10 days too short!
 

My husband and I are going to Italy for 10 days, first week in Sept. <BR> <BR>We fly in and out of Rome. In Rome, we are reserved at the Hotel Locarno on Via della Penna. Anyone been there? <BR> <BR>We plan to train to Venice and have a reservation at Locanda ai Santi Aoistoli on Strada Nuova. Any thoughts? <BR> <BR>Then train to Florence and reservations are at both Pensione Annalena and Hotel Porta Rossa. Anyone stayed at either of these? <BR> <BR>The big question is after Florence we would like to rent a car and drive to the Amalfi Coast and stay in Positano. Do you recommend? Any hotels that you recommend? We are comfortable with the driving, but is this too far to go on a short vacation? Would it be more time efficient to train it? <BR> <BR>Any suggestions are appreciated!

Nina, If you have only ten days, and this is your first trip to Italy and you want to see all of those cities, I would spend the following number of days in each city: ideally, 3 days in Florence, 4 days in Rome and 3 days in Venice. I would advise to take the train between the cities as it is faster than a car and I would say to skip the Amalfi Coast because in 10 days there is just not enough time. I did the exact above and it worked perfectly. Hope this helps.

Thanks for the tip. <BR>It is my second visit to Italy and my husbands first. I did not visit the Riviera on my last trip and think that it would be a nice ending to our trip. The Cinque Terra is closer to Florence, although I am having trouble finding accommodations. Any suggestions? Currently, we plan to stay 3 days Rome, 2 days Venice, 3 days Florence. <BR> <BR>Any suggestions on the hotels we have reserved?

A PERFECT SPOT TO "RECOVER" BEFORE THE HOMEWARD JOURNEY- SANTA MARGHERITA - PORTOFINO WITH THE FRRE DYA TRIP OFFERED BY HOYEL FASCE TO THE CINQUE TERRE.www.hotelfasce.it, <BR>Have a super holiday

I would prefer to stay within the CT, especially since we are only going to be there for two nights. <BR> <BR>I have heard good things about Porto Roca but am not sure about availability. Does anyone have any favorites within the 5-Terre? <BR> <BR>

Nina--its a small world--I am flying into Rome the first week of September and will be staying at the Hotel Locarno (9/7 to 9/9) also! Haven't stayed there before but I searched the forum and couldn't find anything negative--a number of guides recommend it and the only thing I could find to be a negative was that one might hear street noise--The staff has been helpful and the price was competitive with other hotels I looked into--$215.000 L--so I'm keeping my fingers crossed--enjoy your trip!

My first choice would be Valerie's suggestion to just see the 3 cities. My second suggestion would be to rest up in Portofino which is lovely and should be much less crowded in September. My third suggestion would be to go back toward Rome and stop in Orvieto which is a pretty hill town not far from Rome, or to stop in Verona before or after Venice. I would take the train to all places. If you have your heart set on Cinque Terre, try looking at the little town of Lerici (about as close as you can get, but not actually within the borders) but know that getting in and out of Cinque Terre and Venice will both be time consuming.

!