funkmonkey

Greetings!

We are off to a weeklong DIY to Tuscany in early November. I seek suggestions/recommendations for the tail end of our trip. On Nov. 13 morning we must vacate our place in Montecatini and drive back to Milan for our flight back to JFK the next day at 3 pm. Our hotel is near Milan-Malpensa Airport - which offers little potential. One idea is to stop and peek at Cinque Terra enroute to Milan hotel. That leaves us with the next morning with nothing to do. We will have a rental car.

Any ideas for how one can best use the time? Sincere thanks.

Jean

Have you seen the sights in Milan? It's an easy train ride into the city from Malpensa. You could spend the morning before your flight in Milan.

If it's raining on the 13th, I'd skip the CT. (Parma would be a good alternative.) It would be a 5-hour drive from Montecatini to the CT to Malpensa without stops or delays. (Four hours if you went to Parma instead.) Sunlight will be fading after 4:30p.

PalenQ

CT in November could see ghost towns and a brisk cool breeze and mud on trails.

How about Genoa - one of Italy's underrated large cities- amazingly restored Old Port Area. Maybe park car at a suburban station in the direction of Malpensa and take the train in to avoid the no-gofor private vehicle zones in the city center.

Cities are nice in late fall - countryside not so much IME.

PalenQ

https://www.google.com/search?q=cert...w=1920&bih=950

For a sweet few-hour stop with no hassle of driving your car right to it consider the famous historic Certosa di Pavia Monastery complex - out in the country just near Pavia - must be right on the direct route or so. Some pretty potent liqueur brewed up and sold on site by those monks - meant to make the monastic life a bit easier on the soul I guess.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Certosa_di_Pavia

Parma would be a neat old city to visit too enroute to Milan.

funkmonkey

PalenQ & Jean,

Thanks for the valuable insight. I had apprehension about CT but you might have cured me of that idea. Parma was a suggestion on my books and will definitely look into it. The Pavia site sounds pleasing. Let me check. BTW, if we have just a day for Firenze and one museum to pick - Uffiza or Accademia?

funkmonkey

So I checked the map and considered the possibility of Genoa enroute to Malpensa. How would the coastal drive be in Nov? Would you recommend Genoa over Parma for a few hours? That way, we could then head north and stop at the Pavia complex (a couple of hours, I guess) on our way.

bvlenci

The Certosa di Pavia is very beautiful, definitely worth a visit.

Between Genova and Parma, I would prefer Parma. Genova isn't the kind of city that you can appreciate in a short visit.

PalenQ

Yes for a few hours Parma is much better than Genoa as bvlenci agrees- plus the Certosa is awesome.

Alec

Visit to Certosa di Pavia is by guided tour only (in Italian). Just have a good guidebook with you. There is no set entrance charge, but they expect donations at the end of the tour.

bvlenci

I don't think it's necessary to take a guided tour at the Certosa di Pavia. It's been several years, but we visited on our own. I just checked their website, and, while it mentions the guided tours, it doesn't say they're obligatory. In fact, under the comments, one person complained that the guided tours were offered only on weekends.

You should at least have a very good guide book, because explanatory signs are scarce at the site.

funkmonkey

Thanks all for valuable suggestions. Duly noted. BTW, any notable, but not exorbitant, eating recommendations for Tuscan fare in Siena/San Gimignano or Lucca/Pisa areas?