apage16

Hello,
My husband and I are taking our very first trip to Italy this fall and I need a bit of advice on our itinerary. Here is our current schedule:

Sunday 9/2- arrive in Milan at 730am after traveling from San Francisco, rest all day,
dinner/nightlife in Milan

Monday 9/3- shopping in Milan
Tuesday 9/4- morning in Milan, travel to Florence by early afternoon train, late afternoon
and night in Florence.
Wednesday 9/5- shopping/exploring Florence
Thursday 9/6- explore Florence (possible morning trip to outlets for shopping) take
evening train to Naples, private driver take us to hotel in Positano.
Friday 9/7- cooking class in Ravello, rest of day in Positano (maybe boat to Capri for
nightlife?)
Saturday 9/8- exploring Positano/relaxing
Sunday 9/9- 1pm flight from Napes to Paris, arrive in Paris, spend afternoon and night in
Paris
Monday 9/10- board 1pm flight from Paris back to the Left Coast

I am thinking of adding a quick trip to Venice in here. If I do it, it would be on Tuesday 9/4 leaving Milan in the morning on a train to Venice, spend the day there and either leave on a late evening train to Florence or stay overnight and go to Florence early in the morning on Wednesday and continue with the rest of the schedule as planned. Do you think such a short trip to Venice is worth it? I have heard that it will still be very hot, very crowded and very stinky this time of year and that we are likely to be miserable so its not worth cutting Florence and Milan short on this trip. I have also heard that Venice is amazing this time of year and we'd be crazy not to go. Please let me know what you think and if you think we should go should we just do the day trip or stay overnight?

A side note- Ive been told countless times that this itinerary is unconventional for a first time trip to Italy because we are doing Milan and not Rome. We are a fairly young couple (31 and 32) and are really into fashion. We would love to be able to stay longer and do both but this is longest we have childcare for back home so we felt we had to choose and then come back in a couple years to do what we missed this trip.. For us going to Milan and exploring the flagship stores of some of the great fashion houses is similar to an art-enthusiast touring the Louvre for the first time. In addition to the fashion/shopping, we are going to Italy for the food, the architecture and romance! We also love good nightlife which we are hoping to get in Milan as well. Thanks in advance for any suggestions/comments.

ekscrunchy

I'd make sure that the stores you want to visit are open all day Monday. Many retail shops are closed on Sundays and Monday mornings.


For me your plan would be unconventional but not in the unconventional/offbeat/interesting sense.

ekc

Don't try and add in Venice. You already have alot on your plate and you can't do Venice justice in part of a day. Save it for the next trip.

capxxx

I think the only way to add Venice comfortably would be to skip Florence entirely and head straight to Naples afterwards.

I have to say I'm on the ``crazy not to go'' side, but its a tossup, given your interests. I think they probably tie for shop-ability.

You might want to double-check that those outlet stores near Florence are worth the trip -- I do recall some people on this forum expressing disappointment due to very pedestrian offerings.

apage16

Thanks capxxx! I really appreciate the comment on the Florence outlets too. I had actually looked at this forum and a lot of others on this point and am not sure we are going to do it based on what you said exactly. The way I have it set up we have a private driver reserved to take us that day if we want to go but if we decide not to we will just have him take to our train in the evening and explore Florence more that day. I am thinking we may be all shopped out after Milan and nothing would annoy me more than getting all the way out there and there not being any good stuff.

Dayle

apage,

As you have already figured out, there are few posters here on Fodors who would do this type of trip. However, if these are you interests, it is your trip after all.

If shopping and fashion are your priorities, I would limit the trip to Milan and Florence, finishing in Paris. With the itinerary you have now, your trip is extremely scattered. You are going to spend a lot of hours and money moving around to your destinations - and you only have a week!

So what do you have the most of? Obviously not time, so have you added up the train travel times and costs to do this itinerary? Once you have done that, see if you feel it will be worth it. You do want to have EEE for shopping.

Also, are you aware of the high prices for top fashion in Europe? I know I can't afford it, but maybe you can. Make sure you are aware of the exchange rate and VAT taxes. You will have to pay US customs too for total purchases above a certain amount. You can also check that on line on the US gov site.

There are no night boat services to Capri and it's pretty quiet at night if you did stay over. Positano will have the most nightlife on the Amalfi Coast.

StCirq

I agree you should skip Venice on this already hectic trip.

And I would never "rest all day" upon arrival. That's a recipe for extended jet lag. Get up, get out, get as much sunshine as you can, walk, eat light, and go to bed around 9-10 pm. YOu'll be over jet lag by the next morning.

apage16

Thank you Dayle and StCirq for your comments, they are very helpful.

I realize its not your typical itinerary but it is compromised of the places in Italy that we would like to see most. The Paris portion of the itinerary wasnt our choice. We spent about two weeks in Paris and the South of France for our wedding and honeymoon in 2008 and while we LOVED it, we just wanted to do Italy this time around but all of the flights back home from Naples included an overnight layover in Paris so we figured, why not!

We will skip Venice and save it for a return trip to combine with Rome and Siena maybe. As far as the cost of top fashion in Europe, great fashion doesn't necessarily = top designers in my opinion. When we did Paris the shopping was amazing but the best of it wasn't Dior, Chanel or any of the top fashion houses as you correctly pointed out that stuff is way too expensive. The best stuff we found were in the smaller boutiques in the Marais. From what Ive read, if you take the time to stray beyond the top designer shops and explore other areas of Milan there is amazing shopping at reasonable prices, but I guess I'll find out soon enough! Also, re VAT, I am pretty sure that you can get those taxes refunded to you at the airport for clothing and merchandise purchases. Thanks again for your comments!

Dayle

apage,

I would just again recommend that you check your train schedules and prices for your planned itinerary. I do this for every trip I take because travel times can have a major impact on how much time you have at your destination.

Once you have that important piece of the puzzle, it makes evaluating an itinerary much easier. You'll be able to make an intelligent decision about how and where you want to spend your time.

Happy shopping!