daisy58

booking my flights for our May 06 Grand Tour of Italy tomorrow--here is the plan:
arrive Genoa from San Francisco 9:30 pm
overnight Genoa. Leave the following morning early for SML
2 days SML (overnights SML)
3 days Florence-stop enroute in Pisa. One Florence day
used for full day tour Sienna/San Gimignano (overnights Florence)
4 days Rome
2 days Sorrento
1 day Bologna
2 days Venice
so my original 12 night plan has "blossomed"
into 15 nights 14 days. We will be traveling by train, have spent lots of time on Trenitalia.com for scheduling,train travel time ,train fares. I have my picks for hotels, so I am now at the booking portion of my trip.
Any thoughts before I start clicking? Thanks

francophile03

While 2 weeks seem like many days I feel it's too much travelling. Also you should repost with a better heading as it does not mention "Italy".

suze

I know this is a very personal choice of travel style, but 7 destinations (and 7 hotels) would be much too much moving about for me on a 14 day trip.

Cato

Too many places in too little time. You will be spending far too much time in transit, checking in and out of hotels, going back and forth between train stations, and learning how to get around each city.

StuDudley

Only comment would be to make sure you have enough time in Bologna, Sorrento, & Venice to really enjoy all these places. 1 1/2 days in Sorrento (I like Positano much more) seems like at least one day short. Same with the 1/2 day in Bologna and the 1 3/4 days in Venice (I have done a rough job of factoring in travel time for you). It sounds like not much time in Florence either.

I have not been to Bologna, but I've been to the other spots several times. I'm assuming SML is Santa Margherita Ligure. We all have different interests, but I don't think SML is nearly as interesting as the other places you will be visiting - and you are spending 2 days there. If this were my itinerary, I would skip it and allocate more time to Venice. I would also skip Bologna, because it seems like that's a lot of travel/travel overhead/check-in/check-out time that could be better spent "being there" instead of "getting there".

Stu Dudley

annabelle2

How much time will you actually have in Venice -- 2 full days and 2 nights, or less? It depends on what you guys like, but 2 days would be my minimum there.

I like to move around more than some people, but it does seem like a lot of places for the amount of time. It's always nice to have time to just sit in a cafe and soak in the atmosphere.

Since you have coastal days in SML, are you stuck on Sorrento, or vice versa? Do you have a lot you want to see in Florence? It looks like your three days are really a day and a half (half day in Pisa and one day on the tour). That could be enough for you (it is enough for me, I love the art but find Florence hectic) but if you have a lot you want to see there, it may be tight.

On the other hand, if all of these are the "musts" on your list, you can rest on the train and sleep when you get home. It's your call!

travelbunny

no 1 night stands..in fact even 3 nights would be a lot of switching..try to limit to a max of 4 hotels/apts

jgg

As a friend of mine said "Enjoy what you do. Don't worry about what you missed."

You have WAY too much packed into 14 days. We did a trip last March for 14 nights - 6 in Rome, 4 Venice and 4 Florence (with a daytrip to Siena). Trust everyone on this board - if you slow down you will see and experience so much more, than constantly being on the move.

Just BEING in Italy is fun!!

suze

daisy, by any chance is this a 1st trip? I ask because that's often when people have over ambitious even unrealistic itineraries (not that yours is the second, but it is the first).

daisy58

it is a first trip to Italy, but by no means my first trip. I am a bit of an
ambitious traveler, though the itinerary isnt nearly as crazy as it seems..and any advice is very welcome.
our flight into Genoa arrives 9:30 pm
the night in Genoa is really a sleeping pit stop (packing jammies on top!) and waking early the next morning for our 1/2hr train to Santa Margherita Ligure. Also, the Bologna part isnt a hard plan, I thought it would be a good break on the train from Sorrento to Venice, although it really doesnt in the scheme of things affect the travel time by much. I am considering adding either a day to Florence, or to Venice, and scrapping the Bologna part. In addition, we are pretty much taking early morning trains, so we would have maximum time at our destinations, and as annabelle2
says, we can rest on the train. I havent booked my hotels yet, (going to be pretty soon though) so any input is again welcome!

StuDudley

>>I am a bit of an
ambitious traveler, though the itinerary isnt nearly as crazy as it seems..<<

All eight respondants thought it was too ambitious/crazy.

It's your vacation, but personally, instead of sleeping on a train, I would prefer taking a vaperetto down the Grand Canal, or a leisurly coffee on the Campo in Siena.

Stu Dudley

tcreath

I agree with the others; too much travel time and not enough time in each destination. If it were me I would cut out Sorrento, as its pretty far south and a long train ride to Venice or Bologna. I would add 1 night in Venice and 1 in Bologna or Florence, or scrap Bologna and add both nights in Venice.

Good luck!
Tracy

suze

daisy, if you've done trips like this and enjoyed them (that's why i asked)... well you know better than a bunch of strangers (us!) what you want from your trip.

although your phrase that the itinerary isn't nearly as crazy as it seems made me laugh (how can that be?).

and yes i'd skip bologna, or anything else you're willing to omit, in order to streamline the trip a bit and give you more "quality time" in the places you are most interested in.

ira

Hi daisy,

It is more traveling than I would do.

Keep in mind that every time you move, you lose 1/2 day.

Do you have to go to sorrento this visit? It will be there when you return to Italy.

I would add a day to Venice and a day to Florence.

Are you going to stay overnight in Bologna? You can do a daytrip on your way to Venice. You might find our day in Bologna helpful.

See http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34451044

CatFancier

Hi, Daisy.....I hope you consider the advice of all these people and streamline your itinerary a bit. Maybe you don't fully realize just how rushed you'll be. IMO, Rome, Venice and Florence are more than enough to tackle in 2 weeks. You could still use one of your Florence days for Siena/San Gimignano.

daisy58

suze-thanks for the chuckle! I am considering omitting Bologna, and
looking into flying from Naples to
Venice on the Sorrento departure leg.
I also posted a question about these
flights, if anyone has any experiance.
The good news is I booked by flights
today! (Horray!) so now I can spend
some time fine tuning!

daisy58

the flights I booked BTW, were the basic
SFO-GOA and VCE-SFO. Haven't done anything yet inter country.