Sunshine1

My finace and I are planning an 18 day trip to Italy Aug. 29th- Sept 16th. We have the following general itinerary in mind, but just need some help clarifying the details.
August 29th - Fly into Milan in Am - train to como. Stay in Como on 29th & 30th. Boat to Bellagio on the 31st - stay 31st & 1st. We then have from the 2nd - 11th open, as we are leaving on the 12th to spend 4 nights in Rome, and flying out on the 16th.
Questions
1) Would we have enough time to go from Como - Cinque-Terre - Tuscany /Florence in this time period without being too rushed? If so - do you have recommendations on accomodations in both? Is Sienna a good base for Tuscany or should we do the rustic countryside farmhouse thing?
2)How long would you recommend staying in CT/Tuscany regions? We are hoping to get an eclectic taste of both coastal/inland/countryside/busy city with enough time to relax a little in each one.
3) If we did Como-CT-Tuscany - I'm assuming we would just need to rent a car after CT for the Tuscany part? I think we can travel by train to the other locations?

Any comments would greatly help us! Thanks so much!

JeanneB

Try this:

After first 4 nights,
Train to Florence for 3 nights.
Then train to CT for 2 or 3 nights.
Rent car for 5 or 4 nights in Tuscany.
Turn in car, Rome 4 nights.

Sounds wonderful!

Jean

I won't tell you how to plan your days between Lake Como and Rome. You can do all that you mention (CT/Tuscany/Florence) if you want to do that much moving around. It wouldn't be my choice, but this is your trip.

My only suggestion would relate to the first days. I would go to Bellagio for three or four nights and skip Como altogether. If you absolutely must go to Como (but why?), then go to Bellagio first to de-compress and to Como second.

Henry

Sunshine1,
E-mail me and I will send you ideas for day trips in Tuscany.

Sunshine1

Thank you all for your responses!

I guess my main question now is has anyone been to the Italian Riviera area? Cinque Terre, Santa Margherita? If so, would you suggest SM as a base if we want to explore both SM, CT, Portofino? How far is CT from SM? How many days would we need for it to be worthwile? How far is Tuscany from this area? We are planning to go there afterwards.

Thanks so much for your help !

MichelleY

Dear Sunshine:

What, no Venice??? Venice is a must on your honeymoon. After Bellagio, head to Venice for 2-3 nights. I have been to Italy twice: once with my DH and once with my sister & mom. Venice was has always been the favorite.

MY

JeanneB

I agr

JeanneB

uh oh. Let's try that again.
========================

I absolutely agree. I can't imagine anything more romantic than Venice on one's honeymoon.

ira

Another vote for 2-3 nights in Venice.

nessundorma

Personally, wild horses could not drag me to Venice in the last week of August/first September, especially not for romance, and especially not after a wedding.

You've come to an open travel forum, so you are going to get all sorts of advice. You came here because you were looking to go to the Mediterranean (beautiful that time of year) yet not be "too rushed." Going to Venice for anything less than 5 nights feels like a rush to a lot of us, especially if you are going at a time crammed with tourists, and on top of that need to be in Rome. (Plus, it often smells bad after a hot summer.)

So I say you are right to leave Venice out of this itinerary.

It is very easy to take a train from Lago di Como to the Cinque Terre area. If you want quaintness and peace, pick Levanto as your CT base. If you'd like a little more nighttime life, pick Santa Margherita Ligure (which is a small yacht harbor).

You can rent a car in La Spezia.

I suggest that you look into the possibility of a countryside location for you Tuscan stay. Try to get a place with a pool. Check out the Chianti region. If you'd prefer a town, try to pick one that is not too big, and make sure you get air conditioning.

To stay relaxed, I recommend not trying to do too many big cities during your Tuscan stay. Firenze will be very hot and crowded. Instead, stick to wineries and smaller towns.

Drop off your car in Orvieto (visit the cathedral) and head to Rome

Happy honeymoon!

Sunshine1

Thank you all so much for your great suggestions for our honeymoon! We are still hung up on a couple of issues, but below is our almost finalzed itinerary. We still have 5 nights to play with between CT & Rome, and are wondering if we should stay in Tuscany & take a day trip or 2 into Florence, or divide our short time between staying in Florence, and then in the countryside? My fiance has studied this region so much & is very interested in going to wineries, etc, so I think he would prefer to stay in the Tuscan hills instead of Florence. I've been to Florence so don't need to go back this trip, but think that he should really see it for all of the great art etc. We are just concerned that we shouldn't drive into florence if staying out in Tuscany, so would this mean that we would have to take a bus into Florence if we decide to do daytrips? We probably wouldn't be able to enjoy dinner etc there if we had to catch a bus back, so maybe it isn't the best plan? We are also still needing accomodations in CT, so any suggestions for that are greatly welcomed!Thanks!

4 nights Bellagio
(train to CT - how far is this?
3 nights Cinque Terre
(any recommended accomodations?)
(train to Florence - how far is this?)
5 nights to play with before Rome
- Should we divide our time between staying in Florence & out in Tuscany - or do all Tuscany & day trip to Florence?
4 Nights Rome
(any restaurant info would be
greatly appreciated)

nessundorma

Consider renting a car in La Spezia and driving it to Tuscany. I recommend staying in the countryside, and if your new husband expresses a lot of interest in seeing Firenze, take a day trip. Don't worry about the driving. There are parking lots, etc. Or go to Prato or Pisa and take the train into Firenze. Ask your hotel/villa/farmhouse in Tuscany for advice.

Or: Take the train from CT to Firenze and spend the night. Do some sightseeing in the morning, and then rent a car and drive to the wine country (Chianti?). On the day you need to get to Roma, drop off the car in Orvieto, and take the train to Roma.

You can figure out train times using the Trenitalia website.

From Bellagio, you will either need to take a ferry to Varenna or Como to take a train to Cinque Terre. I recommend you look into staying in either Levanto or Santa Margherita Ligure for your Cinque Terre stay (rather than the towns themselves) unless you are dedicated hikers.

You need to get cracking on booking hotels. You can find a variety of personal recommendations and descriptions by doing a search on Fodor's, Slow Travel, Tripadvisor and Venere.com.

Buon viaggio!

nessundorma

PS: Don't be surprised if some people tell you 4 nights is "too long" for Bellagio. I think for a honeymoon it's great.

Girlspytravel

Sunshine- I totally agree about Venice, and since I stayed in Venice the last week of August last year, and intend to do the same this year, I'm uniquely positioned to tell you what it is like during this time period- in a word -delightful-it's end of summer cruisin' time, and the weather is great-the humidity goes away at the end of August, all the restaurants that have been closed for summer vacation open back up, and you're left with lovely weather in the 70s-80s-it's really an ideal time to be there-(but it is high season starting in September).

The Venice Film Festival starts on Aug. 30 (that will be on the Lido) so all the stars everyone (partic. George Clooney, who lives in Lake Como) will be around for that.

Most important, if you can make it to Venice for the "Regata Storica"-first Sunday in September-September 3d, you'll be treated to the second biggest Venetian celebration after Redentore in July. The magnficent parade of historic ships, led by the lead boat for La Serenissima, the "Bucintoro" is pretty awesome. In the afternoon, all manner of boat races-the whole city turns out for this-so it would be a good thing if you could get in on it as well.

You might also want to go and see Venice's magnficent opera house- La Fenice-it's not just opera, but classical music, and jazz concerts as well. And of course, there's always the Venice Casino-a beautiful palazzo in its own right on the Canal Grande-open until 3am, so plenty to do there!

But as honeymooners-how COULD you be in Northern Italy and not go to Venice for a romantic gondola ride? I just saw that Patricia Arquette got married in Venice a few weeks ago, and there she and her hubby were, boarding the gondola in her wedding dress to take her newlywed ride through the canals-so rethink that honeymoon itinerary to include Venice in September!