Italy Travel Guide

[mama squeak!]

^^sis here are my thoughts on your days 8 and 9 plus Venice:

Day 8 Pisa and Lucca - you can easily do this as a DIY trip. There are regular trains plying these routes. Suggest to leave early from Florence to Pisa. Train ride to Pisa is from 45 minutes to an hour. Spend half a day there. Then hop back on the train to Lucca (20-30 minutes). Late lunch in Lucca, walk the ramparts, explore old town. Then back to Florence late afternoon in time for dinner (train ride is from 1 hour to 1:20).

Day 9 San Gimignano, Siena and Monteriggioni. Suggest join a small private tour since the schedules of the trains or buses here are not ideal. You have limited time so para di hassle commuting the best would be to join a tour.

Venice - Try to get the morning fast train from Florence. It will only take you 2 hours to get to Venice. In this way you can do all your planned IT of your day 11 on day 10. Maliit lang ang San Marco so you can easily do all these in 5 hours or less. Try to book the Secret Itineraries tour of the Doge's Palace. My hubby and I enjoyed this a lot (if you're into history). I have some blog posts on our Venice trip just in case you want a sample IT.

For day 11, if you're not too tired you can squeeze in a day trip to Murano and Burano. Kaya naman ito basta leave early. I did a blog post on our day trip there. Saya!

Good luck! 

[luckypal]

^^ thanks so much, aranses! I'm scheduled for the Scavi tour on Sept. 20 - mainit pa ba yun? Sayang naman kung hindi kami mag-enjoy kasi I booked it na.

^ thanks so much, mama squeak! I definitely take your advice for those days I have no idea kasi how big or small these places are and how much time it takes to cover certain attractions or areas. When I've done the itinerary for the other part of my trip, I'll post it in the France thread naman

[vain_kixie]

You could do an overnight stay in Venice and add more days in Paris. It really depends on what kind of traveller you are.

[mama squeak!]

^^Please post in the correct thread (European Tours). Any OT post after this will be deleted. Thanks for your cooperation.

[toria]

^@mama_squeak moved to European Tours. Thanks!

@vain_kixie Thank you. I watched Venice Vlogs in you tube and most of them are just roaming around St Mark's square and alleyways of Venice.

Will take your suggestion into consideration .

[noveetwenty3]

Will go to Italy again this November, excited nako!

[trendy]

We're going to Rome this coming June (June 10-15). I was told na super init na daw sa Rome by this time as in Pinas level na. Too late na when we found out, nakapagbook na kami. Totoo ba mag sis, grabe ba sa init?

[mama squeak!]

^yes that's summer season plus you get the big crowds since schools are out. But at least you get longer day light hours, sun will start to set around 8-9PM.

[trendy]

Waaaaah!:( I was expecting a mala-tagaytay kind of weather since kakastart pa lang ng summer. Oh no, maselan pa saman si hubby and daughter sa init.

Sis, sorry kung off-topic pero yung Paris ba and brussels ganun din ang weather? We'll be in Paris on June 3. Gusto ko kasi mala-tagaytay or Baguio lang na weather kasi ayoko din naman ng super lamig para di bulky ang luggage.

[mama squeak!]

^Paris and Brussels should be cooler since they're up north compared to Rome in the south.

[artegirl]

We're going to Rome this coming June (June 10-15). I was told na super init na daw sa Rome by this time as in Pinas level na. Too late na when we found out, nakapagbook na kami. Totoo ba mag sis, grabe ba sa init?

sis, I think so.  when we went to Rome (last of week of May in 2014), ang init pag late morning to afternoon.  We didn't enjoy outdoor seating anymore.  Pero early morning, enjoy pa rin kami having breakfast outdoor.  At night, cool pa rin to enjoy walking.  I usually check the historical data and forecast:
http://www.accuweather.com/en/it/rome/213490/june-weather/213490

[mathet]

hi mga sis, got our schengen visa and did some back reading... we're planning to add italy in our supposedly france and switzerland vacay.

kaya ba na we'll fly from geneva on july 18 then spend july 19-20 in rome and ride the train on july 21 from rome going on a sidetrip (just a photo opt) to pisa and florence then go back to annecy?

[kho_leen]

Finally I'm done with research for the italy leg of our DIY trip which excludes Rome. 

Ideally from Rome, sana Florence-Pisa before proceeding to Venice then Milan.  But since pricey ang venice hotels on fri-sat-sun kaya thurs kami sa venice.

Initially we were skipping milan but hubby doesn't want to fly out from Pisa kaya Milan-Paris na.

I did back read this thread and read blogs.  Thank you mama squeak particularly on your venice blogs.

OK na ba ang IT below?  Any inputs wil be highly appreciated.  Thanks!

Below is our detailed IT and activity:

THURSDAY: ROME-PISA-VENICE
Depart Roma Termini Station at 6:15am (Duration: 2:11)
Arrive at Pisa Centrale Station at 8:26am
      1). When you get off the train, the deposito bagagli is to the right at the far end of     
            Platform#1, close to the police office. 4€/12hrs)
      2). Buy round trip bus tickets from newspaper vendor at Pisa Centrale Station and take
           LAM RoSSA from outside.  Get down at Pisa P.Za Manin.
Depart Pisa Centrale Station at 11:12am (Duration: 3:08)
Arrive at Venezia S. Lucia Station at 2:20pm
      1). Buy ACTV tourist travel card (24hrs - 20euros) at Venezia Unica ticket office in the Rail     
           Station.
      2). For the luggages, use ramp to the right side of the main train station exit.
Check-in at Hotel Il Mercante di Venezia (Via Cannaregio 379 - Calle della Misericordia,
           Cannaregio, 30121 Venice) is located 2 blocks away from Venezia S. Lucia Station.
Leave for Murano
    San Marco to Murano - At vaporetto stop D at the San Marco-San Zaccaria (Jolanda) jetty
    take vaporetto no. 4.1 and got off at the Murano (Faro) stop. (Duration: 00:45); Glass
    Museum (10€)

FRIDAY: VENICE-FLORENCE
Explore Venice -  Piazza San Marco; St.Mark's Basilica; Rialto bridge; Bridge of sighs;     
    Doge's palace (Secret Itineraries Tour @ 9:55am -20€); climb Campanile di San Marco
Check-out and depart Venezia S. Lucia Station at 1:25pm (Duration: 02:05)
Arrive at Firenze S.M. Novella Station at 3:30pm
Check-in at Mercure Florence Center (Walking distance from Firenze S.M. Novella Station)
Depart for TheMall (BUSITALIA/SITA depot – Via Santa Caterina da Siena 17 near Firenze
     S.M. Novella Station.  Buy Round trip 13€ at bus terminal.). Note: Bring snacks
Explore Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore (The Duomo), the Campanile and the Baptisery

SATURDAY: FLORENCE - MILAN
Explore Piazzale Michaelangelo (For postcard picture of Florence, take Bus no.13 from
     Firenze S.M. Novella Station.  Buy Round trip 4€ at bus terminal.)
Explore Galleria degli Uffizi - 16.50€ (Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo and Raphael)
Explore Galleria dell’ Accademia - 16.50€ (David & Pieta).
Check-out and depart Firenze S.M. Novella Station at 3pm (Duration: 01:40)
Arrive at Milano Centrale Station at 4:40pm
Leave luggage at ​ Milano Centrale, managed by KiPoint, new shopping gallery on the
      ground level, by Piazza Luigi di Savoia (€ 6 / luggage for the first 5 hours)
Take train from Milano Centrale Station to Duomo Station (Yellow line direction to San
     Donato - 4th stop).  Explore Duomo di Milano.
Collect luggages and depart Milano Centrale Station via Malpensa Express at Platform 3 (12€)
Check in at Moxy Milan Malpensa Hotel at Airport T2

SUNDAY: MILAN - PARIS
Check out and depart Milan Malpensa Airport at 6:30am

[marose17]

^ Re Florence, if you're going to visit Accademia and Uffizi on the same day, make sure to book online to  skip the long queue.  The site for booking is somewhere in this thread.  Ideally, it is best to visit them on separate days para hindi ka maumay sa art.  Just a suggestion lang naman.

There's a coffee shop inside or beside (I forgot na) the Prada store at the Mall.  You can also have some snacks there. 

We also stayed at Moxy Milan Malpensa kasi maaga ang flight namin.  I was surprised because for the price, it's surprisingly well-designed and has good amenities - low ang expectations ko dito kasi I booked it for a very cheap price of less than Php5k.  Serve yourself ang cafeteria nila but the food and drink selections are good enough.

[kenoy]

could you recommend any budget accommodation for a solo traveller in Rome? TIA!

[luckypal]

^^ kho_leen Hi! where did you buy your secret itineraries tour for in Venice? Btw, I love your itinerary! Super detailed I'm going to use it as a guide to create my daily itineraries for my trip as well. Thanks for posting!

[mama squeak!]

^you can buy it online thru their official website.

[mathet]

went to florence for a day and 2 days in rome.

I enjoyed florence. Almost all the attractions are walking distance. Sarap ng Gelatos and Pizzas.

Rome naman, medyo magkakalayo so it will be very useful to use hop on hop off bus to cover most places. Colosseum is a must to go to. But St. Peters Basilica and sistine chapel and its museum is really the highlight of our trip. In my opinion, its better than louve. Mapapa wow talaga sa details ng St. Peters Basilica and I cant imagine how its made. Audio guide in museums could be very helpful kung walang tourguide and at least you can go at your own pace.

Went inside the museum at 3pm and there's no line, 3 hours inside the museum including a good rest at the sistine chapen is too much na for us:)

[gorgeous_me]

sisies, is it safe to walk in Rome Termini to my hostel, hehe..its a 9min walk, but mga 12am na ako dadating kasi, if ever pipili na lang ako ng ibang flight, hehe

question pa, may  train ba na straight from Roma termini to Firenze Statuto?
don kasi malapit yung hostel na pinareserve ko e, hindi ako makakita sa italiarail or sa trenitalia

[mama squeak!]

^no direct trains. You change at Firenze Sta. Maria Novella to get on the local train to Firenze Statuto.