25 ROME - 10:45am Testaccio Food Tour for a few hours, then I was thinking of hitting up the Villa Borghese and the museum there. if we don't ride bikes on the 24th, I'll probably rent some bikes and ride around the Villa Borghese. Our evening will be free here. check out some bars and the night life. stay up late.
TUE May 26 ROME - head to the Campo dei Fiori around 10:00am and just wander around that general area. Signed up for a Vatican tour @ 13:00 so we'll be in the area. Vatican tour ends @ 17:00 so again we'll have the evening free. This is actually our anniversary so I'm looking for a really nice meal here. Any suggestions for a romantic meal? Not too worried about price, just quality.
WED May 27 ROME - Still in Rome. Open day right now. This might be a perfect to visit Ostia Antiqua. I heard it's just as cool as Pompei but with considerably less tourists. I'd book a guided tour for this.
THR May 28 ROME - last night in Rome. I've left this open in case I've totally missed something. Opera, pub crawl, nice meal...not sure yet.
FRI May 29 FLORENCE - check out of hotel. go to car rental place @ Termini. Visit Decugnano dei Barbi in Orvieto @ 10:00am. I haven't actually booked this but I've sent an email to the staff. Not sure how long the tour and wine/food tastings will last but I'm guessing probably 2-3 hours, if that. Get back in car and depart around 13:00-14:00. Headed towards Florence, but I think I want to make another stop along the way. Local agriturismo, same sort of thing as in Orvieto but maybe focused on olives/cheese/meat. Haven't had much luck. Ultimitely I need to drop off the car at the Florence airport @ 21:00 so I think I have plenty of time. Take a cab to hotel. Check into Hotel.
SAT May 30 FLORENCE - wake up early and start exploring Florence. Probably go to Uffizi this day and the Academia the next. Eat a lot of food, drink a lot of wine. Lay back after traveling and doing a lot of stuff yesterday. Hotel has a rooftop pool and bar, so that's happening.
SUN May 31 FLORENCE - maybe something active in the city (bike tour, vespa tour, something...) and then hit up the Academia (or whichever one we didn't do on the 30th). Walking, walking, eating, stopping, drinking, etc. Spa maybe.
MON Jun 01 FLORENCE - After spending two full days in Florence, I think we'll book a day trip here. Maybe do one of those bike tours that visits Sienna, and other parts of Chianti.
TUE Jun 02 FLORENCE - check out of downtown Florence hotel and check into slightly more remote (cheaper) florence hotel. I've already booked a full day trip for this day. FULL day hike, lunch, swim, etc. in Cinque Terre. We'll be brought back to our hotel around 8:30. Maybe pass out, maybe just walk around the grounds of the villa.
WED Jun 03 FLORENCE - If we don't do a day trip on the 1st, we'll do one here. If we did go out of the city on the 1st, we'll stay local to Florence probably. Spend another day in the city. Cooking class. Relax. Spa day possibly.
THR Jun 04 VENICE - check out of our Florence hotel and travel to Venice. We'll either take a train, or look for a day trip from Florence to Venice, and just "hop off" in Venice when the tour or whatever is done. I have not booked a hotel here. Working on that now.
FRI Jun 05 VENICE - the only thing we have scheduled is a dinner @ 9:30. Rest of day is free.
SAT Jun 06 - Fly back home
1) ROME -Do you have any restaurant recommendations here, or any nightlife (bars, clubs, jazz (is there jazz in italy? lol) etc)) options. Our first 4 days in Rome are pretty full w/ guided tours but there is a lot of down time in the late afternoon/evenings most days.
2) ROME-If you had a free day in ROME what would you do? We really like to spend quality time in a city when we travel. Where others like to hit as many cities as possible we want to get to know the places we visit. Our last 2 days in Rome are open.
3) FLORENCE - As you'll see our ROME trip is packed with activities but the FLORENCE trip is sparse without the day trips. Any recomendations here besides the main attractions? Maybe a cool park in the city, or something like that.
4) VENICE - this is the only spot I haven't booked a hotel for. I think by the time we get here we'll be just about exhausted. I want this to be a very relaxing final two days. With that in mind, any recommendations?
Edit- we're doing Rome (6), Florence (6), and Venice (2) while taking some day trips from Rome and Florence. I'm not into touring a whole country in 2 weeks. We would rather sink our teeth into a city and blow right through it.
SAT May 23 ROME - arrive @ FCO around 11:00am. take cab to hotel and maybe take a nap if we're exhausted. Booked a B&B in Trastevere for 6 nights. If we're up for it, walk around the streets of Trastevere and soak it in for a while. I booked two things that evening, after we've rested. (1) a 7:00pm quick tour [30min] of the Pantheon with a local guide, and (2) an 8:45pm tour of Ancient Rome & The Colosseum after dark. This will end around 11:30 and we'll probably be dead by the end. Pass out at our B&B.
SUN May 24 ROME - 13:00pm tour of the other side of Ancient Rome not covered in last night's tour...Capitoline Hill, Circus Maximus, etc. Just a quick, cheap 2 hr guided tour. Rest of day is OPEN. Thinking about taking bikes down the Appian Way b/c I heard cars are banned on sundays and it's a cool bike ride. Maybe see the catacombs. Head back to the city and just walk around.
MON May 25 ROME - 10:45am Testaccio Food Tour for a few hours, then I was thinking of hitting up the Villa Borghese and the museum there. if we don't ride bikes on the 24th, I'll probably rent some bikes and ride around the Villa Borghese. Our evening will be free here. check out some bars and the night life. stay up late.
TUE May 26 ROME - head to the Campo dei Fiori around 10:00am and just wander around that general area. Signed up for a Vatican tour @ 13:00 so we'll be in the area. Vatican tour ends @ 17:00 so again we'll have the evening free. This is actually our anniversary so I'm looking for a really nice meal here. Any suggestions for a romantic meal? Not too worried about price, just quality.
WED May 27 ROME - Still in Rome. Open day right now. This might be a perfect to visit Ostia Antiqua. I heard it's just as cool as Pompei but with considerably less tourists. I'd book a guided tour for this.
THR May 28 ROME - last night in Rome. I've left this open in case I've totally missed something. Opera, pub crawl, nice meal...not sure yet.
FRI May 29 FLORENCE - check out of hotel. go to car rental place @ Termini. Visit Decugnano dei Barbi in Orvieto @ 10:00am. I haven't actually booked this but I've sent an email to the staff. Not sure how long the tour and wine/food tastings will last but I'm guessing probably 2-3 hours, if that. Get back in car and depart around 13:00-14:00. Headed towards Florence, but I think I want to make another stop along the way. Local agriturismo, same sort of thing as in Orvieto but maybe focused on olives/cheese/meat. Haven't had much luck. Ultimitely I need to drop off the car at the Florence airport @ 21:00 so I think I have plenty of time. Take a cab to hotel. Check into Hotel.
SAT May 30 FLORENCE - wake up early and start exploring Florence. Probably go to Uffizi this day and the Academia the next. Eat a lot of food, drink a lot of wine. Lay back after traveling and doing a lot of stuff yesterday. Hotel has a rooftop pool and bar, so that's happening.
SUN May 31 FLORENCE - maybe something active in the city (bike tour, vespa tour, something...) and then hit up the Academia (or whichever one we didn't do on the 30th). Walking, walking, eating, stopping, drinking, etc. Spa maybe.
MON Jun 01 FLORENCE - After spending two full days in Florence, I think we'll book a day trip here. Maybe do one of those bike tours that visits Sienna, and other parts of Chianti.
TUE Jun 02 FLORENCE - check out of downtown Florence hotel and check into slightly more remote (cheaper) florence hotel. I've already booked a full day trip for this day. FULL day hike, lunch, swim, etc. in Cinque Terre. We'll be brought back to our hotel around 8:30. Maybe pass out, maybe just walk around the grounds of the villa.
WED Jun 03 FLORENCE - If we don't do a day trip on the 1st, we'll do one here. If we did go out of the city on the 1st, we'll stay local to Florence probably. Spend another day in the city. Cooking class. Relax. Spa day possibly.
THR Jun 04 VENICE - check out of our Florence hotel and travel to Venice. We'll either take a train, or look for a day trip from Florence to Venice, and just "hop off" in Venice when the tour or whatever is done. I have not booked a hotel here. Working on that now.
FRI Jun 05 VENICE - the only thing we have scheduled is a dinner @ 9:30. Rest of day is free.
SAT Jun 06 - Fly back home
1) ROME -Do you have any restaurant recommendations here, or any nightlife (bars, clubs, jazz (is there jazz in italy? lol) etc)) options. Our first 4 days in Rome are pretty full w/ guided tours but there is a lot of down time in the late afternoon/evenings most days.
2) ROME-If you had a free day in ROME what would you do? We really like to spend quality time in a city when we travel. Where others like to hit as many cities as possible we want to get to know the places we visit. Our last 2 days in Rome are open.
3) FLORENCE - As you'll see our ROME trip is packed with activities but the FLORENCE trip is sparse without the day trips. Any recomendations here besides the main attractions? Maybe a cool park in the city, or something like that.
4) VENICE - this is the only spot I haven't booked a hotel for. I think by the time we get here we'll be just about exhausted. I want this to be a very relaxing final two days. With that in mind, any recommendations?
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