trippster

Hello everyone,

I am back with my itinerary for the Italy / Paris trip for this summer (May-June 2005) I had already posted a couple of messages here to help me in fixing this tentative schedule. However would welcome ANY more suggestions on this plan.

Day 1: Arrive in Milan. Leave for Florence / Pisa immediately & spend evening / night there (We plan to put our luggage in a locker room in the station. Feasible?)

Day 2: Sight seeing in Pisa

Day 3: Back to Milan by an early morning train. And pick a car for a drive around the Lakes. Reach Verbania by afternoon / evening

Day 4-5: In & Around Verbania (More ideas?)

Day 6-8: In & Around Menaggio with a drive around for some Apline views

Day 9: Drive down to Venice & Drop in the car

Day 10-12: In Venice (Any ideas of what all can be done in Venice for 3 days. Day trips out of Venice etc.)

Day 12: Leave Venice for Paris

Day 13 - 17: Paris

A couple of explanations. I am keen to do Pisa & hence the first two days on Florence / Pisa. It is something to do with the 'ticking leaning-tower-of-pisa off my been there done that list' Can't imagine making a trip to Italy (first one!!!) without doing this Also my dad would also love it for the same reason. But am confused on whether to base myself in Pisa (accos are expensive here!!) or Florence or some place like Lucca. But unfortunately we can't spend more time in this region.

And I want to include Paris in this trip. Have been there before immediately after my wedding and just loved the city.

We are four of us and would love nature / architecture / musuems kind of sight-seeing.

So any thoughts on this itinerary? And any must_dos in Pisa / Venice / Lake region. I am reading loads of posts on these topics. But any suggestion is always welcome [as usual ]

Thanks!!!

Jocelyn_P

Hi trippster,

I think I can appreciate that you REALLY want to see the Leaning Tower, but you are sacrificing SO much time, energy, and money to do it. Do you realize it's a 4 hour train ride to Pisa from Milan's central train station? Assuming you're coming from the US, it will take you around an hour just to get from the Milan airport to the train station, making that first jet-lagged day a traveling nightmare, in my opinion. And what a shame to be in/around Florence, one of the most glorious cities in the world, and not see it. May I suggest doing a search here on Pisa to see what others who've been there think of it? It is way far down on most people's list of highlights in Italy. I would either cut it out for this trip, or take some time from the lakes to spend a few days in Florence, making Pisa a quick day trip.

You really only have 2.5 days in Venice. There is plenty to do in the city so I wouldn't recommend scheduling any day trips.

Good luck in fine tuning your trip. Hopefully lots of people will chime in with advice. Enjoy Italy (and Paris)!

isabel

Well I wouldn't do it that way. I agree the amount of time/energy you are spending to get to Pisa is really excessive for what you will see. However, if you really want to see it I'd rearrange things a bit.

First, I'd pick up the car at the airport in Milan. This would save you taking the bus to the train station, waiting for the next train, and train to Florence - which will all take at least five hours total. Do the things you want a car for first and then either drop off the car and train to Florence/Pisa or else drive there and drop off the car once you get there. Since there are four of you, that would probably be cheaper. Then take the train to Venice when you are done in Florence.

Right now you have about 6 days in the lakes, only 1-2 in Pisa/Florence and 2 and a half in Venice. You say this is your first trip to Italy. You might want to rethink that a little. Obviously you have some reason to want to focus on the lakes, but you are really missing a lot by giving such short time to the other places. With twelve days in Italy I'd suggest 4 nights lakes, 4 nights Florence (with a stop in Pisa on the way there, doesn't take most people more than a hour), and 4 nights Venice.

jdraper

tippster - I would agree with the other posters. You are giving no time at all to Florence and very little time to Venice. We have been to Pisa, and are glad we ticked it off of the list of things to see, but I would not go to this much trouble to see it. When you get there you will see a tower that is leaning. Surprise! It is worth the stop if you are in the area but I would not go to as much trouble as you are to get there. I would spend more time in Florence, dont' miss a visit to David (which is much better than the leaning tower) and take a side trip to Pisa from there.

I would also schedule more time in Venice as it is a wonderful place. You will have no trouble finding many things to do there and will be anxious to return.

Have a great trip. Jackie

trippster

One clarification - I seem to have mistyped the day I plan to leave Venice. It is on Day 13. So that gives me 3.5 / 4 days in Venice. I have not yet finalized how to do the Venice - Paris part of the trip (flight vs train) If we decide on the train it would make it Day 14-17 in Paris and leave for India (we are coming from India) on Day 18.

So that makes it
Pisa region - 1.5 days
Lake Region - 6 days
Venice - 3.5 / 4 days
Paris - 4 / 4.5 days

Isabel, that is a good suggestion. I will consider picking a car first and then looking at Pisa. Or maybe a car for the entire trip until Venice. Let me re-work a bit and see how it goes.

Thanks. Keep the comments coming in, please.

bobthenavigator

Skip Pisa--it makes no sense to waste that time. And, do not try to drive in Milan--get the car at MXP.

trippster

I have another idea. How would it sound if we cut down the 1-1/2 days in Pisa / Florence and base oursleves out of Venice itself.

So the changed plan would be
- Go direct to Lakes for 6 days (Base in two different lake regions and try to fit in a drive to some scenic points in the Italian Alps)
- Move to Venice; Spend 4 days in Venice; On the 5th day, take a 1 day trip to Pisa. I guess it will be a very long & hectoc day but atleast we spend only one day on it but yet get the satisfaction of seeing the leaning tower. My dad is quite keen to include this in the plans. And then go back to Venice and take the flight to Paris
- Last 4 days in Paris

The alternative is to cut a day in the lakes region (as suggested by all of you) and keep a 3 night plan in Florence.Spend 1/2 day to land up in Florence & settle down; 1-1/2 days in Florence and 1 day in Pisa.

What do you think makes more sense?

Thanks!

RufusTFirefly

That is a lot of time around the lakes. It is very pretty, but that's a long way to travel for 6 days of pretty.

But it is your money and your time, and you know what rings your chimes better than any of us do.

ira

Dear tripp,

You are flying thousands of miles to spend 6 days on a lake? Surely you can do that at home.

I usrge you to reconsider in favor of more time in Florence and Venice.

Gretchen

Too much time at the lakes. Too little time in Florence. Base in Florence. Then Venice. A day at a lake. More time in Paris. Consolidate your time or you will be spinning wheels and not see anything well.

Jocelyn_P

Do you have to fly into Milan? If you flew into Florence or Pisa, you could make much better use of your time. Stay in Florence for 3-4 days with Pisa as a day trip, go up to the lakes for a few days, then end in Venice.

It makes absolutely no sense to do a day trip to Pisa from Venice. You'd be on the train for 9-10 hours that day.

trippster, I'm curious, have you really researched to see what Italy has to offer? I ask because you say you love architecture and museums, yet you seem to have little to no interest in visiting Florence. Italy is so much more than pretty lakes and a gimmicky tower. If you want to see natural beauty, go to Switzerland, which will give you the best of the Alpine scenery. If you want to go to Italy, see the best of what Italy has to offer. Just my opinion.

trippster

Thanks for all the advice. Few more explanations on our initial plan.

1> We had already seen Paris & Swiss once. So we didnt want to make the same combination again.

2> While 3 of us would love architecture / musuems / sights, I was not too sure about how much my father would like them. I didn't want it to be an over-kill of musuems for him. That is the reason I knocked Rome & Florence off the list thinking I would stick to Paris & Venice as the main destinations (and plan a separate trip to Italy again to cover these main cities).

3> When I discussed the plans with my dad, I realised he wanted to see Eiffel & Pisa. So then included Pisa into the plan.

4> My dad loves scenic drives and I read few posts on Italian Alps / Lakes region and hence started working that into my schedule. Started off with a 3 day stay there but when we got the idea of driving around that region and trying to cover more than a lake as well as some Alpine sightings, I increased that part of the trip.

But few obvious mistakes I have made are
1> Too few days in Venice (which was not the idea at all! guess got carried away with the idea of driving around lakes)
2> Keeping Pisa in the plan without including any time for the region. So it makes it lot of commuting time for just one sight.

So based on the comments received until now, I have cut down 3 days in the lake region and restricted it to a single lake with 3 full days there and added a stay in Florence for 4 nights.

Jocelyn, it was a great idea about flying into Florence. Am exploring that option now with my agent and she dsays it should possible. So then it would be

23rd Afternoon Reach Florence
23rd - 27th night In Florence - 4.5D / 4N

Reach Menaggio / Bellagio by 28th May
28th - 31st In Menaggio - 3D / 3N

Leave for Venice on 31st May early morning
31st - 4th evening In Venice - 4.5D / 4N

Leave for Paris on 4th June evening
5th - 9th June In Paris - 4D/4N

Leave Paris for India on 9th.

How does this sound now? Few doubts I have abt this plan
1> This still means two night trains. (One from Florence to Como; One from Venice to Paris) Does it sound okie?
How do I get to know the reservation rates in these night trains?
2> Is it worth taking a car in the Como region for a 3 night stay there? How about driving all the way from Florence itself or will we waste more time driving down? Is Bellagio / Menaggio / Verbania a better base if we decide to do this part of the trip without a car?

Any comments? Thanks!

Jocelyn_P

Oh, this sounds so much better! Kudos to you, trippster, as it's hard to be the planner, trying to please 4 people. I really like your new plan.

I'm surprised there's a night train from Florence to Como. Don't you have to transfer in Milan? Are you sure it's a sleeper train? I've never done an overnight train, but those who have often say it's never a good night's sleep. Frequent poster Rex likes to take evening trains which include dinner. That way you don't take up valuable sightseeing time during the day, or sleep time at night.

Good luck fine tuning and have a great trip!

ira

Hi tripp,

Much better.

You could fly into Pisa(PSA), Florence(FLR), Venice(VCE) or Bologna(BLG)for about the same price as into Milan(MXP).

mamc

I think you have dramatically improved your itinerary. It is easy to take a day trip from Florence to visit Pisa - just for long enough to see the leaning tower. I understand people want to go there but there are so many marvelous things to see in Florence, it is a shame to waste time on Pisa. I think your current plan is good and, hopefully, you can accomplish it without too much time on the road between destinations.

Gretchen

And I now think it is too much time in Venice--3 days would be plenty. I think leaving Milan out is a good move also. Paris has so much to offer on all levels--one more day there? Or even another day in Florence to see the small surrounding towns? And maybe especially if you are taking a day to go to Pisa.
As for overnight trains, they are a saving on several levels and are not terribly uncomfortable. They also deliver you to the city center--a plus also.

RufusTFirefly

I don't think 3 days in Venice would be plenty. We spent 4-1/2 days in Venice on our first trip there and had to omit many sights that we had planned to visit.

trippster

Thanks everyone. I think I'll stick to 4 nights in Venice. Am sure we will need it.

Jocelyn, I think you are right. There are no direct night trains from Florence to Como. We need to make a change in Milan. so maybe we will do it on 27th evening itself. And while we are at it, do you think it is a good idea to leave some luggage in the Milan locker room? That way, we can avoid taking luggage around to Como and then to Venice. Has anyone here done this - leaving luggage in a locker in a central location for 3 - 6 days? Is it safe / feasible to consider doing this?

Another question I had already asked is whether it is worth renting a car for 3 nights in the Como region? And if we do not rent a car what is a better base in the Lakes region - Menaggio / Verbania. I have found good hostels in both these places that are significantly cheaper than hotels. Hence want to choose any one of these. Any ideas, please?

Thanks!

ira

topping

Jocelyn_P

Hi trippster,

I can't help you with the rest of your questions. If you don't get the answers you need, you may try a new post, asking specifically about Como in your title.

Again, offering unsolicited advice here, will you have so much luggage that you'd need to leave some in Milan? It is so easy to pack light, especially in the summertime. Here are a couple of threads about packing light that helped convert me:

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34467252

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34554169

Of course, this doesn't work for everyone, but it seems most people who try it never go back.