ali_fafa

I revised my itinerary and reposted. Sorry, don't yell at me! I just wanted to get feedback in case fodorites don't go back to check my original post. Please give me your thoughts on my itinerary & I have questions at the end. Thanks in advance.

Day 1-arrive Rome noon
Day 2- Rome
Day 3- Rome
Day 4- cooking class in Rome
Day 5- train to sorrento, spend rest of day exploring sorrento
Day 6- from sorrento, day trip to positano
Day7- from sorrento, day trip to Pompeii
Day8- train to Florence
Day9- Florence
Day 10- Florence
Day11- from Florence, day trip to Siena
Day 12- from Florence, day trip to pisa & lucca
OR guided trip to cinque terre
OR tuscan bike trip
Day 13- train to venice, half day in venice
Day 14-Venice
Day 15- am in Venice, fly to USA mid afternoon

here are my questions/concerns:
- is this enough time in florence? i have read mixed opinions on how much time to spend in florence.
- if it's too much time in florence, where would you allocate the extra day? rome, amalfi coast, venice, or use it to do another day trip from florence like pisa/lucca or do a tuscany bike tour?
- for day 12, we could take a guided day trip to cinque terre which would be quick, i know, but the benefit of this is it would allow us to see cinque terre and return to florence as a base so that we don't need to change hotels and would make for a much shorter train ride to venice (instead of riding train from cinque terre to venice).

bilboburgler

I struggle to see how you do a bike tour of Tuscany in under a week so what you plan to do in a day is beyond me.

adrienne

You have 2.5 days in Florence which should be enough for the average person. You need to list the sights you want to see and then determine if you have enough time. Without knowing what you're doing it's difficult to predict.

Day 12 - I would do the Tuscan bike trip, depending on when you're going. If June, July or August then I would not do this. Can you give some information about the Cinque Terre trip? How much time there? Any other stops? Any information that might help?

No Naples Archeological Museum? You're missing out.

1Caroline

We've been to Italy a number of times, but a couple of our favorite spots have been the Amalfi Coast and Venice. If you are going in early September, we enjoyed the Grand Regatta in Venice which occurs on the first Sunday in September, I believe. It was fun to watch the water parade.

ali_fafa

adrienne, the tuscan bike trip is by tuscany bike tours. here is the day's itinerary:
Depart Florence at 10am.
Arrive at hilltop Tuscan village for start of the tour.
Tour the wine cellar of 12th century castle, taste their vino and olio produced on the family estate. (One glass of wine with olive oil on salted bread)
Visit the "Frantoio" (olive oil production facility) within the castle.
Climb the tower of the castle for a spectacular panoramic "vista".
Option to purchase exclusive products (wines and oils).
Free tuscany bike tours water bottle, safety helmet supplied.
Bike orientation and safety briefing.
in florence, we plan to see duomo, david, uffizi, piazza della signoria, santo spirito. probably won't have time for boboli gardens but that would be nice.

Bike tour begins along tree lined avenues and winding country roads dotted with olive groves, villas and vineyards.
Eat at an family run "ristorante": mixed salad, bread, primo piatto, dessert, coffee and wine. (included in price).
Bike tour continues after lunch.
Stop at cafè for pause.
Arrive back at starting point at castle.
Free map of places to eat & drink in Florence.
Return to Florence for 5pm drop off.

here is the cinque terre day trip from florence i was thinking about:
http://www.viator.com/tours/Florence...519-5070CINQUE

adrienne

<< in florence, we plan to see duomo, david, uffizi, piazza della signoria, santo spirito. probably won't have time for boboli gardens but that would be nice. >>

2.5 days is more than enough time to see these things plus the Boboli Gardens.

The bike trip looks uninspired. I would probably go to Cinque Terre.

BTW - people are still responding to your other thread.

bvlenci

It sounds as though you don't have a deep and abiding interest in Renaissance art. If that's the case, I advise you to skip the Uffizi Gallery, which is a very heavy concentration of Renaissance art, and which can seem very repetitious to people who don't know a lot about the period. I've read many comments from people who went there and found it very monotonous.

I suggest that you just admire the Duomo from the outside, because the inside is rather bare; instead go inside the Baptistery, which has splendid medieval golden mosaics.

If it's very hot, the Boboli gardens can be torture. The Pitti Palace, however, has a lot of things that would interest most people, and could be a substitute for the Uffizi. Or you could visit some of the church/museums that have masterworks of the Italian Renaissance.

The "bike tour" sounds like a whole lot of eating and drinking and not much biking. I have a feeling that the "opportunity" to buy exclusive products is the whole point of the tour.

I myself would prefer the visit to Lucca and Pisa rather than either of the two tours, but it depends on your interests.

bilboburgler

"The "bike tour" sounds like a whole lot of eating and drinking and not much biking. I have a feeling that the "opportunity" to buy exclusive products is the whole point of the tour."

tick

ali_fafa

thanks for your opinions on the bike tour. i originally tried to include it because i thought it would be the best, perhaps only, way to see the tuscan countryside.

i enjoy renaissance art but too much in a short time is overwhelming. i think 2.5 days in florence would be good for us.

i keep reading how wonderful cinque terre is & it would be unfortunate if we had to skip it. i also keep reading that doing a day trip is a bad idea. i am willing to take the train there & explore on our own BUT it's the train trip from cinque terre to venice that i was trying to avoid. train from CT to venice will take 5.5 hours! if we did cinque terre as a day trip from florence, then we can ride the train from florence to venice which would be around 2 hrs, much more manageable. if you strongly suggest spending a few days/nights in CT, then i will heed your advice & endure the long train trip from there to venice.

dugi_otok

I would revise days 8-12 to make your time more efficient and add the Tuscan countryside and hill towns to your itinerary.

Day 8- Tuscan Hill Town. ( Train to Orvieto via Rome. Rent a car. Explore the countryside as you drive to your Tuscan Hill Town destination for the night. Choose from Montepulciano, Montalcino, and Pienza. }

Day 9- Tuscan Hill Town. Have a wonderful day meandering.

Day 10- Florence. (Drive to Siena and possibly San G for a day trip. Drive to Florence. Turn in your car. )

Day 11-Florence

Day 12-Florence

>> -is this enough time in florence? << This gives you two full days in Florence. You can see a lot, but not everything. Make reservations for the Uffizi and Accademia if you want to go there.

>> -if it's too much time in florence, where would you allocate the extra day? << Time allocated to the Tuscan hill towns and countryside.

>> - for day 12, we could take a guided day trip to cinque terre which would be quick, i know, but the benefit of this is it would allow us to see cinque terre and return to florence as a base so that we don't need to change hotels and would make for a much shorter train ride to venice (instead of riding train from cinque terre to venice). << Too far, a lot of travel, does not make sense to me. Tuscany is better.

Jean

"...BUT it's the train trip from cinque terre to venice that i was trying to avoid. train from CT to venice will take 5.5 hours! if we did cinque terre as a day trip from florence, then we can ride the train from florence to venice which would be around 2 hrs, much more manageable."

The day trip from Florence to the Cinque Terre will involve 6 or more hours on trains depending on the towns you visit. The distances between places are all still there no matter what order you visit them. The only way to spend less time on trains is to go to fewer places.

adrienne

I believe your logic about the amount of time to travel between Florence, CT, and Venice is flawed. I just checked the train times and the difference is a quarter hour (+/-).

florence - la spezia - 2 hours
return - 2 hours
florence - venice - 2 hours
Total 6 hours

florence - la spezia - 2 hours
la spezia - venice - 4.25 hours
Total - 6.25 hours

It doesn't matter which way you do the trip - it all comes out about the same amount of time. 15 to 30 minutes more or less isn't going to make any difference.