Florence or Venice?

[tryingsomethingnew]

We'd like to have a city break in August (yes I know very hot and busy) to either Florence and Venice. Unless you can suggest somewhere else? Husband and I, and our DD 12.

Would like beautiful sights, GREAT food, and a hotel with a swimming pool so that we can go back to the hotel and have a moment sitting in the sun for a bit before heading out again for dinner.

Goodness! Still researching but do any of you have any knowledge of Venice hotels or Italy in general because all rooms I see are small and not enough room to add a 12 year old in! Would lbw happy with a sofa bed but they look tiny!

I've stayed in triple occupation rooms before with a young teen. In Florence, Sorrento and maybe Garda?

Thanks. Just can't seem to find anything with triple.

They may have family rooms or interconnecting rooms

They'll both be too hot and crowded I think lads comp or garda

Lake como or lake Garda I meant!

We did a day in Florence in August and I didn't love it. The sights were soooo crowded. We had book a couple of things in advance from the UK and we'd have been fucked if we hadn't - Duomo etc all sold out for on the day tickets.

It's also the only place in Italy where we've had the misfortune to have mediocre, slightly tourist trappy food.

We may well just have had bad luck (or indeed judgment). Perhaps I should try it again out of season. It's noteworthy though that the DC ( about 12 and 8 at the time) never mention having been, and they frequently talk fondly about elsewhere we went on the same holiday.

We loved Lucca though. Far few "must see" sights, far more time to laze around the pool, stroll through the beautiful city and eat incredible food.

Neither in the heat of August, the crowds alone would put me off TBH.

I'd go to Malaga. Fab city, easy to get to, millions of flights. Lots of galleries, history, shopping, a beach on the doorstep, and it is Tapas central with a brilliant buzz around the Cathedral area. A day trip to Granada and/or Cordoba would be possible too. Preferably Cordoba, my favourite place in Spain.

Verona - a lovely city to stay in its own rights. We did a couple of day trips to Venice by train from there.
venice can be very very busy and horrendous accommodation costs in the city, it’s also mega expensive to eat
look along train route for Verona to Venice

florence is worth a visit obviously , but I was a bit underwhelmed at all the hype , even though I loved the art and architecture - but I preferred Sienna in terms of ambience . Agian stay in sienna and do day trip or two to Florence is an option . Or stay in between the 2

Jeez, just seen you’re saying august. You want to visit a city in Italy in august 😱 seriously, I’d be looking at Northern Europe end!
Very hot, all the local evacuate.
many let their homes out to tourists, so whole city has none of ambience of locals, and all the hell of being full of tourists all trying to cram into seeing the same sites.

regarding food, nope, this is an issue with itlay

most Italians idea of a good meal and great food is a feast at home. Mamas cooking and all that.
ifnyoure staying outside cities you might only have one local restaurant/bar and it is mainly geared for workers and not high end

in city there is more choice, but again focuses on corporate entertainment or tourist. You have to really do research to find places that the Italians would do go to solcially and for a really good quality meal.

I’ve been utterly underwhelmed by most meals in Italy I’ve had. A few absolute stunners and meals I will remember for my life- when good they’re awesome. But it’s a bit luck, or a lot of research.

Venice.

Also beware the half board trap in Italy if doing hotels. Mainly applies to smaller family run places- but do check.
so you book half board, only to find its breakfast and what we call lunch. Because the Italians would historically , if at home, still often eat their main meal at lunchtime and then siesta.

but it’s a con nowadays, like most European countries that used to eat at lunchtime then siesta, that’s gone out the window with globalisation as workers have had to drop siestas and long lunches to keep in with global working hours (accept France who still seem to have very long lunch breaks with proper meals thst completely disrupt business 🤷🏼‍♀️🤣).

what you get at lunchtime is a small portion, “simple” meal , often 3 courses but desert being fresh fruit typically. A “light” version of what you’d expect in an Italian restaurant

so, watch out the half board- read the small print first. Opt out if possible

Stay in a nice hotel in or near Siena and travel into Florence. As @FunnyFox says I’ve been to Cinque Terra and that region is stunning and you could feasibly do a day trip to Florence.

Florencw and Venice unless you have loads of money to stay or stay near or on lido in Venice I find crowded and hot and only doable for day trips though I have done city breaks there too. I just found them again, hot and crowded. But that’s me.

Where do you want to go? I stayed in a hotel in Sorrento in a triple.

Funnily enough, just googled Malaga. Looks nice. I'm really not a fussy person, don't know why I'm having a difficult time.

Thank you for all the advice though! Reading and researching.

I really rate Mallorca and Palma and Port de soller.

OP does it have to be a hotel? Hotel rooms in Venice are famously tiny, but you would probably have better luck with apartments . If you put your dates and number of people into something like booking.com there should be options for 3 people. But just make sure there is aircon!

You should be able to get air bnb in Venice. Dd stayed in one with three friends. In Florence just found www.latorredelcestello.it/?act=rooms with triple rooms , for example.

Or www.hoteltorreguelfa.com/en/torre-guelfa-florence/triple-room/

Did both Florence and Venice last year. Villa San Michele- bit cooler up in hills and exquisite. Stunning pool and rooftop restaurant overlooking Florence and shuttle in every half hour.

Gritti Palace in Venice- outstanding hotel with stunning terrace right on Grand Canal. Think there's a lovely rooftop pool but we didn't use it. Much as I love Florence, there's nowhere like Venice.

If you stay on the Lido in Venice there's a beach and many hotels with pools. It's an easy short boat ride to main island venice. About 15mins if that. And it's boat buses so public transport prices. They run late into the night. Been to Venice many times and always stayed on the Lido as its beautiful but more chilled than central Venice.. there's also a supermarket!

Also the restaurants on the Lido are far cheaper than those on the main island. On the main island they put the prices up in the evening, they also often have ridiculous service charges on top of menu prices. For example I once had a can of diet coke in St Marks Square and was charged 15 euros service charge on top of the cost of the can. On the Lido it's much cheaper and more chilled but the food is still excellent. Its honestly the best base to explore Venice from.

Have you seen the Hilton Molino Stucky in Venice? It’s a stunning hotel with a large rooftop pool.

Venice is a wonderful city, every corner you turn is like a postcard!

Florence is also a wonderful city and you could do a day trip to Pisa and see the tower.

Air B&B in Venice and find something that's on the top floor with outside space. There will be a lot of stairs but worth it for a terrace with a view of the city. I really like Cannaregio and Drosoduro although it's all gorgeous really.