Need input / suggestions on taking a trip to Venice Italy

[IndyColtsFan]

Florence was boring; I hesitate to say "skip it" but...

I did love Rome and would like to go back there. I was only there for a short time before.

Strongly disagree with this viewpoint. I've been all over the US and the world, and I'd count Florence as a top 5 place I've been (Rome, Paris, Normandy, and Salzburg being the others in the top 4). If you like art and learning about the Renaissance, Florence is a must.

 

[dullard]

Strongly disagree with this viewpoint. I've been all over the US and the world, and I'd count Florence as a top 5 place I've been (Rome, Paris, Normandy, and Salzburg being the others in the top 4). If you like art and learning about the Renaissance, Florence is a must.

Florence is either highly loved or highly boring depending on your perspective. I happen to get terribly bored seeing religious art after religious art. The Uffizi was a total and complete waste of time for me (hours in line just to see what you can see right here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uffizi, and yes that is just about the entire museum right there until they finish their expansion). And the rest of Florence had little else other than more of the same art. Sure some of it is quite famous, but it just didn't do much for me.

I've been in dozens of countries and hundreds of cities/locations. Florence doesn't even rate as an afterthought for me. But then again, my tastes run towards places with great scenery, high adventure, or at least fantastic food. Florence has none of it.

 

[AznAnarchy99]

Strongly disagree with this viewpoint. I've been all over the US and the world, and I'd count Florence as a top 5 place I've been (Rome, Paris, Normandy, and Salzburg being the others in the top 4). If you like art and learning about the Renaissance, Florence is a must.

Florence is a weekend trip for me. I lived in Rome for 6 months and I would still go back.

For actually living my life? I'd do Paris or London.

 

[zinfamous]

Florence was boring; I hesitate to say "skip it" but...

You smoking them weeds, son?

Florence is amazing; easily my favorite city in Italy. So much history, so much to see. Venice has a lot of it, too, but so much world heritage is concentrated in Florence, I don't think any other city compares to the amount of major art/architecture/history that you find in Florence.

Yes, even when compared to Rome.

 

[cyclistca]

I would recommend staying in Mestre. It's on the mainland. It's a quick bus or train ride to Venice. There are a number of hotels just across the street from the train station.

The best part of Venice is walking around the streets and getting loss. We spent two days there which was plenty.

For the balance I would hit Florence and Rome.

We went for two weeks and did the following

Rome -> Siena -> Florence -> Cinque Terre -> Venice

The train and bus system are fantastic. I wouldn't even think of doing a organized tour. With the internet it's very easy to arrange things on your own.

 

[AznAnarchy99]

I would recommend staying in Mestre. It's on the mainland. It's a quick bus or train ride to Venice. There are a number of hotels just across the street from the train station.

The best part of Venice is walking around the streets and getting loss. We spent two days there which was plenty.

For the balance I would hit Florence and Rome.

We went for two weeks and did the following

Rome -> Siena -> Florence -> Cinque Terre -> Venice

The train and bus system are fantastic. I wouldn't even think of doing a organized tour. With the internet it's very easy to arrange things on your own.

Fantastic compared to what ? lol.

 

[zinfamous]

Fantastic compared to what ? lol.

most bizarre claim I've ever heard regarding Italy.


Cinque Terra is awesome, though. I wanted to mention it earlier, but felt it was too much. It's well worth it, tbh, but certainly do not go in summer or spring. I'd devote ~3 days to it, tbh. Not much to do but walk the trails and sit in a couple of piazzas snacking on food and drinking wine. But, that's pretty awesome.


As far as places close to Venice: Padova and Verona are really cool. Verona has a really nice Roman colloseum, and with the canals is kinda like Venice....and also a hilariously fake "Juliet's balcony" that is best avoided.

 

[ringtail]

Based on experience, 10 days is way too long for just Venice. Suggest you see Venice in 3 days, (including several guided tours of the art), then go enjoy other beautiful places in northern Italy, up close to Alps.

 

[GTaudiophile]

Venice sucks IMO. Sorry. I'd carve that time into 2-3 parts with visits to Florence, Cinque Terre and Bellagio on Lake Como.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Florence is either highly loved or highly boring depending on your perspective. I happen to get terribly bored seeing religious art after religious art. The Uffizi was a total and complete waste of time for me (hours in line just to see what you can see right here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uffizi, and yes that is just about the entire museum right there until they finish their expansion). And the rest of Florence had little else other than more of the same art. Sure some of it is quite famous, but it just didn't do much for me.

I've been in dozens of countries and hundreds of cities/locations. Florence doesn't even rate as an afterthought for me. But then again, my tastes run towards places with great scenery, high adventure, or at least fantastic food. Florence has none of it.

I'm puzzled about the food remark. The key is to go down obscure streets and pick out little mom and pop restaurants where they speak no English. That's where the good stuff is.

 

[cyclistca]

I've been in dozens of countries and hundreds of cities/locations. Florence doesn't even rate as an afterthought for me. But then again, my tastes run towards places with great scenery, high adventure, or at least fantastic food. Florence has none of it.

Maybe if you stick to the main tourist areas but go about bit farther and you can find some fantastic ones. The best meals we had were there.

 

[cyclistca]

Fantastic compared to what ? lol.

Figuring out which ones to use and what routes to take to get places. Also every train/bus we took was on time.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Maybe if you stick to the main tourist areas but go about bit farther and you can find some fantastic ones. The best meals we had were there.

We went down this obscure side street and ran into this little restaurant that probably had 8 tables total. A little old lady and man ran it and while they couldn't really speak English very well, we understood each other well enough to order our food. If you've never had pasta with boar ragu, it is out of this world and these old folks knew how to cook.

 

[AznAnarchy99]

Figuring out which ones to use and what routes to take to get places. Also every train/bus we took was on time.

Italy probably has one of the worst public transit compared to other western European countries. They're known to go on strikes all the time.

http://www.italyheaven.co.uk/strikes.html

 

[Gunslinger08]

To echo everyone else: 8 days is way too long for Venice.

We went in December of 2013. We were there for about 2.5 days, which felt like an appropriate amount of time. To me, there's just not that much of interest to fill up a week in Venice. Rent a car or take a bus to Florence and/or Rome. Pisa and Assisi are good day trips from Florence as well.

We were there during winter, which I thought was pretty awesome. The crowds weren't very bad - all of our guides said that you can barely walk in many places during the summer. The weather was great for a lot of walking - mid 50s every day.

Go and enjoy yourself. Along with the memories you'll make, you'll find that a lot of people you know or meet have been to Italy and it's a good conversation topic.

 

[dullard]

I'm puzzled about the food remark. The key is to go down obscure streets and pick out little mom and pop restaurants where they speak no English. That's where the good stuff is.

That is what I normally do (and get recommendations from locals if possible, but some cultures won't do that). Maybe I just got unlucky. Or maybe coming from Bologna where the food is the best in Italy was just unfair to Florence. It just didn't really ever hit the mark for either my wife or I.

 

[AznAnarchy99]

That is what I normally do (and get recommendations from locals if possible, but some cultures won't do that). Maybe I just got unlucky. Or maybe coming from Bologna where the food is the best in Italy was just unfair to Florence. It just didn't really ever hit the mark for either my wife or I.

I hit up many of Anthony Bourdain's spots from No Reservations. Many of them are local mom pop spots are were amazing. We became regulars at a spot in Rome.

 

[mrrman]

Thinking of going to Italy later this year....been there many times but not to Venice...worked in Milan and have family in Naples, Rome, Genoa...been to Florence, Siena, Pisa, Sardinia, Rome, Calabria...my wife has never been to Europe yet

 

[Tiamat]

Go during the fall. Little to no mosquitoes and still 60-80degrees F outside. I rented a two bedroom apartment and it worked out very well and was pretty inexpensive for my stay. The best food i had was at a restaurant called osteria Ae sconte and it isn't very expensive (get any dish with tagliatelle pasta, their simple sounding dishes taste the best). The best gelato I had was an unnamed hole in the wall shop connected to but not another gelato place called "Edy's". Any place that looks overpriced or touristy is junk and not worth your money.