12 days in italy
 

Hi. We are traveling to italy this summer for 12 days with friends. Flying in and out of Rome. We were hoping to start in sorrento, then rome and then florence/tuscany region. Wondering if this is too much for 12 days? Also, in Tuscany - would you stay in florence and make day trips or stay maybe in Siena and make day trip to florence from there. Any thoughts/suggestions greatly appreciated.

That sounds perfectly do-able.
Would you be renting a car in Tuscany, or relying on public transportation?
Rail links from Florence are good. Siena is a little more remote, and we found it too far from Florence for a comfortable day trip.
If you have a car, you have a lot more options.

yes we will have a car the whole time. so probably better to just stay in florence and maybe do a day trip elsewhere?

Be sure to check where you can and cannot drive in Florence and other Italian cars as it is very restrictive and the tickets are large amount...do a search on this board for many threads about having a car in Florence. You definitely don't need a car in Rome!

Other Italian cities...not cars ha

Hi J,

>would you stay in florence and make day trips

Yes.

((I))

Be really, really careful about having a car in Florence. The center of the city is a Zona a Traffico Limitato, which means you can't drive through or park there without likely getting a major-league fine (they'll track you through the rental agency and a year or so later you'll get a bill for hundreds of euros). Apparently the ZTL signs are often hard to spot. I'd rethink staying in Florence and rather make it a daytrip or two by bus or rail from elsewhere.

A few thoughts-

If flying out of Rome, I suggest ending in Rome.

If you have a car you might want to stay in the countryside and do day trips. You don't want a car in Florence. Perhaps skip Florence (it is soooooo hot and crowded in the summer) and just explore the towns, villages and landscape south of Florence near Siena. Staying in the countryside would make day trips by car easy.

Make sure you have parking arrangements while in Sorrento.

It might be easier to drop off your car in Orvieto and take the train into Rome. You won't need a car while in Rome.

thank you all so much.

Totally agree with zoecat to drop the car before you go to Rome.

I would stay in Florence and do day trips. I did the same last summer and was able to see so many different cities from Florence. I went to Siena as you mentioned and spent about an hour there (all that was needed) and the whole trip was maybe 9 AM-4 Pm with stops in two other small cities.

I would not get a car at all for what you are suggesting. You need/want a car in Italy if you are primarily visiting small villages. Sorrento, Rome, Florence and Siena - none of them are good to drive in. All of them are easy to do by public transportation.

And while it is not crazy to do those places in 12 days, I would consider dropping one. You could have a really nice trip with either Sorrento (and locations you can day trip from there - Amalfi Coast, Capri) and Rome --- or Rome and Florence and/or Siena. To try to do all of those places in 12 days you will only get a superficial taste.

Hi. My husband and I are going to Italy for 13 days in August. Hope to fly into Milan, out of Rome. Would like ideas to hire a car or not. spend maybe 2 days in Milan? 3 or 4 days in Lucca or Pisa? 2 or 3 days in Florence? Would like to go to San Gimigiano??? then onto Rome for a couple of days. What do people think of these places and timescale? x

does anyone know if you can buy a travel pass for 2 weeks to travel around italy? from Milan, various stops then end in Rome x

Jennifer,

To me staying in Florence or in the countryside depends on what you want out of your trip. I always like to mix cities with countryside.

You will have an entirely different experience if you stay in a SMALL hilltown rather than just doing day trips to them. the smallhilltowns are lovely in the evenings and easy to drive in/out for daytrips.

If it were me, and in August, I wouldn't even consider staying in Florence. I would get a car for the Tuscan hilltown part of the trip, and stay in a much smaller town (an or agritourismo) than Siena (it's bigger than you realize), and take a train/bus into Florence for what you want to see there.

Happy planning!

Caz-Laws, you should ask your question in a different topic of your own. Although your question is similar, it is not exactly the same and you will get more responses to your own topic.

Dayle: Jennifer hasn't been back since the day she started the thread. It was topped by Caz_Lewis to ask a different question.