Does this order for a 2 week itinerary make sense? (Italy)
Oct 14th, 2011, 10:51 PM
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Does this order for a 2 week itinerary make sense? (Italy)
I've used Forum comments to choose the areas I'd like to visit on a 2 week vacation in May and I'm wondering if the Forum experts can comment on this first attempt at an itinerary. We will not have a car so plan to take mostly trains / buses. I've heard that some Tuscany bus routes are faster than trains but it's all quite overwhelming!
Day 1 -2 Arrive Turin - 2 nites
Day 3-5 Cinque Terra -3 nites (Vernazza?)
Day 6-8 Tuscany - 3 nites (San Gimignano?)
Day 9-11 Amalfi Coast/Sorrento, 1 day at Pompeii - 3 nites
Day 12-13 Rome
Day 14 Milan (probably fly from Rome, that seems worth it)
1) Also, any recommendations on places to stay are appreciated. Budget to moderate range.
2) Especially need help with Tuscany. Without a car I'm not sure how to plan those days. I'd ideally like to be able to walk to town.
Thanks!
Day 1 -2 Arrive Turin - 2 nites
Day 3-5 Cinque Terra -3 nites (Vernazza?)
Day 6-8 Tuscany - 3 nites (San Gimignano?)
Day 9-11 Amalfi Coast/Sorrento, 1 day at Pompeii - 3 nites
Day 12-13 Rome
Day 14 Milan (probably fly from Rome, that seems worth it)
1) Also, any recommendations on places to stay are appreciated. Budget to moderate range.
2) Especially need help with Tuscany. Without a car I'm not sure how to plan those days. I'd ideally like to be able to walk to town.
Thanks!
Oct 14th, 2011, 11:42 PM
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I think you're trying to fit way too much into two weeks. That's a huge amount of travel time especially if you don't have a car. I'd consider cutting down on the number of destinations. You're not going to be doing anything except sitting on trains and buses, leaving yourself so little time in each place you're not going to see anything.
Turin 2 nights
Cinque terra 3 nights
Tuscany 3 nights (Pick a city as a base and do daytrips. Without a car staying out in a small town is going to be more difficult. You can spend a day in Florence too if you want)
Rome 5 nights (and Pompeii as a daytrip)
That leaves you with an extra day to stick somewhere too.
If you let us know what you're interested in we can help better.
Turin 2 nights
Cinque terra 3 nights
Tuscany 3 nights (Pick a city as a base and do daytrips. Without a car staying out in a small town is going to be more difficult. You can spend a day in Florence too if you want)
Rome 5 nights (and Pompeii as a daytrip)
That leaves you with an extra day to stick somewhere too.
If you let us know what you're interested in we can help better.
Oct 15th, 2011, 01:21 AM
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If you plan to stick to such an ambitious itinerary, I suggest you fly out of Naples, not Rome.
If you have never been to Italy before, you may not understand how extremely interesting every single part of it is, and while San Gimignano, or le Cinque Terre and the Amalfi coast are extremely famous, there are also many many places in between that are also exciting to visit. So you aren't "missing" the highlights of italy if you plan a trip that does not involve so much time consuming travel between famous places.
But if you have picked out these places because they most appeal to you (or if you have Italian relatives in each town!), then this is my advice:
I really like Torino, so I would probably give it another night (stealing it from Tuscany). I would also probably want more of an extra night there to recover from any jet lag if you are coming from overseas. But if you've already checked out a guide of what there is to see in Torino and just want to breeze through, up to you.
Personally, I prefer the area around Camogli to le Cinque Terre (which you can visiit as a day trip from Camogli). It is a shorter train trip from Torino to Camogli, plus if it rains in May (which it can do, a lot), there is more to do around there, closer to Genova and Nervi, then there is in le Cinque Terre. Plus there are much fewer tourists. But if you have your heart set on hiking every day along the trails, then you should go to le Cinque Terre.
Next, take the train to Pisa, and get a bus to San Gimignano. From San Gimignano, you can easily visit Volterra as a day trip. I would spend only 2 nights in Tuscany. From San Gimignano, you can take a bus to Florence, and from there you can go by train to Rome.
Spend your time in Rome, and then go on to Sorrento.
Fly home from Naples.
I don't really have any issue with hayestrip's overall suggestions to you above, but I would say that unless you really want to go to Florence, you should pick a different place to stay if you want a "base" for doing daytrips in Tuscany.
If you have never been to Italy before, you may not understand how extremely interesting every single part of it is, and while San Gimignano, or le Cinque Terre and the Amalfi coast are extremely famous, there are also many many places in between that are also exciting to visit. So you aren't "missing" the highlights of italy if you plan a trip that does not involve so much time consuming travel between famous places.
But if you have picked out these places because they most appeal to you (or if you have Italian relatives in each town!), then this is my advice:
I really like Torino, so I would probably give it another night (stealing it from Tuscany). I would also probably want more of an extra night there to recover from any jet lag if you are coming from overseas. But if you've already checked out a guide of what there is to see in Torino and just want to breeze through, up to you.
Personally, I prefer the area around Camogli to le Cinque Terre (which you can visiit as a day trip from Camogli). It is a shorter train trip from Torino to Camogli, plus if it rains in May (which it can do, a lot), there is more to do around there, closer to Genova and Nervi, then there is in le Cinque Terre. Plus there are much fewer tourists. But if you have your heart set on hiking every day along the trails, then you should go to le Cinque Terre.
Next, take the train to Pisa, and get a bus to San Gimignano. From San Gimignano, you can easily visit Volterra as a day trip. I would spend only 2 nights in Tuscany. From San Gimignano, you can take a bus to Florence, and from there you can go by train to Rome.
Spend your time in Rome, and then go on to Sorrento.
Fly home from Naples.
I don't really have any issue with hayestrip's overall suggestions to you above, but I would say that unless you really want to go to Florence, you should pick a different place to stay if you want a "base" for doing daytrips in Tuscany.
Oct 15th, 2011, 01:57 AM
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If you will have a look at a map
seat61.com/italy logical flow would be
Turin Milan cinqueterre.com Tuscany Rome Sorrento/Amalfi
fly out of Naples less back tracking that way.
Pass bad value just hop regional trains like a local
from 2 euro per hour... Did parts of this in may
hoteldelfino.com was great metropole.it for Portofino/CT
Eurocheapo.com great city tips budget hotels
Happy Planning!
seat61.com/italy logical flow would be
Turin Milan cinqueterre.com Tuscany Rome Sorrento/Amalfi
fly out of Naples less back tracking that way.
Pass bad value just hop regional trains like a local
from 2 euro per hour... Did parts of this in may
hoteldelfino.com was great metropole.it for Portofino/CT
Eurocheapo.com great city tips budget hotels
Happy Planning!
Oct 15th, 2011, 02:01 AM
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Usually find cheapest airfare into Milan(MXP)
cheapoair.com kayak.com/buzz skycanner.net
RT usually cheaper for me than open jaw sometimes
I will fly into Milan and just do a round robin by train
Portofino/CT www.lucca.info Pisa Rome Sorrento/Amalfi
www.orvieto.info Florence Venice-tourism.com sirmione.com
Garda Milan... it flows very well for me I see a lot.
cheapoair.com kayak.com/buzz skycanner.net
RT usually cheaper for me than open jaw sometimes
I will fly into Milan and just do a round robin by train
Portofino/CT www.lucca.info Pisa Rome Sorrento/Amalfi
www.orvieto.info Florence Venice-tourism.com sirmione.com
Garda Milan... it flows very well for me I see a lot.
Oct 15th, 2011, 05:08 AM
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I think you are doing too much in the space of two weeks. Just a couple of suggestions: Plan to visit either Cinque Terre or the Amalfi Coast, not both. If you choose CT, fly to Turin and home from Rome. If you choose AC, fly into Turin and home from Naples. Either skip Milan for this trip or go from Turin as you make your way south.
That should give you a couple of extra days in Tuscany - Florence is a must in my book - and extra days in Rome from where you can visit Pompeii as a day trip.
My suggested itinerary:
Turin - 2 days
Cinque Terre - 3 days
Florence - 4 days with day trips to Tuscan towns (unless you will have a car in which case 4 days in a Tuscan town with a day trip to Florence and other Tuscan towns).
Rome 5 days with a day trip to Pompeii.
Usually, I would recommend a little less traveling in two weeks but since there is so much you really want to see, 4 destinations with a few day trips seems a good compromise.
That should give you a couple of extra days in Tuscany - Florence is a must in my book - and extra days in Rome from where you can visit Pompeii as a day trip.
My suggested itinerary:
Turin - 2 days
Cinque Terre - 3 days
Florence - 4 days with day trips to Tuscan towns (unless you will have a car in which case 4 days in a Tuscan town with a day trip to Florence and other Tuscan towns).
Rome 5 days with a day trip to Pompeii.
Usually, I would recommend a little less traveling in two weeks but since there is so much you really want to see, 4 destinations with a few day trips seems a good compromise.
Oct 15th, 2011, 06:20 AM
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Are you flying out of Milan? Otherwise skip it. I'd also skip Torino unless you have a special reason for visiting there. San Gimignano is not a good base without a car. Siena is better. (I'd say Florence but you seem not to like bigger cities.)
I'm relentlessly chopping off destinations because you have too many. You haven't allowed for the time to get from place to place. For example 3 nights in Sorrento or the AC is 2 days plus a fraction. If you were arriving from San Gim, you'd probably take a bus to Poggibonsi, another bus to a train station, maybe Florence or Chiusi, then the train to Naples, a commuter train to Sorrento, then maybe a bus onto the AC itself. There are other ways of doing this, but it's going to be time-consuming too. Is this really the way you want to spend your short time in Italy?
Even if you don't like big cities, Rome is worth more than 2 days.
If you haven't bought your plane tickets yet, you can take advantage of open-jaws (multi-city) flights, say into Milan out of Naples. With open-jaws flights, you save time and money you'd otherwise spend backtracking.
If you have already bought tickets into Torino, out of Milan, I'd definitely skip the AC as mamcalice suggests. You really need more time there to see Capri, Pompeii, the AC itself and so on.
I'm relentlessly chopping off destinations because you have too many. You haven't allowed for the time to get from place to place. For example 3 nights in Sorrento or the AC is 2 days plus a fraction. If you were arriving from San Gim, you'd probably take a bus to Poggibonsi, another bus to a train station, maybe Florence or Chiusi, then the train to Naples, a commuter train to Sorrento, then maybe a bus onto the AC itself. There are other ways of doing this, but it's going to be time-consuming too. Is this really the way you want to spend your short time in Italy?
Even if you don't like big cities, Rome is worth more than 2 days.
If you haven't bought your plane tickets yet, you can take advantage of open-jaws (multi-city) flights, say into Milan out of Naples. With open-jaws flights, you save time and money you'd otherwise spend backtracking.
If you have already bought tickets into Torino, out of Milan, I'd definitely skip the AC as mamcalice suggests. You really need more time there to see Capri, Pompeii, the AC itself and so on.
Oct 15th, 2011, 07:45 AM
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Thanks everyone. Sounds like I need to cut out a bit.
Some background I left out: I am starting in Torino where my daughter will be. Since she'll have extra luggage from her Study Abroad semester's stay, I thought I'd have to store the luggage in Milan and have to return to get it. But on second thought, we could ship the luggage home then won't need to leave from Milan. Less hectic.
The flights are a limiting factor, maybe if I expand leaving from Rome or Naples I'll see new choices. Back to skyscanner & kayak.com now!
Thanks everyone!
Some background I left out: I am starting in Torino where my daughter will be. Since she'll have extra luggage from her Study Abroad semester's stay, I thought I'd have to store the luggage in Milan and have to return to get it. But on second thought, we could ship the luggage home then won't need to leave from Milan. Less hectic.
The flights are a limiting factor, maybe if I expand leaving from Rome or Naples I'll see new choices. Back to skyscanner & kayak.com now!
Thanks everyone!
Oct 15th, 2011, 09:52 AM
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We just returned from nearly a month in Italy. It was our second trip, and we optimized our "quality" time to really enjoy the places we visited. You don't have the luxury of time that we did...but I expect we did have about the same budget constraints you are looking to exercise. You will have an advantage over our recent experience, by traveling in May as opposed to September/October. While we lucked out in Italy with amazing weather, it does get darker much earlier in fall than it does in May.
I think your two nights in Torino/Turin are good, and 3 nights in Cinque Terre sound perfect. We only had arranged for two, but the minute we arrived at the rental agent's office, we tried to extend it for another (unsuccessfully, as the weather forecast was so good, there were a lot of Italians wanting to spend time there!)
What you need to know for Cinque Terre, is wherever you stay -- you want to carry as little luggage as possible. You will be climbing up and down stairs, paths, skinny stairways in buildings, etc and you will have to carry it all yourself! We stayed in Riomaggiore, and it was perfect for us. We rented a nice studio from Apartmenti e Camere Edi for 90Euro/night. It was directly over the "marina" - a beautiful mini-harbor, with colorful fishing boats, gorgeous water, and a wonderful sunset view over the sea. One of the best views we've ever had anywhere. There was a small kitchen, and there were places you could get carry-out pizza or other foods within walking distance, if you didn't feel like heading out. The easiest part of the trail, runs from Riomaggiore to Manarola, and it was great to start with that portion. It seems the trail between Manarola and Corniglia is closed due to landslides, so we had to take the train for that portion...but the train station for Corniglia puts you out at the bottom of a huge staircase that zigzags up to the town.
We did hike from Corniglia to Vernazza, and that was challenging, but totally gorgeous and worth every step. We had a terrific lunch in Vernazza, and I enjoyed that little town. Your other good option as a place to stay, would be Monterossa. If you and your daughter want to sit on a lovely sandy beach and just relax on the beach, Monterossa is your spot. If you stay elsewhere, and plan to visit Monterossa on a hot day, DO pack your swimsuits as you WILL want to go in the water! I also liked the swimming possibilities in Vernazza. The swim-area in Riomaggiore was very rocky, and you probably would want to wear old tennis shoes or creek-walkers on your feet. But regardless of whether you want to swim or not, the views that made Cinque Terre famous are every bit as extraordinary as you might imagine.
I agree with someone else who suggested that you be satified with dropping Amalfi Coast if you plan to visit CT. I've now been to both, and I think I prefer Cinque Terre. Totally different experiences, but that's just my opinion.
Lucca is a short trip from CT, and we stopped there on our way (granted we were driving, but I know this is doable by train) and I think the relative flatness is perfect after all the up and down of CT. You may want to spend a night there, if you want to throw a one-night-stop into your mix. My suggestion would then be to travel to Siena or even somewhere near San Gim that has bus service for 3-4 nights, so that you can visit Florence as a day trip, as well as another Tuscan wine town or two.
The final days/nights should be designated for Rome. Plan a daytrip to Pompei from Rome. But having spend most of your trip in relatively more calm settings, you will be ready for the energy you will need for Rome.
Vernazza would be a good option as there seemed to be lots of good restaurant opportunities on it's larger harbor.
I think your two nights in Torino/Turin are good, and 3 nights in Cinque Terre sound perfect. We only had arranged for two, but the minute we arrived at the rental agent's office, we tried to extend it for another (unsuccessfully, as the weather forecast was so good, there were a lot of Italians wanting to spend time there!)
What you need to know for Cinque Terre, is wherever you stay -- you want to carry as little luggage as possible. You will be climbing up and down stairs, paths, skinny stairways in buildings, etc and you will have to carry it all yourself! We stayed in Riomaggiore, and it was perfect for us. We rented a nice studio from Apartmenti e Camere Edi for 90Euro/night. It was directly over the "marina" - a beautiful mini-harbor, with colorful fishing boats, gorgeous water, and a wonderful sunset view over the sea. One of the best views we've ever had anywhere. There was a small kitchen, and there were places you could get carry-out pizza or other foods within walking distance, if you didn't feel like heading out. The easiest part of the trail, runs from Riomaggiore to Manarola, and it was great to start with that portion. It seems the trail between Manarola and Corniglia is closed due to landslides, so we had to take the train for that portion...but the train station for Corniglia puts you out at the bottom of a huge staircase that zigzags up to the town.
We did hike from Corniglia to Vernazza, and that was challenging, but totally gorgeous and worth every step. We had a terrific lunch in Vernazza, and I enjoyed that little town. Your other good option as a place to stay, would be Monterossa. If you and your daughter want to sit on a lovely sandy beach and just relax on the beach, Monterossa is your spot. If you stay elsewhere, and plan to visit Monterossa on a hot day, DO pack your swimsuits as you WILL want to go in the water! I also liked the swimming possibilities in Vernazza. The swim-area in Riomaggiore was very rocky, and you probably would want to wear old tennis shoes or creek-walkers on your feet. But regardless of whether you want to swim or not, the views that made Cinque Terre famous are every bit as extraordinary as you might imagine.
I agree with someone else who suggested that you be satified with dropping Amalfi Coast if you plan to visit CT. I've now been to both, and I think I prefer Cinque Terre. Totally different experiences, but that's just my opinion.
Lucca is a short trip from CT, and we stopped there on our way (granted we were driving, but I know this is doable by train) and I think the relative flatness is perfect after all the up and down of CT. You may want to spend a night there, if you want to throw a one-night-stop into your mix. My suggestion would then be to travel to Siena or even somewhere near San Gim that has bus service for 3-4 nights, so that you can visit Florence as a day trip, as well as another Tuscan wine town or two.
The final days/nights should be designated for Rome. Plan a daytrip to Pompei from Rome. But having spend most of your trip in relatively more calm settings, you will be ready for the energy you will need for Rome.
Vernazza would be a good option as there seemed to be lots of good restaurant opportunities on it's larger harbor.
