monicanaha

Hi guys,

This is my itineary for our trip next week. it's a combination of swiss and italy.

Itineary

13-Mar-09 Arrive Zurich, travel to Lucerne, sleep in Lucerne
14-Mar-09 Activities in Lucerne, sleep in Lucerne
15-Mar-09 Travel to Zermat, sleep in Zermat
16-Mar-09A ctivities in Zermat, sleep in Zermat
17-Mar-09 Travel to Zurich, for Rome. sleep in train
18-Mar-09 Arrive Rome, activities in Rome, sleep in Rome
19-Mar-09 Activities in Rome, sleep in Rome
20-Mar-09 Travel to Pisa, sleep in Florence
21-Mar-09 Sleep in Florence
22-Mar-09 Travel to Venice, sleep in Venice
23-Mar-09 Acivities in Venice, sleep in Venice
24-Mar-09 Travel to Bernese Oberland , sleep in Bernese Oberland(bo)
25-Mar-09 Activities in BO, sleep in BO
26-Mar-09 Activities in BO, sleep in BO
27-Mar-09 Activities in BO, sleep in BO
28-Mar-09 Activities in BO (1/2 day), travel to Zurich,
29-Mar-09 Flight to Mumbai

Need help for :

1. What are the " must not be miss " things to see and do in rome , italy and venice?

2. We are planning to hire and car in rome and drive to tuscany region? we thinking of going to pisa , then to go florence? is a florence a good base ? we really like to see something scenic in tuscay region . any suggestion ?

All inputs r welcome . waiting for some help !

travelfan1

Wow...that's a lot of traveling. I don't understand...you're in Rome 2 nights and you want to hire a driver to take you to Tuscany while you're in Rome? Have you been to Rome before?
There is so much to see in Rome and you won't see anything! Can you drop Florence and add on to Rome...or even Venice? Venice deserves more than 2 nights too! For what it's worth if you keep this itinerary you won't be able to see the "must not miss" things in Italy!

luvtotravel

I'm exhausted just reading your itinerary. Have you figured out how much time you will spend traveling, checking into hotels, unpacking, repacking, and sleeping? You haven't left much time for anything else. Why not skip Rome and add a couple of nights elsewhere.

liberosette

My suggestion: choose only two locations among Tuscany, Venezia and Roma, f.e.:
1) Swiss-Roma, Roma-Venezia, Venezia-Swiss (all by train)
or:
2) Swiss-Roma by train, Roma-Firenze by train or car, Firenze-Swiss by train.
or:
3) Swiss-Venezia by train; Venezia-Firenze by train with 2-3 day car rent for visiting rest of Tuscany, then Firenze-Swiss by train.

monicanaha

Hi guys,

I think u guys make sense , we are cramping up too much in a short span. But for a first time , which do places would u suggest among rome , venice and florence. i have total 6 night for italy. can someone work out a good and not too tiring itneary for me . i am all nervous and confuse ,as this a last min trip. can't choose which places to visit in italy? but i do like a lot of nature and scenic stuff over history.

Liberosette by venezia , u mean venice right ? actually i am all confuse.

daveesl

Out of 15 actual days (including your arrival day) you'll be staying in 7 different locations. That means 7+ check in/outs and travel days. I like doing a lot on our trips, but wow, that sure seems like a lot of travel to me.

Don't take this wrong, but you would be Clark Griswold's hero for this one. I'd cut out a couple of the trips, but that is just me.

ira

Hi Mon,

A busy, but doable, schedule.

You are zooming through Italy. I suggest that you skip Tuscany this time.

Look up your various cities under "Destinations".

Enjoy your visit.

ekscrunchy

I don't mean to insult you, but I will say that this sounds like a recipe for a horrendous travel experience. For starters, I would eliminate Rome since it is too far out of the way of the bulk of your itinerary.

All of this sleeping on trains...do you mind my asking how old you are?

daveesl

We posted at the same time...

Since you are going next week, have you already booked all of the hotel rooms? If they can be changed, here is an idea...

You are doing Switzerland on both sides of Italy. Why not go from Zurich directly to Rome. Spend 6 days in Rome. You could even do a day trip by train to Florence from Rome, if you wanted. Day 7 train to Venice. Spend 3 full days in Venice. From Venice, train to where you want to go in Switzerland for the last 6 days, using a central location as a base.

dave

Steve_James

Hi Monica - I agree with Luv. Too much travelling IMO ...

If you're in Zermatt - why go to Rome via Zurich?? It doesn't make sense.
(From Brig you're only 2 hrs from Milan. Milan-Rome by high speed train (Frecciarossa) takes less than 4 hrs).

But you really need a minimum 3/4 days in Rome to do it justice IMO. Personally I'd save Rome for a longer visit - and keep your itinerary to northern Italy.

Steve

ekscrunchy

And now I see that you are taking your parents along! Unless you plan to book expensive sleeper compartments, I would not recommend sleeping on the trains. For one thing, there are issues of security. Not to mention that you will hardly get a good's night's rest and feel refreshed enough to hit the ground running after a night scrunched up on a train! And you will need lots of energy for this trip, or so it seems!!


Good luck.

netstar

With your itinerary your really allowing only 1 full day in Venice, Florence and 2 days in Rome. For starters I'd skip Pisa. I agree with luvtotravel. Think about skipping Rome and saving that for your next trip. With your Swiss base you should be concentrating on Northern Italy. Lots to see and all worth it. In Tuscany I'd add Sienna and maybe San Gimignano. Near Switzerland I'd think about Lake Como and Bellagio. Cut down on your distances and you'll enjoy more.

tcreath

I agree that this is way too much. Overnight trains sound wonderful, but in reality many of us find it hard to get any sleep. You could very well wake up exhausted making it difficult to enjoy the activities that you have planned for the day. My overnight train experience left me in Florence at 6 am absoutely exhausted and disoriented.

I love Rome but would skip it on this trip because its just too far away. Actually I don't think you should go any further than Venice but if you skipped Rome you could add at least one night in Venice and one in Florence which would make the itinerary a little better.

Good luck!
Tracy

monicanaha

Hi Guys ,

Taking all your suggestion into consideration we have decided to drop Rome this time. We are now spending 6 days between venice and tuscany region.

I would have love to do italy first , like daveesl suggested and then move to swiss. But the prob is that our parents are joining us , and then want to see lucerne and zermatt. hubby want to see italy. and i want to see more of swiss ! preety tough ha ! and the other prob is my depature and arrival is both from zurich.

given the above constrains, pls help plan a sensible and not too tiring itineary. i truly confuse myself.

liberosette

Yes, Venice is Venezia (sorry but I'm used to say in my language)

This could be your travel:

13-Mar-09 Arrive Zurich, travel to Lucerne, sleep in Lucerne
14-Mar-09 Activities in Lucerne, sleep in Lucerne
15-Mar-09 Travel to Zermatt, sleep in Zermatt
16-Mar-09 Activities in Zermatt, sleep in Zermatt
17-Mar-09 from Zermatt to Venice (via Zurich?), sleep in Venice
18-Mar-09 Activities in Venice, sleep in Venice
19-Mar-09 Activities in Venice, sleep in Venice
20-Mar-09 Travel from Venice to Florence, sleep in Florence
21-Mar-09 Activities and sleep in Florence
22-Mar-09 Car Rent Day-1, tour in Tuscany (S.Gimignano - Siena) sleep in Florence (or Siena)
23-Mar-09 Car Rent Day-2 , tour in Tuscany (Val d'Orcia) sleep in Florence
24-Mar-09 Travel to Bernese Oberland , sleep in Bernese Oberland(bo)
25-Mar-09 Activities in BO, sleep in BO
26-Mar-09 Activities in BO, sleep in BO
27-Mar-09 Activities in BO, sleep in BO
28-Mar-09 Activities in BO (1/2 day), travel to Zurich,
29-Mar-09 Flight to Mumbai

Let me more time to study better the transfers from Swiss to Venice and from Tuscany back to Swiss.

monicanaha

Hi Liberosette

Thank you so much for the above itineary. I think ur itineary makes more sense. I am doing the right things in skipping rome in your opinion? My hubby says since we are now choosing only 2 areas in Italy, let it be venice and tuscany, since we can always land in rome some other time ! i don't i can't make up mind still.

we have also now agreed to add in italy and reduce one from BO. so i have now total 7 days for italy.have u been to tuscany region ? is really so scenic at this time of the year?

waiting for ur inputs.

liberosette

I live in Northern Italy but I have been Tuscany several times, it is beautiful especially if you love art, history, nature and good food, and I think that if you can add one day you can add to it.
Regarding weather, I can't assure it. One week ago it seemed to be in springtime, but today is a very bad rainy day in all Italy (except Sicily) and weather forecast for tomorrow is "some chance of snow" at least in Northern Italy. I hope next week it will change in better.

monicanaha

Hi rosette

Yap weather is a big consideration in choosing rome over tuscany region. is this is the best weather to visit rome or tuscany ? what are the major higlights of tuscany for 4 days?

hazel1

I can't figure how you could think a vacation in March could possibly be the "best weather" anywhere in Italy, or most of Europe for that matter. March weather is notoriously unpredictable, but most likely cool temps, blustery, with much chance of rain. You could luck out and get sunshine and warmer temps, but don't count on it. Face it, it's still late winter.

travelinfool4u

Spend more time in Rome 2 days is not enough. My husband and I went for 3 days and we spend 9am to 9pm all three days traveling around, one full day was spend at St Peters on a tour and during the tour the guide gave us so much information that we would not have recieved had we just went on our own. I stayed in Florence/Tuscany for a month and it is probably one of the most beautiful places on earth!! Dont know aobut the weather at this time of the year. Even though there is a lot to see you could probably cover a lot of ground in 2-3 days. But to me when you travel to Italy, you want to take everything in and 2 days in those cities is not enough! You should pick the top attractions you want to see and go from there.