ashleyclausnitzer316

Going to Italy for 16 nights next September/October Generally planning for 5-6 days in
- Naples (flight in) + Amalfi
- Florence + Tuscany
- lake Como + Milan (outbound flight)

Any thoughts on how best to optimize days in each region? Recommendations on must sees?

Couple celebrating a 40th birthday and leaving two small children at home. First time spending a long trip together in 6+ years / pre-kids. We used to be the type to have jam packed days and see as much as we could, but think this will be slower (but still in good shape for hiking or physical activities) shooting for relaxing/ romantic vibes vs trying to hit all the big spots. And great food and wine of course.

wife has been to Sicily before. First time to Italy for husband.

TDudette

Welcome, ashleyclausnitzer316. In my opinion, the timing should work. Maybe do a search here for specific information/trip reports to help. I think of the Amalfi Coast and Lake Como as the more romantic of the three spots. But if it's your husband's first trip, Florence's Duomo, David, Pitti Palace are just a few of the musts, imo.

Can anyone weigh in about Lake weather in the Fall?

Susannahdm

This is great timing! IMO, I would prioritize visiting multiple lake villages rather than spend a ton of time in Milan. Fall in the Lake district is gorgeous though I may be bias as Fall is my favorite time to visit italy.

bvlenci

September is usually sunny, and some years it can be quite hot, especially lately. October is usually still fairly warm, and rain is a distinct possibility. This year it rained almost constantly in October where we live, but that's also rare.

Milan is one of my favourite cities, and I think the people who say it's not worth several days have never really seen the city. Apart from the Duomo, which is spectacular, it has several other beautiful churches. It has world-class museums and art exhibitions , concerts and opera of international importance, an abundance of great restaurants, a big castle right in the centre of the city, a canal lined with trendy bars and restaurants, and shopping for every taste.

coral22

Congratulations on your wonderful trip! How nice you are getting time away for just the two of you.

You have picked some lovely locations and your time allotment is great!
The big question is how are you getting around once there? Drivers/car rental/train or a little of each? It will change where you should stay, to keep it easy.
I recommend a car in Tuscany and that is it. The other locations it would be a headache and it would be unnecessary.

If you don't have your flights yet, I might recommend flipping the order so you are in Lake Como(which is cooler) during the hotter part of your trip and finishing in Naples, so it might be cooling down more. However, we were in Italy this October and it was still HOT. We didn't have any rain, but about 2 weeks later, there was torrential flooding, so who knows?

We were in Varenna, Tuscany and Florence and have been to Positano before. You will have a nice mix of water, beautiful vistas, rolling countryside and city energy. Enjoy!

ashleyclausnitzer316

Thank you all for the suggestions!

We have our flights to and from booked, but nothing else. I think we are going to rent a car when in Tuscany, but will be doing trains otherwise.

One thing we are toying with is swapping Tuscany for Emilia Romagna… if we haven’t been would that be a miss??

Jean

I would be more likely to swap Tuscany for Umbria rather than ER, but that's me. There's a lot to see in ER as well. I think this is something only you can decide... based on some research into what interests you in each area. If you can imagine/dream about a future trip, it would be easy to combine Rome+Tuscany+Florence. You might also do some research on travel times (car and train) and car rental/return points to see what the logistics would look like for each region. Try to avoid a one-way car rental which would generate a surcharge.

FWIW, we've been to Lake Como multiple times in mid-to-late October. We've had great weather overall and only one day (that I can remember) of rain. Ferry schedules will revert to off-season frequency after either the 2nd or 3rd weekend, usually not announced until early summer. Echoing bvlenci's comments, I like Milan. It would be really hard for me to cut time from Lake Como, but I'd probably try to spend a day in Milan. If the Last Supper interests you, make reservations as soon as tickets are released for your date.

Lexma90

Spouse and I have visited various places in Tuscany and Emilia-Romagna several times (and many other places in Italy), and enjoy both. But I will say that last year, after spending four nights in Modena (which we loved, and plan to return to this year), as we drove south into Tuscany, I remembered why I love Tuscany; it's just SO beautiful! So my advice would be, for your first trip to rural Italy, to visit Tuscany. Then return in a couple of years, and spend time in Emilia-Romagna. And, while I've also visited the lakes region, I would choose Emilia-Romagna over Lake Como, but that's partly because I love hanging out at cafe in smaller Italian cities, and I love art and history, and there's plenty of that in Emilia-Romagna (Bologna, Parma, Modena, Ferrara, etc). Your preferences may be different.

16 or so days (or nights) might feel like a long time, but I encourage you to sit down with a calendar in front of you, and work forward from landing in Naples (I assume) and backwards from Milan (I assume) to see how many nights you will have in each location. You don't want to be traveling from place to place too much, and you've actually mentioned six different places that you want to visit in your 16 days/nights. For example, when you say Florence (which is located in the region of Tuscany) + Tuscany, are you thinking of spending, let's say, 3 nights in Florence, then 3 nights in a town in rural Tuscany? And when planning, a good rule of thumb is to allow for half a day when moving from one hotel to another, between packing, checking in, checking out, and transferring from place to place. And based on your destinations, consider taking a ferry (or train) from Naples to the Amalfi coast. Then, to get from southern Italy to Florence, you'll need to ferry (or train?) from the Amalfi up to Naples, and take a 3-hour train from there to Florence. Spend your time in Florence, then pick up a rental car as you leave the city. Use a rental car to visit rural Tuscany, then drive to Lake Como (or Emilia-Romagna, if you change your mind about that). After Lake Como, drive to Milan, drop off the rental car, and spend your time in Milan before heading home. I enjoyed Milan more than I thought I would originally; it's less touristy than other Italian cities, but is walkable, and also has great historic sites and art museums. In terms of allocating your time, if you have to give somewhere less time, I would cut back on time in Milan.

Also, you mentioned seeing the "big spots." What does that mean to you? What interests you? Do you want to visit vineyards and drink wine? Or visit museums, then sit at a cafe and people-watch?

Make sure to give yourselves plenty of time to sit at cafes with a glass of wine, Aperol spritz or San Pellegrino! Enjoy!

irontrades

Pacing is good. I found myself getting bored after 3-4 days in the same town. Slow is good if that's what you want.