lavender

Background:

Travelled to Italy 6 times previously and stayed- Puglia, Rome, Florence, Venice, Sicily, Sardinia, Cinque Terre, Urbino, Spello, Pisa

Speak a little Italian

Middle aged couple, independent travellers who prefer budget value apartment stays or small B&Bs/hotels

We are not interested in car travel, prefer local bus and train travel

Prefer to select a base to stay for a week at a time if possible- enjoy small village life- but also open to larger towns for transport hub

Already booked: Flying into Rome from Australia, spend 2 nights before heading off ( we have spent quite a lot of time in Rome before)- have also booked our last night in Rome before flying back to Australia.

Arrive Rome May 14- depart June 17

I enjoy planning the trip almost as much as actual journey, but I would love some itinerary input and then I can hopefully flesh out the rest.

Goal:

A "round": trip of sorts- with the goal of travelling from Rome to visit Northern Italy, the Lakes area and then returning to Rome via Ligurian coast.

eg Rome- Arezzo- Verona-Lake Como ( Varenna) - Genoa- Rome

Considering visiting Vicenza, Verona, Padova, Modena, Parma, Varenna, Milan?, Santa Margherita Ligura- but open to all suggestions really!

My pleasant dilemma is if we want to choose 3 or maybe 4 bases ( preferably apartment living) from which to explore, which would be the best towns to do this from?

Thanks in advance for any advice

Dayle

I would recommend Santa Margherita Ligure for your coastal base. We stayed there for 3 nts and loved the town. Lots of interesting day trip possibilities nearby too!

Sounds like a wonderful trip.

Buon viaggio

sandralist

I am not sure I am following your post, but if right now your first choices for "bases" are Arezzo, Verona, Varenna and Genoa (or Santa Margherita Ligure), then I don't see any possible day trips to Modena or Parma.

If you want to see Modena and Parma, it is best to either stay in Modena or in Bologna. From either town you could visit by train Ravenna, Parma, Mantova, Ferrara, Reggio nell'Emilia, and some smaller towns.

lavender

Thanks for responses, both great advice and worth exploring further.

Sorry for any confusion, I dont have any definite first choices for bases as yet- I was just giving an example of the general direction of the route I'm contemplating.

On previous trips we have based in Manarola ( Cinque Terre) but missed visiting Santa Margharita Ligure so thought it might be nice to visit there.

Also while based in Florence for a week we daytripped to Bologna but missed Parma, Modena etc so thought we might be able to include them this time.

I guess I'm trying to figure out the 3 or 4 best bases to frame an itinerary around- that would cover a week or so in the Lakes area, as well as time in Veneto, Liguria and probably somewhere en route from Rome to the Veneto so thought maybe Emiglia Romagna area might work.

sandralist

It is not easy to see more than one lake using one base, especially if you are relying on public transportation alone. If you base in Varenna on Lago di Como, the only other lake you could visit without a car would be Lugano.

If you base in Verona it is possible to see parts of Lago di Garda on a day trip using public transportation, but perhaps not the most dramatic scenery at the northern end.

From Stresa on Lago Maggiore, it should be possible in the summer months to take a bus to visit Lago d'Orta, but I am not sure when the season for those buses begins.

If you are okay with smaller Italian cities, then Genova makes a really wonderful base if you have already seen le Cinque Terre and don't need to see it again. In addition to having an easy train ride to Santa Margherita Ligure (and Chiavari is worth seeing after for its cocktail hour and the pretty town), you can also take train trips in the opposite direction toward France and visit Albenga, which is charming and fascinating. You can even take a train a bit inland to Ovada or Acqui Terme, just for lunch and a look around in wonderfully preserved towns quite off the beaten track. Genova itself is a complex and interesting city, with several interesting historic sites (although its most interesting art museums are in the suburb of Nervi, easily reached by train). But it is a city, not a Riviera idyll.

neckervd

May be you take a train from Rome to either Bologna or Modena and visit from there Parma, Mantova, Ravenna, etc.
move then to Peschiera del Garda or Desenzano del Garda (both on Lake Garda) and visit from there Verona - Vicenza - Padova (all along the same railway line) as well as Lake Garda (boats and buses up to the Northern end of the Lake) and may be Trento and the South Western Dolomites, the prehistoric rock carvings in Val Camonica as well as the historic city center of Bergamo.
If you want to see the other 3 big Lombardian Lakes too, move to Lugano, with excellent bus resp train connections to lake Como (Como, Menaggio), Lake Maggiore (Locarno, Magadino, Luino, Laveno) and tons of cableways and buses to viewpoints and into the Alps.
Go then by train to either Genoa, Camogli, Santa Margherita or Rapallo and visit Portofino, San Fruttuoso and, of course, the many palaces and interesting museums of Genoa.

BTW: the 30 daily buses between Lake Maggiore (Verbania Intra, Verbania Pallanza) and Lake Orta (Omegna) rund all the year round.

lavender

Wow, really appreciate such detailed specific suggestions.

sandralist, I hadn't really considered venturing towards the 'France side" but that sounds like an exciting possiblilty-

My only previous experience of Genova was a couple of hours spent just outside of the train station when travelling Camogli to Milan so I understand it is a city,however it looks like it could be a good base.

neckervd thanks for all of your suggestions- again I hadn't considered Lake Garda as a base- definitely worth investigating.

Lots of reading and map exploring to do- Fodorites really know their stuff!

lavender

Thanks to feedback from here, I've started on an itinerary with bases that I think will lend themselves to daytrips with good train and bus connections.

Rome 3 nights

Bologna 7 nights

Verona 7 nights

Then at this stage I think it will be Varenna for 7 nights and then possibly Milan- 2 nights, Genoa 8 nights (may split Genoa 5 nights, Santa Margherita Ligure 3 nights) Rome- overnight before flight home next day.

Any Verona apartment recommendations- under 100 Euro a night? this is a long trip and we need to be budget conscious!!)