Italy

[Joyce:)]

I haven't read all of the replies but if you fly to Pisa, you might consider Florence instead of Rome.

It's closer (I think it was not even an hour by train) and it's sooo beautiful.

FLORENCE FLORENCE FLORENCE. i've been there in september last year, and there were not many tourists, so it's not too crowded. I've been to florence at least 7 times in my life, as far as i can remember, and i'm still not fed up with it. <3

[Sierra]

Avoid Florence during the tourism season, it's worst than Disneyland. You do have to go there but there to experience Italy but there is NOTHING that could make me brave those crowds again. Even with advance museum tickets we were waiting in 90 minute lines and this was in November.

You CAN easily take a day trip from Rome to Florence, but I would really recommend extending your stay if you do that because you'll be there for such a short time. I do want to say, if you plan your trip correctly, you can do so very inexpensively, I was able to save I think it was $2,000 and came back with $600 - $700 unspent and we went to Rome, Venice (day trip), Verona and Vicenza (day trip -- which is probably THE prettiest place in Italy) -- oh and we were there for 7 - 10 days?

yeah that's right ... because I also budgeted myself about 50E - 100E to spend on museums and what not a day. BTW, I was able to save the $2k in just a few weeks. It was a really spur of the moment trip.

[oukeying]

I've been to Rome, Florence, Venice, Assisi, and Pisa. Venice is beautiful--my favorite city ever!
I didn't read through the posts, just kind of skimmed a little bit, so I don't know if anyone mentioned this, but if you plan on going into any of the churches, definitely pack clothes that will cover your knees and shoulders or you won't be allowed in! Nobody told me that before I went, so I had to buy new clothes. Lol.

[Dziubka]

I've been to Rome, Florence, Venice, Assisi, and Pisa. Venice is beautiful--my favorite city ever!
I didn't read through the posts, just kind of skimmed a little bit, so I don't know if anyone mentioned this, but if you plan on going into any of the churches, definitely pack clothes that will cover your knees and shoulders or you won't be allowed in! Nobody told me that before I went, so I had to buy new clothes. Lol.

I've never had a problem with churches, because I always take something to cover my shoulders when I plan to visit churches (at least a scarf or a bolero), but when we visit the synagogue in Florence they made me wear this .... thing ... over my skirt to cover my knees. Haha. I totally looked like I was cleaning there

We were there in September and we had great weather and didn't have to wait anywhere for really long. (AWW, I want to go visit agaiiin - damn LDR taking up all my money and free time)

[Haley53]

I abandoned this thread a bit, meep. x:

I'm certainly going to save some of the useful information and suggestions I received here! But in case you missed it, it's actually been decided that my partner is going to come here in the spring and we're going to spend our one-year together in person as opposed to going to Italy. The reason for this is mostly financial reasons. We both want to be able to explore Italy and do everything we would both love to do, as opposed to settling for, say, Pisa because it's less expensive than Rome. So we're (or I am, anyway) saving the trip for when it's more affordable and choosing to see each other for an additional time in the spring as well. I'll be out there for a year in 2013 or so, so maybe we can go sometime then, off-season but still when the weather's nice and when we're both more financially able.

[Kiara]

Hi, I am from Italy and I agree that it's not worth to spend a day in Pisa, as you have only 4 days. Rome is beautiful, and you should definitely go there. For me, as I know it pretty well, 2 full days are enough to visit it properly, entering only into one museum (usually I bring my friends to the Vaticans Museums, while the Colosseum can be seen from the outside, as there are many broken parts and you can look through it). If you don't know the city, you might want to study a map before, so you organize your days in a nice way.
I would not suggest you to go to Naples to see the Vesuvio, the volcano: it's too much south and it takes too long with the slow cheap train ("regionale") and too much money with the fast one ("freccia rossa" or "freccia argento"). Same for north Italy: it is lovely, but it's far and expensive to reach if you go to Rome.
So, my suggestion is to stop in Florence, for 1 day. It's lovely. You can visit it on foot, and it's close to Pisa and Rome!
If you want, contact me: no problem! I know some very not expensive accomodations in Rome.
Also, check Easyjet, not only Ryanair: sometimes they have very good deals too!