Stuck on Italy planning

[Anonymous]

Help. I'm usually a do-it-myself-er and have traveled throughout Europe but am wondering if I need a travel planner or travel agent to help us plan our Italy trip - 4 of us (kids are older), over Spring break, Rome/Florence/Venice. Not sure why but Italy is intimidating me a bit.

What say you, DCUM? Any good recommendations for Italy-focused travel planners/travel agents?

[Anonymous]

No need for a travel agent. How many days do you have? We did 3 days in Rome, 2 days in Florence and 2 days in Venice and that was good for us. You need a travel book outlining major attractions in each city-- frommer's or eyewitness is good. You can take the train from Rome to Florence and From Florance to Venice. You can ask DCUM for hotel/restaurant recommendations.

[Anonymous]

We did a one week trip to Rome and Sorrento (incl Naples, Pompeii, Positano) in October. We were very overwhelmed at first, but we just put our heads down and starting making plans and things came together. We were careful to not overplan.

We used AirBnB for our places and that worked out well.

We used Rome Tours with Kids for a tour of the Colosseum and for Pompeii and were impressed with both. If we had more time and money I would have loved to do more.

I do wish I'd researched places to eat a bit more. I grew quite tired of pasta and pizza every single day.

[Anonymous]

Depends on whether you are planning to just hit the main tourist attractions or go off the beaten path a bit. If the former, it’s definitely doable yourself. I found the Ciao Bambino website very helpful on hotels and activity ideas: http://ciaobambino.com And we actually ended up using them as a travel agent for our trip as well. I thought they had great recommendations, although I probably good have done it myself if I had spent the time. Locally, I’ve heard good things about Guido at Bethesda Travel Center for Italy trips.

Also, I would HIGHLY recommend LivItaly tours for tours in Rome with the kids. They were fantastic!

[Anonymous]

PP here. One more recommendation - if you have time to explore Tuscany/Florence by bike, Piero at Bike Florence & Tuscany was amazing. He took us on a customized tour that was age-appropriate and it was the highlight of our trip! https://www.bikeinflorence.com/about-us/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Depends on whether you are planning to just hit the main tourist attractions or go off the beaten path a bit. If the former, it’s definitely doable yourself. I found the Ciao Bambino website very helpful on hotels and activity ideas: http://ciaobambino.com And we actually ended up using them as a travel agent for our trip as well. I thought they had great recommendations, although I probably good have done it myself if I had spent the time. Locally, I’ve heard good things about Guido at Bethesda Travel Center for Italy trips.

Also, I would HIGHLY recommend LivItaly tours for tours in Rome with the kids. They were fantastic!

Bethesda Travel was recommended to me too. We’ve planned 2 recent trips and a travel agent would have been helpful for the last one.

[Anonymous]

Not sure which part is intimidating you - I have planned all of our Italy trips myself (at least 6) to all different parts of Italy. I rely on input from friend, a good guide book, and Trip Advisor.

We did a trip to Venice and Florence over spring break a few years ago. We flew in to Venice, spent a few days, then took a train to Florence. I booked the train tickets online - it was not difficult. We rented a car for a couple days in Florence to do day trips. A bit of a hassle driving (get insurance!) but we enjoyed having the freedom to move around. It would not be hard to add a train leg to Rome although that's a lot to do in just one week. I would definitely fly in to one and out the other so as not to backtrack. FYI all three cities are very busy that time of year, especially if your spring break coincides with holy week.

What other questions do you have? Definitely research and book some restaurants, especially if you will be dining on a busy day like Easter Sunday or Friday/Saturday nights or a reallybpopular place.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Thanks PPs! Ok - I am feeling emboldened. I can do this! And yes, we are definitely flying open jaw - into Rome, out of Venice.

One thing I wonder about is plane ticket prices - Expedia is quoting me about $1,360 a ticket. Guess I’m wondering if I would do better with a travel agent...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thanks PPs! Ok - I am feeling emboldened. I can do this! And yes, we are definitely flying open jaw - into Rome, out of Venice.

One thing I wonder about is plane ticket prices - Expedia is quoting me about $1,360 a ticket. Guess I’m wondering if I would do better with a travel agent...

That sounds about right. I actually dont think travel agents can save on plane tix, I wanted one for itinerary planning and ground excursions. We did the research but it was super time consuming when I was busy at work. And trip advisor wasn’t totally reliable- we ended up doing some activities that were highly rated but kind of cheesy. Still a fun trip of course.

[Anonymous]

We did Rome Florence Venice recently. We bought skip-the-line passes to the main attractions before we left. (We used Amex Travel) One thing to remember is that the high speed trains are awesome between those cities. If you’re not on I budget, we stayed in the nicest small hotel we’ve ever stayed in in Florence.

[Anonymous]

OP here. What was that nice small hotel in Florence?

[Anonymous]

Did a similar trip 10 years ago- loved Rome, liked Florence, was not a big fan of Venice- way too crowded, too overwhelmed with tourists. Looking back, should have rented a car in Florence and gone around the countryside in Tuscany rather than going to Venice. Something to consider as an alternative.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. What was that nice small hotel in Florence?

Palazzo Vecchietti. Leonardo da Vinci suite. We stay in luxury places all over the world. This place is our favorite. There are accurate pics on their website. The small staff speaks English and can help with reservations and tours and anything else. When we checked out, the manager gave his card to our daughter who was staying in Florence for study abroad — just in case she needed anything. It’s very near the main train station, near a beautiful square and sight seeing, has a lovely terrace, etc etc. I can’t say enough about the place.

[Anonymous]

I don't think a travel agent will save you much on airfares these days. You can poke around and see if you are willing to leave from another city. Alitalia had a cheap NY-Rome fare recently and they also often have sales to Milan. I usually decide it's not worth the hassle but if the fare difference was big enough I probably would.

[Anonymous]

We didn't this exact trip a few years ago and it was awesome. Booked it ourselves. Booked train tickets between cities online, which wasn't too hard. Rick steves books and trip advisor forums were a huge help. Our B&Bs actually booked a lot of our reservations for museums & things for us, which was very convenient. I researched places to eat on trip advisor and had a list for each city so we'd usually hit a few from our list and also get local recommendations.

Florence was our favorite, which we weren't expecting. Rome was great. We didn't love Venice as it was just so touristy. We get like we were getting ripped off everywhere we ate so we ended up at the pizza shop by the Rialto bridge a lot! But we did really love the day we spent in Burano with the beautiful colored houses. Have fun!