Need some advice. Looking to travel to Rome and Venice next spring. It is going to be me, my wife and 2 kids (10, 3). Going to fly into FCO and return from FCO since there is a direct flight from our location. Likely will spend 3 days in Rome, take the train to Venice, spend 3 days in Venice and then return.
I am looking for recommendations as to where to stay in both cities along with itinerary ideas. Ideally looking for some nice hotels in locations that are ideally located for visitors and easily accessible.
If you have $$$ or a lot or Marriott points, I’d stay at the Gritti Palace in Venice, my favorite hotel in the world.
Also, I’d suggest take a connection from Venice if possible rather than the long train ride - the train station in Rome is not convenient to the airport, it’s costing you a day of vacation for extra travel time, you’ll probably need to overnight in Rome before your flight (I wouldn’t plan on taking the train the same day as your return flight from Venice unless it’s in the evening and you give yourself about 6 hours between arrival to Termini (the Rome train station) and FCO - and even then I might do it - they love to strike in Europe…
This is our favorite hotel in Venice. If you are expecting modern, don’t go. If you want old world Venice charm and service at a gorgeous location with great people who run the place, then look into it.
We stayed here in Rome with our two a few years ago.
Rooms excellent and breakfast outstanding.
A little bit away from the main attractions but a pleasant stroll to everything and some good neighbourhood restaurants.
Would definitely go back there. IIRC we had an interconnecting room.
We had one of the smaller interior rooms but yes, the pictures are accurate per my recollection. While we didn’t have a private balcony or water view, the hotel’s cafe space where you can have breakfast or afternoon coffee or drinks is right on the water with gorgeous views so that was good enough for us at the time.
Sorry I have no specific advice, but have given my thoughts on the 3-3-3 plan
The Rome 3, Venice 3, Rome 3 split may work, but depending on when your flight is expected in Rome, you may want to consider going straight to Venice that day. This would especially be relevant if you arrive in Rome in the morning, before you’d normally be able to take the room. Whilst you’d be able to drop bags off at the hotel, you might not be able to get into your room until ~2pm.
The thinking for this is:
it’s a transfer you’re having to do anyway, so doing it when you’re already travelling might make sense
I’d normally prefer the more open air environment to get over jet lag, where you can walk around during the day and tire yourselves out enough that you’ll sleep at night
Transfer days are all too often stressful, tiring, even boring, doing something that’s anything but relaxing and enjoying the holiday. Hence my usual approach is to reduce the number of them, plus reducing the amount of time lost in transfer.
If viable, that gives you a longer stay in each stint e.g. 4 days in Venice, 5 in Rome. However that arrival day timing may not make it viable, and/or you may judge it makes arrival day simply too stressful.