VENICE, FLORENCE, PISA, VATICAN CITY, & ROME IN 6 DAYS FOR $650

Heading to Italy and wanting to hit all of the main cities but on a budget? We we got you covered! Here's an itinerary and pricing breakdown of our 6 day trip to Venice, Florence, Pisa, Vatican City, and Rome for less than $650!

Disclaimer: the pricing does not include flights to/from your home city, food, or taxi/Ubers and prices for specific joint costs (like hotels) were split between 3 people.

DAY 1 - VENICE

WHERE WE STAYED: Hotel Centauro, which was $129/night split between 3 people = $43 each.

Did you know that Venice has no cars, bikes, motorcycles, scooters, or anything of the sorts? They have Water Taxis, which are boats that act as normal taxis that drive along the canals. The city is pretty walkable, but if you do need to go a distance, plan on using one of these! Anyway, we arrived in Venice in the mid-afternoon around 3PM and we really took the rest of the day to take in the city.

Stroll through St. Mark's Square - also known as Piazza San Marco, is a beautiful square with food and shopping to do. You can also go to the top of the Campanile if you'd like (although we didn't) There are also museums to see, but we will do that tomorrow! = free!

Walk over the Rialto Bridge and look at the Bridge of Sighs - famous bridges, enough said = free!
Take in a sunset Gondola ride - you'll see these around EVERYWHERE! Try to do one at around sunset and remember to bring cash with you for these. Rides are $86, but we split by 3 people (you can typically have up to 6 people on the rides) = $29 each.

DAY 2 - VENICE

Wake up early, this is a day that's JAM PACKED with museums. Because of that, we got the Venice Museum Pass = $30 each. The ticket includes:

THE MUSEUMS OF ST MARK'S SQUARE

Doge's Palace - do this as early as possible to beat the crowd!
Museo Correr
Museo Archeologico Nazionale
Monumental Rooms of the Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana

OTHER CIVIC MUSEUMS OF VENICE

Ca' Rezzonico - Museum of 18th-Century Art
Museum of Palazzo Mocenigo
Carlo Goldoni's House
Ca' Pesaro, Internazional Gallery of Modern Art + Oriental Art Museum
Glass Museum - Murano
Lace Museum - Burano
Museum of Natural History

After a day filled with museums, we took a train at 4:35PM from Venezia San Lucia to Firenze S. M. Novella (Florence). It's about a 2 hour ride = $25 each

Walk around the Olrarno - by the time we got settled in in Florence we took the chance to walk around this quarter, grab dinner, and go to a brewery before heading to bet = free!

DAY 3 - PISA

WHERE WE STAYED: Hotel De Lanzi, which was $134/night for 2 nights, split between 3 people = $89 each.

Okay so for our first full day in Florence, we ACTUALLY went to Pisa to start it off...

Our train from Florence to Pisa departed at 9:28AM and only took about an hour to get there = $17 each roundtrip
Admire the Leaning Tower of Pisa - Obviously the iconic thing to do here is take a cheesy picture with the Leaning Tower. There is an entire area where you will see literally 100s of people doing it, so don't feel dumb, we're all in this together = free!

Climb to the top of the Leaning Tower - this climb is rough, I am not going to lie, but it is worth is to see the amazing view at the top. Tickets to climb to the top = $26 each

After spending a few hours taking fun pictures, our train back to Florence left at 1:32PM

DAY 4 - FLORENCE

Like Venice, this was Florence's day filled with museums! Here we go...

Walk the Ponte Vecchio - we woke up early today to go see the Ponte Vecchio before heading to the museums. There's lots of shopping to do here! Try to by some leather this day, there are TONS and it's all fairly cheap = free!

See Michelangelo's David at the Accademia - I grew up seeing this statue in history books, so was cool to see it and how big it was in real life. There is also a fake one outside the museum if you don't want to go inside (but I highly recommend you do). It took us about an hour to get through the museum. Tickets = $20 each

Climb to the top of the Duomo and admire the Great Museum of the Cathedral of Florence - this is another rough climb, these bitches honestly did not think we would make it and had to stop multiple times, so keep that in mind. But the view at the top was great! Tickets include access to Museo dell’Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore, Brunelleschi's Dome, Giotto's Bell Tower, Baptistery of San Giovanni, and Ruins of Santa Reparata = $18 each

Walk through the Museo Galileo - this is was a fun museum that we decided to check out and we do not regret it! It was a lot of fun and super engaging! Tickets = $17 each
Throw coin and rub nose of Fontana Del Porcellino - they say it's good luck = free!

At this point it's starting to get late so we took a train departing Florence at 6:08PM for Rome. It was a little less than a 2 hour ride = $33 each.

DAY 5 - VATICAN CITY

WHERE WE STAYED: Hotel California, which was $173/night for 3 nights, split between 3 people = $173 each.

Welcome to the beautiful city of Roma! Since we only had 48 hours, we went ahead and bought a Hop-On Hop-Off bus ticket so we could get around easily = $37 each for 48 hours.

We're actually going to spend our first day heading out to Vatican City! It is technically a country if you didn't know - so don't forget your passport. Also, your knees and shoulders MUST be covered, so keep that in mind when you're packing.

Side note, you can go see the Pope on most Wednesdays and Sundays.

At 10:00AM we met at the bottom of the steps to the entrance of the Vatican Museums for our tour. Tickets = $60 each
Include in the tour is priority access through the line which was a major plus because that line is LONG AF.
The tour itself will last about 3 hours and includes a guided tour of the Vatican Museums, the Sistine Chapel, and St. Peter's Basilica. I normally don't do guided tours, but this one was MUST as I would not have know what I was looking at otherwise.
Some of my favorite sites throughout the tour was seeing the famous "The Creation of Adam" by Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel, the current Pope's apartment (if you're lucky, you may get a glimpse of him on his balcony), Raphael's Rooms, and see the bodies of past Pope's in St. Peter's Basilica (very creepy, I know, but really interesting and cool).

Once you're done with the tour, go spend the night out in Rome. The city is beautiful and you will RARELY find a restaurant you don't like, because I mean c'mon. Who doesn't love all Italian food?!

DAY 6 - ROME

Be sure to wake up early for your last day in Roma - you still have a LOT left to see!

See the iconic Roman Colosseum - It's your first day in Rome, so what better way to start it off than with one of the Wonders of the World? Be sure to take a photo outside, but don't miss a chance to go on a tour of the inside! Tickets are available out front = $25 each.

Take in Palatine Hill - Right next to the Colosseum, you'll find "the first nucleus of the Roman Empire." It's basically hills of ancient ruins and is really interesting to look at = free!
Walk around the Roman Forum - This is right down the road (very walkable) from the Colosseum. It's an area that include the ancient ruins of important government buildings = free!

Walk up the Spanish Steps - I don't know about you, but all I think of when I see these steps is The Lizzie McGuire Movie and I am COMPLETELY judging you if you don't do the same thing. Anyway, walk up and down the 135 steps, take a seat, relax, and take in the view = free!

Take a stroll around Piazza di Spagna - this is the square at the bottom of the Spanish Steps. In the center you will see Fontana Della Barcaccia which offers drinkable water = free!
Go see the Pantheon = free!
Throw a coin in the Trevi Fountain - again, another iconic The Lizzie McGuire Movie reference. While we were planning our trip, Emily even said "are we going to the Lizze McGuire fountain?"be sure to bring some coins to toss in while you make a wish and hope that you meet your P̶a̶o̶l̶o̶ Gordo and impersonate your twin to become a European popstar! = free