2 days spare in Italy what to do?
 

My husband and I f inally got our 3 weeks in italy pretty much planned out but we have 2 spare days and no idea what to do.

we are flying into milan and renting a car for 12 days. while we have the car we are doing lake garda, venice, verona, san marino ( for a motor bike race) bologna, tuscany (cycle tour and winery tour), umbria ( cookery course). then giving the car back and getting a train to abruzzo for 2 days. renting a car there for 2 days and back to rome. from there we have our 2 free days. and then we are spending our last 2 days in rome seeing things are we are flying out from rome.

would anyone have any suggestions to what we could do for those 2 days that may not need to have a car as we really not interested in driving for all of the time there.

thanks

I would add it to Rome.

You definitely need more time in Rome so add the days there.

I would also add them to Rome. You are doing a lot of traveling around and 4 days in one place at the end, especially in Rome, is a good idea.

I agree with everyone else, practically! Add the time to Rome.

I have been to rome before and seen most things. My husband has no interest in seeing the vatican or any of that stuff. I have seen it all so don't mind not seeing it again. so that will take a big chunk of what to see in Rome i would imagine. we love our food and cooking hense us doing a cookery course. is there any great restaurants or markets that aren't touristy that we could check out in Rome?

"I have seen it all" - seriously? Given the number of attractions (excluding the Vatican, Colosseum, Forum, Pantheon, Palatine Hill, Trevi Fountain, etc.), I find it hard to believe you have seen everything there is to see in Rome.

Rome the Second Time Around is a great website/blog about alternative things to see in Rome. Vinoroma holds great wine tastings. There are also great gastronomic tours you could take. Ostia Antica is an easy day trip. You could even take a day trip to Florence via fast train and see the renovated market there.

Since you have seen "everything" in Rome already, why not put the extra 2 days somewhere earlier in your trip, like at the lake or in Venice?

Ok so didn't mean seen everyting literally of course :) will def check out the blog ekc. ya might look into spending some extra time possibly in other places as you say suze.

I can't tell from your itinerary how long you plan to be in Venice. But if it's only "2 days" like many of your other places, just make that 4 days.

Also I don't know where you're flying from, but if it's anywhere with a long flight, time change, jet lag involved, I like to purposely put a couple days at the start of any Europe trip to get on to the local time.

I'm guessing, since you have some specific activities like bike tour and cooking class, your days are specifically before Rome. How about Orvieto? It's only an hour by train to Rome from there and is a nice little Southern Tuscan town with good food and other things to see.

Where will you be in Abruzzo? It's a beautiful region, and there might be some other area in Abruzzo that you'd enjoy.

You might want to consider spending the time in the Castelli Romani area, which is a region of hills, lakes, and castles just south of Rome. It wouldn't be much out of your way coming from Abruzzo, and there are local food specialties and wines. I don't know the area terribly well myself, so I suggest you read up on it in a good guide book.

Another possibility would be Tivoli, which you would almost pass through on your way to Rome.

Orvieto would be my recommendation as well, since you've decided Rome has little left to interest you. It is a beautiful town, and a comfy place to relax after all your touring around. You can also save some $$ as opposed to staying another 2 nights in Rome. Then it is a simple train into Rome for your last two nights. Italy is such a rewarding place to visit. You might be surprised. Maybe you should just leave those last 2 nights for serendipity. Could be you fall in love with Abruzzo and decide to stay there for 2 more nights. We've done a number of trips like yours, and there are always places where we wish we'd had more time. Plus, at the end of a long trip (some people here don't consider 3 weeks long, but I do) you really do find you want to just stick around a beautiful spot to savor it, sometimes even canceling plans to DO something. With a little buffer in your schedule, you could do that....