Hi,
I am going on a trip to Italy in May of 2007 for my 30th birthday. I have never been to Italy before. I am going for 10 days. There are so many places I want to see - Rome, Capri, Venice, Lake Como, Cinque Terre, Florence, Tuscany Region. There will be three of us and we would like to rent a car. Can anyone reccomend hotels, restaurants, how many nights in different areas, cities to visit/not to visit, things to do & see, routes to take, everything & anything you can think of. I don't care if it is somewhere that I have mentioned I want to see or somewhere else.
Also, has anyone heard of a town/region called Gargano. My family is from there and I definitely would like to fit this in the itenerary.
Thanks,
Steph

I posted this twice, sorry.

Hi zeta, the only thing I know about Gargano is that it is the region of Apulia, it is on a pennisular jutting out into the Adriatic Sea. Very old area and think it has a lot of old growth plants etc. Hopefully someone else here can advise you further. Or may I suggest you use Google to see what information you can obtain.

Ten days, does that mean ten nights in Italy or a total of ten days for travelling to and from Italy plus your time in Italy?

If you have a total of ten nights in Italy most people seem to enjoy staying in Rome, Florence and Venice.

For me, that is to much in too little of a time. And if you are counting in your travel time for the ten days I would personally just stay in Rome and perhaps take a day trip or two. Or whichever city "calls to you" and take day trips from that city.

A car, only necessary if you want to spend your time in say Tuscany. You sure don't need or want a car in any major city.

Maybe arrive in Rome, spend some days/nights there and then take the train to Venice to spend some time there. And fly home from Venice. That is called an Open Jaw Ticket or Multi City Ticket.

There is of course no way, even if you have ten nights in Italy, that you can visit all of the places you mentioned. But am sure you know that.

I would encourage you to get a map of Italy so that you can see where all of the places are that you mentioned. Also, you could go to your library and get some travel books regarding Italy..to give you an idea of where you want to visit. You will be limited with the time structure you have, but no doubt you will return to Italy time after time. Most people do.

Gargano is the spur, I'm pretty sure, on the Adriatic. We did drive there, but did not stop; perhaps famiy could tell more. 10 days is not enough; there are so many places to see.

I've been on the Gargano peninsula (yes, it is the spur) only once: 17 years ago, and even then, it was already heavily touristy and "beachy". Rather cheap, Italian-focused beach tourism. Dirty water, dirty beaches. I didn't like it at all.

I used to visit the Gargano area regularly with religious groups - it is where Padre Pio lived most of his life - he is now a Saint.

Which town are your from?

Hi


Well, I can only come with recommendations for Rome. My wife and I went there last summer and it was great. I have posted a trip report with some pictures, links, restaurant "reviews" on my homepage http://gardkarlsen.com/rome_italy.htm . Maybe you can find some useful information there

Regards
Gard
http://gardkarlsen.com - trip reports and pictures

Do the 10 days include travel time as well?

Do you have any particular interests (art, outdoors, scenic relaxing place, busy city, small town, food & wine)?

The open jaw ticket is the way to go for sure. Given you've never been to Italy, I would say Rome requires at least 4 nights, Venice 3, FLorence 3 (less if you are not a huge art museum person). So if you'd like to visit one of those other areas, you'd probably have to elimnate one of the big cities.

I suggest you get a map of italy, just to get familiar was the lay of the land. Check out a map site (mapquest, mappy, michelin) and plug in some cities to see what the driving time is between them. Also keep in mind that you don't need and wouldn't want a car in a big city.

From that, you can narrow down your choices and further research the details (hotels, restaurants, etc).

I can recommend Gargano - even now it's a remote place - authentic Italy. Doesn't take a lot of time to see but the countryside is wonderfully wild for Europe. If your family is from there, don't miss it.

I'm going to piggyback on Zeta. I am also planning a trip in May or June of 2007 for my 50th BD. There will be 5-7 of us traveling. Looking at 7-10 days and planning on only Rome, Florence and Tuscany. Where is the best place to start looking for airfare, hotels, etc.? Would it be feasible to stay in Rome one or two nights, then rent a house in the Tuscany area and take a day trip to Florence then return to Rome to fly home? I thought it might be easier/cheaper to fly in and our of Rome rather than open jaw with Florence but maybe this is not an issue. Last week I went to American Airlines website and put in flexible dates for May-June of this year round trip to Rome and the lowest fare was over $1,000.00.

Thank you all for the information. I definitely need to do more research. It looks like we may hit Rome and Tuscany and some beach (Gargano/Naples/Cinque Terre) any recommendations as far as that goes would be great. I need to do a little more research on exactly were the family is from. At the moment I just know Gargano and that is on the spur. Someone mentioned there are other areas name Gargano, where are they?
Please keep coming with the suggestions, I love reading these sites. PaigeS, happy 50th in 2007, what better place can you think of to spend a special birthday?! As far as airline tickets I have done some research on that. I like to use orbits.com. I found a flight with one connection in New York then straight onto Rome for $635. and it came to rougly $835 with taxes, tags, and all that! That is the lowest I have seen though. I will let you know if I find anything for less.

zeta,
E-mail me and I'll send you some suggested day trips in Tuscany.