skot

I wish to go to Italy for my honeymoon for two weeks in november end to december. This will be my first trip to Italy.

The places and time i would like to visit are
2 days in Rome
3 days in Venice
7 days villa in Tuscany with rental car

I had a few questions about my trip:
1. The avg. temperature in Italy at that time is 5-15 degrees, which is okay with me. Is it accompanied by rain? Will it make visiting places difficult? Is it windy?
2. I have checked car rental prices and found sixt.com the cheapest. Are there any alternatives? As it is off peak season, should I just land in Italy without booking online?
3. For a first timer, what all places should I visit in Tuscany? I will be staying somewhere in chianti. Florence, Pisa, San Gimigano, Siena....what else? (keeping in mind that I can only make 6 day trips at the max.)
4. Is it feasible to make a day trip to Cinque Terre from Chianti, can I club it with Pisa day trip?
5. Is it safe to stay in a agritourismo/farmhouse/villa in Chianti during that time? I figure there will not be many tourists at that time.
6. Does anyone has any idea about fare variation for international flights. Will it be cheap if I book right now or wait for one more month.
7. I will plan date and time of my travel within Italy beforehand, should I book with raileurope.com or trenitalia.com? Travel will be from Rome - Venice - Florence- Rome

I hope I haven't asked too many questions for a post
Skot

ellenem

At that time of year there is no need to book your train tickets ahead of time unless you're hoping to receive a discount. I believe only the Trenitalia site offers these discounts and many people (especially U.S. credit card holders) find it impossible to book tickets on the site.

I would not combine Pisa and Cinque Terre in one day trip. From Chianti, I would probably not do a day trip to Cinque Terre at all— a bit far for my taste (3 hours drive each way) and wondering what the weather might be like in CT in late November in any case. . .

I cannot speak to how Tuscany will be in late November/early December as far as weather or scenery is concerned. Hopefully someone else can comment on that.

franco

I'm answering only the questions on which I have any insight to offer:
1. Every day will be different, and every year is different from the previous, of course. It may be rainy. It may be sunny. It may be windy. Nobody can possibly predict. You already figured out average temperatures, so you know what to pack. And packing an umbrella will certainly be a good idea, even if you end up not needing it (hopefully).
3. This doesn't depend on your being a first-timer, but on your interests: cities, small towns, scenery, Renaissance, Middle Ages, 20th century, paintings, architecture, sculpture, museums......?? If you tell us more, we can advise you.
4. As ellenem said, it's not wise to combine Pisa and the Cinque Terre on one day - the Cinque Terre alone need one day, and I wouldn't go having just a maximum of 6 daytrips, and given the time of the year: you need to be sure to have nice weather to plan a Cinque Terre visit.
5. I'm always a little bewildered by those recurrent safety questions. Safe as compared to WHAT? If you are coming from Abruzzo or rural Umbria (or also parts of southern Tuscany), where hardly anyone would lock the front door while not being at home, you will find the Chianti region unsafe. If you're coming from Iraq... Well, to try an "average" answer, of course Tuscany is safe, cities and rural parts alike. No muggers, no violent youth gangs, if you're thinking of that kind of danger. But locking the front door when leaving your villa for the daytrip, yes, that's a good idea.

zeppole

Regarding whether it is safe to book a farmhouse accommodation in nov-dec:

Make sure you pick one that advertises how warm and cosy it is, and back that up with Tripadvisor reviews from people who say they were there in cold weather.

Also, don't book a remote place down a dirt road, or on the top of the hill. Snow and ice can occur as early as the first week of November, and you won't want to be negotiating the roads. Stick to lower elevations and paved access. In bad weather, you won't want to drive to San Gimignano.

skot

Thanks all for the replies.

Being on a honeymoon, I would like visit small towns with natural beauty and also I would not like to miss something like Leaning Tower of Pisa and maybe one or two museums/architechture sites in Tuscany. (remember I only have 6 days in Tuscany)

How is the service of sixt.com...are they any good? is booking required for nov-dec time.

How many days before should I book on trenitalia to get a discount?

zeppole

Six days in Tuscany is actually quite a lot, especially if you don't intend to spend 3 of them in Florence inside museums.

You should invest in a very guide guidebook just for Tuscany alone -- either the Michelin Green Guide for Tuscany or the Italian Touring Club's "Authentic Tuscany" and spend some time with your fiance choosing which museums sound most enjoyable to you. Don't be afraid to skip the most-ballyhooed painting museums for a science museum, an archeology museum, a jewelry museum or a smaller town's beautiful church with just one gem in it. Tuscany is an extremely rich place in history and craft and art. You really get a lot out of a few bites you savor, that mean something to you, rather than dutifully attending to famous things.

You will see much natural beauty in the area and have no end of small towns to explore. It is impossible to get dangerously lost in Tuscany, so don't be afraid to just drive over the next hill if it looks like fun.

Can't answer your other questions!

Peter_S_Aus

You are travelling Rome / Venice / Tuscany, I imagine flying into Rome. Give some thought to where you fly out from - called an "open Jaw" ticket. You might do Rome/Tuscany/Venice. If it were me, I'd do Venice/Tuscany/Rome, which means that you are moving south as the weather gets cooler.

It's good to plan "nights" rather than "days". Two weeks, and staying in three places, is good.

We’ve stayed in Venice in December, and it was cool/cold, rather than cold/freezing. A hat and gloves are a good idea, and umbrella vendors appear at the first drop of rain.

Think about Venice four nights, Tuscany six nights, Rome three nights, which gives thirteen nights total. Flights out of Venice headed to the US tend to depart very early in the morning, so can be a bit of a hassle. The train system in Italy is excellent, you don’t need to book in advance. Trains Venice/Florence depart every hour, so if you buy a ticket the day prior to travelling, you will have no problems. The Trenitalia web site may be good for planning, but can be a source of frustration as it won’t accept US credit cards.

We stayed at the Hotel Ai do Mori in Venice for six nights on our first trip. We liked it, and it is easy to find – an advantage in the maze of Venetian streets.

franco

Well, six days is not bad, but it certainly doesn't allow you to see all of Tuscany - not even most of it. Since you're staying in Chianti, you should spend one day exploring that area (especially since you're interested in scenery); doesn't seem like a lot perhaps, but roads in Chianti are VERY slow. One day Florence for a very rough first impression, perhaps (a thorough visit needs five full & intense days). You want to see Pisa, and that's a wise choice (but please bear in mind that the top sight there is not the Leaning Tower - rather, the adjoining cathedral); you can add a second destination to Pisa, though perhaps not Lucca, that's a bit much for one day coming from the Chianti area. The Certosa di Pisa is one possibility; Certaldo another; or perhaps S. Gimignano, depending on your preferences (all three of those sights would come under the header "architecture", of course, though both Certaldo and S. Gimignano are also offering nice views that you might regard as "scenery").
One day could be Siena (plenty of art & architecture sights in this town, but also the views of - urban - scenery plus surrounding hills are highly enjoyable) plus, if you don't care for a thorough visit of Siena's sights, Monteriggioni and the (ruined) Abbey of S. Galgano - plenty of beautiful scenery. And as for the remaining two days, you could easily spend them driving around the hills south of Siena, which make for Tuscany's most famous scenery: the classical cypress-lined views. There are lots and lots and lots of art & architecture there, so if you are interested to include some of them, ask again - if not, the hilltowns will provide you with very beautiful views: Montalcino, the Abbey of S. Antimo, Montepulciano, Bagno Vignoni (google this one - I'm sure you'd love it), Pienza, Montepulciano... Or else, if you want to spend but one day in the Sienese hills, you could go to Cortona (another "scenic" hilltown, with a great Renaissance church outside the city walls if you want, but inside the walls, it's pure hilltown romance, super-touristy though) - and go on to the neighbouring hilltowns like Castiglion Fiorentino, which is what Cortona must have been before the crowds conquered it.

nytraveler

For perspective - to spend 2 weeks almost anywhere in europe at that time without meeting rain (or possibly sleet/light snow) would be very unusual. The days will be quite short and many tourist sights may have shorter opening hours (perhaps only in the am).

If you want to stay in an agriturismo I think it is perfectly safe - a bigger question is how comfortable it will be. You need to check on what type of heat it has and how warm they keep it. (A friend of mine stayed at a B&B in England in the winter and was amazed they didn't heat it to the 75 degrees she was used to. The idea of wearing a sweater indoors just didn;t appeal to her.)