Brand New Traveler!

[SLK1]

I am brand new to ABD and will be taking my 15-year-old son on a trip to Italy in June 2009. Which Italy trip would be best for us? Any opinions or experiences anyone can share? Pros/cons for each?

[ga9497]

It would really depend on the cities you want to visit - that will help you make your decision

Viva Italia visits Rome, Tuscany / Florence and Venice (this is an 8nt tour)

Bella Italia visits Florence (with side trip to Siena) and Sorrento (with day trips to Pompeii, Capri and Amalfi) (this is a 7nt tour)

[kayleighnik]

just a personal opinion, but i would do viva italia - venice is beautiful, as is florence :thumbsup2

[ga9497]

It would really depend on the cities you want to visit - that will help you make your decision

Viva Italia visits Rome, Tuscany / Florence and Venice (this is an 8nt tour)

Bella Italia visits Florence (with side trip to Siena) and Sorrento (with day trips to Pompeii, Capri and Amalfi) (this is a 7nt tour)

Personally if it was a first trip to Italy I would choose Viva Italia because Venice is included. I have been a few times and it is one of my favorite places to visit

[bonnielynn]

Personally if it was a first trip to Italy I would choose Viva Italia because Venice is included. I have been a few times and it is one of my favorite places to visit

Pardon my ignorance, but what is great about Venice (besides the obvious)

[wdwsos]

Pardon my ignorance, but what is great about Venice (besides the obvious)

I'm another one who loves Venice. A very sappy paragraph from my 2006 trip report:


~~~

I don't know how best to describe Venice without sounding trite. It was like a dream. A fairytale land set on water. There are no cars, no motorbikes, no trucks, and no "street noise" other than the sound of people walking and talking. The only motors you hear are those of the waterbuses ferrying people between stops, or the barges delivering goods. My older son lives only minutes away from the "other" Venice -- the Venice canals in California -- and I actually love to stroll this area when visiting him in Santa Monica. To see this incredible city, hundreds of canals and tiny islands amid the tidal waters of the Adriatic Sea, was more moving to me than any cathedral or work of art -- this whole city is a work of the art of man. I could live in Venice. If someone gave me a ticket to anywhere on this planet at this moment, it would be to the Marco Polo airport.


I liked Venice.

~~~

The whole thing is here: http://www.laughingplace.com/News-ID511000.asp but a lot has changed since 2006. On the Abd trip, not in Venice itself. :)

Dotti

[bonnielynn]

Thanks!