3 weeks italy itinerary

Old Aug 15th, 2017, 12:07 PM
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3 weeks italy itinerary

would love to hear thoughts for next june/early july. will be traveling with 2 teens. we prefer to travel slowly and stay in one spot for a week at a time and do day trips.

we loved our france combo of a week in paris, a week in the Dordogne and then a week in provence. any sort of equivalent trip in Italy?
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Old Aug 15th, 2017, 12:31 PM
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Lots

How about landing in Venice
3 nights

Taking train to Florence
3 nights

Train to Cinque Terre
3 nights - teens love hiking right - these are easy forced marches between the 5 seaside villages!

Take train to nearby La Spezia - rent car and drive:

Lucca -supreme walled medieval city
2 nights - one day day tripping to nearby Pisa - gotta climb the Tower

Tool around Tuscany and its iconic hilltowns -ending up south in say Orvieto -return car

4 nights?

Train to Rome
5 nights

Fly out of Rome

Kind of hitting highlights of many of Italy.

Trains - for lots on Italian trains- www.trenitalia.com; www.italotreno/en - www.seat61.com; www.budgeteuropetravel.com and www.ricksteves.com.
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Old Aug 15th, 2017, 12:32 PM
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Hi Plambers

Just giving you my suggestion, as a basis to start thinking. But you cannot go wrong with any itinerary!

4 days Amalfi Coast (or Cinque Terre and Rapallo, SML , Portofino, Porto Venere, based in La Spezia).

5 or 6 Days in Rome, with day trip to Orvieto.

6 or 7 days in Firenze, with day trips to Pisa(half day...or Pisa and Lucca, full day) , Siena (full day).... San Giminiano( takes almost a full day).

Remaining Days based in Venezia, with visits to Verona, or Bologna, or may be stay in two cities.

Order of thensuggested visits depends on yor air tickets.

Any way......what a wonderful trip!
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Old Aug 15th, 2017, 12:33 PM
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Lucca -supreme walled medieval city
2 nights - one day day tripping to nearby Pisa - gotta climb the Tower>

Oops -take trains to these places and Siena -pick up rental car there- both Lucca and Pisa from Lucca very easy train trips and cars no plus.
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Old Aug 15th, 2017, 02:15 PM
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Well, first thing to notice is that while you specifically said you preferred 3 one week stays, people will want to give you an exhausting hop-all-over Italy agenda.

Luckily you can travel as you prefer in Italy & have a great slow time, filled with beauty, history & wonderful social experiences.

Italy's got 4 major art cities to rival the density of interest in Paris: Rome or Florence or Venice or naples. Read up on each & decide which would suit the family best for a week.

For the Dordogne, take a look at Umbria, Le Marche or PIemonte.

For Provence, Tuscany (the Chianti area or val d'Orcia).
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Old Aug 15th, 2017, 03:20 PM
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OK missed the 3 one-week stays part - for that Venice, Florence and Rome and do day trips of which there are a plethora.

Or miss one of the three tourist meccas and stay a week somewhere - not CT - but yes do say a Farmhouse stay in Tuscany with car perhaps.

But for the teens and you to miss Venice, Rome or Florence would be a pity IMO.

France has one must place Paris - Italy has three - reconsider that one-week stay requirement and do say 5 bases - the big three - Amalfi and say Tuscany.
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Old Aug 15th, 2017, 03:54 PM
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I know you want only three places, but I'd recommend four: Venice, Tuscany (with rental car), Rome, the Amalfi Coast. Of the four I would allow the shortest time for Venice and split the rest among the other three. This will give you a quite varied experience of Italy. Venice, Tuscany, and Rome are probably self-explanatory, but I add the Amalfi Coast because there are loads of things to do in the area: Pompeii, Herculaneum, hike up Vesuvius, Capri, the coastal villages, Paestum (Greek ruins), and probably more that aren't coming to mind this moment. You could also spend a day in Naples while in this area - well worth while.
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Old Aug 15th, 2017, 04:27 PM
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Agree wholeheartedly with artsnletters but maybe spend a few days in Florence or at least day trip in via public transportation just to see it.
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Old Aug 15th, 2017, 05:36 PM
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IMO, this is one of those impossible-to-answer questions without knowing a lot more about you, what you want in a trip, how you define "travel slowly," etc. (I wouldn't consider traveling long distances in Italy to be going "slowly," but you may think differently.)

What did you do/see in the Dordogne and Provence that you enjoyed the most? Do you want to replicate that experience as much as possible, or is the Italy trip on a clean slate?

You didn't mention any cities in the (brief) description of your France trip. Does that mean you're less interested in cities than countryside? Do you know what cities in Italy you can fly into directly from your home airport? Or will there be a connection or two no matter where you go?

How old are the teens? Are their interests more physical or more history and the arts?

Do you mind being in very crowded places with fellow tourists or would you prefer to be in quieter spots?
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Old Aug 15th, 2017, 05:43 PM
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If you like to stay in one lodging & not switch during a 1-week stay then if you sleep on the Amalfi coast for a week you will not be in a position to visit Pompeii, Herculaneum, hike up Vesuvius, Paestum or spend a day in Naples. The transportation realities of the Amalfi coast just don't permit that. If you want to see all or even just a few of those places your only option is to stay in Sorrento or else break up your week's stay into different locations.

Also would add that going to the top 4 most popular tourist destinations in Italy for shorter sprints won't necessarily give you a more varied experience of Italy There is sharp variety in the sights and the food wherever you go in Italy for sure but the biggest variation of experiences you can have is getting off the beaten track at least part of the time and relaxing and letting Italy offer itself to you rather than rushing to see things.
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Old Aug 15th, 2017, 10:32 PM
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I'd look at the Dolomites, Tuscany/Umbria, Le Marche, Piedmonte (and some of the mountain areas north/west of Turin).

Good luck, go to the Library and borrow a bunch of guides (any age will do) and get everyone choosing one place each.

Have a look at agriturismo.it though when you want to book you will want to throw booking.com into the pot as well.
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Old Aug 16th, 2017, 03:16 AM
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wow! all thanks! my husband and i have been before-rome florence venice and milan with a day in pompei and sorrento. i loved all but rome. i am a big city person (from nyc) but am willing to give rome another try.

our 3 week france trip went really well bc we hit paris hard and then went to more rural areas where we still kept busy, but it was way more relaxing and we rented lovely villas with a pool for the late afternoon. we also had a rental car for 2 weeks.

i refuse to do pisa-hate all those stupid photos of people holding the tower up!!

thanks again for places i was not familiar with that are equivalents of places we visiited in france.
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Old Aug 16th, 2017, 04:49 AM
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a few more comments to help you help me!

we'd prefer to fly in and out of rome as we can get direct flights

kids did not love museums in paris-they liked some but said we did way too many

we loved the local markets in the Dordogne and provence for daily supplies

we rented car for 2 weeks and that went fine.

although our days were long, I don't like to bounce from one thing to another without understanding and appreciating what I just saw. I am not a check the boxer-I'd rather appreciate less than rush and see more.

kids will be 14 and 16. dd likes to shop. son is interested more in history. he liked museums more than she did.

we all loved the caves in the Dordogne, canoeing, visiting the castles etc.

food matters (should not be an issue in Italy.

not looking to replicate.

ok=so I am willing to visit 4 spots. I remember loving Florence so do think spending time in Florence would be better than driving in every day from Tuscany.

ideally we'd like to end in the most relaxing spot and perhaps have to spend a final night in rome before departure.

my challenge is that I have no sense of direction so how do I do this in order??
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Old Aug 16th, 2017, 05:32 AM
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It almost doesn't matter which direction you go in June. Pick your places, look for air deals. All the logistics can be aced.

Even if you are not looking to replicate your France trip precisely, do you have any strong opinions on whether you would prefer a 2-week rental car or everybody is OK with public transportation for one of the weeks? One of the key features of the Amalfi coast is that it can be a nightmare to have a car there once the season is on (starts in May). But using public transportation means competition for buses & issues about motion sickness for some people. Some of that can be gotten around by using ferries, or paying for private drivers (at a rate of about 35e per hour).

For a teen interested in history, the northern half of Le Marche might have more to explore, plus there are stalactite caves. There are ways to position oneself where excursions to the Adriatic coast are possible.

However, if you were to pick Le Marche as one leg of the trip, suggest putting it in the middle of the trip so that you are somewhere closer to Rome for the final leg.

So based on what you've said so far, I would suggest Rome>Le Marche> + ???? (either Tuscany, Umbria or beach location south of Rome)
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Old Aug 16th, 2017, 06:27 AM
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I am not familiar with Le Marche so will start researching. thanks much.

we could use public transportation and don't want to drive in the amalfi-the bus ride was terrifying enough!
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Old Aug 16th, 2017, 07:21 AM
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The benefit of agiturismo is that a fair few of them will have horse riding, farm stuff built in and some will be near caves etc with easy access to the local cavers/canoers etc. Plus you can often get access to washing machines etc which on this sort of trip is a real plus.
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Old Aug 16th, 2017, 08:10 AM
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Agree with artsnletters, but, as you've already visited the Amalfi Coast, I would substitute Naples as a base. That way you can easily visit the buried cities, the ruins on the north side of the Bay of Naples (Pozzuoli, Sybil's Cave, etc.) as well as the Archaeological Museum and lots of other interesting and historical things to see.

Agree with you, BTW, about Rome. Rome is my spouse's favorite city in the world, but far from mine. Naples, on the other hand. . . .
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Old Aug 16th, 2017, 08:18 AM
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Naples looks today like many Italian cities did decades ago - laundry slung from flats across narrow lanes - I love Naples!
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Old Aug 16th, 2017, 08:26 AM
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I think we really need more information, what types of activities do you want, what type of accommodations, driving or train, etc.
I find picking a good post in Italy is like shooting fish in a barrel--hard to go wrong!
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Old Aug 16th, 2017, 10:49 AM
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I'd prefer to rent a house if possible. if we can take a train, that is fine. we needed a car in france.

not too many museums and not all cities like rome, Florence and venice.
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