Is our Italy itinerary too ambitious?
 

We are currently planning a trip to Italy for this September. I thought I had it figured out but after reading a number of posts I realize we may be trying to do too much. We are flying in and out of Milan (unavoidable as we are using United FF miles). We plan to take the train to Rome immediately upon arrival in Milan (8 am arrival). We are spending 4 nights in Rome. We then will rent a car and have a total of 6 nights in the Tuscany/Umbria area. We were thinking of spending the first night in Todi after visiting Orvieto and Civiti de Bagnorini (sp)during the day. Next day see Spoleto on the way to spending the night in Assisi. That leaves four nights for Tuscany - thinking of 2 nights in Siena or San Gmignano and 2 nights in Florence Then we turn the car in and take train to Venice for 3 nights. Then train to Milan to spend final night near airport. Are we trying to do too much? Would we be better off skipping Umbria on this trip and concentrating on Tuscany? Should we just stay in one location in Tuscany and do day trips rather than changing hotels? Anything else anyone would recommend we would do differently?

Your trip sounds awesome! I would just re-arrange the stops so you can minimize travel times between destinations (Milan to Siena from where to explore Tuscany?), then Florence to Rome, spend some time. Then train to Assisi, rent a car, explore Umbria. Assisi to Venice, fly to Milan. There are definite Italy experts on this forum, I urge you to seek out past posts and study them, make notes, etc... <BR>Have a great time!

Hi, Bebe, I think you will be fine - we did something similar in October. Had a formal tour for a week that began and ended in Rome. We rented a car, went through Umbria to Castellina in Chianti where we stayed two nights. Driving in Tuscany and Umbria is easy, well marked, good signage, etc.. We took the car back to Florence *DON'T* attempt to drive in Florence. Get very detailed maps and directions on how to get to the car place. You can't comprehend how difficult it is with vespas, pedestrians and one way streets that are not on the map!! Florence is a walking town so turn in the car upon arrival. The train station is centrally located. After we turned in the car, we walked to the station, went to Venice for two nights and then took the train to Santa Margherita and stayed for three nights before leaving from Milan. I am pasting a post from Elaine for you. The map is great. E-mail me if you want more information. <BR> <BR>Author: elaine ([email protected]) <BR>Date: 1/04/2001, 5:54 pm ET <BR>Message: I haven't done this drive, but here is some info <BR>For the Chianti region, there's a great, detailed map available free on the web. <BR>www.monterinaldi.it/en/. Click on "The Map of Chianti Classico area", fill in your name & address on the next screen, and you'll get a map in the mail in a few weeks. It's 1:80,000 in scale, <BR>so it's quite detailed. As a bonus, it shows exactly where all of the Chianti wine estates are located. <BR> <BR> <BR>

Bebe, The thing that doesn't fit for me is the sidetrip to Venice. Unless you're absolutely comitted to Venice, I would use the extra three days in Umbria and Tuscany. Also, you could continue by plane to Rome from Milan or using UA ff miles, consider flying into London and then down to Pisa, rent car and go from there.

Sorry Kam - 18 days in Italy from Rome to Venice, Florence and the Riviera and Venice was the fave and we drove through Tuscany and Umbria as well. I think Bebe needs to do her own research as to what is important to her - IMO Venice is magical..............nuf said

I also think that you should skip the train to Rome and take a connecting flight from Milan....you'll save a lot of time there. <BR> <BR>If you've never been to Venice, it is a must, in my opinion. I don't think you're stretching it. <BR> <BR>We covered more ground in our last trip to Italy. Check out my website if you'd like to see photos: www.jimtardio.com

Overall, I think your trip is very doable. Like other posters, the only real concern is the trip from Milan to Rome; if it's possible to get a connecting flight, it would probably make your trip a lot easier at the beginning. Otherwise, you'll need to go from the airport to the main train station in Milan to get the train to Rome. That will mean that you'll be spending your first day travelling at least half the day. I'm not sure how long the trip from the airport to Milan is, but the train ride from Milan to Rome is 4 1/2 hours. <BR> <BR>I think the rest of your trip sounds fine. Driving out of Rome is a lot easier than driving into Rome. As others have said, you might drop off the car upon arrival in Florence. And don't skip Venice! It's definitely worth the time to go there. A very magical place.

Bebe, <BR> <BR>Assisi and Spoleto are easy day trips from Todi where we stayed in June. No need to spend one night there and one night in Assisi. We stayed at Tenuta di Conica,a wonderful inn that has spectacular views of Todi (which I didn't really care for, Todi, not the views) They inn has wonderful dinners and can arrange dinner at another nearby inn that was fabulous. E-mail me if you want more details.