Linzy428

Myself, 22 year old, and my friend who is 23 are backpacking through Europe starting the 29th of this month (August). We will be in Italy for about 8 days and are wondering where and for how many days we shoud spend our time. Neither of us are majorly into art or history, but we do appreciate some. We mostly enjoy beautiful landscapes, culture and of course touristy destinations such as the Leaning Tower of Pisa. So far we are thinking Florence, Rome and Venice and we are contemplating visiting Greece for 2 days. We will have a rail pass as well. If anyone can offer any suggestions on other places to go or to cancel one of the previously listed places, or let me know of any particularly nice hostels or cheap hotels, it would be much appreciated! Again, we don't plan on spending much time in museums, only a couple major ones will do.
Thanx so much!
~Linzy

BATUFFOLINA

The italian trio Rome-Florence and Venice is ok if you will stay 3 days in Rome (it's alarge city and I usually advise to divide the sightseeing in 3 parts: 1= Vatican, Sistine and if you want Castel Sant'Angelo 2= Colusseum, Forums, Palatine Hills, Vittoriano and Trastevere. 3= Spanish steps, Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, Navona and Campo de' Fiori), I would suggest minimum 3 days in Florence (one day trip to see Pisa, even if IMO there are more picturesque places to see apart from Pisa, like Lucca, or San Gimignano, San Miniato or Vinci), even more if you are into the tuscan landscapes. And 2 days in Venice.
I would also say: forget the idea of visiting Greece in only 2 days, it sounds impossible to me. Why? In order to reach the greek port of Patras from the Italian coast you will need to leave either from Ancona or Bari or Brindisi, so that involves a train ride of some hours. Then if you are on a budget, you will want to take a ferry whose ride from Italy to Greece takes about a whole night. If you want to get the fast ferries it will be still at least 8 hours. Also, consider that the beginning of September for Greece it is still high season, and the ferries will likely be quite booked and all this for only 2 days??? (considering that you must go back too). So If I were you I would just spend my time going around Italy. You can easily and leisurely spend those extra days going to Capri/ Naples and the Amalfi Coast. Or you can go to Cinque Terre and from there maybe reach the French Riviera, or from Venice you can easily go to the Croatian peninsula near Pula or to Slovenia which are not far away from Italy and pretty well connected either from Venice or from Trieste. Croatia and Slovenia are less expensive than Italy and France, too.

cmt

Here's your other thread on the same topic: http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34659087

suze

I don't think you can do three major cities in Italy and get to Greece for 2 days as well, with only 8 days total (if I understand correctly).

I'd do Rome and Venice (skip Florence, skip Greece).

suze

linzy- I'll top this, hoping that you see both your posts.