3 week itinerary for Italy (excluding Rome/Pisa)
 

Hi everyone,
Planning another 3 week trip to Europe in September for my Godmother / myself. I have been to Europe 3 times before and have done independent tours travelling by air/train in between cities and doing the Hop off/Hop on Tours in each city and the rest by bus, private tour, or on foot. I am NOT comfortable driving in another country and don't want the added stress that comes with it so not sure I'm interested in any driving. Most important to add to our 3 week itinerary is Florence/Milan/Venice. We've already been to Rome (twice) / Pisa. We are interested in culture / museums / monuments / cathedrals - popular tourist spots in any city we visit. We prefer to travel independently like we have in the past flying / taking train / local transportation, doing the Hop on Hop off tours or doing a land tour on foot or on our own, and walking on foot if not taking taxis around the city.

I usually like to see more than 1 country in one visit to Europe since airfare is SO expensive, I figure might as well get my money's worth! However, it seems there might be ALOT more in Italy worth visiting (besides Rome/Pisa) and enough to fit a 3 week itinerary that I shouldn't miss out on. Otherwise, if not, I was thinking a 3 week itinerary to include Italy / Spain / Portugal. I definitely don't want a jam-packed itinerary this time around and want a good balance of exploration / R&R seeing enough of a city, but yet being able to sit / enjoy / smell the roses if you get what I mean!

So I put that all out there to see if folks recommend just doing 3 weeks in Italy and saving Spain / Portugal for another trip or if an Italy / Spain / Portugal trip is possible given my need for a balanced vacation. For Italy / Spain / Portugal, I was thinking Florence/Milan/Venice + Barcelona/Madrid + Lisbon/???.

If you are recommending just doing the 3 weeks in Italy, what itinerary would you recommend to include Florence/Milan/Venice? What other cities/towns are definitely worth visiting in Italy? Even though we don't plan on laying out on the beach, we would still be interested in visiting any of the coastal regions since they still have more to offer than just the beach.

Thank you in advance!

its a shame you would not try driving in a place like Tuscany or Umbria... its so easy if you stay outside the bigger towns and just visit the lovely hillside towns... I just returned and drove all over Italy..

in Florence check out this wonderful B&B: dei mori

I would stick to Italy

visit sicily... visit Sardinia... visit naples.. visit the lake district---I just spent a few days in baveno on lake maggiore...

read my trip report--click on my name..

Towns that I've been to in Northern Italy that are worth visiting: Parma, Bologna, Verona, Siena, Lucca...the villages of the Cinque Terre (though if you're not interested in hiking, the Cinque Terre loses some of its appeal in my opinion, even though it's one of my favorite places to visit). I've never been to Lake Como but it sounds like you might enjoy it.

What about Slovenia? Ljubljana and Lake Bled are wonderful and close to Venice, though you'd probably want to take a bus to Ljubljana from Venice (train service between Italy and Slovenia is surprisingly poor).

Stick with Italy for now---there is so muhc to see it really takes severl months it see it all. We have done 17 trips so far.

As for Spain/Portugal, it take several trips to see them as well. I see Spain as taking 5 trips and Portugal at least 2 trips. You have so much to look forward to--I envy you.

How easy is it to rent a car/drive in Italy? Do I need anything special other than my CA drivers license? D they drive the same there or are the rules different? I am somewhat adventurous, but I don't think my godmother will be that helpful with navigation so I don't want to find myself in a stressful situation since the driving will be all on me!

It sounds like Ill be sticking with Italy for 3 weeks. Should I be sticking to just the North or would it be too far to do some in both North/South? I still have alot of Europe to see.....I'm SO behind. You're the one I envy!

Not sure where your arrival point is, but you talk about focussing on Florence/Milan/Venice, and my guess is the likely air arrival point out of those is Milan? If so, you could easily do the 3 listed places (and Pisa & Lucca & Verona) in the time available. With a car, however, you could enrich the experience even more in any one of 3 ways:
Northern circular route: Milan, Stresa (Lake Maggiore), Bellagio, Sirmione (Lake Garda), Verona, Venice, Ravenna, Florence, Lucca, Pisa, Cinque Terre, back to Milan.
Southern circular route: Milan, Pisa, Lucca, Siena, Cortona or Assissi or Montepulciano, Florence, Venice, Verona, Bergamo, back to Milan.
Multi-Country: Milan, Venice, Ljubljana, maybe Zagreb and/or Plitivice, Opatija, Rovinj, Trieste, Verona, back to Milan.
These may not exactly suit your travel plans, but maybe there's some useful stuff in it. Also, for what it's worth, I drove around Tuscany & Northern Italy last year, and found it to be the most relaxing driving I've ever done - even more so than home!