Advice on Itinerary
 

Hello,

First, I want to thank everyone on this forum for sharing so many of their experiences! It has really helped in my planning of a trip to Italy.

My sister and I are going to Italy in August and I wanted to ask for opinions regarding our Itinerary. It is below....please let me know if you think I should add something in there or if I've put too much in there...any feedback would be so appreciated! I am also listing the hotels we have reservations at. Thanks so much!!

Hotel reservations are at:
Milan - Jolly Hotel Touring
Verona - EuroMotel
Venice - Lanterna di Marco Polo
Florence - Hotel Mario's
Rome - Hotel Paba

DATES AND PLACES AND THINGS TO DO
Saturday, August 4th
Flights leave

Sunday, August 5th
Land in Milan at 9pm. Check into hotel and find a spot for dinner.

Monday, August 6th
Milan. Relax, explore, find a lunch place, walk around the city. Walk by the La Scala Opera house (can’t go in cuz it’s closed in August). Shopping should open at 4pm, go to the famous shopping square (The Quadrilateral on Via Montenapoleone). Museums closed on this day.

Tuesday, August 7th
Milan. Sightseeing:
• Michealangelo’s last Pieta in Sforza Castle (can go in the morning, no reservations needed)
• Galleria Vittoria (one of the biggest shopping centers in Milan)
• Leonardo’s Last Supper – reservations made for 5:00pm
• Piazza Del Duomo (the museum is closed for renovations indefinitely but we can go to the cathedral and look around)

Wednesday, August 8th
Leave Milan in the morning and take train to Verona. Stops in Padua, Vicenza and Verona. Walk around Verona and go to the Amphitheater to watch a show in the evening. Spend the night here.
• The opera playing at the Roman Amphitheatre is Il Barbiere di Siviglia (“The Barber of Seville”). It starts at 9:00pm. Ticket reservations have been made and the tickets are being mailed to me and I should have them within a week.

Thursday, August 9th
Leave Verona and go to Venice early in the morning. Check into hotel and go exploring.
• St. Marks Square and Doge’s Palace and Basilica
• Take a Gondola ride through the Grand Canal
• Rialto Bridge

Friday, August 10th
Venice. Sightseeing:
• Frari Church
• Accademia
• Bar Tour available at night

Saturday, August 11th
Leave Venice on early morning Train to Florence. Meet Friends at the Santa Maria Train Station. Check into hotel and go to lunch.
Florence. Sightseeing:
• Uffizi Gallery
• Duomo
• Check out shopping

Sunday, August 12th
Take train to Pisa to see Leaning Tower and Field of Miracles. Spend the day here and take an evening train back to Florence.

Monday, August 13th
Florence. Sightseeing:
• Accademia (Michealangelo’s David)
• Renaissance Rumble
• Bargello
Leave for Rome in the evening. Check into Rome hotel

Tuesday, August 14th
Rome.
• Go to Vatican City. Look into tours, etc for this.

Wednesday, August 15th
Take train to Naples and Pompeii (do a tour for this? Look into that?) Go there for the day. Most of Rome is closed this day for a religious Holiday.

Thursday, August 16th
Rome. Sightseeing:
• Colosseum
• Forum
• Capitol Hll
• Pantheon
• Piazza del Popolo
• Spanish Steps
• St. Peters Bacilica

Friday, August 17th
Rome. Sightseeing:
• Trenfountain
• Spanish Steps
• Night walk of Rome

Saturday, August 18th
Rome. Sightseeing (make sure these things are open on this day)
• Borghese Gallery – Reservations pending
• National Museum of Rome

Sunday, August 19th
Flights out of Rome at 7:00am

It's hard to find fault (and I've tried to) with your plan!

I'd only offer this: Don't go to Naples and Pompeii on the 15th. I think you'll need a down day after all the sightseeing and so just do some easy wandering around on that day. Don't feel compelled to leave town just because it's a holiday; there's plenty to see and do. Also - Pompeii is a bit much IMO being that you're already in Rome itself.

Oh yes - another thing...

Maybe it's too late now, but you should've put "Italy" in your title. I think you'd get more responses.

thanks so much for your reply! i'll repost later if i dont get many responses. thanks, again!

Your hotel choice in Verona, although it gets good reviews, looks like it's pretty far from the center, and would require bus or taxi rides all the time.

If you map the location on www.viamichelin.com you will see that it is right by an autostrada exit, great if you have a car, but a long way from anything else, including the train station. Viamichelin's mapping feature shows that it is located 6.5 km from the train station.

Anyhow, I would try to pick someplace more central.

I'd move St Peter's to Friday instead of Thursday. You've got a LOT going on Thursday! And St Peter's is not close to all the other stuff. If I were you I would save St Peter's to do during the day on Friday then hit up the trevi fountain and spanish steps when you do your night walk.

thanks so much for your help! i was having problems getting a decently priced hotel in Verona - but ill probably end up spending more time traveling to and from the hotel to the city and train station that i should look for something closer...i am thinking about Hotel Scala.

Also, i changed St. Peters to Friday instead....thanks so much everyone!! Any other advice anyone has is welcome!! Thank you!

jenjen: thinking about it further, I'm not even sure you'll be able to get to EuroMotel after the opera, which will end at 12:30 a.m. when buses have quit running, taxis will be in very short supply, and it's too far to walk. I think you need to find something within walking distance of the Arena for after the performance.

On viamichelin you can search for a map of Italy, arena, Verona; then you can ask it to show hotels nearby, and they will be listed (from some booking engine) according to distance.

Also, I think the Accademia is closed on Monday, so you can't do that on your Monday in Florence as schedules.

Thanks so much, i've changed reservations for verona and will now be staying at Hotel Scalzi...it's right in between the train station and the arena. has anyone stayed there? thanks!

I would skip Pisa, it is not worth one day.

For your day from Milan to Verona you indicate stops in Vicenza and Padova. Both of these are east of Verona and out of the way. What with changing locations and going to the opera that night, there will be plenty to keep you busy in Verona - I wouldn't try to include these out-of-the way stops, and I also wouldn't include them on your train to Venice day simply because it's too much.

Lovlisa, thanks so much for all of your help! You are right about the Accademia, I originally had it for Saturday but thought it might be too much to do in one day. I'll think about moving stuff around for Florence. Also, you are right about Padua - we will not stop there on our way to Venice. Thanks so much! Anything else? :)

Have a great time!

To reiterate what Tuck said, Ferragosto is a big travel holiday in Italy. Trains and roads will be jammed. You really don't want to go to Pompei on this day as either mode of transport will be miserable.

Oohh, ok...do you think it would be better to do the Forum and Colosseum and Spanish Steps and those kinds of things on that day and go to Pompeii the next day? Thanks so much for telling me about this!!

I think you could flip your Wednesday and Thursday. Are you determined to go to Pompei? It's a long way, and very hot when you get there. How about going for a day trip somewhere closer like Ostia Antica or Hadrian's Villa?

We would like very much to go to Pompeii. My parents were there last year and loved it. I live in a city with tons of heat (Phoenix, Arizona, US) and am not too too worried about that because we are so used to it here...so yes, we would like to make sure we fit Pompeii in to our trip. I will, however, flip Thursday and Wednesday around. Thanks so much for your help!! I truly appreciate it! This is the first trip of this kind that I am taking and have been a bit nervous :)

You'll have a lot of problems wiith the 16th (this stuff could take 3 days - you havve no idea how huge the forum is) and the 17th (you should have more lthings listed here).

Also - you need to leave time in Rome etc for just sitting and enjoyng la dolce vita. (There are several nice cafes right in front of the pantheon to relax and sit with a drink - and some munchies - before going back to the hotel to change for dinner.)

Yeah, I know we have a lot crammed in there. I will move things around while in Rome...and maybe take a couple of the sites out so that we don't feel so stressed about seeing everything and can enjoy the food and cafes (so excited for the food and wine!!). Thanks so much for taking the time to help! Much appreciated!