djbourbon

So I have an outline of my trip (see below) -and don't need much help in the big cities such as Rome, Florence, Milan or Venice. What I would love to know is:

1) Does this outline seem doable?

2) While travelling the tuscany region, my husband and I want to wine taste, bike, take a cooking class, hike. I can't figure out if I should just join in a biking trip, rent a car, or take the train for this leg of the trip.

3) Any suggestion on companies for cooking class, or biking/hiking tours?

4) What is the best path through the tuscany from Rome to Florence. - but stopping at Chica Terre.. And 4 days only.

Thanks for your advice - in advance.

2 1/5 days in Rome (2 nights)
4 days tuscany (chica terra, sienna, others) (5 nights)
1 1/2 days in Florence (1 night)
1 1/2 days in Venice (2 night)
1/2 day Milan (1 night)
2 day Amsterdam(2 nights)

DJB

Bailey333

My daughter and I took a cooking class at "Tuscan Women Cook" for 5 days. The morning was spent cooking and in the afternoon we toured different towns. We spent on e afternoon in Florence at markets and a terriffic restaurant, one day at a local winery in the afternoon , acheese factory another dayetc. There were some men , who did not cook but ate with us and seemed ti=o have a great time.Worth looking into.

Dayle

Whoa!!!! DJB,

Back up fast!

No, this is NOT doable.

No, no time here for cooking classes, wine tasting or biking. (You will need a private helicopter and jet).

To find suggestions (IF you had time), put in the key words in the search box above, such as "tuscany cooking class", etc.

It's the Cinque Terre and Siena.

OK, now that I have that out of my system....

You have 13 nts, pick 4 destinations, MAX. Amsterdam???

Whew!

bobthenavigator

It looks like a big headache to me.
With 13 nites I would have a max of 4 destinations. How do you plan to get to these places? Too much travel time.
And, the Cinque Terre is not in Tuscany. I would start over.

nma

Cinque Terre is definetly out of the way there. We did Rome for 3 nights, Florence for 3 nights, Cinque Terre for 3 nights and Tuscany for 3 nights and that was rushed by a lot of people's standards.

Lady

DJB, I was left breathless and exhausted just reading that list. I can't imagine living it.

Each of us has our preferences/predjudices and lots of people will give their opinions on which places are must see and which to cut. (Personally, I'd easily do half that time in a rented car driving through Tuscany, and split the rest between Rome and Florence.) Read the posts, do some research and decide what fits your style and your dreams of Italy, but DO cut back or everything will just be a blur and you won't be getting to know Italy (or the Italians, which is the best part) at all.

camelbak

You want to do?

2 1/5 days in Rome (2 nights)
4 days tuscany (chica terra, sienna, others) (5 nights)
1 1/2 days in Florence (1 night)
1 1/2 days in Venice (2 night)
1/2 day Milan (1 night)
2 day Amsterdam(2 nights)

That's WAY too much. The Cinque Terre is north of Florence, and nowhere near the other "Tuscan" towns.

I would recommend:

2 1/5 days in Rome (2 nights)
2 days tuscany (Siena) (2 nights)
3 days in Florence (4 night)
2 1/2 days in Venice (3 night)
1 day Amsterdam(1 night)

You can day trip to Pisa from Florence, and also daytrip to Lucca and San Gimignano. This would take away from having to constantly change hotels. In fact you could also day trip to Siena, but I love that city and have always wanted to spend a night or two there...so add it to your list.

You want to do too much...save the Cinque Terre for another trip, or take out Venice, or Siena...don't try to do everything or you won't see the true Italy.

When are you going?

djbourbon

Thank you all for your advice... I sahould probably have mentioned a couple other key things..

1) We are flying out of Milan (thus I am only spending 1 night there because our flight leaves at 6 AM in the morning)
2) We are doing Amersterdam because of our flight path and we have friends meeting us there.
3)I have been to Italy before many times only the big cities.. never through Tuscany, etc. However since my husband never has I am trying to also show him some of the big towns. He wants a bit of both, but hates museams, etc.. So I figure Tuscany and Chic Terre are the big highlight of the trip.

With that being said.. I was listening to all your advice.. and thinking maybe giving up either Florence or Rome. The natural one is Florence since we fly into Rome.

All of your advice has been so helpful!! I am definelty going to replan my plan...

Any other advice?

DJB

Dayle

D,

If traveling by train, get on the Trenitalia web site and find out travel time between your destinations. If traveling by car, use one of the mapping site to get mileage between sites. To both, add time for waiting for trains, getting lost, windy roads, etc.

Then see how much time you will be spending "get to places" vs. "being in places".

This will greatly help in planning your trip. Remember, you husband is not going to have fun if you are dragging him at light speed around Italy.

Buona fortuna!