A hotel booked for ten days in Rome, plane fight out from Rome...want to see the other towns...what to do?

Question

Hi Guys,

I'll be off to Rome in December for ten days and I'm having a major panic about my hotel situation, it may not seem so complicated to some folks, but I'll be going alone and it will be my first time to take a trip alone.

My dad has booked a hotel in Rome for ten days, but I want to try and get to the other towns as well, like Florence, true enough I can stay for a day and come back the same day, but what if there's something I miss...and seeing the other towns as well. I know I'll be staying in Rome for the first 4-5 days. (I was there last Dec with family) so I know what to do...but beyond that I'm not so sure.

I know I can easily get train tickets for the other towns...I'm not so sure about me staying there, especially with a hotel booked in Rome...I'm afraid of unbooking it, and dealing with no vacancies when I return to it after being in venice for example for a few days.

I hope the question makes sense...

Thankyou.

Answer 1

We used to live near florence.. Just take the train from Rome to wherever for day trips and train back to Rome at night. or keep the Rome room and just stay in other hotels throughout Italy but make Rome your home base.

Answer 2

I suggest you do a bit of research online and see how much time you'd like to spend in the cities you want to visit.  For example, in Florence, do you want to just wander around the city and see the general sights - the old bridge, the duomo, the markets - or do you want to go into the museums and see the art history (eg galleria academia for David's Michelangelo, and the Uffizi for paintings - in which case, book your tickets in advance or you'll spend several hours just standing in a queue).  Once you've figured out what you want to do, you can figure out how long you want to spend there (eg a full day for just walking the streets all day, or maybe more time to see the museums etc - depending on how long you can stare at paintings!).  Venice you could do a day trip, but it's a very different place to the rest of Italy - given it has no roads - do you want to spend a little more time there to experience it, to see inside the churches, etc.  Once you've got a bit more of an idea, change your hotel booking (eg, don't just cancel it, say you'll be back in 2 days, or 3 days), so that when you return you're not stuck with the possibility of an full hotel there.  If you REALLY don't know, then look up online for several hotels that you like the look of.  Before you leave the city you're visiting (florence, or whatever), ring ahead and check they've got a room for the night - if they don't, ring the next hotel on your list.  Most hotels will have an english speaking person available if you don't speak italian.  If it all gets really bad, there is almost always a place at the train station, which will find you a hotel room for the night.  You'll probably pay a little more, but you'll have a bed for the night without having to worry about wandering the streets with your luggage, knocking on doors..