Advice for a 10-11 day trip to Italy in July?

Question

I want to take my mother to Italy for her birthday in July. She wants to see everything: Pisa, Venice, Florence, Milan, Rome, Tuscany, etc. Any suggestions on where to stay (on a budget), how to get around, where to eat, where to go? Any advice you can give would be very helpful. We are flying from Houston, and not sure where to fly into yet.

Answer 1

We were there for that length of time when we went to Italy for our honeymoon.  We only visited Venice, Florence, Cinque Terre and Rome and even with those few cities we found ourselves in transit a lot taking trains to places and checking in and out of hotels.  I would just pick 2-3 cities within good proximity of each other.  If I had to do it again I would have stayed North and saved Rome for next time, we spent a good day on the train just to get to Rome from Florence.

For that length of time I would recommend Venice, Florence and Tuscany.  Check out either Venere.com for accomodations or the Rick Steves Guides.   We stayed outside of Venice and just took the train in, it was just too expensive to stay in Venice.  It was called Villa Foscarini, I got a good deal on Orbitz.  It's very close to the train station, just hop on and in 10 minutes you're in Venice.

I didn't really care for the places we stayed in Florence/Tuscany, it was near the river and attracted a ton of mosquitos.  Check either Venere.com or RIck Steves for recommendations.

Check out the Trafalgar website to see if they do 10-day tours to the cities you want to visit, my mom and dad used them and enjoyed the trip.

Answer 2

You have to go to Florence, one of the most amazing places, incredible sceneries. Venice has alot of shops, you can watch them do demonstratons on glass blowing. Pisa, you see the Leaning Tower, the Cathederal and then your on your way. Tuscany, nice place to get drunk on wine. Rome, of course the Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel, also the Colleseum.

As for getting around, I highly recommend going with a tour group since your going to alot of places. Thats what I did, we spent a couple of days at every place, and travelled by a private airconditioned bus.

Answer 3

You do not mention your mother's age or her state of helath.

I assume she is able-bodies.  I therefore suggest that you buy a tourist guide book such as 'Let's Go!'.  'Let's Go to Europe!' has been helpful in suggesting affordable accommodation, including many addresses.  In Italy, a lot of the affordable accommodation can be found in pensiones, which are like Bed and Breakfast houses.

You might want to consider travel by rail passes.  The regular trains are not particularly fast.   However, you cna see a lot of countryside along the way.  I am not familiar with car travel in Italy.  If your mother sees Florence and Pisa, she will see some of Tuscany.  I have heard that Sienna and Assisi are interesting tourists destinations and will give tourists the ambience of a smaller Tuscan city or town.  You can stop off at them along the way between Rome and Florence by rail.

Tourist groups are more time efficent.  However, I have noticed from looking at brochures, that a lot of tours manage to leave out a few things of interest that many would like to see.

A tour guide book from a North American book store, should also provide you with the names of restaurants and give you an idea of which ones are affordable.  You might like a lot of food on the go, which tends to be cheaper and more conveint for people trying to get the most out of their time.  The guide book would also outline tourist attractions to see.  You would need a minimum of two days to see both Rome and Florence.  You might be able to see Venice in one day if you are in a hurry.  The water in the canals does not smell so great, so you might be happy to spend extra time somewhere else after seeing the Piazzo San Marco, the Cathedral of St. Mark,the Rialto, the Palace of the Doges, the Bridge of Sighs, as well as the Grand Canal, which would be obvious.

It is impossible to see everything.

Answer 4

"She wants to see everything: Pisa, Venice, Florence, Milan, Rome, Tuscany, etc."

If you want to see all of those places in 10-11 days you should consider an organized tour.

It would be possible to do that itinerary independently, but there would be a lot to arrange and you wouldn't have much of a margin for error.

You will be spending a lot of time traveling and going to and from hotels and will only have 1 day in most of the places you visit. Just make sure that's what you want, as opposed to seeing fewer places but spending more time in each one.  Many visitors spend 10-11 days just in Rome, Florence, and Venice.

The best way to get around is by train.  The trains in Italy are inexpensive, and north of Rome they are reliable and fast.  Don't rent a car unless you want to explore small towns in Tuscany that you can't get to any other way - car rental is much more expensive than the train, and the car will be a major hassle in the cities.  In the city of Rome there is a subway system - it only has two lines but it basically goes to most of the places of interest and the few it doesn't reach you can walk to.

Where to eat - Italy is full of great restaurants in all price ranges.  Just avoid any restaurant within 100 feet of any tourist sight or train station, or that has menus with pictures or with multiple languages instead of just Italian.

You would probably have to fly into either Rome or Milan.  A good travel agent should be able to arrange a ticket where you fly into one and out of the other for the same price, which would save you time.  This is called an "open-jaw ticket".

There are plenty of inexpensive hotels throughout Italy, and you should be able to find basic double rooms for 40-50 euros in most of those places, and a little higher in Venice.

Petty crime can be a problem in some areas, like in Rome in the Termini Station area.  The main problems are pickpocketing and bag snatching, so leave your jewelery at home, don't leave bags unattended (e.g. in a cafe when you go to the bathroom, or in a train station if you go to the counter) and keep your money and passport in a "money belt", not in your back pocket.

Answer 5

We went to Italy in May for 12 days and rented a car.  We stayed in Rome the first two days and then rented a car and drove to Tuscany where we had a villa that was fabulous.  Then did day trips to Pisa, Florence, Sienna and Montepulciano.    These were great day trips and beautiful countryside.

To get into the Sistine Chapel go to the archeology museum two blocks away and buy tickets so you won't have to wait in line.  Get to the Vatican early in the morning and walk right in at 8 am.   Economy car rentals gave us an excellent rate on a car (about half that of avis or hertz).  The car was a new Fiat station wagon that did 4 adults easily and all our luggage.

A fantastic town to visit is Deruta - they make hand painted stoneware in all these little shops.  You can check out some designs by looking on the web for Deruta pottery.  Very cool.

Pisa and Flornence are fantastic cities but plan on doing a lot of walking.  The town of Sienna is way cool to see.  

The first thing you need is some Gellato -  to die for - Italian ice cream.  

Don't drive in Rome and you just park your car in parking lots in the other towns and walk in very short distances.

Try and stay in Tuscany for 3 or 4 days, it is fabulous.

Roads are in perfect condition but lousy road signage.  GPS wasn't much help.

But we are going back next year.

Here is my kudos to Villa Petrichio, a great hotel in Tuscany.

Answer 6

First get a Euro rail pass to avoid cab fees.  A travel guide is strongly recommended too so you don't break any laws or make any social blunders.  

That is a lot to do in a short time.  Don't stay in the big cities as hotel rates can be two or three times more expensive.  They have bed and breakfasts called pensione outside of big cities that include breakfast and a community supper with the owner's family.  You can get bread, cured meat, cheese, and pastries in small stores and make your own sandwiches.  the fancier the eatery, the more you will spend.  Wine stores sell inexpensive local table wines and bottled water.  

Watch you money ALL THE TIME!!!  Leave all unnecessary credit cards at home.