KarenKay

My husband and I are planning to go to Italy in April or May 2007 for our 25th wedding anniversary. We will have 14 days to spend there. I am seeking any input from more seasoned travelers. Here are my "very" preliminary thoughts: Flying into Venice first and staying there for 3 days, then to Tuscany where we like the idea of a villa near Siena and taking day trips to Florence and the surrounding countryside. After that Rome for a few days and then the Amalfi coast. Flying home from Naples. I hear great things about the Cinque Terre. Should we try to squeeze that in or leave something else out to see it?
Our traveling personality is relaxed. We want to see the main sights but also want time to just enjoy being there. I can deal with crowds for a while but then need some quiet in my hotel setting. We like getting off the beaten path, hiking, talking to people, good food and red wine.
When is the best time to go? What would you not miss? What can be skipped? What romantic itinerary would you plan for first time visitors celebrating an anniversary in Italy? Thanks so much.

gard

Hi

Don't miss out on Rome at least. My wife and I went there last year and we stayed 5-6 days and it is a wonderful city and we would like to go back to explorer it more. I have posted a trip report with pictures and links on my homepage http://gardkarlsen.com/rome_italy.htm . Maybe you can find some useful information there.

In general I can only say that you should not try to squeeze in too much. With limited time you have to concentrate on a few place instead of trying to cover it all We also went to Venice a few years back by the way and here is the trip report from that trip: http://gardkarlsen.com/italy_venice.htm

Good luck with the planning.

Regards
Gard
Stavanger, Norway

luvtotravel

It sounds to me like you are trying to fit in too much. You'll spend way too much time moving from place to place, unpacking and repacking. Look at a map and try to keep your travels centrally located.

That said, I just returned a week ago and will be posting my trip report in the next day or two. We stayed in a Villa outside Siena. Here is the website: www.villascacciapensieri.it/home-ing.htm. Quite lovely with several gardens.

You might think about flying into Venice, training to Cinque Terre, training to Siena, driving a little in Tuscany, finally flying out of Rome or Florence. Or eliminate Cinque Terre and add Rome. I don't recommend more than that in two weeks.

isabel

I would do either Cinque Terre or Amalfi but not both - even though both may be great, they are both coastal/hilly areas so you'd get the feeling with just one of them. If you did that you'd have just four destinations - Venice, Tuscany, Rome and coast - and that is pretty easily done in two weeks. If it were me I'd do the CT over Amalfi just because it would be less travel, you could then end in Rome which would be probably easier and cheaper to fly out of.

I'd probably do Venice 3 nights, train to CT, 2 nights, Tuscany 5 nights (car for this time only), Rome 4 nights. I don't have a trip report, but my photos of Italy are at: www.pbase.com/annforcier

Have a great trip.

michellen

I second isabel's suggestions! I loved Cinque Terre!

Travel_Bug_Cin

Congratulations on your 25th. My husband and I (married 26 years) are travelling to Italy (first time overseas - we did a Hawaiian cruise for our 25th) this August. We are going to the same areas you mention in a 16 night period. We are flying into and spending 4 nights in Venice, then 4 nights in Tuscany area, 4 nights in Sorrento, and then 4 nights in Rome where we fly home from. I will post our experiences sometime in late August - so stay tuned....

john183

My wife and I (a couple of young 50 somethings - ha) were in Italy for the first time for 2 weeks in May of 2001 celebrating our 10th anniversary. We flew in to Rome (arrived Saturday morning), rented a car and drove to a villa near Panzano in Tuscany where we stayed for a week with day trips to many little towns and Florence. We took a train from Florence to Venice and stayed 2 nights. We flew from Venice to Naples, rented a car and drove to Positano where we stayed 3 nights. Finally we took a train from Naples to Rome and stayed 3 nights before leaving for home Sunday morning. It was a whirlwind 2 weeks but we loved every minute of it including the different ways we traveled between cities. Your travel personality sounds a lot like ours but we found we spent very little time in our hotel because of the short time we were in each place. We did however enjoy many hours on our balcony at the villa in Tuscany sipping red wine, listening to church bells ringing in the distance and just looking at the beautiful Chianti scenery. May was a wonderful time to be in Italy and just about every place we went was romantic to us (especially the Amalfi Coast). In my opinion, you can't go wrong with your itinerary.

ira

Hi KK,

I also suggest either the CT or the AC, but not both.

How long in Tuscany?

Mid-May would be better than late April.

travelLUV

Ira,

Why is mid-may better than late april? Does a couple of weeks really make much of a difference in weather? or is it something else?

John where did you stay in Chianti?

tuscanlifeedit

A few weeks can make a difference in weather, just as it can at home. That said, it is still a matter of luck. Here in PA, we had a very warm later April, and a very cold and damp mid May... so who knows?

As long as you aren't planning on beaches or pools, it probably doesn't make that much difference.

I would like to aim for late May, but then you know what is best for your schedule.

tuscanlifeedit

ooops...

I forgot to add that since you are flying out of Naples, I would see the Amalfi coast and not the Cinque Terre.

And for maximum enjoyment of these coastal areas, the later in the year, the more things that will be open.

How about 3 days in Venice, 4 near Siena, at least 3 days in Rome, and 3 in Sorrento with day trips?

john183

We stayed in one of the apartments (Melograno) in Il Palagio just outside of Panzano.

Here is the web site: http://www.tuscanenterprise.it/

Click on Villa Index then the reference code for Tottolo is 060101, Tottolino is 060102 and Melograno is 060105.

Our first choices would have been Tottolo or Tottolino but they were already booked for the week we were going to be there. We met the people staying in Tottolo and it was very nice. Actually we met several of the people staying in the different apartments and they were all very nice. Melograno was not luxurious but the view from the private balcony was fantastic. It was a great place to relax after the crowds of Florence or a long day of "small-town-hopping". We grocery shopped at the Coop in Greve and had a lot of fun trying to cook a couple of meals.

As I have said before in one of my previous posts about this place - it fit the bill exactly for what my wife and I were looking for.

donw

If you're going to relax on your vacation, you're trying to do too much in one trip. I see you want to rent a villa in Siena, etc. and take day trips so it sounds like you do want to relax.

If you're going to see all you can, I'd stay less in each city and overview lots. You can always go back and relax where you liked the best.

brigidheath

I just returned from a 10 day first time trip to Italy that included southern Tuscany, Cinque Terra and Bellagio. The most wonderful thing we did was to take a hot air balloon ride in southern Tuscany with Robert Etherington who was recommended in National Geographic Traveler.(www.ballooningintuscany.com). He is a great pilot and this is the area of Tuscany that is all rolling green hills, cyprus trees, hilltop towns and flowers. He is just outside of Montisi (www.montisi.com) and has lots of recommendations for accomodations in the area. For Cinque Terra we stayed in Manarola for a night and it is quite a beautiful place. Our only wish is that we would have left most of our luggage in the car at the train station in La Spezia, packed an overnight bag, and taken the train to Manarola. Dragging your luggage up the hillside to reach our car in the parking lot at the top (even with a partial bus ride) was a struggle. In good weather there is a ferry as well. Vernaza is not as step but still quite pretty.

JandaO

isabel,
WOW !! I enjoyed your pictures so much. My compliments.

Ducko

I just returned from our first European trip and we spent about 8 days in Italy. We felt like we saw some interesting things and had a great time! We spent 2 nights in Rome, 4 nights Siena, 2 nights Venice. Everyone says don't try to see too much or you're rushing it but we didn't feel rushed and saw what we wanted and know where we want to go back. Whatever you choose, you'll have a fabulous time! I loved Tuscany and hope to go back there but Rome and Venice (and--sorry!--our day trip to Florence) gave us enough big city/museum experiences. We met wonderful people and had wonderful meals. Look forward to it!!

Doctor

We were in Italy last year and loved every moment. We drove from Positano which is beautiful to Rome and met our friends there. We all rented a villa in Tuscany where we spent 2 weeks. Visited most of the medieval cities and took some nice hikes.

Unfortunately, and I only tell you this for your security we were robbed by highway bandits on our drive from the Rome airport to Tuscany. two men in datk leather jackets motioned us to pull over . When we did they showed us their police badge and said they were looking for counterfeit money and drugs. They asked for our passports, money and wallets and one of our party had both money and passport in one bag. They took $1000 from the bag in front of our eyes without our seeing it. They then came to the back seat where I was sitting and wanted to take my watch and my rings. I refused, told them we had no counterfeit money and as time was going by they became more agitated as we did. We eventually started our car and drove off. Their car was unmarked. Not a nice experience but be careful.

KarenKay

Our internet connection has not been working so I've just recently been able to get back on line. Thanks to all of you who took the time to respond. I've been looking at all of your wonderful links and considering the advice. It looks as if we will be going to Amalfi coast instead of Cinque Terra as Pompeii is one of my husband's "must sees". Based on your responses and my other research we are now planning to go in May rather than April. We are also considering starting south and making our way north. Tentatively flying into Naples - seeing Amalfi then heading to Rome, Tuscany - flying out of Venice. Any opinions on this? Do you think it matters?
Also, I read a great trip report on this site - Ira's? - however I believe it was a few years old. Anyway he stayed in Praiano and it sounds like a lovely village, less crowded than Positano with some nice places to stay. Any thoughts on that? Thank you so much. I am having so much fun reading all the posts here as well as my multitude of travel guides.
Thanks again, Karen

annhig

Your revised plan looks great. 4 places [and just 3 moves] should help to guard against "if it's tuesday it must be Rome" syndrome. If i were you, I would book flights now, then you have the basic fromework. You have plenty of time to arrange hotels so I would start to read travel as opposed to guide books, so give you more idea of what sort of experince you want. Then you can move onto more detailed planning later.

brigidheath

One hint from my trip (I didn't get my luggage until day 6 and had to go back to the Pisa airport to get it)- if you have any kind of connecting flight whether in the states or Italy pack your luggage so that each piece contains some of your clothes and some of your husbands. Of 66 people on our Milan to Pisa flight 28 had at least one piece of luggage not make it that day. Eventually it will get to the airport, but usually not until the next day. Then a different courier company picks it up and now has 24 to 48 hours to deliver it to you. This only works if you are stayinig in one place for a long period of time. We weren't. Any chargers for your camera, pills, cosmetics, contact info/vouchers take in your carry on.