Susan

Need some help. My husband and I are planning a trip to Italy In September for 18 days (plus 2 travel days). Thinking about an itinerary of about 9 nights in Tuscany (with a car0, 2 nights in Florence, 3 nights in Venice and 4 in Rome and then back home. What do you think in terms of the time in each location. FIgure on doing the south of Italy in a separate trip. Also need suggestions on accomodation, we would like to stay in interesting places, villas etc not large chain hotels. Budget is medium to medium-high but don't want to be at the Four Season's level. Chao and graci.

Michael

I suspect that your stay in Florence is a little short. Are you coming in via Rome airport? Then I suggest that you pick up the car at the airport and head north towards Tarquinia (good Etruscan museum and tombs) rather than staying in Rome. From there, go toward Orvieto and then up toward Siena. But there are so many things tto see in between that it is difficult to say more about how to spend your nine days. Get a good map of Italy, read a guide book and see what catches your fancy and plan out the itinerary on the map. I discovered that when touring and visiting, 150 miles is a long day.

bill

If you are a Renaissance nut, then your time in Florence is probably a bit short--make it 3 nights. If not, then 2 nights will be plenty.

Paula

Hi Susan.
Our trip to Italy last fall was almost like yours. We had 3 nights in Venice (loved it and could have stayed one more night) 2 nights in Florence and 5 nights in Tuscany followed by one more night in Florence. Depending on your interests you may find you need a third night in Florence especially if you are dropping off your car there as it takes a bit of time away from your day plus the time to check into your hotel etc.

We stayed at La Calcina in Venice and were very happy with everything -had a room on top floor overlooking the canal which was wonderful. Waking up to that gorgeous view every morning is beyond words.
In Florence we stayed at the B&B in Piazza della Signoria - very beautiful small hotel with the most exceptional service - 190 euros per night- but worth every penny!
In Tuscany we stayed at Podere Le Vigne in Radda and Hotel San Luca in Cortona -both places I would highly recommend and stay in again. Podere Le Vigne is a small place just at the edge of the town with an outstanding restaurant downstairs which opens onto a lovely stone patio with views over the vineyards -very picturesque. The San Luca in Cortona enjoys a wonderful position overlooking the entire valley below -ask for a room with a balcony view -we enjoyed Cortona very much.
We flew back home out of Rome but only had 1 day there due to our flight being cancelled for the next day which shortened our time. Oh well - next trip.
Have a wonderful trip - Italy is marvelous -can hardly wait to return.

Paula

Howard

Your basic itinerary is a good one. Ah, nine days in Tuscany sounds great. I assume you include Umbria in that part of the trip.
For that part of the trip, you're probably best in splitting your accommodations into two places--one in Tuscany and one in Umbria. On our trip to that area, we split it up with stays in Trequanda (between Siena and Pienza) and outside of Assisi.
September is glorious month in Italy.

Alice Twain

9 days are barely enought to visit Tuscany alone, unles to you tuscany means "Chianti and Siena and nothng else", which also means that you will miss a lot. I would rather split the stay in Tuscany in three three days' parts. From Florence I would move to the Amiata area in the south of Tuscany. Monte Amiata is an ancient and spent volcano between Siena and Grosseto with stone-built quaint villages and huge chestnut woods. It is perfect for relaxing for a few days. As an alternative to staying in this area you might spend a few days on the beach in Monte Argentario (actually an island connected to the mainland by a tiny strip of sand) or in Alberese (between the coast and the Maremma National Park). Than you might spend another three days somewhere in the countryside around Siena. From Siena you might move north-east towards Arezzo had stay another three days in the wooded Casentino area, crowded with more medieval stone-built villages. From this area drive north towards Venice and leave your car in Venice as you arrive.

Howard

Alice, I fully understand that nine days doesn't give one time to FULLY cover Tuscany. My point was, however, thatsince most of us travelling to Italy rarely have the luxury of that much time in the area, nine days is to be envied by most of us. And, this same majority would be thrilled to have nine days for both Tuscany and Umbria!
Believe me, I would love to follow your nine-day itinerary sometime!

Corporate

Alice - you are too accustomed to European holiday time! Here in the U.S., nine days in Tuscany would use up more than half of my holiday time for the year. Nine days in one place - what a luxury!

Alice Twain

IMHO very simply you can spend nine days or one month or just two days, but moving around as a madman or staying in one area and explore it makes no difference from the point of view of the number of things you can get to see. Susan has 9 days to spend with a car touring tuscany PLUR nine more days in Florence and other places. She can see a little bit of Tuscany and a little bit of umbria, but when she gest home she won't have seen more;: if possible she will have seen LESS because she spent more time driving. Tuscany is a bug place, even with nine days she will have barely scratched the surface of the things to see, but it is her choiche to scratch the surface in a hurry and see only a few places overridden with tourists that have all but lost their charm, such as San Gimignano, or take it a bit easier and make the scratches a bit deeper. As for the 18 days holiday... Well last time I had a holiday that long I was still in school! During the last FOUR years I have had a TOTAL of 25 (TWENTYFIVE) days of holiday!

Howard

Susan, your best bet is to probably stay in two or three places over the nine days. For example, you might stay in the Siena area for the first part and somewhere in Umbria the second part of the nine days.
I would suggest you research the many towns of Tuscany and Umbria and make a "priority" list of sorts, look at map and determine the "pockets" (i.e., towns on your A list that are close together).
One book I recommend is "Top 10 Tuscany," one of the Eyewitness Top 10 Travel Guides. They might also have one for Umbria.
Check out the publisher's website:
http://www.dk.com

dc2002

Hi Susan! I would personally elimate Venice from your plans. Some love it but many are very disappointed they wasted their time there. I would do 3 nights in Santa Margherita,2 in Florence, 4 in Pienza (preferably staying at Le Traverse-incredible hostess who will make all of your reservations and make many day trip suggestions for you..wine tours etc...) 4 nights in a wonderful B&B outiside of Todi..I have a block on the name right now but e-mail me if you are interested and I can tell you more about [email protected], and 4 nights in Rome. You will have a wonderful time!

BarbaraC

Wow!!! Do I have recommendations for you! In Orvieto, Locanda Rosati was our best stop in all of Italy. Family run B&B with pool, great food, relaxation and central location. Day trips to Rome. In fact, we didn't even go to Rome to stay b/c we liked it there so much. You can find it on Karen Brown. Also, Podere Villuza in San Gimignano was recommended by KB. Another B&B with great view of SG towers. Please say hi to Max for us- he's our Italian cowboy who is also a phenomenal cook and host.

scubatv

I always found purchasing foreign money in the states is expensive.
If that's true, you'll have to add that cost into your computations.