Lesa

Any comments appreciated on below itinerary for late September/October.<BR><BR>Paris 4 days<BR>fly Venice 2 days<BR>Cortina (hiking) 3 days<BR>Milan 2 days (including Como day hike trip)<BR>CT area 2 days (walk between villages)<BR>Florence 4 days<BR>Amalfi Coast 3 days<BR>Rome 4 days<BR><BR>I have another 7 days up my sleeve before leaving from Rome...any suggestions?

Lesa

FYI we are travelling by train.

Patrick

Sounds great to me as it is, then you hit us with that extra 7 days -- great!! After Amalfi but before Rome, I'd head to Sicily for the 7 days, including Lipari for several of them. If you were driving I'd suggest real southern Italy -- the heel and toe so to speak, but you'd miss a lot trying to do that area by train.

shutterbug

I agree with Patrick. It's easier to travel by car in Sicily. Bus transportation to archeological sites like Taormina, Segesta, Selinunte and Agrigento is possible, but time-consuming. Sicily is a good fall trip. We were comfy this past November.<BR> <BR>If you want to stay in the Northern areas, you might also consider Venice and Verona. Both have significant train service. You might want to check the average temperatures of your destinations. We visited Lake Como in June and found it a bitt chilly. We needed jackets, especially on the lake itself. <BR>PS. While in Florence, consider visiting Fiesole. It has a nice archeological park and is located a brief bus ride away from the duomo.

Lesa

Thanks for the info, haven't even looked at Sicily, will check it out. Might be a little warmer down there.

Patrick

Actually needing the car was a reference to the south of the mainland. We did Sicily by train and had no problems (other than trying to get from Siracusa to Agrigento, so we ended up renting a car for just two days to do that). And we spent a lot of wasted time trying to get from Palermo to Erice by public transportation. But you can easily get around by train otherwise (even easily accessing Agrigento from Palermo by train. Taormina, Siracusa, Palermo, and Agrigento are all easily linked by trains. And of course, you can take the train to Milazzo and the hydrofoil out to Lipari where you won't even want a car.<BR>I was thinking about the cooler weather as well when I suggested going south to Sicily -- should be fine there.

trashtalk

I would have to agree with spending some time in Sicily. I would also suggest spending more time on the Amalfi coast, possibly basing yourself in Sorrento which would be a great base to see Capri, Positano, Amalfi, Ravello, Pompei, Herculaneum as well as Naples. There is alot to see and do in this area!

RobertR

Hi, A couple of suggestions,if you two days are not nearly enough especially if you are counting your arrival day and departure day.That leaves not one full day in Venice.<BR>I think that at least 2 full days are needed there. The trip is a little spread out, I might eliminate a few destinations and spend more time in the remaining.One more day in CT, eliminate amalfi coast,add two days to venice, eliminate Milan,I see you guys are hikers. I am planning a trip for the same dates,we are both avid hikers and runners too.Instead of Milan how about Gran Paradiso national park? Val De aosta near Mt. Blanc? Beautiful mountains,national park with abundant wildlife,senery as good as yosemite with less people.Time is late in the season, I am planning on being there<BR>the last few days of sept.We are hiking from cogne to degioz across the col Lauson,staying in a hotel then hiking back across by another route depending on ice and snow conditions.Summary it is better to see a few places well then to try and see everything and end up seeing nothing.

RobertR

I wish there was a way to edit my posts.<BR>I realise now that first paragraph dosn't make sense. I was trying to say that if you<BR>are counting arrival and departure days that two days in venice is not enough.I would spend at least 3 full days there,allowing for a additional day to arrive and day to leave. If you want to ask me questions post and I will respond with e-mail address (since E-mail dosn't appear to be visable anymore)

ira

Hi Lesa<BR> Wonderful trip.<BR> I would also suggest adding at least one more day to Venice.

cparris

Why not add Umbria..

Lesa

Thanks for the info. Robert will take your advice on Venice, as we are more the outdoors/hiking type thought one full day in Venice would be enough, but maybe not. Would be interested in chatting to you more about hikes in the northern area, my e-mail is [email protected]. We had initially planned to do some hiking up near Mt Blanc but thought the weather would not be great in October, so had settled for Cortina and Lake Como area (day trip from Milan). If you have any ideas on walks (both early 30's and reasonable fit) would love to chat.

alohatoall

Lesa, I think you're going to spend way too much time on trains and checking into and out of hotels and way too little time actually enjoying the sights/food/pleasures of Italy. I would go to slowtalk.com and get the feedback of people who know and love Italy but believe in slowing down a little so that you actually enjoy your trip and don't return exhausted.

Lesa

I know for some people relaxing in Tuscany/Umbria is the ideal holiday, but we would really like to get around and see as much of Italy as possible without going over the top. Please realise as we are a long was away from Europe (in Australia) there are many other destinations yet to visit and limited opportunity. So personally I think 4 weeks to appreciate Italy will suffice, I know it's not ideal, but probably will never be back and need to make the most of our time.

Patrick

I agree Lesa, that your plan is good. Four weeks for just Italy is wonderful. It's nothing like one of those 12 countries in 12 days trips. They are not long train rides and you are spending several days in each location. I'm with you, I can think of nothing worse (for me) than spending a week in a country villa or at a beach resort!! Pure torture.<BR><BR>Otherwise you're getting great advice here. And I agree that it will likely be too cold near Mount Blanc for much hiking -- we nearly froze there the second week of September.

alohatoall

Lesa, I can certainly appreciate your situation, as we live in Hawaii, also a long way away from Europe. I think 4 weeks is a lot of time to spend in Italy and will give you a great feeling for the country, and I'm not suggesting you spend half that time in Tuscany or Umbria. I think, though, that 3 nights in a place is a good goal to try to achieve, which I think is the same thing RobertR was suggesting.

Lesa

Many thanks for all of your input, alohatoyouto.