Help -- first trip to Italy
 

Hi All,

I am hoping for some help....I am feeling a bit overwhlemed with my trip planning. I am flying into Dublin with my boyfriend for for a few days from June 27th - July 2. After that we are considering going to Florence, Siena, Pisa and then to Rome....I have been doing some reading and would also like to go to Lucca, Cortona and a bunch of others. Obviously that is way to much to do in one week....which is the time we have. We want to be in Rome on Friday so that we can spend the weekend there before we fly out on Monday, July 9th.

So...my question to all you seasoned travellers is....if you were me, what would you do if you had Monday, July 2 to Friday, July 6th to spend before we get to Rome?

I want our trip to be leisurely enough that we don't feel that we are racing off to get to a bunch of places, but productive enough to take advantage of all of our time there.

HELP!!!!!

A

From your post it appears you're interested in Tuscany. I would find a hotel in a Tuscan town to use as a base; Montalcino, Cortona, Castellina, whatever, and rent a car. YOu could then easily visit several of the hill towns in that time frame before getting to Rome. YOu could turn the car in somewhere and take the train to Rome.

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I understand your desire to go to all those places but you just don't have much time. Are you renting a car?
If so do it as you leave Florence. If you're not renting a car, cut your list to Florence, one other place (I suggest Siena) and Rome.

Cortona, Lucca and Pisa are OK but you don't have enough time on this trip.

Hi Murpha - With just Mon-Fri for Tuscany I think your best plan would be to base for 4 nights in Florence and day-trip.

Pisa & Lucca combine easily as one day-trip - half a day in each - as they are fairly close. This trip works best by train. For timetables see:
www.trenitalia.com

Siena is another easy day-trip from Florence - best by bus. (It's also possible if you wish to combine it with San Gimignano)

You can find bus timetables for Florence-Siena (and Florence-S. Gimignano) on:

http://www.sitabus.it/sita-toscana/Firenze-Siena06.pdf

If you have time, Cortona is also a viable day- (- or half-day) trip by train. The nearest railway station is Camucia - from where there is a bus service up the hill to Cortona.

Hope this helps ...

Steve

I'll also vote for basing in Firenze and day-tripping from there, although my preference would not be to visit both Lucca and Pisa in one day. Rather, I would either visit each in the morning, have lunch and return to Firenze, or just the opposite: Spend the morning in Firenze and head out for a lunch in a different town, then sightsee until the cocktail hour and head back to Firenze for dinner.

Plan to spend one whole day in a hill town of your choice. And certainly a whole day in Siena.

Italian trip planning is an exercise in frustration. Too much to see and it is all so close togetehr, you think you can do it all. You can't. Pick quality time over quantities of "must sees."

Good Morning:
I need some advice...if I wanted to spend a week in Rome, basing there, but spend a few of those days to day trip...where can I go?

Also, if I wanted to rent an apartment during this time...what is a good location?
Please advise..

Hi Welig,

You will get the best advice by starting your own thread with a specific title. Also, use the search box above for "Rome Day Trips", there was recently a good discussion of this topic.

You'll get lots of responses.

Thanks everyone...your responses have been very helpful. So based on your advice, I am leaning toward basing in Florence and going the day-trip route.

Now I have a couple more questions..I have read that parking is difficult to find in many places and sometimes expensive. Would you recommend renting a car or relying on the bus/trains to get around? I am not really concerned about paying for parking, but I don't want to waste a ton of time driving around looking for parking once we have made it to our destination spot for each day.

Does anyone have a favourite hotel or B&B they can recommend in Florence? I have been looking on trip advisor and have found a few, but just thought I would ask all of you as well. In Florence, is there a better area of town to stay in? I know everything is fairly close together, but some of the comments on trip advisor refer to a 15 minute walk to the city center as 'long'. That doesn't sound like a long walk to me, but I would like to be as central as possible. Since we will be there at the beginning of July I am hoping it isn't too unbearably hot and we can still enjoy ourselves. I know July is not ideal...but it's the best time for me to take vacation based on my work.

Any tips on how to narrow down all of the 'must sees' that are on the Fodor's lists? I know I have a lot of questions....sorry about that, but your thoughts would be greatly appreciated!!

Thanks again...in advance.

I'm sure I'll have more soon....

A

Hi Murpha2
can highly recommend a b&b in florence as my husband has an annual 1 week (working)trip and uses this place every time. called Dei Mori and u can google it and get the website. averages 100 euros per night per room incl breakfast.air con costs a few euros xtra however in July u will reaaly need this or you will just expire! haven't been myself however we are both going on 30/04 for a few days so will update you with my own impressions after that. he is quite fussy about this type of thing tho so i would say comes very high as a recommendation. well run and immaculately clean and perfectly positioned in the centre, ideal for all the sights. is very busy so check out soon. can also recommend a great restaurant called "baldovino" which is just round the corner from santa croce. best pizza i have ever tasted. best idea is to book your tickets online for things like the uffizi if u are going there as there are almost always queues. must see's in my opinion are the duomo and go up into the cupola, then the baptistry which is just beside the duomo. The accademia for me is also wonderful and enjoy a bustling stroll over the ponte vecchio. however to be honest it doesn't matter what you choose to do as Florence is one of the most enjoyable cities to visit and everything can be reached on foot. you will return again and again as we have. hope this helps and enjoy- even tho JULY is VERY hot!

It really isn't worth hiring a car for your planned day-trips. Siena, Pisa, Lucca and Cortona are all accessible by public transport as I mentioned above.

Alternatively there are organised excursions by the local tour companies, e.g CAF and SITA.

www.caftours.com/en/regtoursac.htm

http://www.sita-on-line.it/CentralSI...IT.htm#offerte

Hope this helps ...

Steve

Thanks Themawnster and Steve.

I looked up the b&b you suggested and it looks like a great suggestion....please do let me know what you think of it during your upcoming trip.

My boyfriend is pretty excited about the suggestion for the restaurant with the great pizza!

Unfortunately, I haven't had time to do any more planning this weekend. I need to get going on booking my hotel for Rome as well!

Thanks again for your help.

A

A car would only be a time-consuming nuisance. Trains and buses will get you wherever you need to go from Florence.

Ok...that's good to know...thanks.

I'm frutstrated right now because I can't seem to get a flight into Florence out of Dublin....not even from London...it's so annoying. The only flight I can get flys from Dublin to London and from London into Piza. I have tried Ryanair and that's the best I can do. Am I missing something? Is there another airline I can try that would fly to Florence?

Hi Murpha - Why not Ryanair? They fly Dublin-Pisa.

There's a shuttle bus service from Pisa airport to Florence:
http://www.terravision.eu/florence_pisa.html

If you especially want to fly direct into Florence airport you would have to go via Gatwick. Meridiana flies the Gatwick-Florence route.

But from Dublin Ryanair is your best bet.
www.ryanair.com

Hope this helps ...

Steve

hi, Murpha,

it is relatively easy to get from Pisa to florence on the train. [don't even think about the bus - a complete nightmare - see my trip report if you click on my name] and Italian trains are very cheap.

repeat after me "I DO NOT NEED A CAR" - the traffic in florence is horrific and the parking is worse.

the day trips you are planning will be quite enough - remember to leave enough time to see Florence as well. you can book tickets in advance to see the accademia and the uffizi and would be well-advised to do so if you want to see them.

in rome, you can pre-book the galleria borghese, the scavi tour under st. Peter's and the vatican museums.

good luck!

regards, ann

Best way to find out who flys where is to go to the website of the airport. Most have a general timetable or a list of which airlines service that airport. Try aeroporto.firenze.it

Flying to Bologna might be another option--1.5 hours away from Florence by train.

hello again murpha2
just back from Florence today and can update you on the b&b situation as I now have experience of it first hand. we had a superior room, large, ensuite and very clean with a very comfortable bed. cost 120 euros pr night pr room. Not at all fancy with regard to decor, in fact comfortable but very simple, as was the breakfast. superb american lady called suzanne who runs the place, full of help and suggestions. positionally you will struggle to find anything better as is only 150 metres from Piazza della Signoria,Pallazo Vecchio and the Uffizi. brilliant! only slighty more than that to the Duomo etc so couldn't ask for better. a hotel in this position would be very expensive I should think. However you should be aware that it IS only a B&B and has none of the comforts of a hotel such as Tv or a restaurant. It has a very small seated area with 2 couches and many guests sit and have coffee there at breakfast and a chat. She has a good library of books for use also and there is a large fridge stocked with water and prosecco and also wine available. you just sign for what you use and pay at the checkout time. The ensuite bathroom was not large but had a good shower and was nicely tiled. The room was serviced every day and was very clean.The public areas had lovely fresh flowers In short, it depends what you want from this trip. If u want great position and a warm personal touch with no frills but a good clean comfortable room, then use this place. If u are looking for traditional hotel stuff like mini bars and t.v's and fancy decor then this will not suit you and you should expect to spend considerably more on a hotel or sacrifice your positioning. sorry to rattle on but best to give u as much info as possible. final piece of info re where to eat as we had 2 superb meals in a wine bar called coquinarius - see www.coquinarius.com for address but is just parallel to the Duomo and the food and service was wonderful. whatever you decide I hope you enjoy your trip and hope that my input has been of some help

Dear Murpha2:

Re Dublin/Italy airfare: Did research on this for trip I am taking beginning 10/28 returning 11/26/07 and - as with everything else on this site, "take what you like & leave the rest"! Meridiana is only airline flying direct to Florence (meaning FLR, Amerigo Vespucci Airport right in Florence - not nearby airports requiring bus or train transfers) - on web has mostly terrible reviews; I chose to fly SFO to LHR (round trip) for $746 on Virgin (VS); then AerLingus (EI) to Shannon with 10 days to visit relatives; then DUB to FCO (Rome) - stilll EI - for $219; EuroStar from Rome to Florence (round trip is just under $100 for 2nd class) - GREAT reviews and the trains leave regularly all day long till quite late; British Airwasy (BA) from FCO to LHR $84 = $1149. I could have gotten the EI flight for $186 but I pussyfooted around a day making up my mind. The next day it was $219! This schedule gives me the most flexibility as I did not want to take a connecting flight from DUB or LHR through CDG - several other airlines did that route including AirItalia - Lufthansa went thru Munich or Frankfort. The point is, the EuroStar is reliably available from Rome noting that a short bus trip from the (FCO) airport to the train station is needed.

Like you, my biggest challenge is the 'car hire' in Ireland. In 2004 I was able to get MC to fax me a letter verifying coverage which I handed in when I picked up the car - no problems. Guess I'll have to do the research for now. I wonder if our Costco membership has any special benefits? It's only for ten days, rather than the usual 2 weeks I spend there so perhaps that will help, cost wise. I'll be picking up the car at ORK and dropping it off at DUB airport.

Good luck on your trip! This is my third trip to Ireland since 2000 and I love everything about it - even the driving seems easy to me! I prefer roundabouts to freeway exits any day.

Any further tips on 'car hire' would be appreciated.