lhopp

In need of some advice. We were planning on Greece and Italy (Rome/Venice) for next May. However, it was becoming too complicated with travel times, interisland flights, and costs to visit both Greece and Venice together in two weeks. Since DH has his heart set on Venice for next trip, we've pretty much decided to go to back to Italy next year and save Greece for the following year, doing 2 separate trips.

That being said, we're struggling a bit on coming up with an itinerary for a 13-day trip to Italy including Venice. Trip would be in May or early June, 2007. We've been to Italy before (loved it!) and went to Rome for several days and then drove through Tuscany and Umbria. While I would love to go to Tuscany again, we think we'd like to see other parts of Italy that we missed the first time. We plan to train and not rent a car this time around.

A couple of ideas we had:

spend 1st 2 nights in Villefranche sur Mer (we loved this town and would like to revisit).
train to Camogli 2 nights
train to Cinque Terre 3 nights
train to Florence 2 nights
train to Venice 4 nights

Or, another idea:

Venice 4 nights
Florence 3 nights
Rome 2 nights
Amalfi coast 4 nights

Any other ideas? my inclination is to go to the Italian Riviera, Florence and Venice, and save Amalfi coast for another time (possibly on a trip with Puglia area.)

Any advice is appreciated.

Vera

From Venice, you are close to Le Marche. See my trip report on Le Marche by clicking on my name.
Vera

lhopp

Thanks Vera. Your trip report is wonderful! I never really thought of that area. Another area we've thought of for a future trip to Italy is Puglia. Too many places to go and too little time!

ira

Hi lh,

You won't go wrong either way.

lhopp

Thanks Ira! DH thinks Amalfi coast is too much travel to do with Venice, but I don't think so. I think the 5+ hour train ride from Villefranche to Italian Riviera would be more travel.

Do many incoporate Venice/Florence with Amalfi coast? It doesn't seem too bad travelwise.

Ira, love your recommendation in Priano.

swagman

lhopp

Given your 1st option, I am assuming you are flying into Nice and then fly out of Venice, is that right?

I just returned from Italy on a similar itinerary, ie flew into and out of Nice and instead of Venice, we went to south Tuscany for 4 nights before returning to St Jean Cap Ferrat for 1 night before flying out of Nice. Hence, may I suggest the following,

1st 2 nights in Villefranche sur Mer as per your plan. Stay at Hotel Welcome, you can't beat its location and views.

Camogli is quite a quiet seaside town with a fishing harbour, we didn't find it too exciting. We stayed at Santa Margherita Ligure and thought it being quite central to visit Rapallo, Camogli and Portofino. SML has a good selection of hotels, B&Bs and restaurants. We stayed at Villa Gnocchi, perched on the hillside overlooking SML, 20-minute walk downhill into centre of SML, 100E per room per night for 2 people, add another 20E per person if you want a 3-course dinner. (I am working on my trip report and hopefully will be posting it soon, so stay tuned)

From SML, we took the 8.55am train into the Cinque Terre which took an hour. We did the CT over 2 days. But if you are a serious hiker and want to do other trails other than the main ones, I suggest you stay inside CT and perhaps Vernazza is a good choice, it is the most beautiful of the 5 villages. Some guidebooks will suggest that you stay at Monterosso al Mare but we found it too commercialised and touristy. Vernazza has a better feel and be sure to eat at Gambero Rosso, we had lunch there on both days of our visit to CT.

So plan to stay at least 4 nights for the above to visit both the Riviera and CT.

On your way to Florence, do plan to visit Lucca, spend a half day there if possible. Or you may wish to Pisa (which we didn't).

Moving on, depends on what you want to do in Florence, eg do you like art and museums or are you a shopaholic? We spent 3 nights there and thought another night would have given us more time to sightsee and do a bit more shopping. Please make sure you eat at La Giostra and Osteria de Benci, both in the Santa Croce area and serve amazing regional food.

In Florence, we stayed at Hotel dell Arti, located near the Piazza della SS Annunziata for 170E per room per night. Very good location, 5-minute walk to the Duomo. We joined a half-day city tour which gave us a historical overview of the city and it included entry into the Galleria dell'Accademia to see the real 'David'. Now if you are not a history or art nut and only want to visit one museum, I strongly recommend seeing the 'David' which was very impressive. We spent one day shopping. Florence is a walking city so make sure you have comfortable walking shoes!

After Florence, we drove down the SS222 Strada Chiantigiana towards Siena and stayed in Montalcino for 4 nights to explore that region.

Hope the above helps. We had such a great time and are already planning for our trip to Umbria in June 2007. Have fun planning!

S

Huitres

As much as I love the Cinque Terre and have family friends living there, I would not devote 3 nights there and only 2 for Florence. If anything, I would switch it around and stay longer in the bigger cities (Florence, Venice and Rome) and fewer on the CT coast. Also, Camogli is just up the coast from the CT and very similar to the CT towns so don't know why you would want to duplicate your stay? It is very feasible to stay in on of the the CT towns (i.e. Manarola, Riomaggiore) and then take a boat or train up 45 minutes to Camogli as a day trip. Just trying to think of ways to optimize your stay and travel time......I, too, would save the Amalfi Coast for another return trip.

bobthenavigator

I would fly into Milan and home from Venice and include 3 destinations---the Ligurian coast, a lakes destination[Orta is my choice] and Venice. That will be a fun and diverse itinerary.

lhopp

Thanks everyone for your replies.

Swagman-very anxious to read your trip report. We loved Hotel Welcome when we stayed there last year, and would definitely plan to return should we decide on Villefranche. I was wondering too if maybe Santa Margherita would be a better option than Camogli--we will investigate. Would you say that we should spend all 4 nights in one place on the Riviera and daytrip to others, or, split 2 nights in one place (such as SML or Camogli) and 2 in Cinque?

For Florence, I'm thinking we'd probably need 3 nights. We're not art buffs, but do enjoy some museums and churches. Uffizi Gallery and Accademia for David are musts, and I definitely want to see the Baptistry, Duomo as well. We're not big shoppers either. We do plan to stop at Pisa on the way from Cinque to Florence.

Huitres-I was wondering too if 3 nts in Cinque was too many given the other areas we're visiting. As far as staying in two different places, we do like to try different B&B's for 2 or so nights each vs. staying in 1 place for several nights. However, I do agree with you that to maximize the time, it would be better to stay in one place and daytrip to the others. If we did that, which place do you think would be best to base ourselves? We've sort of always wanted to stay in a Cinque village for a couple nights, but would be open to other options as well. On our last trip to France, we followed this philosophy more (staying longer in each place) and it worked out very nicely.

Bob the Navigator-have you returned from Croatia and Greece? I hope you had (or are having) a wonderful trip!
You're itinerary interests me a lot-what order would you do those things in? Lake first, then Ligurian coast, then Venice? 4 nights in each place? I'd love to hear more about this idea.

Huitres

Hi lhopp: Most people stay in Vernazza in the Cinque Terre as Rick Steves has over-popularized the town. It is lovely indeed, but the hotel prices and souvenirs are higher there than in the other 4 towns for that reason. I like Riomaggiore, Manarola and Monterosso. Of the 3 towns, Monterosso is the biggest and hence offers the most hotel options and restaurants. I have stayed in an "affitacamere" (rented rooms) option when in Monterosso. In Riomaggiore, I always recommend "Hotel Argentina" in Riomaggiore but I am biased as my family friends own it! They also rent out several rooms and apts throughout town. Here is one of my trip reports on the Cinque Terre that might have some helpful information/tips: http://fodors.com/forums/threadselec...p;tid=34539759

IMO, I would base yourselves in one of those 5 CT towns, then take day trips up to Camogli, Portofino, etc. The Ligurian coastal towns are very similar in their look and character so you would be almost duplicating your experience in Camogli as in the Cinque Terre. Maybe if you cut out Camogli as a stay, you could add on Lucca enroute to Florence? (That is another favorite of mine). Otherwise, adding a day onto Florence sounds like it makes sense as suggested earlier.

nessundorma

Now for something completely different:

I suggest that you include Verona in your trip and cut back on your time in Cinque Terre.

lhopp

Thank you Huitres. I read your trip report-very nice. It definitely will help in planning for that part of the trip. I appreciate your suggestion to base possibly in CT and take daytrips from there. We know that Vernazza has become somewhat of a Rick Steves mecca-we've followed his books and videos for years (although not as much now as when we were first starting out with European travel.) Manarola or Riomaggiore seemed like good places to stay to me as well, so I will investigate that.

If we did base in CT and wanted to visit Portofino and Camogli as a daytrip, what would be a good day's plan for that?

Thank you for suggesting Lucca and to Nessundorma for suggesting Verona...both would be possibilities if we take out the other 2 days on the Riviera. I have no idea which one to choose, so will have to research them. I'm sure I'll be back with questions, and thanks for all your help thus far.

swagman

lhopp

'Would you say that we should spend all 4 nights in one place on the Riviera and daytrip to others, or, split 2 nights in one place (such as SML or Camogli) and 2 in Cinque?'

Now that I have been there and with the benefit of hindsight, should I visit that area again, I would definitely not base myself in one spot but spread my time between the two - stay 2 nights around SML and 2 nights inside the CT.

Personally I find the 2 areas different. Staying in SML will give you easy access to Camogli, Rapallo, SML and Portofino. I find that by taking the one-hour long train to the CT was not time efficient. That hour (or two including the return trip) may be used to do more in the area.

Also staying in one of the towns inside CT will also give you the opportunity to soak in the real CT after the hoards of tourists, hikers and day-trippers left for the day. I would have loved to sit by the harbour at Venazza at dusk with a beer in my hand to savour the real CT and see the true lifestyle of its residents.

S

swagman

lhopp

Also, do consider adding another day to Florence so that you may take a day trip to Sienna, I am very drawn to that town, it is an amazing experience just sitting on the Il Campo imagining the horse races and flag bearers standing around the square over hundreds and hundreds of years!

S

lhopp

Thanks Swagman. Hmmm..to split days or homebase and daytrip? I have a feeling we'll do 2 in SML or Camogli and 2 in CT, or, as suggested earlier, add a day in Lucca.

We were in Siena during our last Italy trip to Tuscany, and we loved it~spent the morning and good part of the afternoon there. I remember sitting at Il Campo looking at the tower, eating my gelato! It doesn't get any better than that. Also, I fell in love with the Duomo there...may have to work another visit in after all!

Swagman, did you drive from Villefranche to the Italian Riviera or take the train? If train, I know it's a long ride, but beautiful scenery?