I see that there is a Frecciarossa but that is late at night so that’s why probably it doesn’t show up in your option.
The rest are, Regionale, so there are no reserved seats. But the nice thing is there are a lot of options there that you can pick the “slow” time of the day. Depending on the time, travel time varies between 2 hrs 5 mins to 3 hrs (the slower one stops at Udine).
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Venice is beyond lovely and definitely worth seeing- that being said, it can be very hot (in summer), crowded, expensive and smelly (due to the heat). I’ve been there twice and much preferred the visit I did in April to the one in the summer.
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momtogkc - if you wouldn’t mind messaging me the name of your guide that would be awesome, thank you! Will take all the info I can get!
Thorsmom66- good to hear! We are planning a late April trip so maybe that will help us decide to make the Venice trip (good weather/crowd time!).
These tips are all awesome!
So we’ve done Europe a few ways, though mostly booked airfare on our own (usually frequent flier miles - hubby flew to Japan a lot for work, and we add more miles with United credit card). There are pros/cons to both methods. Smart to do your research to understand which sights/museums would benefit from pre-booking.
DETAILS OF THE VARIOUS TRIPS FOLLOW:
2002 Ireland 5 night bus tour, which our aunt booked via Celtic Tours. Didn’t think we were bus tour people, but it was lovely for our group of 5 (which would have been tight fit in a rental car with luggage too). The driver/guide did all the planning. It was nice though to have the Rick Steves books to read more about areas and sights. Since then I’ve always bought (or checked out from library) a RS book. Website info too.
2012 Western Med cruise on Norwegian, booked through AAA agent. We picked our own shore excursions, pricey but excellent. Rome is huge, and our day there was jam packed with activities across the city. The skip-the-line entries were fabulous, and the shore excursion lunches were special and relaxing. (Also did Pompei/Sorrento day, Florence day, Cannes self-tour, Marseilles half day tour). We did our own planning for night prior in Barcelona and night after (plus touring on our own) there… then train to Madrid and two nights there.
2015 trip with the kids (after younger’s college graduation) totally self-planned. This time FOUR NIGHTS IN ROME (with some repeat on sights for sake of kids), rental apartment in Piazza Navona. I did lots of planning with RS book, impressed the kids by starting at the Palantine Hill entrance (1 min wait) vs Colloseuem (probably an hour long line in morning). We pre-booked out Vatican Museum tickets. Used a RS hint to cut over from Sistene chapel back door over to St. Peter’s. Then train to Venice, 1 night at hotel apartment found via RS books, overnight train to Munich - 4 nights in hotel room near train station. Honestly in every location we could have stayed twice as long and not run out of things to do.
2018 trip with two other couples, also totally self-planned (though we shared planning duties… also had some fun evening perusing rentals on big tv screen together). Barcelona apartment 4 nights. Fly to Toulouse, staying 2 nights. Taxi to rental houseboat - 7 nights, some in marinas and some. staked on the Canal Du Midi shorelines. We and one of the couples continued on to Paris and spent 7 nights in a rental apartment.
Since then, hubby has done two trips with brothers planned by AAA agents - Wales/London, Portugal.
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I took a Trenitalia between Florence and Lucca, somewhat disappointed I couldn’t get a 1st class seat. (I don’t think they are offered on that route). I had no problem getting on with 2nd class and getting a seat. Perhaps the time of day matters. I left Florence at 9 AM and left Lucca at 3 PM.
A few years ago I had a train ticket Lucca - Bologna - Ancona one day and Ancona - Bologna -Firenze the next. I probably tried to get first class tickets, but I recall some of that trip was also 2nd class. I would have put my bag between seats or at the end, as the others have mentioned. My most valuable items are in my Bagallini or in my tote bag, that I keep at my seat.
Colorado_mom - those trips sound amazing! The planning can be a big part of the fun and should like you enjoyed that part too!! Hopefully I can try to loosen up and look at the preparation as fun too, lol.
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I just stayed at the Hotel L’Orologio — on Piazza Santa Maria Novella — an easy and safe walk from the train station. I was in town for a trade show and my rate was E145/night, breakfast included.
They attended to the room twice a day. I was a single in a Queen bed room. It was nicely appointed and quiet.
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I did Venice to Trieste a few years ago, mid week in March. It was a delightful train ride. No problems. I hope you have the same easy journey.
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I do recall we had trouble, from US, booking our sleeper car from Venice to Munich. Had to get help from an agency (I think by phone) since we could not make it work online.
Ideally we would have paid extra to book all six beds but could not do so. Figured we’d be alone the 4 of us with two triple bunks. Ended up having two Japanese students from a big group. They were very shy, texting each other. Was proud that my kids sensed their discomfort and climbed quickly to the top bunks and took luggage up there. Alas, with all beds in use the bottom bunks were very cramped. But we did it.
The one panic came at Venice station when Italian name for Munich was different. (Google says “Monaco”, but I recall it was odd name starting with L). The time had change by a few minutes, so it was hard to be sure we got to the right train.
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One way to simplify the planning is to do fewer/longer hotel stays. It may mean having to take a tour to a nearby town or area, but not having to do “set change” to another place does streamline things.
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I do all my own travel planning and bookings. The only time I had someone else plan was when we went to China. Our daughter was living there at the time and she suggested we have a guide in each city. It was a splurge but so worth it. For my research I like to check books out of the library and I do a lot of googling. I have also found CC to be a source of a lot of great travel recommendations. So a search of your destination in the Parent Cafe forum and you just might find some great recommendations.
We were just in Italy in October. We went to Milan, Lake Como, Venice, Parma, Cinque Terre, Tuscany, Umbria and Florence. We had a car part of the time which while being stressful at times gave us a lot of freedom to explore the countryside in Tuscany and Umbria.
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Regarding our proposed train trip from Venice to Trieste. Got a tip to try the Mestre train station just outside Venice, instead of the train station more in Venice. Can get to Mestre from Venice by 10 minute other train or by car. Found a fast train with reservable seats and luggage racks at the right time of day out of Mestre. Made reservations.
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Wondered if anyone had recommendations for a site(s) for booking hotels in Italy?
We are getting close to the wire with our mid-April departure (for 11 days) - it looks like we’ll be bouncing between a number of areas (Rome, Lake Como) w/Florence as home base (where D is studying for a semester).
Air BnBs are pricey if you have to rent different ones (cleaning and other fees). But I’m not sure about booking.com and expedia - I’ve heard stories about there being logistical challenges and difficulty w/recourse if you book thru them (plus more pricey)? I’m struggling a bit with the direct websites for the hotels (hard to compare prices/availability).
Curious if anyone had a suggestion or two? Thank you!!
I usually pick a hotel based on trip advisor and then go directly to the hotel website to see if I can get a similar price to booking.com or Expedia. If I can’t I sometimes go back to trip advisor and look for something else and sometimes I just roll the dice on a third party booking site. Usually you’ll be fine - unlike airlines hotels are way more sensitive to the risk of negative reviews.
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Thanks, Juno16. I’ll do that. For the past few years I’ve traveled mainly in US, and Google will give me tons of well-organized options sorted by a host of variables. I’ve tried using booking.com for that but when I jump to the hotel site, it’s most often unavailable or $150 -$200 a night more than listed on booking!
I’ll just have to research more and will start w/TripAdvisor - thanks!!
I book most of my trips through Expedia. I have compared prices and Expedia is very competitive. Few times when I’ve had issues with my bookings they have been helpful.
In the last 2 years I have been to Barcelona, Lisbon, Rome, Florence, Catarina, and booked my air and hotels through Expedia.
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For my Italy trip last October I used a few different sites. I first researched and found the places I was interested in. I booked through Bookings for my apartment in Lake Como. I used the hotel websites for a few hotels, I booked my hotel in Florence through Chase rewards since I used points. The bed and breakfast outside Parma I booked through a bed and breakfast site. Some smaller places I’ve found in Europe and when we went to Tonga use Bookings.
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In Europe, we’ve had good luck using Rick Steves hotel suggestions. Some used to give 10% discount if you show the book… not sure if that is still true.
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For those who aspire to visit Florence (or want to reminisce on previous trip), consider watching the first episode of “From Scratch” (Netflix). We enjoyed it tonight. Looks like the series will move to LA in the next episode.
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Thanks for these tips! Colorado_mom I have the Rick Steve’s book - I checked out the hotels he lists but most sold out or more expensive (likely my doing as we are pretty close to departure!!). He’s great for establishing itineraries and I have copied several!
I will try Expedia too. I’m just putting off the decision on which hotel b/c I’m nervous about it all! LOL Not effective, so just need to do it! 
