jskalee

Hello all,

A friend and I are going to Italy for 3 weeks, then flying to Barcelona for 5 nights and heading home after that.

Our current plan is to fly into Venice (tickets have been booked) and spend around 3 nights there, then our itinerary is simply to make it down to Rome, where we will then depart to Barcelona.

We have an idea of the places we want to see on the way down to Rome, but I would love to hear any suggestions or recommendations on cities or towns to visit, how long to stay for, or activities that are a must. We plan on doing a lot of eating, drinking, and walking around, museums, beaches, hiking, and are open to more!

After leaving Venice (3 nights), this is our plan;
Train to La Spezia- visit the Cinque Terre area (day trip or stay longer?)
Should we stop in Bologna as a base for 3 nights and make a day trip to Cinque Terre?
We also want to stop in Pisa, just to see the Leaning Tower.

Train to Florence (4 nights)- we want to get a good feel of Florence, but also want to take advantage of being in the Tuscany region

Train to Siena (2 nights) -maybe a day trip to Chianti?

Train to Rome (4-5 nights) lots of sightseeing, and also a bit of time to relax. Thinking about visiting Capri

Train to Naples (4 nights)- Visit Pompeii, maybe Sorrento, and spend a day on the Amalfi Coast(!!)

We arrive in Venice September 1st, with this itinerary of 19 days, we have 1-2 days to spare/or for mishaps before our flight to Barcelona.

Any Barcelona recommendations are also appreciated!

Thanks!

justraveling

Hi, I'll skip Cinque Terre, that is overcrowded and out of your root, to focus on: Bologna > Ravenna > Florence > Chianti > Siena > Rome > Naples. You'll find so many fantastic places along the way...

Regarding the Chianti region, it's definitely worth a visit. You can take a bus just behind Florence's train station, and easly reach Greve in Chianti or Panzano. Stop there one or two nights, and go straight to Siena...

RonZ

Train schedules here using italian city names:

http://www.trenitalia.com/tcom-en

Bologna [23 minutes], Pisa [an hour, maybe combined with Lucca] are all easy day trips from Florence. Siena [1:20] the bus is preferred as it goes to the center of town. Florence is very compact, but if you wish to stay near the station, search Santa Maria Novella on booking.com.

The Chianti and Tuscany countrysides are best visited by car, and there are various ways to pick up and dump an auto. Also from Florence you can hire a driver for a day. Also some nice towns by train, Arezzo, Cortona and Orvieto to name just 3.

Capri you would possibly visit from Sorrento, and I question if just a day in that area would work out transportation-wise. If heading down there for a stay I would suggest saying in Naples only once, at the end.

PalenQ

Check www.trenitalia.com for discounted train tickets if you book far enough in advance to get those limited-in-number discounted ducats.

You are the rare person traveling enough on trains to check out the Italy Railpass - especially if going first class as I always recommend to folks on the trip of a lifetime - especially with lots of luggage more relaxed - so compare ordinary and discounted fares with the pass. You do have to pay 10 euros supplement with using the pass on all high-speed trains however or 5 euros I think on IC trains - regional trains you can just hop on but they are so so dirt cheap you would not want to use a day on a pass on them.

For lots about Italian trains check www.seat61.com - great info on discounted tickets; www.ricksteves.com and www.budgeteuropetravel.com.

There is also an overnight and all day ferry between Italy and Barcelona is you want to add a cruise to your travels!

denisea

If you have that long in Italy, I would spend more than one night on the Amalfi Coast. Gorgeous! We did a wonderful wine trip to Tramonti at Tenuta San Francesco...a try homemade Italian meal with wine. Fabulous way to spend a day.

On the way to Rome, Orvieto is a lovely town. Outside Rome (day trip), Tivoli is home to Villa d'Este...gorgeous fountains! Hadrian's Villa is also there, so lots to see and only a short distance from Rome.

kimhe

<We plan on doing a lot of eating, drinking, and walking around, museums, beaches, hiking>

Then these three parts of Barcelona should be high on your list:

Plenty of cool cafés, bars, tapas bars and restaurants in the Barceloneta district, just inland from the huge and fun beach with the same name and all kinds of people and activities until sunset:
http://www.theguardian.com/travel/20...taurants-spain

Medieval and vibrant El Born, a cradle of Catalan identity and culture, plenty of excellent bars and tapas bars, the Picasso museum, the Catalan Cultural Center with excavations of Barcelona anno 1700 etc. etc. http://theculturetrip.com/europe/spa...orn-barcelona/
Xampanyet is an institution in town: http://www.worldsbestbars.com/bar/ba...r/el-xampanyet
Tapeo, just across narrow Carrer Montcada from Xampanyet, was our food find last year in Barcelona: http://www.tapeoborn.cat/tapeo-del-born.html
Cal Pep is expensive and worth every cent. Get in line at least 15 minutes before opening to get a seat at the bar where all the action is: http://www.calpep.com/Ingles/index_ing.html

Go for tapas and drinks with the locals in Poble Sec, just at the foot of Montjuic with all the museums (the Miró museum blew my mind), theaters, Olympic arenas, greens and the Castell on the top with fabulous views of both the city and the sea: http://www.barcelonaturisme.com/wv3/...to-bodega.html
La Perla is as Barcelona as it gets, lunch only: https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaura...Catalonia.html
Had an unforgettable meal at Xemei last year, 50 meters from La Perla and Close to the so called Theater city. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Lvcjtoh0tU

About landmark Montjuic: http://www.barcelonaturisme.com/wv3/...-montjuic.html

Totally fabulous cocktail bars almost all around town, but some of the best are in the Raval district and in Carrer Aribau, up from the old university: http://theculturetrip.com/europe/spa...val-barcelona/
http://suitelife.com/blog/moving-to-...-world-of-fun/

bvlenci

I wouldn't recommend the Cinque Terre as a day trip, and I wouldn't advise going there at all unless you plan to do some serious hiking. The five tiny towns are suffocating from the crowds of day tripppers. It's not fun at all unless you can stay a few nights and get away from the crowds by hiking on the high trails.

Bologna is a city I like a lot, but not knowing much about your interests, I can't guess whether you'd like it. A lot of people don't care much for it. A day trip from Bologna to the Cinque Terre would be an awful lot of time on the train. Ferrara is a very nice small city, with a big ducal palace, which makes an easy day trip from Bologna.

I didn't see Ravenna on your tentative itinerary, so I don't know why it was suggested. It's a nice little city, famous for the very old Byzantine-style mosaics in its churches. If you're interested in the early middle ages, or in early Christian art, it would certainly interest you, but, again, I didn't see anything in your post that made me think you'd enjoy it, and it is rather out of your way.

Pisa is best visited as a day trip from Florence. Siena can also be visited as a day trip from Florence, so if you want to cut down on changes of hotel, it would be a good idea to extend your stay in Florence to allow for a day trip to Siena. The bus is the best way to get there, and the ride is fairly scenic.

I would suggest going directly from Florence to Naples or Sorrento, so that you can visit Rome at the end of your trip, since that's where you'll take your flight to Barcelona.

For visiting Pompeii and Capri, either Naples or Sorrento is a good base. You might want to stay in one or the other rather than both. However, they're very different cities, so staying in both is not a bad idea, if you don't mind frequent changes of hotel. Capri is too far from Rome for a day trip, especially if you're going to be in the Naples area a few days later.

There are tons of things to see and do in Rome, and it's a great city to just relax and hang out, especially if you're independent minded enough to be able to skip the "top must-sees", which are extremely crowded in high season. (September is definitely high season, even more so than July and August.)

If you tell us something a little more specific about your interests, we can help you better.

I don't see any beach destinations on your agenda, although you said that interested you. The Cinque Terre and the Amalfi Coast are both places where the spectacular scenery is composed of cliffs that rise up from the sea. In places like that, obviously, the beaches tend to be small and rocky. I think there are some decent beaches on the Amalfi Coast, but if you want beach time, you should research a town with a good beach spend a few days there. There are nice beaches near Rome and Venice, and both cities have their own beaches within city limits, which you could visit on a day trip. I'm not that familiar with the Naples area, but I assume there are some nice beaches near there as well, and maybe also near Sorrento.

jskalee

Honestly, everything has been such good information! Thanks for all the feedback.

I am interested in Cinque Terre but we may end up skipping it since everyone seems to say the same thing. It would allow us more time in other places as well! Luckily we have a somewhat open schedule so if we decide otherwise, we can always go there on a whim.

I really liked the idea of traveling from Florence to the Amalfi coast area and then to Rome. It would definitely cut out back-tracking time! I've heard mixed reviews On staying in Naples, so another question would be whether we should have a base there, or in Sorrento. We will either be staying in hostels, or AirBnb's.
Besides the scenery on the coast, are there any specific things we could/should do??

It also sounds like Florence is a great base because we can easily get to Pisa, Siena, and Chianti with day trips (among the other small towns listed!). Any wineries you guys can recommend?

I have done research comparing point to point trains/busses vs a railpass and the numbers seems better if we did a point to point. However, I don't think we will be booking any in advance so I'm curious how drastic the prices will change.

ssander

If you go to Bologna (which is a very nice city), a day-trip to Ravenna is a must. Takes about an hour by train, and the mosaics are incredible. You can do the whole trip in five hours.

On weekends in Bologna they close off the historic core to traffic.

Ditto on getting your train tickets early...the prices are amazingly low.

Venice-Bologna for 14.90€ on the fast train (1:25) and 12.15€ on the regional train (~2:00).

Venice-Florence 19.90€ on the fast train (2:05)

Venice-Rome as low at 19.90€ on the fast train (3:45)

...but these low fare disappear fast.

ssander

bvlenci

For convenience, Naples and Sorrento are about equal for what you've said you wanted to see. If you also want to see the Amalfi Coast, Sorrento would be more convenient than Naples.

The two cities are very different. Naples is a big city, very urban, very lively, a bit edgy. It has a culture all its own, different from any other part of Italy. Lots of people love Naples, others hate it.

Sorrento is a much smaller city, but it's still a city and not a little fishing village. Since it's smaller, you notice the tourists more than you do in Naples.

Both cities have great cuisine, but Naples has more restaurants and some famous local specialties. (Naples is the home of pizza, according to most experts.) Both have scenic overlooks above the Bay of Naples, but the most spectacular scenery is on the Amalfi Coast. Naples has several excellent museums, including the Archaeological Museum, which has most of the art from Pompeii; and the Capodimonte Museum, which is in a beautiful spot overlooking the bay.

rbciao47

I will add my 2¢ and advise you to skip cinque Terre. It's OVER CROWED, OVER CROWED and OVER CROWED. We were there in 1994 when we were the only Americans in the towns and we visited again in 2013. We were shoulder to shoulder with other tourists in two towns. The quaint shops were now selling touristy schlock.

I also agree you should spend more time in the Costiera Amalfitano-it's stunning and unique. Sorrento would be a good place to base and do day trips, which Pompeii could be one.

Bologna is the eating capital of Italy. It's nickname is "Il Grasso"- "The Fat One."

Another strategy you might consider is to centralize your Tuscany exploration to staying in one location and then doing day trips. Every time you change locations/hotels you lose valuable touring time. For example, Florence would be a good place and take the trains to other parts. We spent a week at the really nice Hotel Albani Firenze on Via Fiume, which is two streets over from the main train station in a quiet locale. It's 5 minutes from the Mercato San Lorenzo and 10 minutes from the Duomo.

Go and have fun.

Buon viaggio,

greg

Cinque Terre is beautiful and enjoyable BUT NOT AS A DAY TRIP.
Between 10am-3pm, the places are unbearably crowded. I have visited CT many years before, it was a pleasant place to visit even during the day. However, when I visited again last fall, the rise in day tourism was astonishing. If you take a train during this rush period, it feels like you are riding a rush hour metro in a large city. Not everyone on the platform could get into the train because it was so crowded. The boats between villages are just as crowded.

jskalee

I think we have decided it would be best to-

Start in Venice (3)
Bologna (2)
Florence(6-7)
(Day trips to Pisa, Cinque Terre if we must-from Pisa, Siena, Chianti)
Naples/Sorrento(4-5)
(Day trips to Pompeii and make a trip to Capri, go to Amalfo Coast for however long we choose)
Rome (4-5)

We don't want to book train tickets yet because we aren't so sure of the exact days we will be leaving. When we looked at train tickets, the prices were for the hypothetical days in September to get a predictable price. Do you all think this means it will increase?

bvlenci

The Base price for train tickets will remain the same through early December. Discounts are offered in limited number, and do sell out. To get an idea of what kinds of last-minute prices you might find, check a date in the near future.

Bologna is called "La dotta, la grassa, la rossa". (Learned, fat, red). The first is for its university, the second for its food, and the third either for its terra cotta roofs or for its lefty politics. In reality, the food is great throughout Emilia Romagna and Le Marche.

littlebella777

Good call and spending more time on the Amalfi Coast. Make sure you go to Ravello, it's breathtaking. I would stay in Sorrento, Positano or Amalfi, not in Naples.

rbciao47

bvienci,

Thanks for clarifying Bologna's nickname: La Grassa instead of Il Grasso. I knew it was something like that.

My first time through there was in 1980 three days after the Red Brigade, or whoever, blew up the Bologna train station. Many innocent people were killed in that terrorist attack. I was there two years later, the station had been rebuilt, and a memorial was erected in front containing the names of the victims.

Buon viaggio,

suze

Why only 3 in Venice but 7 in Florence?

Blueeyedcod

<<If you also want to see the Amalfi Coast, Sorrento would be more convenient than Naples. >>


That's not correct. It is far more convenient to see the Amalfi Coast from Naples. Train to Salerno (35 min), then make a ferry connection.

jskalee

Suze-
We are giving Florence 6-7 days because we are including trips to Pisa, Chianti, and Siena while in the area! Florence is basically just the base so we don't lose time picking up and moving from town to town, city to city.

This itinerary, again, is merely an outline.. We figure if we like one city we can stay an extra day or two, or move on before we predicted! That's why we don't want to buy train tickets in advance.

PalenQ

If paying full fare on several high-speed trains then take a good look at the Italy Railpass - especially if going first class.