Italy - Rome, Florence and Vienna

[CheeryMoochy]

I REALLY want to take my family to do all 3 cities this half term. I feel safer doing this with a tour operator/provider (or any such idea) as we don't speak Italian. Any recommendations? Yip, it's late, yes, we should plan ahead. Any, any tips very much appreciated!

I think German may be more useful for Vienna!

I wonder if you mean Venice

Vienna is in Austria

I've been to Italy with only a few basic words and had no problem. Had a phrase book which was only really needed when we were trying to get the window on the car fixed and even then it wasn't the book that was useful so much as the excellent picture drawn by me to describe what it was I bloody wanted!

Seriously, we drove all around and camped and even when we tried to speak the language we were answered in English! If you're only doing the major cities and using hotels then don't be afraid. Enjoy it, it's all beautiful!

I wouldn't do all three in a week, you'll end up travelling most of the time ( especially if you really do mean Vienna not Venice), and not seeing anything properly, better to stick to one ( or max two) IMO.

Oh, don't bother with a tour operator - most Italians speak at least a little English, particularly in the tourist destinations.

Assuming you mean Venice - it's quite a long drive from there to Florence and Rome. How long are you planning to go for?

I'd fly to Rome, spend a few days there and then drive or take train to Florence. Then back to Rome to fly home. There is plenty to see there - Venice is ok for a weekend or short trip but I wouldnt combine with the other cities.

A Sienna/Pisa/Florence or two them combo with Rome may work better. You could probably do the first three with just one base.

Or possibly look into an Italian cruise. I think Costa does one which goes to Ports nearish those paces and also goes to Sicily.

You can do Siena Florence Pisa easily from one base. Just hire a car. You don't need to travel around for that. Or you could fly into Rome for a couple of days then drive to Tuscany and travel from there for a few days.

You don't need a tour company - just a Sat Nav!

Trains are the best way to go. The inter city Tren Italia trains are far easier than driving. I would do Rome and Florence or Florence and Venice. Not all three. Fly to one then home from the other.

Disagree about driving. It's very easy, you have lots of freedom with your schedule ( no delays or strikes which blight the train service) and your own seats.
You can't drive into Rome centre or Venice so it here's no city centre driving nightmare. It's very to easy to just park outside the city and then do public transport. I hate driving and don't speak any other languages BTW.
We did Rome and Milan and both were fab.
It wasn't a cheap option though. Whether it would work out less than trains/planes etc depends on the size of your family.

If you want to actually stay in the cities though, the train stations are more convenient than the parking arrangements. Having a car in the cities is a waste of time so that's why the train makes more sense. You do end up in a Central location and they are not always on strike! The express trains tend to be lots more reliable than the local trains.

We did that in June, on the train. We went from London to Cologne, then down to Milan, then to Rome then to Florence and then up to Venice and flew home from there. We don't speak Italian but we did plan the journey well, ie booking trains in advance to get best prices and making sure hotels were within easy walking distance of the stations. It was one of my best holidays ever.

We did a Thomsons city break holiday many years ago and stayed in Florence and Venice. I think trying to do three cities in a week is over ambitious.

We flew to Pisa and stayed in Florence for 4 nights then took a train to Venice and stayed there for three nights and flew back from Treviso.

I agree that hiring a car would be a waste because you can't use it in Venice and wouldn't need it in Florence.

Depends where you're staying. I spent a half-term week in Tuscany, but hired a villa which unbeknownst to me was very remote. We'd have been lost without a hire car. In one week we easily managed Venice, Florence, Siena, San Gimingano, a day going round the designer outlets, and a tennis/ games day.

The villa owner spoke no English, and also no French, which I'm OK at, so I ended up making up Italian. My children still hoot with laughter at my attempts to explain the problems with the hot water (Agua ven del radiatori......)

But in the cities - getting by in English was not a big problem.