suz1672

I'm a first time traveler to Europe and new to this website - but have found Great info. So would very much appreciate comments on our itinerary.

Flying into Milan on 4/10 - taking the train to Venice and staying Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Will take the train to Florence on Monday 4/14, and staying thru WEdnesday. Will take the train to Rome on Thursday 4/17 and stay until Sunday when we take the train back to Milan for a Monday morning flight home.

We want to make some day trips out of Florence (south of Modena)and to Livorno to check out some ancestral sites - but want to make sure we have time in Florence also.
Can anyone recommend a place to stay? Would it be better to stay in Florence and rent a car to drive to other areas - get a tour guide????
Help is appreciated

annhig

Hi suze -

well there are worse ways of seeing the big three.

that said, by the time you get to Rome, you won't know your titian from your tintereto.

My preference would be to drop Rome from this trip [it's worth a whole week on its own], train straight to Venice, stay 4 nights, then pick up a car, drive to Tuscany and rent an apartment in the countryside, using it as a base to tour, including a day trip to Florence.

on sunday, drive to Milan, return car, stay night in Milan, fly home.

or rent an apartment in Florence and use it to see other parts of Tuscany using the buses and trains. then train to milan as above on the Sat or sunday.

regards, ann

Lexma90

Use the mappy.com or viamichelin.com websites to check (that is, if you'll be driving; use trenitalia.it if you'd be doing it by train), but I would say that Livorno and south of Modena would be VERY long day trips from Florence. And, of course, in the opposite directions from each other. I don't think you can fit that all in to the time you have.

Apres_Londee

I agree with annhig, you may want to think about saving Rome for your next trip.

By my count you've got 10 nights, minus 1 for Milan and you've got 9 nights to play with. Three cities is too much for 9 nights, IMO. I would recommend picking two. It seems from your post that Rome is the obvious one to cut, because you are flying into and out of Milan, and because of your interest in family history in Livorno.

If it were me, I'd spend 4 nights in Venice, 5 nights in Florence with 1 or 2 daytrips. As the other posters have already suggested, you could also rent a car and stay in a rural Tuscan property. If you stay in Florence proper, I think it's best to take the train or buses for daytrips, unless you want to hire a private guide to drive you around the countryside one day.

Dayle

Hi Suz,

You might want to get advance ES train reservations for the Milan to Venice on a Friday. Lots of Milanese go to Venice on weekends and you don't want to stand for 3 hours after an international flight.

No point in going to Florence for 2 days and then doing day trips. You won't have time.

Buon viaggio!

suz1672

Thanks for that advice Dayle. It appears that we can purchase 1st class tickets with reserved seats before we leave US.
The 2 small towns that we really want to visit are Fiumalbo & Sambuca Pistoiese - which appear to be North of Pistoia. We'll probably leave out Livorno - I agree its a long day trip. My brothers really want to go to Rome this time around, as they don't think they'll ever be able to come back. They've left the planning up to me - and I must admit I am overwhelmed. I do appreciate everyones input.

dawnnoelm

I would echo the good advice given here to eliminate Rome.

Ann really hit the nail on the head - you won't know what is up by the time you get to Rome..trust me, I did 4 cities in 17 days and was a little bit of a mess by the time we got to Rome. We spent a day in Rome at the Hotel De Russie getting massages and swimming in their indoor pool... kicking it because we were WIPED out.

I like the idea of a few nights in Venice and then a base in Tuscany.

I personally LOVED Florence - that and Montruex were the highlights of my trip. We had a great apartment in Florence that was in the center of it all. We loved the smallness of Florence - it is a very walkable city. I would not go to Florence for a few days and do day trips out. (we did train to Pisa one afternoon).

Welcome to this website. Be careful - I came last year to plan our first trip to Europe...and here I still am ;-)