surfpeace

good day all,

My wife and I are going to be in Italy April 2016 for 17 days.It's the first time in Europe for both of us. We have made great progress thus far with the exception of what area(s) to visit on the 6 nights between Rome and Venice. Right now we are considering one night in Orvieto, followed by two nights in Siena wrapped up by three nights in Florence. From 10000 feet does this make sense and what other options should we consider?

We will be using public transportation exclusively throughout the trip as neither of us wants to go through the stress of renting a vehicle.

thank you.

tonfromleiden

There are too many possibilities.
Although both are heavily touristed, Orvieto is a beauty and Siena a city I wouldn't mind returning to. I'm not such a fan of Florence as a city. It's much too crowded. You could escape from the masses to stay in agreeable and relatively quiet Lucca and visit Florence as one or two day trips (the regular »regionale« train does it in some 1h15 at a most reasonable price).
An alternative is to continue from Orvieto to a smaller town like Spoleto and/or Perugia (to visit the very impressive duomo of Assisi) and have a few days in surprisingly undervisited Bologna, with one or two daytrips to nearby Ravenna or Ferrara.

tedgale

That is a perfectly reasonable itinerary. There are other equally resonable itineraries but for a first timer, this looks fine.

You sacrifice some elements of convenience by not having a car - eg the train station in Siena is not central - but being car-free in Florence is a great blessing.

I have only 1 piece of advice:

I was in Florence last week for 3 nights. It was a holiday weekend and horribly crowded. Not what I expected in the off season.

I lived briefly in Florence many years ago and have always regarded it fondly, despite its being overrun. But this time, I felt I'd reached my limit.

Visitors come to Florence for its beauty and sophistication but mostly for its artistic and architectural masterpieces. They - and you - pay a price in terms of crowding. Therefore, I'd say: Unless you really do care about museums, churches and Renaissance paintings, think hard about whether you want 3 days in Florence.

I did, in fact, slip into the Uffizi for an hour just before closing. I saw a ton of people shuffling, dazed, past a lot of paintings just to get a glimpse of 2 famous Botticelli paintings (and ignoring his other works in the same room).

Others may point out that there are plenty of alternative sights and activities that avoid the crowds. That's true - I did many of them last week.

For starters, we always stay on the Oltrarno, which is far quieter and less touristy than the right bank of the Arno.

I climbed to San Miniato al Monte, sat in the Boboli gardens, trekked up Bellosguardo, took a city bus to the burbs to tour a Medici villa, La Petraia and visited smaller museums (Fondazione Romano is a fave).

But that's not what people go to Florence to do, is it?

As a friend commented to me last week "There are too many unspoiled places in Italy for me to waste my time on one that's spoiled by crowds."

Of course, we've "been there, done that", so our prespective is different from a first timer's. You may be prepared to make the required trade offs. Just be aware what's entailed.

annhig

as an alternative to the "stay in Florence, do a day trip on the bus to Siena" option, you could reverse this and stay in Siena, getting the same bus from the centrally located bus stop to Florence, where the bus station is right next to the main station.

However this still puts you Florence with all the crowds so vividly described by tedgale.

Given that you are going to encounter crowds in Rome and Venice, I would head for somewhere which is likely to be less crowded as suggested by tom and ted.

sandralist

I am sorry Tedgale had a bad experience, but I was in Florence on a holiday (Christmas of last year) and it was much less crowded than I had anticipated, and I really hate crowds of tourists. Last week was not only a holiday, but it was also the grand opening week of the papal Jubilee year, so it's possible the extra-crowdedness was due to that.

If your April trip coincides with Easter holidays, then you might get caught in some heaving crowds. But if not, I would not limit your time in art-rich Florence for fear of overcrowdedness. You will certainly want to make reservations where you can for seeing the most famous tourist attractions -- Michaelangelo's David, the Uffizi -- and expect no-elbow room in the most popular shopping nodes (San Lorenzeo, Ponte Vecchio). Florence is always a busy Italian city, but April apart from Easter week is typically not choked.

As for your original question, from 1000 feet I can't see how comfortable you are as travelers with doing frequent hotel changes. I prefer them in Italy to "day tripping", partly because towns like Siena or Orvieto are so atmospheric at night, and you get the advantage of the "daytrippers" having left. It's also the case that Italian towns close up except for restaurants from about 12.30 to 4, so daytripping needs to work around that, with an early start or a late return, so I'd rather just go there after lunch and spend the night, and wake up there. Finally, daytripping means getting to and from train stations and bus stations, going back and forth. I'd rather just keep going.

Anway, what are your exact travel dates? If people knew them, they might dial back these dire warnings. But if seeing the premiere Renaissance city of Florence is not important to you, or you would rather go to beautiful towns less touristed than Siena or Orvieto but still with extraordinary art treasures, Italy has dozens and more between Rome and Venice which can be reached by train. People can provide a hefty list.

sandralist

(In case you didn't realize, if you click on your own screen name that will give you access to your own past threads. You asked a similar question previously (I recall suggesting Perugia and Ravenna as destinations) so if you lost track of that thread and those answers, you can find them again).

surfpeace

Great feedback folks. Our last night in Rome is April 11th and our first night in Venice is the 18th. Easter should not be a concern as it falls in March in 2016. We are a remain challenged whether to eliminate/reduce time in Florence and instead spend the time in quieter less touristed towns.

flpab

I love Florence and after Rome it should seem less crowded. Do take the bus to Sienna or you will have to get a taxi to center. Bus station is very close by. I would try and do a night in Orvieto as the bus loads of tourist do leave in the evening.

kybourbon

If Orvieto isn't a must, but Siena is, you can take the bus from Rome to Siena. There are about 10 departures daily and doesn't involve a change like the train does. Travel time is the same as if you took a train.

http://www.sena.it/

If Orvieto is a must see, after your visit there, you will have to take the train to Chiusi and change there for the train to Siena. Neither of these options take you through much of the more scenic areas of the Tuscan countryside.

bilboburgler

I'd try for one base and a number of days out.

1) I'd look at Ann's Siena with side trips as a good option, public transport is not great in the area but is certainly doable

2) I'd also look at Bologna with day trips to Ravenna, Ferrara etc etc Bologna is a rail hub and has extensive connections all over so worth a serious look

3) Lucca is a nice little place to stay for a day trip into Florence, maybe not as startling as Siena but lovely in its own way and I prefer the evening walk along the walls to the Siena walk through the streets.