Mason Barge

On 13 Oct 2003 19:53:13 -0700, (Bernie Mac)
wrote:

    >hi, all
    >i'm planning to vacation in rome, florence and venice. can anyone
    >recommend the following:
    >1) vacation package (or is it better to just buy a round trip airfare
    >and then book your own hotels, train rides, etc.)

I would personally never take a package, especially if I knew where I
wanted to visit. Of course, if you are by yourself and can get a
compatible group, you might enjoy the companionship.

    >2) which hotels/b&b's are recommended in each city? i'm looking for
    >quiet areas, away from the crowd congestion.

What price range? Also, what time of year?

    >3) i'm planning to spend six days in rome, two days in florence and
    >three days in venice. are these lengths of time sufficient for each
    >city.

That's fine, but personally I would cut down on the time in Rome and
increase Venice/Florence, or possibly stop a night in Cortona, which
(if I remember correctly) is right on the track from Rome to Florence.


Mason Barge

"If this is coffee, please bring me some tea. If this is tea, please bring me some coffee."
-- Abraham Lincoln

Debra Weber Kurt Weber

Bernie Mac wrote:

    > 1) vacation package (or is it better to just buy a round trip airfare
    > and then book your own hotels, train rides, etc.)

As so many others have said, I find the planning to travel on our own to
be an integral part of the trip. I also learn a lot about my
destinations through the research necessary for careful planning. I
suggest that you grab a stack of guidebooks at the library, and see if
you think this is something you would enjoy putting together on your
own. It's really not difficult and there is a lot of information
available about traveling to these three cities.

    > 2) which hotels/b&b's are recommended in each city? i'm looking for
    > quiet areas, away from the crowd congestion.

I like to be in the middle of things, so I can't really help with "quiet
areas" but I belong to a travel discussion group where many of the
members love the Hotel Delle Muse in Rome. It is in a residential area,
and requires buses to and from the central zone. I wouldn't stay there,
but it might good if you like quiet areas.

http://www.venere.com/it/roma/muse/
(the hotel seems to have its own website, but it wasn't working just now,
so I sent this)

    > 3) i'm planning to spend six days in rome, two days in florence and
    > three days in venice. are these lengths of time sufficient for each

If this is all the time that you have, I would suggest 5-3-3. And
remember, you'll be back.

debra

Ron Audet

"Mason Barge" <> wrote in message
news:...
    > On 13 Oct 2003 19:53:13 -0700, (Bernie Mac)
    > wrote:
    > >hi, all
    > >
    > >i'm planning to vacation in rome, florence and venice. can anyone
    > >recommend the following:
    > >
    > >1) vacation package (or is it better to just buy a round trip airfare
    > >and then book your own hotels, train rides, etc.)
    > I would personally never take a package, especially if I knew where I
    > wanted to visit. Of course, if you are by yourself and can get a
    > compatible group, you might enjoy the companionship.


Am I missing something here? I thought the OP meant by "package" simply a
one-price deal on airfare and accommodations. Most who have answered seem to
assume that he is talking about a guided, or at least fully planned, group
tour.

We have often found that an air/hotel package gave us the best deal. At the
moment, for example, we already have tickets that include airfare from the
US to Venice plus four nights in a very nice Venice hotel (one which we have
used before and particularly liked). The price is at least $50.00 less than
the airfare alone, and if booked separately the hotel would cost $265.00 a
night. So the two of us have saved $630 by purchasing the package.

We plan our trips exhaustively, reading, studying maps, etc. for months
before we leave home. We also pick out the hotels we like, based on quality,
amenities, and location. The hotel provided in the Venice package was one of
our two top choices even before we found that it was available this way.

And we are, as always, free to extend out stay as long as we like at our own
expense. We are adding 19 days this time, divided among Venice, Florence,
and Perugia.

We are traveling on our own, with no group, no pre-determined schedule to
confine us, and no one deciding where we will go or how long we will stay in
each place.

How is this a drawback?

Ron

Ron Audet

"Ron Audet" <> wrote in message
news:xH0jb.108576$...
    > "Mason Barge" <> wrote in message
    > news:...
    > > On 13 Oct 2003 19:53:13 -0700, (Bernie Mac)
    > > wrote:
    > >
    > > >hi, all
    > > >
    > > >i'm planning to vacation in rome, florence and venice. can anyone
    > > >recommend the following:
    > > >
    > > >1) vacation package (or is it better to just buy a round trip airfare
    > > >and then book your own hotels, train rides, etc.)
    > >
    > > I would personally never take a package, especially if I knew where I
    > > wanted to visit. Of course, if you are by yourself and can get a
    > > compatible group, you might enjoy the companionship.
    > Am I missing something here? I thought the OP meant by "package" simply a
    > one-price deal on airfare and accommodations. Most who have answered seem
to
    > assume that he is talking about a guided, or at least fully planned, group
    > tour.
    > We have often found that an air/hotel package gave us the best deal. At
the
    > moment, for example, we already have tickets that include airfare from the
    > US to Venice plus four nights in a very nice Venice hotel (one which we
have
    > used before and particularly liked). The price is at least $50.00 less
than
    > the airfare alone, and if booked separately the hotel would cost $265.00 a
    > night. So the two of us have saved $630 by purchasing the package.

My mind must have wandered here. Actually, we have saved the cost of four
nights at the hotel (265 x 4 = 1060) plus the reduced airfare (50 x 2 =
100), for a total savings of $1160 for the two of us. Not bad.

And we have researched the hotel carefully to make sure that we couldn't get
a lower price anywhere.

    > We plan our trips exhaustively, reading, studying maps, etc. for months
    > before we leave home. We also pick out the hotels we like, based on
quality,
    > amenities, and location. The hotel provided in the Venice package was one
of
    > our two top choices even before we found that it was available this way.
    > And we are, as always, free to extend out stay as long as we like at our
own
    > expense. We are adding 19 days this time, divided among Venice, Florence,
    > and Perugia.
    > We are traveling on our own, with no group, no pre-determined schedule to
    > confine us, and no one deciding where we will go or how long we will stay
in
    > each place.
    > How is this a drawback?
    > Ron

Debra Weber Kurt Weber

Ron Audet wrote:

    > "Mason Barge" <> wrote in message
    > news:...
    > > On 13 Oct 2003 19:53:13 -0700, (Bernie Mac)
    > > wrote:
    > >
    > > >hi, all
    > > >
    > > >i'm planning to vacation in rome, florence and venice. can anyone
    > > >recommend the following:
    > > >
    > > >1) vacation package (or is it better to just buy a round trip airfare
    > > >and then book your own hotels, train rides, etc.)
    > >
    > > I would personally never take a package, especially if I knew where I
    > > wanted to visit. Of course, if you are by yourself and can get a
    > > compatible group, you might enjoy the companionship.
    > Am I missing something here? I thought the OP meant by "package" simply a
    > one-price deal on airfare and accommodations. Most who have answered seem to
    > assume that he is talking about a guided, or at least fully planned, group
    > tour.
    > We have often found that an air/hotel package gave us the best deal. At the
    > moment, for example, we already have tickets that include airfare from the
    > US to Venice plus four nights in a very nice Venice hotel (one which we have
    > used before and particularly liked). The price is at least $50.00 less than
    > the airfare alone, and if booked separately the hotel would cost $265.00 a
    > night. So the two of us have saved $630 by purchasing the package.
    > We plan our trips exhaustively, reading, studying maps, etc. for months
    > before we leave home. We also pick out the hotels we like, based on quality,
    > amenities, and location. The hotel provided in the Venice package was one of
    > our two top choices even before we found that it was available this way.
    > And we are, as always, free to extend out stay as long as we like at our own
    > expense. We are adding 19 days this time, divided among Venice, Florence,
    > and Perugia.
    > We are traveling on our own, with no group, no pre-determined schedule to
    > confine us, and no one deciding where we will go or how long we will stay in
    > each place.
    > How is this a drawback?
    > Ron

But, do you know of any "package" that includes all three cities? I don't. I
think many of us are aware that all the big bus tour companies have the three
city tour package, and that the hotels they choose are usually nice but
inconvenient. Thus, the general direction of the comments in reply to the OP.

I research packages, just as you do. I would have to say that the vast
majority of airfare and hotel packages include a single destination. That is
my experience. If you are aware of packages that are for multiple cities, I
would really like to know about them.
Thanks,
d.

Ron Audet

"Debra Weber Kurt Weber" <> wrote in message
news:...
    > I research packages, just as you do. I would have to say that the vast
    > majority of airfare and hotel packages include a single destination. That
is
    > my experience. If you are aware of packages that are for multiple cities,
I
    > would really like to know about them.
    > Thanks,
    > d.

Well, Aliltalia has quite a long list of hotels in many cities throughout
Italy and allows you to put together your own do-it-yourself package at a
price quite a bit less than you would pay on your own for the same hotels,
though the savings are not as great as those I have described before and
they do require a (I think) three-day stay in Rome, Venice, or Milan. If
their list happens to have hotels that you like, then it is apparently a
pretty good deal, although I have not used it myself. Try their website:
http://www.alitaliausa.com/vacations/independent.asp

I am not sure without checking, but I think gotoday.com has multi-city
packages as well, though the level of their accommodations might not be to
your taste, since they are very much an economy outfit.

I should think you could find a number of three-city (or more) packages as
long as you stick to the main cities (Rome, Florence, Venice, Naples, Milan,
etc.) but would have trouble if you want to include smaller cities and
towns.

We prefer to split the difference. We use a package deal to get a good price
on airfare and essentially free accommodations for 3-4 nights in our arrival
city. Then we extend our trip, making our own arrangements in other cities.
We like to stay in apartments rather than hotels when we have a week or more
in one place; this is what we will be doing again next March/April in
Florence and Perugia. Then we will have another couple of nights, using our
own hotel arrangements, in Venice before returning home. We have used
similar arrangements before in Florence as well as several towns in France,
Switzerland, and England.

This works well for us. It might not suit everyone, of course.

Ron

Nhampton

    > "Frank F. Matthews" <> wrote in message news:<evTib.29820$>...
    > > Given your very restricted time if you insist on 3 cities, I would spend
    > > one more day in Florence and steal it from Venice. FFM
    > >
    > I disagree. Spend two intense days seeing the museums in Florence,
    > then three days sightseeing and exploring in Venice. If you feel you
    > need another day in Florence, I would steal it from Rome, but with
    > great regret....
    >
I totally agree with this. This person wants to be away from crowds
which is impossible in these three cities. BUT the one that is the
most tranquil and different and beautiful and also is the one without
Vespas or cars is VENICE. It deserves at least 3 days. Qho says
everyone goes just for art museums? Florence is maddeningly crowded.
Hit the museums in 2 days. Then use the rest of your time for Rome
which is a wonderful if very busy, loud, frenetic city.

nancy

Mel

    > 2) which hotels/b&b's are recommended in each city? i'm looking for
    > quiet areas, away from the crowd congestion.

I'd recommend using http://www.CheapAccommodation.com for finding
cheap hotels, hostels, apartments etc, where ever your travels bring
you. The relevant pages for your cities are:

http://www.CheapAccommodation.com/Rome/
http://www.CheapAccommodation.com/Florence/
http://www.CheapAccommodation.com/Venice/

I've use this site many times for short stays in Paris and Geneva.

Have a nice trip

Mel

Arthur Krassenstein

Get tickets for the museums ahead of time
It will save you hours of waiting time
Hotel lianna in Florence
Within walking distance of major sites

Bernie Mac wrote:
    > hi, all
    >
    > i'm planning to vacation in rome, florence and venice. can anyone
    > recommend the following:
    >
    > 1) vacation package (or is it better to just buy a round trip airfare
    > and then book your own hotels, train rides, etc.)
    >
    > 2) which hotels/b&b's are recommended in each city? i'm looking for
    > quiet areas, away from the crowd congestion.
    >
    > 3) i'm planning to spend six days in rome, two days in florence and
    > three days in venice. are these lengths of time sufficient for each
    > city.
    >
    > i appreciate the help and the website address i can visit, relating to
    > these questions.
    >
    > thanks.