11 days in italy with no itinerary
 

we booked tickets to rome arriving july 17 and leaving july 27. want to travel up and down italy visiting rome, florence, milan, monaco (france), and back. need ideas? also better to drive or train? if train, i do not understand the 4 days in a month pass? what is that? oh this is our first time so we just want scenery no musuems, art or wine this time around.

Hi ahnoangdo, you already have a post on this subject. If you cannot find it just click on your name and you will see your other post.

About the train, youre talking about the euro-rail pass...it just talks about maximum number of times you can take it in a month...its not completely free, its trying to promote EU travel, and the economy is lacking too...so they want you to travel/but not every single day...thats why some eurorail passes offer more stops...but if you use it more than the limit, you have to pay...but i doubt you'll overuse the pass...just go to the web and look up info on it. A car might be a better option, but cities like ROme where we are is hectic, and traffic bad...but my father rented a car and they loved it...if youre travelling a lot from city to city, take the car, it will save you the hastle of dragging luggage to and from the train, and down the streets to the hotel, and to the taxis...they charge more for luggage. If you need any further help such as tours, im also a tour guide. Im from Chicago but i live in ROme now...studying theology...ask for Mike at Eternalcitytours. Hope this helps.
Ciao!

No art or wine? Are you sure you want to go to Italy? (partly just kidding, partly serious!)

You do not want train travel in my opinion - - Rome, Florence and Milan are just points on a map that separate (some of) the transportation routes you will need to use (sparingly perhaps) - - in a rented car.

And you omitted Venice from this list (in contrast to your other post) - - it's the one you should keep, in my opinion - - and spend little or no time in Florence, Milan and Rome.

Best wishes,

Rex

1. Monaco is not in France.
2. I think you're planning to cover too much territory in too short a time.
3. Your choices to cities to visit are not ones I'd pick. On a first trip, and especially given your preferences, I certainly would not skip Venice but visit Milan (which is not obviously and instantly appealing, not a place for "scenery," which you want, but IS a place for art and museums, which you don't want.)
4. If you "just want scenery no museums, art...," why are you aiming for cities? If you're flying in and out of Rome and really and truly just want mainly scenery and not art, etc., you could have a more rustic vacation by heading for some part of the coast near Rome, or to the "ciociaria" area inland between Naples and Rome.

I just returned from Europe and spent 3 days in Venice. Originally planned to train to Florence but tickets for the train schedule were sold out for the times I desired. Unless I wanted to leave very early in the morning to arrive late at night. Venice is spectacular except when the large cruise ships arrive, then it is chaos and wall to wall people everywhere. Sellers become vulturish hawking everything from meals to trinkets. My best experience was a side boat trip to the island of Murano (about 15 minutes via boat from San Marco in Venice). This is the island where all the glass blowing is and the island itself is charming, laid back, scenic and what I envisioned Italy to be like on a sunny summer day.

I also spent time in France and aware that in your time frame there is a plethora of tourists, so nothing is quick or going to be quick about getting around.

Hmmm ! Let me see if I understand. You fly into Rome, you only want scenery, and you return from Rome, but you do not include the best scenery in Italy. The top 3 scenery venues in Italy IMHO are the Amalfi coast, the Lakes, and the Dolomites. Why are you not going there?

Isn't it a little picayune to say that Monaco isn't "in France"? Are to we to learn next that the Vatican isn't "in Italy"?

Maybe our OP specified "monaco(france)" to make clear that it was not a reference to that big city in Bavaria - - which the Italians call "monaco"!

no wine??????

I don't understand why it is all cities on your list, why they are even included at all... if what you want is "scenery" don't you want to stay in the countryside?

ok we can scratch monaco and venice off the list. now with 11 days still i was thinking of starting in rome 2 days, florence (if possible pisa) 3 days, milan (for lake como) and then back to rome to home.

With your latest itinerary revision, you need a car like a fish needs a bicycle, IMHO. Take the train! Put your planned itinerary into www.railsaver.com to see if a pass or point-to-point tickets would be more cost-effective. Highlight the "only if it save me money" option at the site.

By my calculation, you only have nine days. You can scratch your arrival and departure days due to the time needed for travel, so you effectively have from 18 July to 26 July. Is there any way you can fly into Rome and out of Milan so you don't have to backtrack?

Hello anhoangdo, you want scenery but but no museums or art or wine. But you do want to visit Rome, Florence and Lake Como.

Perhaps your definition of wanting to see scenery is confusing us. What is your idea of scenery? I think most of us would think that you want to be in the country or at the seaside but since you want to visit Rome and Florence may I assume that perhaps your interest is in the architect of these cities, the buildings etc.? Am I correct about this? If not, would you please explain what it is that you want to see in Rome and Florence.

Also, may I ask where you reside. Do you by any chance live in South America? Best wishes.

train sounds good. we already took in consideration that we are arriving in rome on july 17th. we leave san diego on the 16th. so we have 11 days cause we leave rome on the morning of the 27th. cant change flights. we got air tickets at iberia for $150 USD a real bargin due to a internet glitch. as for the 'scenery'. this is our first time in italy so we really dont know much. we hear places like colosseum, trevi fountain, leaning tower of pisa, almafi coast, lake como... that type of scenery. finally i found a deal on this page for hotels:
http://www.solmelia.com/sol/promocio...Junio_2005.jsp
think of staying there. so i will check out if the train goes by some of these hotels. still need a place in florence though...

That Melia hotel in Rome is rather out of the way. It's certainly a good deal, and you could make a reservation and cancel it if you get something better. But I'd definitely try to get something that is right in Rome, even if you have to pay a lot more for it.

i'm not into musuems either....so
florence didn't do much for me.

now cinque terre......there's some scenery for you...

Your arrival day is usually difficult to "count" as a full vacation day. This ,realistically, leaves you with 9 full days.
Since you are arriving and leaving from Rome I'd rent a car (or train) from the airport for your first stay. You might try Orvieto or Montepulciano.
Stay a few days then travel in a circle covering Tuscany and Umbria. This allows you many options and brings you back south towards Rome.
It's really hard to appreciate Rome with less than 3 days.
You could split your trip into Venice, Florence and Rome.
To do this you probably should train to Venice from Rome (makes for a LONG day) and spend three days at each.
Looking at what you listed as "scenery", you might want to start at the Amalfi coast and finish in Rome. Make it 4 days to see the coast, Pompeii, etc. and then spend the rest of your time in Rome.
But, no wine???

I cannot imagine cutting Venice...

I agree with otownrob. We aren't really into the art museums so, as beautiful of a city Florence was, we were bored after a day. If your not into museums, I would cut Florence from your itinerary. Same thing with Milan.

I agree with the others; if scenery is what you are looking for, add the Amalfi Coast, hill towns of Tuscany and/or Umbria or the Lakes.

Tracy

Sounds to me like their meaning of "scenery" is famous sights, though not including famous art in museums.