teelin

This is our 1st anniversary trip and 1st time to Italy. Are we planning too much? We don't like to rush around . We know we are going to love Rome so we want to spend some time there. We are flying into Nice because we got mileage tickets there.

Tues. 9/6 arrive Nice, stay 2nts.
Wed. 9/7 Explore Nice
Thu. 9/8 Train along coast to Santa Margherita Ligure, stay 2 nts. (any tips on this train route? do we need to buy tix in advance?)
Fri. 9/9 Explore SML & Cinque Terre
Sat. 9/10 Pick-up rental car & drive to Siena, stay 2 nts.
Sun. 9/11 Explore Siena and surrounding area
Mon. 9/12 Drive to Rome, drop off car, stay 4 nts.
Tu 9/13 - Th 9/15 Explore Rome
Fr. 9/16 Depart 11:30am

Any suggestions on renting a car/ train travel and hotels would be much appreciated. Thank you!

sockboy

I think you are trying to squeeze in a bit much if you don't like to rush around. I would skip Siena and the car rental. This will give you a lot more breathing room.

Consider the following:

9/6 - arrive Nice (2 nights) (what time?? Perhaps get an afternoon of wandering in before sleeping off the jet lag?)
9/7 - see Nice. (I have never been here, so I don't know if seeing the city in a day is at all reasonable)
9/8 - Train day to SML. (3 nights)
9/9 - SML and area
9/10 - Cinque Terre day trip
9/11 - Train to Rome (5 nights)
9/12 - Rome
9/13 - Rome
9/14 - Rome
9/15 - Rome
9/16 - Fly home

You may want to consider taking a day from Rome and adding it to Nice, depending on your interests - maybe others who have been to Nice can comment! This would make the trip 3 nights, 3 nights, 4 nights.

AprilDavid

That is a busy itt. Nice is beautiful. Barring museum visits, I think a day and 1/2 is a good amount of time to take in Nice proper. We actually rented a car and one of our favorite places we stumbled upon was Eze, which is between Nice and Monaco. There is a really interesting cactus garden at the top of this little midievial town that overlooks the water. Awesome photo ops to be had. We have always much preferred having a car versus train, as we could own our itt. and got to see more sites off the beaten path. We've been to Rome three times, and never tire of it. We stay at a hotel called Scalinata di Spagna, at the top of the Spanish Steps. It's right across from the Hassler hotel, but more quaint and of course cheaper. Love the location-very close to the Gardens Borghese which has a great museum (need reservation) and is an awesome place to run if you're a runner. The hotel staff has awesome restaurant reccos, mostly smaller places that have the best pasta I've ever eaten along with great table wine and meat....plus so reasonable. I find Rome very enchanting and my suggestion would be to choose the things you really want to do and and make sure that you leave yourself time to soak in the atmosphere of Rome from some cafes on the piazzas. If you want to see something really weird, there is a capucian monk "church" where all of the "decorations" from monk's bones. Located in the Via Veneto area I think. Just one of those things I have no idea how we came upon, but was like nothing we had seen before.
http://www.hotelscalinata.com/eng/albergo.html Here is the hotel website. Have a wonderful time.

ira

Hi tee,

Are you planning this trip for 2005?

teelin

Thanks for the advice, very helpful - I may try to scale back but for some reason I have always dreamed of going to Siena. I need more time!

And yes, this trip is for Sept. 2005.