Griffy

I have been reading all over the forums and getting a bunch of ideas but wanted to toss out the itinerary we finally came up with and see if anyone had any specific suggestions or advice for us as it is our first trip to italy. We are a young married couple with no kids and we love food and wine.

We plan on flying in and out of Rome (figure it will be easiest booking a roundtrip from canada).
Fly into rome on July 3rd,
July 4th train to florence
July 5th guided wine tour (chianti region)
July 6 & 7 - wedding activitis
july 8th to 11th we would like to tour tuscany-do more wine tours and see the towns. (Should we rent a car in florence and then travel from town to town? or should we train to siena to make it our home base, rent a car and then travel to each town each day? I also looked into staying at castello banfi, we could rent a car and drive there and then make that our homebase?)
July 11th train to rome
July 14th train to naples to sorrento
July 14th to 20th - amalfi coast
july 20th train back to rome, fly out july 21st.


ANY and all help is really appreciated

bobthenavigator

Two suggestions:
1. Train to Florence on day one--no reason to stay in Rome.
2. I would get a car for Tuscany and stay south of Siena, but then drive to Sorrento from there to drop the car. Spend all of your time in Rome at the end.

I just saved you 2 hotel changes and a ton of time. Good luck !

Jean

Before you assume flying in/out of Rome is the "easiest," look into flying into Florence (or Pisa) and out of Rome. Since it doesn't sound like you had intended to spend much time in Florence, you could pick up the car at the Florence airport on arrival and drive (hopefully a short distance) to your first nights' lodging (somewhere in Chianti, perhaps?). Make a day trip to Florence or leave it for another trip when you can spend more time there.

Where are the "wedding activities"?

Castello Banfi would be a great base for southern Tuscany, but it's a little far for exploring Chianti.

If your dates are flexible, I'd move the trip up 10 days (or whatever) and fly in/out of Rome. Go to the Amalfi Coast on arrival. Train to Orvieto or Chiusi to pick up the car, tour Tuscany and Chianti, go to the wedding, turn in the car when/where appropriate, visit Florence, and finally train to Rome for your last days and flight home. This reverse order might be slightly more comfortable everywhere temperature-wise.

bobthenavigator

And, I love Castello Banfi but it is really isolated and a long way to any other main site except Montalcino.

zeppole

Since your trip is so far away in time, why not do some wine-tasting research where you live right now before deciding where to stay in Tuscany? Staying at a winery that serves dinner is a great idea if drinking wine is one of the attractions of being in the wine country for you.

Do you know a good wine store where you live? Have them give you some guidance about wines to sample and what to eat with them. By March, you should have a better idea of where you want to be in Tuscany.

I agree with the suggestion to look into flights that land in Florence or Pisa, and keeping your rental car to go south, and ending your trip in Rome.

But if you have never driven in Italy, I suggest you get some sleep before picking up a rental car.

Jean

Castello Banfi is a little isolated, but there are loads of places to explore within about an hour's drive (which is my general limit for day trips).

Bob's comment does prompt me to repeat the adage: You either pick your hotel and explore what's within a reasonable distance of it -OR- you choose what/where you want to explore and pick a hotel that will give you reasonable access to your list. You only have a couple of days in Tuscany, so you need to be fairly precise about where you want to go.

charnees

An excellent reference book for food and wine is Italy for the Gourmet Traveler, by Fred Plotkin. He has lived in Italy for years and his book, which is big and heavy and fairly expensive, is a gold mine. He organizes the book by region, then tells you what the regional best choices are, not just the most trendy or touristy or expensive ones. We tore the book apart and only took the sections for the areas we were visiting.

charnees

If you possibly can, book an open-jaw, AKA multi-city plane ticket, so you don't have to backtrack or zig-zag across Italy. Fly into florence first and head south, ending by flying out of Naples, or vice-versa.

Jean

The Fred Plotkin book is now available in paperback. $16.55 on bn.com. Similar price on Amazon.

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/ital...ed%252bplotkin

Griffy

Thanks so much everyone! I agree, hop on a train and just head straight to our first destination -it will be a long travelling day but might as well just get it over with.
I never really even thought of driving from tuscany down to the amalfi coast and then ending our trip in rome. Makes sense though. I think we are just worried about driving down to sorrento(and i actually meant to say positano b/c that is where we will be staying). I think we also wanted to have our 'relaxing' part of the trip last?
We can't start our trip any earlier b/c my brother in law is getting married june 30th so july 2nd is the earliest we can depart.
I have read that castello banfi is very isolated but man it is beautiful (although very pricey). We will re-think that.
We did think about an open jaw ticket but we plan on using airmiles and i dont know if you are allowed to do that with them. I should look into it.
oh and the wedding activities are in Firenze? I am in the wedding party so I believe we will stay in florence wherever my girlfriend books rooms for the day before and after the wedding.

Griffy

I just ordered that book (thank you!) and also think its a great idea to start tasting italian wines now.

bobthenavigator

Drive as FAR as Sorrento to drop the car, then bus or driver to Positano. Be sure to check the office hours for car drop.

Griffy

sorry the wedding is in Fiesole..

JBX

Griffy --

As you're planning to use airmiles for your tickets and you'll be traveling during busy summer season, you should get on the phone NOW to book your flights. If seats are available, shouldn't be a problem booking "open jaws" (into one city & out from another) using miles. Do check option of flying into Florence or Pisa ..... easy to get from the Pisa airport to city of Florence. And if you decide to end your trip w/ Amalfi Coast, would be good to depart from Naples.

But first, really need to get going w/ booking your tickets ..... hopefully, they'll still have availability on dates you want to travel.

Griffy

Thanks JBX. I actually use avion airmiles (with RBC) so there are no flight restrictions or anything, so booking a flight anytime is never a problem like a lot of different airmiles are.

Dayle

Griffy,

I loved Jeans' suggestions, but if you can't, you can't.

If you must be in Positano in July, then make every effort to visit other Amalfi Coast towns via boat/ferry. The buses can be an absolute nightmare, speaking from personal experience of a Sept visit.

March visit to Amalfi Coast was an entirely different story! SITA buses then were a breeze.

Buon viaggio!

Griffy

Thanks again everyone. We have now got our flights booked to fly into rome on the 3rd and will train straight to florence. We will be there until the 9th and then I think we will drive to a hotel around siena to stay for three nights before driving down to sorrento. I think we have most things booked now as far as hotels go. Just starting to search the forum for tours.
thx.

Mimar

The next thing to think about is where you will pick up your rental car. Avoid driving in Florence; too many ZTLs (local-only driving zones). You could take a bus to the airport and pick up your car there. Or get to Siena by bus or train and pick up your car there. But be aware that rental offices in small towns are open for fewer hours.

And, for others reading this thread, yes, you can use frequent flyer miles for an open-jaws flight. At least with British Air. I've done it many times.

Griffy

ok I have another issue now.. after florence we were going to go stay at castello banfi for two nights and then continue driving to siena for two nights but decided castello banfi was just too pricey for us for this trip. Now we are deciding if we should spend those two days in pisa/lucca OR should we train to venice for those two days and then come back to florence, get the car, drive to siena and eventually down the coast?
I know most will say thats a lot of travelling (3 hours each way) but is it WORTH it? My gut says venice shouldnt be missed b/c I dont know when we would be back again to Italy?

Jean

IMO, the first half of your trip seems hectic. It isn't until you get to Sorrento/AC that you've got a few days in a row that don't involve the wedding activities or moving from place to place. Adding Venice would be too much back and forth for me, but this is your trip. IMO, spending more time in Rome would make more sense.

But if Venice is a must-see, could you leave Florence on an evening train the last day there and spend three nights in Venice? That would at least give you two full days in Venice.

Don't train back to Florence. Rent the car as you're leaving Venice and drive directly to Siena. Make sure your Siena hotel has parking.