PalenQ

That gives you 2 days to sight see in CT>

2 days would be the max for the average traveler I think for CT unless using it for a base.

I may suggest Verona in between CT and Venice for a day in one of Italy's neatest old towns.

jane1144

Getting up and going early helps in CT...before the cruise ship tourists arrive for their day stop!

frencharmoire

If you are going to Milan with someone who is 7 years old, visit the roof of the Milan duomo, go to some pastry shops and ride the trams. Seeing the Last Supper for 15 minutes is not uninteresting if you explain to the 7-year-old that Napoleon smashed a doorway through the middle of the fresco so he could ride his horses through it, which meant it had to be fixed later. They did a nice job. If your 7-year-old likes mechanical things then he or she might like a trip to the Science Museum to see models of Leonardo's flying machines, etc, and reproductions of the books he wrote backwards, but I have never taken a 7 year old there so maybe you should look at websites to see if it would interest your child.

frencharmoire

Excuse me, but I just saw another post in the thread. Gardaland is not a water park. It is a park for children like Disneyland. There are other activities on the lake for children.

casacruz1111

I'm thinking 2 full days in CT max is more than enough. Reality is we won't be able to go "hiking" per se or will only do a light version, as we will be with our 7yr old son. BTW- he travels often with us and is good at adapting to new environments. With regards to Venice, I'm also thinking 2-3 (with 3 max). When my wife and I went alone before, we stayed 2 nights. It's hectic during the day, but a ghost town at night. Our goal is make a stop in between, even if only for 1 night, hopefully 2, so we can break up the trip a bit.

Thank you All again for such great advice and input!

vincenzo32951

>> if you explain to the 7-year-old that Napoleon smashed a doorway through the middle of the fresco so he could ride his horses through it, which meant it had to be fixed later. <<

It'll make for a good story. Later on you can explain that it's a myth. The door was built as a convenient entry to the kitchen.

PhillyFan

We visited theCT in the summer. The crowds in no way "ruined" our experience.

casacruz1111

>>We visited theCT in the summer. The crowds in no way "ruined" our experience>>

I agree. In all honesty if I was worried about "crowds", I wouldn't be going to Europe. Even more so, where will you not find crowds in the summer? Not seeing people is depressing....

scrb11

CT is worth the crowds if you like natural beauty and want to do some hiking.

And Portofino can definitely work for day trip. The walk from Santa Magherita Ligure along the flat coastal road is great, though you can take the bus either way. There is also a mansion which costs €5 with great views over the harbor and the surrounding hills.

The CT Parks dept offers cheap guided hikes around the villages, including one where you take a bus up top above Riomaggiore and walk back down. Actually walking downhill can be tough on old knees because of uneven rocks but the views are spectacular. You can see vineyards up there with the monorail tracks used to harvest the grapes.

I also love going to Portovenere by boat. If you time it right, as soon as you reach Portovenere, you can hop another boat that cruises around the nearby islands for an hour. That second cruise is around noon and included in the ticket, or I may have gotten a combo ticket.

The tricky thing about the OPs itinerary is getting from CT to Venice. Maybe not a bad idea to break up that long land trip. Verona is a nice place but not exactly in the middle, as you're most of the way towards Venice from Liguria.

frencharmoire

vincenzo32951,

Thank you for correcting my mix up. Napoleon blew up so many things to drive through horses or have parades (or just to blow things up!) I guess I mixed up the Last Supper with someplace else, but now can't remember what or where.

PalenQ

CT is worth the crowds if you like natural beauty and want to do some hiking.>

Especially if hiking- otherwise you are in season in mobbed villages only. Do at least some hiking though some trails close for various reasons at times.

PalenQ

I think there is a site to check trail conditions ahead of time.

HappyTrvlr

Consider Santa Margherita Ligure and day trip to the CT. You can also take a very short drive or a boat to Portofino for a look.

celfan

It's time to stop blaming Rick Steven for the CT crowds. The actual reason is
the increased capacity, over the past 5-10 years, for cruise ships.

celfan

Wow Joan, If I changed the word September for October in your post, it would be like you were reporting on my vacation.

As for the suggestions of day tripping the CT, that would be like like actually choosing to drive in rush hour traffic. Best time to see CT is before 11am and after 4 pm. A world of difference.

PalenQ

It's time to stop blaming Rick Steven for the CT crowds>

well it's Rick Steves and yes folks who are veteran travelers offer disdain him for some reason - almost universal with Fodorgarchs it seems.

and thus blame such things as mobs in the CT on his publicizing the area to Americans. In three trips to the CT I have consciously looked at the visitors there and most of them were Italian or European- especially Germans - yeh there were quite a few Americans but not probably because of Rick Steves.

As I wrote before once when researching an article I wrote on the CT I found out that the five villages were even popular tourists resorts in Roman times.

Rick Steves get the blame but it is a case IMO of if you repeat something enough others will blindly repeat it so much that it becomes true.

joan

celfan, by any chance did you rent a boat too? I loved that! I keep suggesting it, but nobody here has responded. A great and easy way to avoid the crowds. We inquired on the Vernazza dock and found the Nordest company renting little boats with decent motors, a bimini for shade (a must!) and zero frills. 95 euros for half day. (we asked lots of questions and they were very encouraging, gave us instructions and laminated map) The next morning, we packed a lunch and a bottle of wine and spent 4 hours going back and forth along the coves. Even anchored and swam by the waterfall near Monterosso . LOL getting back into the boat via the slippery ladder was something we still laugh about. We wondered why there were no snorkelers - the water was a beautiful blue and so clear, different from the Caribbean blue somehow. ..this is making me want to go back.

casacruz1111

Joan- thank you for that suggestion. It is something we will look into doing, as it sounds fun and different.

I envision CT to be a bit like Venice- crazy hectic during day due to daytime visitors and then it calms down in the evening/early morning. I plan to stay 2 nights in CT to get a better feel and opinion of it.
Also, I think ppl here are underestimating the power of social media (FB, instagram etc) and they way people are able to view pictures of travel destinations. For instance, that is what originally struck my interest in CT.

Thank you.

PalenQ

For instance, that is what originally struck my interest in CT.>

So it weren't Rick Steves?

casacruz1111

PalenQ- NO, it was not Rick Steves.