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Mad Cow's Italy trip discussion thread (2 Viewers)
- Thread starter Mad Cow
- Start date
Chemical X
Footballguy
i would hit Milan and use it as a base For lake como and pass on Amalfi For another time.
i can give you my hotels from when We zig zagged. i would still look into road to italy For lodging and Transport assistance, The trains are tough For non speakers....doable, but tough. if you know what il binario is, extra points.
i can give you my hotels from when We zig zagged. i would still look into road to italy For lodging and Transport assistance, The trains are tough For non speakers....doable, but tough. if you know what il binario is, extra points.
DA RAIDERS
Footballguy
Another vote for the amalfi coast. Staggeringly beautiful.
Chemical X
Footballguy
lake Como - Alberto Terminus
florence - degli orafi
rome - hotel minerva or hotel rex
thinking of the others, will updork
florence - degli orafi
rome - hotel minerva or hotel rex
thinking of the others, will updork
Chemical X
Footballguy
you should be close enough to day trip to Pompeii. mastroberardino is a fantastic winery down that way with tours and lunch. highly recommend. unfortunately, below Naples is not my wheelhouse nasty.
Chemical X
Footballguy
Mad Cow
Welshers and Dawdlers Beware!
Get into Florence 11:00am-ish Thursday Aug 29, return via FCO Rome on Sunday Sept 7, morning. Gives about 9 full days in Italy.
Want to hit Pompeii, spend a couple of days in Amalfi coast, and kick around Rome/Tuscany. Figure 2 days Florence, to Rome for 3 days, then to Amalfi for 3 then back to Rome for last night?
Chemical X
Footballguy
that's an ambition trip.....9 nites. you need to make the most of the 1st day and not crash. for me, the duomo, the academia, the Arno, the Uffizi, ponte vecchio are the musts. book you entry rservations in advance, for anywhere. you do not want to be standing on Lines.
if you work with guides they generally get access.
The Big Guy
Fear the Blitz
Have nothing constructive to add to this but to wish you a great trip.
Judge Smails
Footballguy
Please, please go to Sostanza in Florence and have the Butter Chicken..Trust me on this.
How many people traveling? We rented apartments vs. going the hotel route in Florence and Rome...
How many people traveling? We rented apartments vs. going the hotel route in Florence and Rome...
Mad Cow
Welshers and Dawdlers Beware!
Will do. Just the wife and I.
So next item is lodging and then reservations as needed.
Any recommendations for "must-do's" for Florence, Rome, Amalfi Coast or other nearby areas?
Fennis
Footballguy
butcher boy
Footballguy
For Florence, someone mentioned above the Uffizi and Academia for sure, but absolutely book this advance. The lines are horrendous otherwise. Also try to do those 2 on separate days. We did both the same day and by the end I was getting incredibly tired of seeing yet another "Madonna and Child" painting.
Duomo is another must see. Ponte Vecchio is ok but kind of interesting. Wont take too long to see that. We also did a self tour of the Medici House which was pretty cool. I've heard good things about Pitti Palace, but we didn't make it there.
butcher boy
Footballguy
For our Italy lodging, my wife and I just looked up what was rated highly on trip advisor and all the places we ended up at were great. Trip Advisor should give you a link to book too.
Mad Cow
Welshers and Dawdlers Beware!
butcher boy
Footballguy
Found the place my wife and I stayed in Florence. Cant beat the location, but its in the part of Florence you cant drive in unless you're a taxi. It's basically in the middle between everything in Florence you'd want to see.
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g187895-d1380402-Reviews-La_Signoria_di_Firenze_B_B-Florence_Tuscany.html
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g187895-d1380402-Reviews-La_Signoria_di_Firenze_B_B-Florence_Tuscany.html
Fennis
Footballguy
Its private homes and apartments, so it takes a little more work researching the areas. Its a different way to travel, depending on whether or not you want hotels.
Don Quixote
Footballguy
I agree with these suggestions for Florence. I'd add the Basilica of Santa Croce (burial place of Michelangelo, Galileo, Machiavelli, and others).
Chemical X
Footballguy
geez, how did i forget this....my favorite church by far. seeing the flood waters from 1966 is quite amazing and the burials alone are quite historic. i think dante is crypted there too, not sure. made me want to go read the inferno.
Don Quixote
Footballguy
They have a tomb-spot for Dante (and there is an awesome statue of Dante in front of the basilica), but he is not buried there. He's buried in Ravenna, I think.
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Chemical X
Footballguy
www.mytuscanbuddy.com - sergio is fantastic and may be able to assist with your transportation and touring in the area. great english, great guy.
http://www.spaltenna.it/ - stayed here as we travelled from firenze to roma.
our favorite restaurant in firenze is ristorante accademia - http://www.ristoranteaccademia.it/
in rome, there are a zillion restaurants. avoid the tourist areas and the fixed menus. get off the main streets, visit trastevere and the jewish ghetto.
2 of our favorites are - Spaghetteria L'Archetto http://www.spaghetterialarchetto.it/ and Ristorante Il Giardino (Ghetto) http://www.ilgiardinoromano.it/web/
http://www.spaltenna.it/ - stayed here as we travelled from firenze to roma.
our favorite restaurant in firenze is ristorante accademia - http://www.ristoranteaccademia.it/
in rome, there are a zillion restaurants. avoid the tourist areas and the fixed menus. get off the main streets, visit trastevere and the jewish ghetto.
2 of our favorites are - Spaghetteria L'Archetto http://www.spaghetterialarchetto.it/ and Ristorante Il Giardino (Ghetto) http://www.ilgiardinoromano.it/web/
Bobcat10
Footballguy
Just went in June. Didn't read the entire thread, so not sure of budget, timeframes etc. But I'd recommend this B&B in Florence for at least one night.
http://www.ilsalottodifirenze.it/salotto.html
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g187895-d646541-Reviews-Il_Salotto_di_Firenze-Florence_Tuscany.html
You are literally in central Florence. That pic on Trip Advisor is the room we had. When you walk out the front door, the Duomo is just off to the right. The owner was super nice and helpful and cooks breakfast in the morning. The main fridge is always stocked with comp beverages. Free wifi. I'm sure there are similar places like this around the square, so compare pricing, etc.
Nearby is Grom, one of the most famous gelato places in Italy. Must get there no matter what.
Also nearby was a great restaurant called Coquinarius that I would recommend. Food was amazing and the pricing was normal.
Our 2nd day in Florence we took a wine tour into the Chianti Classico region (the good stuff). If you like drinking wine and visiting wineries, and getting out of the cities, this is probably where you want to do it while in Italy. tuscanwinetime.com has some info...and there were others we looked at too.
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In Rome I used alot of Hilton points to stay at the Waldorf Cavalieri. Very expensive otherwise. The Rome View rooms are to die for as the hotel sits up on the hill.
You are not going to Venice right?
I'd skip Milan...the only reason we went is because we went to a concert there. But if you do go, The Last Supper is amazing to see imo.
Sorry for the lack of detail...any specific questions just let me know. We did Rome - Pisa (only because we were there for the Luminara of San Ranieri festival, which was awesome) - Florence - Venice - Milan.
Florence was my favorite city by far and the only one I'd go back to if I ever do Italy again someday. My 2nd trip would include the coast and north of Milan (like Como?)...both of which I hear are amazing.
http://www.ilsalottodifirenze.it/salotto.html
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g187895-d646541-Reviews-Il_Salotto_di_Firenze-Florence_Tuscany.html
You are literally in central Florence. That pic on Trip Advisor is the room we had. When you walk out the front door, the Duomo is just off to the right. The owner was super nice and helpful and cooks breakfast in the morning. The main fridge is always stocked with comp beverages. Free wifi. I'm sure there are similar places like this around the square, so compare pricing, etc.
Nearby is Grom, one of the most famous gelato places in Italy. Must get there no matter what.
Also nearby was a great restaurant called Coquinarius that I would recommend. Food was amazing and the pricing was normal.
Our 2nd day in Florence we took a wine tour into the Chianti Classico region (the good stuff). If you like drinking wine and visiting wineries, and getting out of the cities, this is probably where you want to do it while in Italy. tuscanwinetime.com has some info...and there were others we looked at too.
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In Rome I used alot of Hilton points to stay at the Waldorf Cavalieri. Very expensive otherwise. The Rome View rooms are to die for as the hotel sits up on the hill.
You are not going to Venice right?
I'd skip Milan...the only reason we went is because we went to a concert there. But if you do go, The Last Supper is amazing to see imo.
Sorry for the lack of detail...any specific questions just let me know. We did Rome - Pisa (only because we were there for the Luminara of San Ranieri festival, which was awesome) - Florence - Venice - Milan.
Florence was my favorite city by far and the only one I'd go back to if I ever do Italy again someday. My 2nd trip would include the coast and north of Milan (like Como?)...both of which I hear are amazing.
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bucs4life_99
Footballguy
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g187895-d564064-Reviews-Locanda_de_Ciompi-Florence_Tuscany.html
Stayed here in Florence and loved it! It's more in the "heart" of Florence so there are a lot of locals around, which is cool. Free pastry/coffee for breakfast at a local cafe. When I emailed directly and mentioned Rick Steves, it was $72 euro / night, so not a bad price either.
One thing I will throw out is we did both the Cinque Terre and the Amalfi Coast in Italy. They are fairly similar (small villages on the Mediterranean Sea), and while the Cinque Terre doesn't have quite the twisty roads that Amalfi does, the vibe is very similar and a lot easier to get to from Florence than Amalfi would be. Just thinking that if you only have 9 days, you want to minimize your travel time if possible.
Also, travel on Italo via train vs Trenitalia if possible -- cleaner, cheaper, nicer all around.
Stayed here in Florence and loved it! It's more in the "heart" of Florence so there are a lot of locals around, which is cool. Free pastry/coffee for breakfast at a local cafe. When I emailed directly and mentioned Rick Steves, it was $72 euro / night, so not a bad price either.
One thing I will throw out is we did both the Cinque Terre and the Amalfi Coast in Italy. They are fairly similar (small villages on the Mediterranean Sea), and while the Cinque Terre doesn't have quite the twisty roads that Amalfi does, the vibe is very similar and a lot easier to get to from Florence than Amalfi would be. Just thinking that if you only have 9 days, you want to minimize your travel time if possible.
Also, travel on Italo via train vs Trenitalia if possible -- cleaner, cheaper, nicer all around.
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RUSF18
Footballguy
We're using airbnb for Rome and Barcelona which is saving us money and splurging a bit and staying here in Positano. Anyone been?
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g194863-d621110-Reviews-Hotel_Buca_di_Bacco-Positano_Amalfi_Coast_Campania.html
http://www.bucadibacco.it/
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g194863-d621110-Reviews-Hotel_Buca_di_Bacco-Positano_Amalfi_Coast_Campania.html
http://www.bucadibacco.it/
I don't remember exactly what we paid (it wasn't budget) but we stayed at the Hotel Balestri in Florence. It's right on river in the middle of the city very close to the Ponte Vecchio. We really liked it.
Bobcat10
Footballguy
Also, for navigation, I downloaded the stay.com app on my iphone. Once you download the app, you can download specific city maps that you can use in "offline" mode. Depending on your data plan/global plan, when you are in Italy you don't want to constantly be roaming, so I was mostly in airplane mode, but with wifi turned on. So your locale is generally picked up. If not, you can go "online" for a minute and let it pick you up, then go back into airplane. But really, once you know where you are, you can nav just fine without the blue dot moving. Map includes lots of destinations and restaurants with reviews and you can mark them. At the very least check it out, it's all I used...besides one paper map in Venice just because Venice is crazy with the rivers.
RUSF18
Footballguy
Thanks, had been thinking of looking into something like this. No global plan for me or my wife unless I want to use my work BB.
Mad Cow
Welshers and Dawdlers Beware!
Getting excited to look up all these places to stay later.
2 possibilities of tentative itineraries - thoughts? Nine nights, get in at 11:25 on a Thursday, leave at 9:30am on a Sunday
1. 3 nights Florence, 3 nights Rome, 2 nights Amalfi Coast then last night back in Rome since we fly out of there.
2. 3 nights Florence, 2 nights Rome, 3 nights Amalfi and then 1 night Rome.
The 1 back in Rome is pretty much set. I figured 3 nights in Florence would be plenty, but I could see doing 4/2/2/1 if need be as well.
2 possibilities of tentative itineraries - thoughts? Nine nights, get in at 11:25 on a Thursday, leave at 9:30am on a Sunday
1. 3 nights Florence, 3 nights Rome, 2 nights Amalfi Coast then last night back in Rome since we fly out of there.
2. 3 nights Florence, 2 nights Rome, 3 nights Amalfi and then 1 night Rome.
The 1 back in Rome is pretty much set. I figured 3 nights in Florence would be plenty, but I could see doing 4/2/2/1 if need be as well.
Chemical X
Footballguy
i would almost go 3 nites Firenze, then 3 in Amalfi, then 3 in Roma. you maximize your time and eliminate packing and unpacking.
Bobcat10
Footballguy
If I had done Amalfi I think I could answer that question better. But I will say 3 nights in Firenze will be awesome (from looking at some other posts, you are going to do more sight seeing than we did, and like I said I loved that city). So I think I like the 3-3-3 thought. Four in Rome would have been overkill to me because we were def ready to leave after 3.
We also got screw jobbed in Rome/Vatican because we booked the 4 hour tour of St. Peters and the Vatican Museum for our first Saturday. A week or so before we left they cancelled on us because something was going on at St. Peters. They offered us the tour on Fri or Mon, but we were not going to be there Mon and there was no way we were going to make Fri morning (our arrival day). We ended up booking the museum for Friday and never ended up seeing St. Peters. But we saw so many churches I got over it pretty quick.
The guided underground tour of the Colosseo is worth the few bucks because they take you under what used to be the floor and they also take you to the top level, which I don't think normal access people get to do. You have to call to book this tour, for some reason you can't get it online.
Purchase everything possible BEFORE you leave.
We also got screw jobbed in Rome/Vatican because we booked the 4 hour tour of St. Peters and the Vatican Museum for our first Saturday. A week or so before we left they cancelled on us because something was going on at St. Peters. They offered us the tour on Fri or Mon, but we were not going to be there Mon and there was no way we were going to make Fri morning (our arrival day). We ended up booking the museum for Friday and never ended up seeing St. Peters. But we saw so many churches I got over it pretty quick.
The guided underground tour of the Colosseo is worth the few bucks because they take you under what used to be the floor and they also take you to the top level, which I don't think normal access people get to do. You have to call to book this tour, for some reason you can't get it online.
Purchase everything possible BEFORE you leave.
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flgator
Footballguy
kutta
Footballguy
I'm sitting in the London Airport on my way back from out a Europe trip in which we spent a couple days in Pasitano. It's really beautiful. Be ready to walk some hills. It's really crazy. And the beach is all rocks. Very strange. But a very nice place that I'm sure you will enjoy.
Mad Cow
Welshers and Dawdlers Beware!
Wanting to book lodging this week. I am thinking of going the 3 Florence, 3 Amalfi, 3 Rome route. A few more questions for the seasoned vets:
1. What are train travel times like from Amalfi to Rome? Florence to Rome? Florence to Amalfi?
2. As for transportation, can I reliably get everywhere I need without a car? Via train, bus, etc.
1. What are train travel times like from Amalfi to Rome? Florence to Rome? Florence to Amalfi?
2. As for transportation, can I reliably get everywhere I need without a car? Via train, bus, etc.
Chemical X
Footballguy
you may need to check the English version on www.trenitalia.com
they have good timetables, but I believe all cities are in italian and some cities have multiple train stations.
the main ones are santa Maria novella in Firenze, termini in Roma. Amalfi has no train station per se, you go to Salerno, then hop a bus.
taxis can get you around, but you don't hail them like ny, you need to go to designated taxi stands.
go to train italia and you can check travel times, some trips have a transfer, I try to avoid those. I believe I remember the high speed train, called frecciarosa, runs between Rome and Florence and makes this trip at over 100 KPH in 1.5.
they have good timetables, but I believe all cities are in italian and some cities have multiple train stations.
the main ones are santa Maria novella in Firenze, termini in Roma. Amalfi has no train station per se, you go to Salerno, then hop a bus.
taxis can get you around, but you don't hail them like ny, you need to go to designated taxi stands.
go to train italia and you can check travel times, some trips have a transfer, I try to avoid those. I believe I remember the high speed train, called frecciarosa, runs between Rome and Florence and makes this trip at over 100 KPH in 1.5.
Bobcat10
Footballguy
1. Train travel times are not as bad as you would think, generally around 2 hours and our order was Rome Pisa Florence Venice Milan. They are high speed. But we never took one as long as Florence to Amalfi. I would guess that is something like 3.5-4 hours.
2. Absolutely. We used even less transportation than we originally thought, but we also didn't jam pack our days with sight seeing all over the place. Sometimes a walk was 20-30 min...but walking around Italy is one of the best parts. Who wants to take a 5 min cab when you can walk 15-20 min? At least we didn't do that generally. Of course there are other factors, like we're in our 30's and get around well.
Don Quixote
Footballguy
In Amalfi, you can reliably get there, but you might want to look into a tour or something while there. A lot of the beauty is just driving along the coast.
kutta
Footballguy
We took the train from Rome to Naples, and then had a driver take us from Naples to Pasitano. Do not plan to stay in Naples at all. That place really looked like a dump.
The train ride was a little over 2 hours (if I remember correctly), and the drive was a little over an hour. Overall, not bad at all.
RUSF18
Footballguy
Who did you use for the ride from Naples to Positano? Satisfied with the service? Thanks.
DA RAIDERS
Footballguy
Do not miss amalfi
Mad Cow
Welshers and Dawdlers Beware!
OK, got 2 very highly rated rooms via AirBnB in Florence and Sorrento. One more to get - Rome!
I need help here. Big city. What area should I be looking at to book a room? Thinking of maybe getting a hotel instead of AirBnB room here for amenities that it might have for size of city, and we are leaving from there. Thoughts on that?
Soon to be figuring out transport. Still trying to weigh between getting a car vs train. No car seems cool, but driving around the country seems like it would just be fantastic, though parking looks to be a nightmare.
I need help here. Big city. What area should I be looking at to book a room? Thinking of maybe getting a hotel instead of AirBnB room here for amenities that it might have for size of city, and we are leaving from there. Thoughts on that?
Soon to be figuring out transport. Still trying to weigh between getting a car vs train. No car seems cool, but driving around the country seems like it would just be fantastic, though parking looks to be a nightmare.
bucs4life_99
Footballguy
I'd strongly recommend a train vs a car -- public transportation is good, fast and cheap. No need to waste time with a car unless you are going to be going deep into Tuscany, where public transportation is spottier. Riding a train gives you time to get organized for when you arrive at the next city too, which is an added bonus.
We stayed at Hotel Adler in Rome -- it was a bit on the cheaper side, but very well located close to one of the main metros and kind of centrally located to everything that we wanted to see.
