For the Venice-Florence portion of the trip, take the train. You get on at the Venice Mestre and off at Florence’s main train station (Firenze Santa Maria Novella AKA Firenza SMN). It puts you out in the middle of the city. Google Map the walk to your hotel. It probably will be a few blocks away. The train station can be confusing. Should Google’s first direction be “Piazza della Stazione” take the exit to your left as you’re leaving the train platforms. Most of your fellow travelers will be using this exit. “South” is taking a right outside the train station. “Via Luigi Alamanni” is outside the exit to your right as you’re leaving the train platforms. “Northwest” is taking a right once you walk down the stairs outside the train station. You’ll know you’re on the Via Luigi Alamanni side of the station because the electric tram stop will block you from crossing the street.
Should you choose to drive, realize that the rental car cost is not the only thing you’ll pay for: tolls are 25 euros or more, parking in Florence is probably more than 10 euros per night, and fuel is about 5.50 euros per gallon and you’ll probably have to put 5 or more for this trip. Add that all up and the train is probably cheaper at about 45 euros per person.
Hint for cheaper food and “Italian authenticity”: Take the electric trolley or bus to a shopping center outside the city center. Expect about a half-hour transit. Ask your desk clerk for an “ipercoop” (pronounced “ee-per-cup”) to get to a Super Walmart-sized store. Usually they’re in malls. See how real Italians shop. Don the plastic gloves if you want to handle the produce.
My editorial comment: Add me to the chorus who was unimpressed with Florence. After visiting Rome, I felt Florence to be a poor imitation except with added ripoff potential. Yes, if you’re into art museums, it’s great. The Duomo is big and strange looking and worth a look, then pass through the next piazza on your way back to the train station to see the carousel, then on the far corner of the next piazza is one of the best Hard Rock Cafe’s in the world (bring earplugs). I found “the market” to be pretty bad. Most of the merchandise isn’t made in Italy nor are most of the vendors. Much of the leather was overpriced and made in China as was almost everything else. You have to go to a brick-and-mortar store for the finer leather and it’s gonna be pricey. The many smaller “farmer’s markets” in Venice early on Saturday mornings are much better.
Echoing and expanding upon a comment upthread, seeing Florence from across the river is worth the trip. The Piazzale Michelangelo is the place to go right before sunset. As the sun goes down and the lights of the city turn on, wow. Oh, and the third Michaelangelo’s David is here.
Take a day trip by train to Piza. The train ride is about an hour and lets you off about a half-mile from the Tower. It’s not a bad walk at all. Lots and lots of souvenirs and if you take the correct entrance, you’ll see the McDonalds that The Simpsons parodied. On the way back, look carefully for the platform the return train will arrive at. The platforms are not logically marked; two share numbers with local trains that don’t go to Florence. If I remember correctly, the first two platforms you’ll encounter in the tunnel are for the local trains. Before I forget, buy return tickets in Florence; the Piza train station’s ticket machine is in an inconvenient location.
I have been to Pisa and I can’t understand why anyone would go out of their way to see a merely nice tower that gained its notoriety by being unfortunately situated and therefore leaning. There isn’t anything else of note in the area. To me the intrigue with the tower is a hangover from days before air travel when few people traveled overseas and the stories came back about the oddities and novelties rather than the substance of the place. Leaning Tower of Pisa, the French saying, “Ooh La La,” Germans wearing lederhosen, etc.
I understand your sentiment. It’s the Tower, a church, and a whole bunch of souvenir vendors. When I got bored in Florence, the side trip to Piza filled up the time between lunch and snacktime one afternoon. If nothing else, seeing the other visitors selfy-ing themselves “leaning” against the Tower is funny. Trying to make your way up the narrow stairs as people are pushing down to get out? Comedy gold. NOT! I guess that’s my way of saying don’t bother trying to go inside unless you like mosh pits.
And why do I keep putting a “z” in the name? Subliminally I must be wanting “pizza.”
I’ve enjoyed everywhere I’ve been in Italy, and use both Rick Steves and Lonely Planet (with Rough Guide thrown in for sarcasm). Trip Advisor is good for up to date restaurant reviews.
Great birdwatching on Palatine Hill–really much better than you’d think. Feral parrots there and on the grounds of the Borghese. Cost: 0.
Venice is horrible. Pisa is lame and boring and far away from everything. Rome is amazing! Stick with Rome. Take a trip down to Pompeii and Herculaneum. Stay the fuck out of Naples!!
Its not even the only crooked ass building in that country, either. Pisa is the biggest waste of time. If I didn’t live in Italy and it wasn’t on the way to something else, I never would have stopped.
What’s so horrible about Venice? It has both a McDonalds and Hard Rock Cafe! Just joking. I lived a couple hours away from you and have been to Venice many times. I always tell travelers to plan only day or two in Venice then move onward. The main train station makes it an easy stopover on the way to Munich or Florence or Rome or Vienna or Budapest or Florence or Verona (great coliseum!) or many other major cities in Europe. Overnight trains are the best for travelers with time constraints.
And Pisa, I agree. Like Stonehenge, it’s only a side trip if there’s time. But damn if the place isn’t always crowded. Since I didn’t like Florence, the train trip to Pisa was a no-brainer.
“Its not even the only crooked ass building in that country, either.” Understatement of the year.
Yes, I was there just two months ago. We toured the Arena in the daytime then returned to see an opera two evenings later. But the most visited attraction in Verona seemed to be Juliet’s Balcony–a fake balcony modeled after a fictitional story. It never ceases to amaze me what tourists will queue up to see.
You saw an opera in the coliseum? Wasn’t it incredible? Far better than that fallen-down partially-reconstructed piece of junk in Rome. The coliseum, not the opera.
On the train to Firenze now, and the ticket inspector passed not even a minute ago. Not only did she not care that I didn’t have a print-out, all she wanted was the first letter of the reservation code.
Talk about my getting worked up over nothing. It’s like the Firefly episode where they were stealing from the hospital planet, memorized all manner of medical things, then just got waved through security. I feel like Jayne wanting to recite his lines despite not needing to.
Speaking of not needing stuff, what’s the straight dope with the bus tickets in Rome? We went rather out of our way to get them, but it felt like we were the only ones validating anything, and never did we see anyone checking them. Naturally, the number of rides we took makes for a very small sample size, but what are the odds of getting on a bus where they actually check?
Bear_nenno, we didn’t get to visit Herculaneum, and after checking out their Wikipedia entry, I wish we had. Well, maybe next time…
And now, off to see whether Florence is all it’s cracked up to be.
The Arena is a marvelous place. Besides the obvious update of seats, it appears that it has had other restoration to make it meet minimum standards of a modern venue.
We saw Carmen. It was a wonderful show but we were in the cheap seats and getting into the arena and seated was a very poor experience. I think it was at least a half hour to be seated once we were inside the gate, and that doesn’t count the disorganization of trying to get people in the gates.
The upper tiers are general admission (no seats, you are sitting on stone benches) but you are assigned entry gates. We were in line for one of our three possible gates when they decided to close the gate without explanation or help to relocate to another line. Then when you enter, you are in a long wait to march up the stairs to the upper tiers. When you finally emerge into the arena, ushers organize people into seats. This was a good idea, because they maximize the efficiency of how people area seated; rather than people sprinkling themselves randomly around, the ushers align them into closest-packed hex. However, even though we were far from being the last in line, we were seated about two rows down from the very top row. The view of the stage is good from all seats but this is a big arena, and we were much, much farther away than you would be in the worst seats of a good opera house. The sound quality was pretty good considering the size of the venue. The performance was good but it was difficult to appreciate the subtleties at such a distance. Far from an intimate experience. This place would be much better for a big rock or pop music act.
The bus tickets are valid I think 45 minutes in Rome… As of 2014 January the tickets are valid 90 minutes in Firenze. So you don’t know when the person validated. I’ve been on numerous buses, tram, when the inspectors got on. One in the front and one in the back. Getting caught with out a valid ticket is a fine. Used to be on the spot. But I don’t know how they do it know. Write a ticket I suppose. We lived in Florence for over a year, and loved it. couple good local restaurants…one self service Leonardo’s, a block from the Dumo upstairs. They give you tap water at no charge. Point to what you want. At lunch they are lined up out the door. Mostly locals and a few tourists. Then on Atro Arno off Seralghi, El Rahddi look it up on Yelp or Trip advisor for the address. it is local and fun great food, service and local wine. Take the city bus fro Piazza San Marco to Fesole. There is a monestary with a collection of Chinese artifacts. Two Irish bars, the Fiddlers Elbow on Piazza Santan Maria Novella( that church is a worth a look, whose who of Florentines are buried there) and Friends on the other side of the river.
CookingWithGas, I am totally not surprised about your pre-opera experience. Italians have no idea how to iine up, right Bear_nenno?
eenerms, the bus fines have to be paid on the spot, 50 euros. The inspectors know who’s local so they home in on the tourists when asking for validated tickets. I had a friend who got on the bus, tried validating her ticket on the back machine, found it broken, and got ticketed while walking to the front of the bus to validate.
Gozu Tashoya, congratulations on making it through Rome without problems. Fingers crossed Florence treats you just as well.
Antidote: back when it was lira we were on a valperetto in Venice, on came a woman in a long mink coat and her escort in a tux and overcoat. The inspectors came on, they did not have a valid ticket, an argument ensued. He had to and over a wad of bills.
The odds of getting checked are actually pretty small. But the fine is huge. The huge penalty makes up for the small chance of getting caught. So it averages out to an effective deterrent.
As I recall it, it was something like €100, but half off if you paid on the spot. So if you are traveling without a validated ticket, it really helps to have cash-on-hand.
