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Help Please with itinerary between Pisa and Milan in Sept/Oct.

Help Please with itinerary between Pisa and Milan in Sept/Oct.

Old Feb 26th, 2015, 05:48 AM
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Help Please with itinerary between Pisa and Milan in Sept/Oct.

Well I took the plunge and booked our airline tickets for our trip to Italy. We will arrive the last week of Sept and stay into October, we have 17 nights on the ground in Italy.

Due to the pricing, we are flying rt Buffalo NY to Milan. I would have preferred open jaw, but tickets were almost $400. higher, each, to depart from anywhere else in Italy. So we are going to enjoy our time between Rome and Milan for the last week of our trip.

Here's what I'm planning so far. Arrive Milan 9 AM (God and Delta willing). Take the train directly from Milan to Bologna. Stay in Bologna 3 nights.

Train from Bologna to Rome, 6 nights in Rome. (Our second stay in Rome, the main focus for this trip.)

Train from Rome to Pisa. (husband Really wants to go to Pisa) 2 nights in Pisa.

Here's where I need some help. I'm planning 2 nights in Milan for the end of the trip to get us back for our return flight and hopefully manage to see the Last Supper and a little of Milan on our one full day there.

I have 4 nights in between Pisa and Milan. We'd like to stay in a smallish town, but hopefully somewhere we could rent an apartment for the 4 nights.

We'd like to spend some time on the coastline, either in Liguria or the CT, and have somewhere we can do some hiking/walking and enjoy the area. Night life is not important to us, if we get an apartment we would probably cook our own dinners and then stroll around town....slowly. We don't plan on laying around on beaches, but wouldn't mind beach combing.

We are not renting a car, so it needs to be easy to get to, preferably by train. We would like to see some of the CT so we'd want somewhere with easy connections.

I guess the keywords here are slow and easy for 4 nights, walking, strolling, soaking up the sights. .

I was considering Comogli, Rapallo, Santa Marguerita, Chiavari???

Any opinions on the best location for us? No reservations for accomodations have been made yet, so I'm still somewhat flexible on the total itinerary.

Thanks for your time

Cindy
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Old Feb 26th, 2015, 10:53 AM
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It's been suggested I add Levanto to the list of places between CT and Liguria. Just what I need, another choice. The location does look good though.......
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Old Feb 26th, 2015, 10:59 AM
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All of those are good options, so why not start researching apartments and that let that help guide you?
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Old Feb 26th, 2015, 12:36 PM
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from what i've read Pisa is not a 2 night town. I hear Lucca is better.
Again, not my own opinion but that's what I'm planning on our trip in Sept/Oct.
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Old Feb 26th, 2015, 12:48 PM
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If at all possible, I would reverse your trip, and head to the coast first, by train. That way you really maximize your chances of getting nice, dry weather. Generally speaking, the weather on the coasts takes a turn toward autumn right Sept 21/22. Very often, there is a lingering/Indian summer right into November, but in recent years, it is also that cause that days of really serious rainstorms can roll in, especially once it starts to be past the first week of October.

You can catch a train in Milan for the coast. I would pick Camogli or Santa Margherita Ligure or Rapallo to shorten the train trip, but if you want to go all the way to Levanto/le Cinque Terre, it's about another 35 minutes.

So I am suggesting: Land in Milan, head to coast for 4 nights, head on to Pisa for 2, then Rome, then Bologna, then back to Milan. I might even shorten the Riviera to 3 nights and add that time to Bologna.

There is another thread somewhere (I think by a poster named gillybrit about whether PIsa or Lucca is more enjoyable. I say Pisa, others say Lucca. I'll try to find that other thread an post it here. But really, these discussions between 8 people about which is "best" are really just that. YOu might as well ask the next 8 people you meet in an airport. I was totally surprised I liked Pisa so much and equally surprised Lucca didn't interest me after being there for 90 minutes. So now you know about me, and nothing about either town. Reading up is about the best you can do.
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Old Feb 26th, 2015, 12:49 PM
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Pisa fans vs. Lucca fans

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...re-to-stay.cfm
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Old Feb 26th, 2015, 02:00 PM
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Sandra, good point. I'll discuss switching the order of the itinerary with my husband. The smaller towns might make getting over jet lag a little easier.
I'll take a look at the Pisa/ Lucca debate. But we are only planning 2 nights so it is really only one full day. We will quite likely stick with Pisa for the opportunity to see the sight after the day trippers are gone for the evening.

Yorkshire, I started looking for apartments in the Ligurian coastal towns. That does look like it may end up being the decision maker for where we stay, many of them seem to be fairly far out of the towns and we won't have a car. If the weather was too wet we could end up house bound in a case like that, so staying in a town is a definite must.
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Old Feb 26th, 2015, 02:46 PM
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I think it's a good idea to go to the coast first, then Rome, then Bologna before heading back to Milan.

I think you will find enough to interest you without going to Lucca. Lucca isn't on the same train line so it would add another train change.
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Old Feb 26th, 2015, 05:18 PM
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If you are up for staying in Chiavari, it is a terrific town and you might even more easily find a vacation rental there. However, it is next to impossible to find even a hotel in Chiavari with a sea view (and if it has one, it is too close to the train tracks to be pleasant) -- but if you don't need a sea view, then Chiavari is tops for food and true Italian charm with scarcely a foreign tourist anywhere to be seen. And it is great for a rainy day (which might not get) because all the streets are covered in portici.

Sometimes apartments look far from town when they are really just up the hill -- but it can be a long way up with a lot of stairs. Also, be aware that a great many of the vacation rentals in the towns you mention have ZERO decor. It is not like Tuscan or Parisian rentals. They are usually set up for large families to spend a week or more at the beach, and the furniture (such as it is) is practically throw-away stuff that can withstand the force of six kids in wet bathing suits and two dogs. Local b&bs often have a great deal more charm, and few people feel like cooking if the weather is nice. Most of the towns have plenty of easy eats and market foods so you are not stuck in restaurants all the time. Many of the b&bs will give you kitchen privileges if you want to store some milk, cheese, wine. etc.
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Old Feb 28th, 2015, 04:54 AM
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Sandra.....Chiavari is looking pretty good. Airbnb has some nice listings. Way better than vrbo. Getting excited to maybe do some bookings this weekend. Still unsure about which way we will circle around on this trip.

We really would like to do the coast at the end of the trip. Weather is always a gamble anyway.....
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Old Feb 28th, 2015, 07:47 AM
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I think sandralist makes a great point about going south first for weather and for things getting closed after the summer season. I also have a question for her further guidance: would Livorno or Viareggio be OK as coastal places? If so, they are both rather easy train/bus rides for a day trip to Pisa.

DH and I stayed both of our 2 trips to Pisa at the Royal Victoria (mentioned in sandralist's link) in Pisa and fell in love with its quirky yet old world charm. Cpelk, please don't miss the Duomo in Pisa before or after you climb the tower.

If Cpelk decides to keep the original order, what about Lake Como or Maggiore as the last towns before Milano?
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Old Feb 28th, 2015, 08:57 AM
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Cpelk,

You don't need to worry about closures in October on the Italian Riviera. Much of it is a winter haven for Italians who come from further north, so everything of value stays open. As for weather, you are right, that it is a gamble, and rain can happen anytime. Just to give you more information to help you make up your mind: Typically when rain occurs along that part of the coast from the last week of September to the first week of October, it is passing rain, gone rather quickly, and not a lot of water. In recent years, from about the second week of October to the end of the November, the coast has experienced unpredictable and exceptionally intense bouts of rain that last for days and dump huge quantities of water in a very short period of time. This was the scene in Genoa last year from Oct 9 through 13

http://www.genovatoday.it/cronaca/al...0-ottobre.html

If the sun is shining, it is warm enough to eat lunch and dinner outdoors and even go swimming. I've gone swimming as late as Nov. 10 on the Riviera. But I've also left town during some intense rainstorms so as not to get caught in train shutdowns because I had appointments or flights to catch.

If you want to book the Riviera for the later part of your trip, and take that chance, just keep an eye on the weather while you are in Italy. If there is going to be a significant storm with risk of floods, it will get plenty of media attention, so you can make your judgments on the spot. During that time frame, you have plenty of choices for re-booking elsewhere if need be -- and you'd be pretty unlucky to have a storm affect your trip that badly at that time of year. But it has happened, so it needs to be mentioned.

Here's a good website for following the weather all over Italy. You can use the drop down menus and search features to switch towns, and the home page will show you the overall storm sytems.

http://www.ilmeteo.it/meteo/Chiavari

http://www.ilmeteo.it

If you do book in Chiavari, be sure to eat farinata at Luchin and, if you like chocolates, have a "sorriso" at Caffe Defilla, plus one of their wonderful shakerato cold coffee drinks if it is a hot day. There are also wonderful food stores in Chiavari (and Rapallo). The winery Bisson has a shop near the train station, and some of their wines -- especially their white Bianchetta genovese -- are very nice.


TDudette,

Most people looking for a scenic experience of the Mediterranean coast will not pick either the city of Livorno (which I happen to adore for its unique, working class, multicultural personality and hot African winds) or the beach town of Viareggio, which is your sardines-lined-up-on-beach-on-loungers Italian beach club scene. Day trips by train from Pisa for swims tend to focus on the fancy-pants Forte dei Marmi (which in recent years has been a top destination for affluent Russians, and that may end up being over), or else people to le CInque Terre. Bad weather in le Cinque Terre usually means bad weather as far south as Viareggio as well.

The lakes are like the Riviera in the sense that if the weather is tolerable, it is gorgeous, with ideal hiking weather. However, nighttime temps can drop really dramatically in October on the lakes, and businesses close much more noticeably as than they do on the coast.
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Old Feb 28th, 2015, 12:59 PM
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Thanks, sandralist.
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Old Feb 28th, 2015, 05:41 PM
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Well, continuing on with our constantly changing plans..........we Are going to Liguaria first. We were unable to find a suitable rental in Chiavari darn it, but we did find place in Rapallo that was available and reasonable. So......corresponded with the owner already, he and his father live in the building. I've found owner occupied apartments are usually pretty good. We will know within 24 hrs if the booking is accepted.

We'll have 4 nights in Rapallo then we will train to ....not Pisa but Florence! Husband decided that he'd rather see more of Florence and leave Pisa for a possible daytrip. Or maybe Siena. No arguments from me, there was a lot we wanted to do in Florence 4 years ago and I'm excited for a second chance. We didn't even make it to the Uffizi before. We'll have 5 nights in Florence, then 6 nights in Rome, finishing up with 2 nights in Milan.

All in all this sounds like a more relaxed plan to both of us.

Next up, choosing an apartment in Florence.

So much fun, even if my eyes are blurry from the computer screen

Cindy
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Old Mar 1st, 2015, 01:52 AM
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You can stop by Pisa on the way to Florence, leaving your luggage in the train station while you go sightseeing.

Rapallo has a great food market and some wonderful food shops. If you don't make it to Luchin in Chiavari for farinata, you can good farinata in the afternoons at Tossini, which is near the bus parking lot opposite the train station. If you like gelato, especially seasonal fruit gelati (melon!), Frigidarium opposite the train station is terrific. But you'll find plenty of great food to keep you going cheaply -- roast chickens, fresh pasta with pre-made sauces (try the delicious pansotti con salsa di noci). From Rapallo you can take a boat to Portofino and another from their to San Fruttuoso and Camogli, and then take the train back. You can also take the funicular up into the mountains for great walks and views. One of most lovely things to do if the weather is fine and clear is take the bus from Rapallo to Ruta, and then walk along the seaview road to San Rocco di Camogli to see the view of the seaside villages and Genova. If you walk the path that goes behind the church, you'll find a great bar with a great view. Afterwards, you can walk the other way, down the staiers to the seaside town of Camogli. From there you can take a train or bus back to Rapallo. And if it rains, go to Chiavari (but it probably won't rain.)
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Old Mar 1st, 2015, 05:10 AM
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>>>not Pisa but Florence! Husband decided that he'd rather see more of Florence and leave Pisa for a possible daytrip
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Old Mar 1st, 2015, 05:56 AM
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If you have any interest in it, I'd make time for the Cathedral in Pisa. It's special and so often overlooked because of the tower:

http://www.worldsiteguides.com/europ...isa-cathedral/

Whatever you do, Cpelk, have a wonderful trip in Bella Italia!
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Old Mar 1st, 2015, 06:42 AM
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So excited! Sandra, thank you so much for all the tips on Rapallo and surrounding areas.


And yes, you and ky are definitely right. We will do a stop in Pisa on the way to Florence. Didn't know about leaving bags at the train station but as long as we can do that it will work out fine. We pack light but don't want to be wheeling bags around Pisa.

Tdudette, we try to get into as many churches as possible, so thanks for the tip on the Cathedral.

We did get our confirmation back from Rapallo, today will be more blurry eye time finding apartments in Florence and Rome.

Grazie mille.

Cindy
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Old Mar 1st, 2015, 07:11 AM
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We stayed for a week in the coastal town of Viareggio in an apartment between the beach and the Train station, about a 7 minute leisurely walk either way. From there Pisa and Lucca are a 15-20 minute train ride and Florence is about an hour away, CT can be done in a little over an hour. Very relaxing quiet area frequented by Italians. Wherever you stay, find a home base where can be for 5-7 days and travel out from there, less packing and checking in and unpacking. You will actually save time and be less stressed. Enjoy your trip, also Pre-Book your Last Supper viewing, tickets go onsale 3 months prior to your visit and are gone in a matter of minutes.
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