Four us will be traveling to Italy next June. Flying into Rome out of Venice We would like to see these 2 cities and Florence,Senia[this can be a day trip from Florence] and lake como. We have 13 days . Can this be done, How many days in each city, or should we leave Lake Como out? Two of us will be celebrating our 50th birthdays the other 2 are 48 and 29. This is our first time to Italy.<BR>Thanks <BR>Diane

Should be plenty of time. Perhaps you should consider flying into Rome and out of Venice or vice versa. Lets say you fly into Venice, then you can do Venice, take train to Como and spend some time at lakes (MUST DO THIS), then train to Florence, do Florence and Seinna, then train to Rome, do Rome and fly home. <BR><BR>YOu will love Italy it is wonderful, but if you miss the Lake Como area you have missed one of the most wonderful places on earth.

Thanks Curt,<BR>We are flying into Rome and out of Venice, already have the tickets for 550. How far away is the lake como from Venice by train or should we go from Florence to lake then Venice? We first had 5 days rome, 4 Florence, 4 venice, but I have heard so much about lake como I didn't know if we could fit it in.<BR>thanks di

With only 13 days I suggest you cut off something from your trip. Since the first and the last day you wil not be able to see much due to the travel and getting settled in or ready to leave and since your trip requires at least 3 major move from one place to another (Rome to Florence, Florence to Milano and than to Como and Como to Milano and than to Venice) which also will occupy most part of one day each, you are left woth a mere 7 days and a few more scraps of time for sightseeing. if I were in you I would spoen all my time in Florence and Rome, cutting off both Como (lovely, but certainly not one of the things I would highly recommand to someone who comes to Italy for the first time) and Venice (too much of a tourist trap), flying in and out of Rome (it is cheaper!) renting a car for the trip from ROme to Florence and spending two nights along the route one in either Pitigliano or Santa Fiora (for a taste of a non touristy but lovely Tuscan village) and another at agriturismo Fonte di Sopra in Radicondoli, 30 minutes from Siena, 15 minutes from San GImignano and 30 minutes from Both Volterra and Massa Marittima, which might all be stops during your trip to Florence (choose two: I would suggest Siena and Volterra). The last day of your stay you might take an Eurostar train back to Rome and fly out of Rome or you might take a late afternoon train to Rome the day before in case your flight leaves Rome in the early morning.<BR>Yet, if you do not want to leave Venice off your trip, you might consider another itinerary: spend 4 days in Rome, on the fifth day train to Florence, days 6,7 and 8 Florence, day 9 daytrip to Siena, day 10 up to Venice, days 11 and 12 Venice (two days in Venice are more than enough!!!) day 13 return trip. As an alternative, you might plan to skip Venice, spend days 11 and 12 in Como and leave Italy from Milano instead of Venice.

Como can only be reached from Milano. There is no direct line connecting Como to either Florence or Venice. From both Florence and Venice you can expect to reach Como in no less than 4 hours through the far less scenic Fs station. If you really want to see Como, yet, I woudl suggest you to spoend half an hour more in travelling and, once you are at Milano Centrale station, take the green subway line to Cadorna FNM stationa d take the less comfortable, somewhat slower train that leaves from this station and arrives right at the lakeside in an old art nouveau iron ststion. In any case, given your too little time in Italy, I would cut off Venice if I were to see also something of the lake: you will need the best part of one day to tour Como and at least another day to se some of the other lakeside towns. When planning, also consider how long do the travelling between one city to the other requires. The 4-4 1/2 hours scheduled for going from Florence to Como, for instance, can easily become 8 hours: in fist place you will need _at_least_ one hour to pack your bags, check out of your hotel and reach the station, you will want to be at the station at least 15 minutes before the train's scheduled departure time, but the train might be late, therefore causing you to miss the other train from Milano to Como and stealing from you another hour or so, than you will have to reach the hotel from the station, check in, get settled, probably have a shower before you are able to hit the streets again. This means at least 7 hours, more likely 8 hours!

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Diane, yes, that can be done--a bit hurried but doable. I am glad you are flying out of Venice--that helps alot. I would do this sequence--assuming you indeed have 13 nites in Italy:<BR>Rome--4 nites<BR>Train to Florence--3 nites-incl. Siena<BR>Train to Varenna via Milano--3 nites<BR>Train to Venice via Milano--last 3 nites<BR><BR>That will work nicely. Sounds like fun !<BR>Are you sure you girls do not need a dirty old man escort??

You might want to stay in Siena and daytrip into Florence. It will probably be less expensive, and Siena is just awesome at night.

Before you ask us, as complete strangers, why don't you four get together with some tour/guide books and maybe some literature from a travel tour group and each make lists of what and where you would like to see. Combine them and tally up the lists. Then go through them and each of you then pick the ones that are the most important to visit. <BR>Then you can come up with something that will not become an issue later.<BR>Believe me, that is what we four friends that are your same age did two years ago. Someone in your group may be really looking forward to seeing Venice for instance, if the majority agrees, add it. <BR>It will make for a friendlier trip if everyone gets to have an equal say and all are in agreement BEFORE you leave.

seems like a good start to me--it will not be your last time in italy.

Lina,<BR>We have done that. We have monthly dinners and talk over cities and sights. That is how we came up with the 3 cities. Then we saw Lake Como and thought it was beautiful, so I was the one they asked to write, because we have used so much information from all of you. We just didn't know time wise if we could fit in the lake or not so we thought we'd check with people who might have done this.<BR>Thanks,<BR>Diane

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Good for you Diane, I am glad you are all in agreement so there wont be any tension when you are on the trip. <BR>I would say, save the lake for another trip, it is wonderful, but it is a lake, and there are lakes all over the world. There is only one Rome, one Venice and one Siena. You can easily do all three. Have fun.

Diane,<BR> I've been to all 4 of your selected destinations numerous times and once hit all 4 in 10 days (and threw in one night in Milan, which I wouldn't advocate--my niece had her heart set on seeing all 4 and the trip was my gift to her). We had a wonderful time--it is only about 3 hours train travel between your destinations, great for lounging and chatting, or reading, or writing, or napping...whatever! I think Bob's suggested breakdown looks great, tho I might take one night/day from either Rome or Florence and actually spend the night in Siena [one hour train south of Florence].<BR><BR>I would definitely follow Bob's suggestion to take the train from Milano Centrale to Varenna and either stay in Varenna or Bellagio (just a quick ferry away). If you don't mind moving around and are traveling fairly light, I'd suggest moving down the lake to a different spot each night--not a lot to do in any given spot but eat, drink, relax--many charming hotels to choose from.<BR><BR>You need to allow an hour to and from Milan from Varenna or even Como, so might be fun to spend your last Como night in Como proper, leave from the main train station to Milan and change their for train to Venice.<BR><BR>This is your first visit and I think you will get a hefty taste of all these places to whet your appetite for more (or not, as the case my be). I say go for it--it sounds like a ball!

Just be sure you are not spreading yourselves too thin timewise. Remember it takes time to get to the train, the whole train station thing, getting to and from your hotel, checking in, checking out, changing rooms if needed, waiting for cabs, etc. A half or whole day can be taken up going between hotels in cities.

Thanks to all of you, I will take the information back to our next italy dinner meeting. <BR>Diane

Diane, You can pull down the train schedules from www.trenitalia.com before you meet to estimate times.<BR>Good luck !