BTD

Hi<BR>My husband and I are planning to go to Italy for 2 weeks in the 2nd half of September this year. <BR>We've never been and I'm just starting to plan and getting overwhelmed by the prices of hotels.<BR>I'd like to stay in smaller inns (both for cost and coziness) However, i have no idea what places we should go to or whethor we want to go to the north or south.<BR>I didn't think 2 weeks is enough to cover the entire country so am trying to limit to 3 different locations all w/in reasonable driving distance to make day trips to neighboring cities/towns.<BR><BR>Any help is MUCH appreciated.<BR>Lost and confused....

Lucy

Hi BTD,<BR>limiting yourself to 3 places is a great idea! Assuming you are flying into Rome I would suggest spending the first 5 nights there & perhaps the remainder in Tuscany split between Florence & one of the many beautiful villages (such as Sienna, Lucca, San Gimiagno etc). However if you are ahppy to cover a larger distance I would suggest just 5 days in Tuscany & teh remainder in Venice which is beautifully romantic. I'm not sure if you're hiring a car or not - if you are drop it off in Venice & fly out of there rather than heading back to Rome.<BR>Anyway thats just my 2c...

Gina

I prefer Venice and Florence over Rome so I would suggest starting in either Venice or Florence and flying out of the other city. Three days in Venice would be enough and then you could drive down to Florence but I would lean towards catching a train and that way you dont have a car to contend with while visiting Florence. Then rent your car to go out and explore Tuscany.<BR><BR>Venice and Florence can be expensive for hotels but Tuscany is not. I paid around $50-$70 for a single and a double room is only marginally more expensive. Check out Il Giglio in Montalcino-wonderful rooms.<BR><BR>If you are more into seeing Rome then do the Florence-Tuscany-Rome route but I am not sure I do 5 days in Rome. Too much for me but everyone has different likes.

Bob

Hi, BTD!<BR><BR>If you eventually plan on going back to Italy again, I would focus first on Rome and maybe Tuscany including Florence. There's so much to see in Italy. It's an awesome country with just so much to offer.<BR><BR>I've been with my wife to Rome, Florence, Venice, and the northern part of the country. Rome last year for a week was awesome in itself. Just got back from 2 wks to Milan, Florence (+day trips), Venice, Verona, Como. <BR><BR>You can spend a week in just about any area and love it. <BR><BR>Again, it all depends I think if you plan to go back to Italy again. If you are going back, why not strategically plan different sections to hit now and then think of where you may want to go next and for how long. <BR><BR>This may help in your current planning.<BR><BR>Hope this helps. You will love Italy!<BR><BR>Bob<BR><BR><BR><BR>

Alice Twain

If you really want to have time enough for daytripping around the places, I suggest you to concentrate on two areas only. Rome might be a good start. It is a big city with lots of things to see, it is touristy enough but at the same time it is a city where you can have many occasions to move out of the main toursts areas and meet real people. It offers a good catalog of Italian history, art and architecture from the pre-Rome period up to the XX century. Also, The area surrounding Rome offers many opportunity for a daytrip: the city is surrounded by little known protected areas on whose hills you can still meet grazing sheeps and see working farms while several nearby towns hold more interesting buildings and masterpieces of art.<BR>After one week in Rome you may feel a bit tired of the urban landscape and consider heading to a seaside area like Maremma, to a mountanious area like Abruzzo or, if you prefer, taste more of the same in Umbria or Tuscany, in order to fill in your cataloge of Italian historiy and art by seeing what ROme is a bit lacking of: medieval and Renaissance art.

Jim

For a real price break check out lodging in convents and monasteries. Do a search here, lots of threads to be found. Get the book "Bed and Blessings Italy". Search Google, tons there too. Wife and I stayed exclusively in convents in Rome, Venice, and Siena and never paid more than 80 EURO/night including private bath. Very clean quiet and safe. E-mail me for additional info if you want.

Shari

We spent the same time and had the same questions as you. We flew to Rome and caught a train out of the big city to florence. spent 4 nights there walking and sight-seeing. from there a train again to Venice for 2 nights.We took the boat to the airport and rented a car which we drove to the Lake Garda area. Stayed in Simione for 3 nights right on the lake. Drove the car south to San Giamano for 1 night and back to Rome to turn in car. Spent 3 nights on foot and bus before flying home. We used Fodors and Frommers for all our pensions. Only had one disappointment in Rome but lost the deposit and found a beter place for less.<BR>Hope this helps.

btd

Hi everyone<BR>All the responses are great.<BR>I was wondering, if you remember which lodgings you stayed in that you would recommend and roughly the prices?<BR><BR>Shari - your itinerary sounds really good. I still need to study the map more because I'm still not familiar with any of the city names except the major ones.<BR><BR>I also wasn't aware that I could fly into Venice??? I thought Rome was the major airport.<BR><BR>

natasha

Hello BTD,<BR><BR>I would recommend Rome, Sorrento and Florence as 3 towns. If you could do 4 then I would add in Venice. <BR>On my trip I stayed in Siena, but I was disappointed and wished I had stayed in Florence and done a day trip or two into the coutryside. <BR>Rome was my least favourite, but there are things you really have to see there.<BR>You could actually fly into Naples (not directly from North America) and out of Venice. <BR>Sorrento is really beautiful and maybe the warmest option in October. We felt we could have stayed there a whole week.<BR>I would recommend Hotel Il Nido (www.ilnido.it) for Sorrento - it will be 77 Euros/night for two people. You can get a room with a balcony overlooking the sea.<BR>In Florence I would recommend Hotel Cristina - it is in a great location. I don't recall the price for 2, but for 3 it was 108 Euros/night. Both rooms had a private bath. Both hotels were really wonderful.<BR>Have a great time.

Alice Twain

Airports<BR><BR>All major cities of Italy have international airports. Althoough the 2 main italian airports are in Milano and Rome, you can find direct flights also to Pisa, Venice, Bologna, Genoa, Naples, Palermo etc. The only large and very touristy city of Italy that does not have a good sized airport is Florence (which is served through Pisa too!). The airport in Florence is tiny, it has only one "lane" (or strip or whatever it is called) which runs parallel to the autostrada (tollway, if my dictionary is right). Once, an airplane was landing and it was beyond the point of no return when the pilot got aware that there was something wrong, and he ended up landing on the road instead than in the airport. This is why it is said that the iarport in Firenze has 1 + 1 lane or strip or whtever it is called.