The only place I'd want a guide is at the Forum - still a pile of stones to me after 3 visits. but w

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Good afternoon! nashville vacation packages After much research I have decided on the following itinerary nashville vacation packages for a 10 (full) day trip to Florence and Rome. The trip is for my BF and I, both in our mid-30 s. He has never been to Europe so I am trying nashville vacation packages to keep it fairly easy going and have kept many afternoons free (I think). I am using several nashville vacation packages companies for tours, and really tried to find the ones that offer what we are looking for (group size, price, itinerary).
I think it's doable and well planned. We've done most of this, but on our own with a good guidebook nashville vacation packages rather than a guide. You can easily see the Forum on Friday your hikes could easily done alone--everything but the Pantheon is all in one place, and I'd add the Palatine nashville vacation packages Hill (included in the Forum ticket) and do the Pantheon Sunday afternoon as you'll be in the neighborhood. nashville vacation packages Can't answer to the tour companies. However, their itineraries do cover the basics.
I'd also cut the hike up Mt. Vesuvius if you're going any time but winter (and in my book no matter what time of year), and substitute the National Archaeological Museum to get out of the afternoon nashville vacation packages heat and see the things that were removed from Pompeii and Herculaneum.
Can't speak to restaurants. We've come to depend on Tripadvisor for restaurant recommendations, but even then, generally choose where we eat by where we are, so that we don't have to rush around just to get to a certain restaurant.
Hillsandroads is a fantastic choice for a tour of Tuscany and transfer. We did three tours/days with Luca Garapa, the owner, and those were definitely a highlight of our trip. Highly recommend it! He took us to a wonderful agriturismo for lunch just outside Radda. I wonder if that's where you're going.
You do realize that Pompeii is about a three hour drive from Rome? So you're going all that way and only spending 2.5 hours visiting Pompeii. Not sure it's worth it. You might want to save the $$ and time for a longer visit to southern Italy. Plus, hike to Mt. Vesuvius is strenuous. That's a very packed day, and you're dependent on good weather- i.e. no rain, not too hot.
But you may find 2.5 hours at Pompeii isn't enough time. On our first visit there, we spent the better part of a day and didn't see everything. BTW, if you didn't already know, all of the artifacts found at Pompeii are now housed in the archeology museum in Naples. For that reason, I'd agree with the suggestion to drop Mt. Vesuvius and go to the archeology museum instead. This change would also allow for more time at the excavation site.
The walks will all be fast-paced, not allowing time to linger long anywhere or get photos from different perspectives, etc. It's not clear what your plan for Sunday afternoon in Florence is, but you might want to check the open/closed hours and days for museums and other sights on your list. Lots of things are closed on alternating Sundays and/or Mondays. It may turn out that Sunday might be better spent making the day-trip to Pisa and MT.
You wrote, "Flamino nashville vacation packages Metro down Via del Corso to the Spanish Steps" I don't know what this means. Your hotel is close to Piazza del Popolo (Flaminio metro stop), the Via del Corso and the Spanish Steps. No reason to take the metro (which doesn't go "down Via del Corso" anyway).
well, you've obviously put a lot of thought into this, but I might be a little concerned that there isn't much time to sit still and smell the roses. Also, the tours seem heavy on walking rather than seeing -for example, that Best of Florence tour on Sunday takes you round most of central Florence, with little nashville vacation packages time to actually stop and look at what you're walking past.
ditto the afternoon Rome walk - that's a hell of a lot of ground to cover. we spent an hour in San Clemente alone; there's a lot to see there. i would agree with WWK that there is a lot that you can do yourselves with a decent guide book, and at a more relaxed pace.
The only place I'd want a guide is at the Forum - still a pile of stones to me after 3 visits. but why the tour you're doing starts off at the Pantheon nashville vacation packages is a mystery to me - that just adds a whole load of walking at the beginning that you'll be bitterly regretting at the end.
I also agree about the day you are planning to go to Pompeii - if you're going to go, do just pompeii and forget about Vesuvius. But I went to Pompeii in February on a sunny day and it was hot then - I can't imagine what it must be like in July. instead, you could go to the ancient roman port of Ostia Antica which is a 30 min train ride from Rome towards the sea. of course it's not like Pompeii but it's most interesting and very well preserved. and the little town nearby is interesting too, which some little restaurants and cafes.
Thank you everyone for the replies! I thought I wasn't packing enough in but now that I take another look I do see where I may be doing too much (which is I'm trying very hard not to do this time). Also with the tour groups I'll take another look, I guess I just worry I'll be looking at something and not know what I'm looking at sometimes.
I thought the OP was going by tour bus to Pompeii, which would be about 3 hours on the road. I still think that whole day sounds exhausting from Rome, especially nashville vacation packages with Mt. Vesuvius and Naples thrown into the mix. I'd leave that area for- hopefully- a next visit. Ostia Antica sounds like an excellent and much more manageable suggestion!
The guide would pick us up at the train station, I think he said there is a fast train that takes about an hour? I was on the fence about hiking Vesuvius already though, so I may change and do the museum or just come back. I really do want Pompeii though, just in case!
Even though you are not explicitly intending to visit Rome or Florence again, you would likely pass through Florence often and have to stay overnight in Rome. If you visit Amalfi coast, Umbria, Southern Tuscany, etc., you will likely to be landing or departing from Rome. The latter would most likely require nashville vacation packages at least an overnight stay in Rome. You can get two-in-one leverage by turning "have to stay over night for flight reason" into a productive visit to Rome. I tack on a few nights stay to every trip ending in Rome to cover Rome over many visits while mainly nashville vacation packages allocating days to destinations that have to explicitly included with no chance of just happen to be passing by as a freebie stop by.
Yes, there is a fast train from Rome-Naples that takes 70 minutes. Then it's about 20+ from there to Pompeii. So a lot shorter than the 3 hours I mentioned! Still, I think you have a jam-packed day planned that might be too much for most of us!
BTW, just to give you an idea, we often stay just across the street from The Pantheon. From The Pantheon-Trevi Fountain= about 15 minutes. From Pantheon-Colosseum= about 30 minutes. From Pantheon-Campo Fiori= 10-15 minutes.
Unless you really want a guided nashville vacation packages tour, it's much more pleasant to walk on your own to the major sites, so you're not stuck in a crush of tourists. Rome is crazy/busy in July, and even when we walked on our own, we were shocked at how little headway we could make sometimes on the crowded streets!
but you've still got to get from the upper station nashville vacation packages level at Naples down on the circumvesuviana nashville vacation packages line, get a ticket, and wait for a train, then pile on with everyone else - all that probably adds another 20-30 mins. probably all in all it's about 2 hours door to door.
as a wet weather [or unbearably hot weather] alternative, the national archeological museum in Naples itself has a wonderful collection of artifacts, mosaics and other treasures from Pompeii, as well as some magnificent statuary. [nearest metro stop is via cavour then turn right out of the station].
If you want very in-depth guidebooks for touring sights - look at the Micehlin green guides. nashville vacation packages Not only do they have extensive internal maps/diagrams nashville vacation packages and give a wealth of info - they also tell you how long it will take to see the sights.
Agree that some of these walks look more like walk-bys - and 2.5 hours won't scrape the surface of Pompeii. Also strongly suggest you check out some travel videos before you go - it often helps you have a lot more perspective when you're there (I don;t mean the dreaded Steeeeve - but videos of specific sights. Yes, the Forum can be really confusing if you don;t have a sort of oriented picture in your mind to begin with - and know a little about Roman pubic life.)
This is great feedback, thank you! I am going to take another look then at my itinerary and the tours. I still think I want one the coliseum, but maybe one that just focuses on it and not all of Rome for 2.5 hours (did not the Pantheon to the Colosseum would be 30 minutes of the tour!)
"Thoughts" on MT? What do you mean? FWIW, we enjoyed the main town for its architecture and general attractiveness. It is not like what you'll nashville vacation packages see elsewhere in Tuscany (esp. on your Hills Roads day). I particularly enjoyed taking the funicular up to Alto MT for the views and old/small town atmosphere. There's quite a contrast between the two parts of the town. We're not into spa treatments, so I can't help with that aspect.
whiles some here dislike Rick Steves nashville vacation packages for whatever reason. He certainly nashville vacation packages isn't Rhodes Scholar but he does provide decent insight into many sites. He provides maps that [pretty much] follow the narrative and that helps.
Hodie - if you want to be able to walk to most places, you need to be looking at the pantheon/ nashville vacation packages piazza navona/campo dei fiori area. you'll probably still need to get the odd bus, but not often. trouble is, 200/night isn't not going to get you much in that area. the way I do it is by going to Trip advisor [apologies if I'm teaching nashville vacation packages my granny to suck eggs] and putting in my dates, then seeing what comes up on the map.
for example, I put in July [which I