largirl

Hey guys! I've been doing a ton of research online for this trip my husband and I are taking, but wanted to see if anyone here might be able to add anything.

First, the MUST. I have to be in Cavriglia, Chianti (about 45 mins from Florence, I believe) the evening of Monday, October 26 and will be done the evening of Thursday, October 29th for a workshop I'm attending.

Our schedule for number of days is fairly flexible, but we'd like to keep it at about two weeks. At the most, we'd be looking at 17 days, leaving on Friday October 23 and returning on Sunday, November 9.

I've been to Italy before and gotten all the "must see" tourist things out of the way. My itinerary included Florence, Pisa, Montecatini Treme, Assisi, Vatican City, Rome, Pompeii, Sorrento, and Capri. However, my husband has never been. I think he'd be fine with skipping Vatican City, but I'd definitely love to take him to Pompeii, Sorrento, and Capri. On my trip I barely spent a day in any of those places and would love to explore them more (save Pompeii, which only needs a half day or so if I remember correctly). The others I am not sure about yet - Assisi, Pisa, etc. In general, he's not into huge crowds or shopping and while I think he'd appreciate a beautiful church here and there, neither of us is very religious and I think to him they would all look the same after awhile. I'm trying to get an opinion out of him, but he's very "You've been there, you know where to go!" Which, yes...but I don't know what HE wants to see!

I've never been to Venice or Milan, but am not dying to hit either of those (though a day in Venice wouldn't be completely off the list). I've just always heard Milan is very crowded and tourist-y with mostly shopping, and Venice is cool for the first 1/2 day and quickly gets old - and is very smelly.

We both really enjoy food - he's dying for some real pizza - and he especially LOVES wine and wine tastings and cheese, so I'd like to do something with that, which is something I didn't do on my last trip. We're both up for some adventure-type outings too, if there are any in the area (hiking or sailing or snorkeling or scuba diving, though neither of is PADI certified...but we could be in time for the trip!).

If there is time, we'd love to get over to Greece. That's the part that I know absolutely nothing about, however, and after reading on a bunch of forums I have a feeling that it may be trying to squeeze too much into one trip. However, if there's a way to do it - just two days in Mykonos or Santorini, I'd love to. We also considered Spain instead of Greece,

We don't have a strict budget and we're both in our late 20's and don't mind a party here and there. Of all the places I went, Sorrento was probably my favorite, if that helps in suggesting cities or places to visit.

So....any thoughts, ideas, suggestions? What would your ideal itinerary be (including the necessary 4 days in Cavriglia)?

Thanks so much!

largirl

Ha, I meant to take the part about Spain out. We did consider it, but I think it's probably way too far out of the way.

largirl

Oh, and it doesn't matter which airports we fly into or out of at this time. We were originally considering flying into Florence and out of Naples, though - or into Florence and out of Rome. However, it doesn't really matter.

zoecat

I'm a little confused. Maybe you could propose 2-3 itineraries you feel might work and then we can advise.

<<I've just always heard Milan is very crowded and tourist-y with mostly shopping, and Venice is cool for the first 1/2 day and quickly gets old - and is very smelly.>>

Not my experience at all. Especially the Venice comment.

zeppole

Instead of going to Greece, why not go to Paestum just a stone's throw south of the Amalfi coast, or over to Sicily to see the greek temples there?

zeppole

By the way, you remembered incorrectly about the amount of time needed to see Pompeii. It's a vast site. But if your main interest in Greece is the islands, not the antiquities, scratch my previous suggestions (and skip Pompeii).

Instead, consider spending more time on the islands of the Amalfi (including the hot springs on Ischia) or go to the Aeolian islands in Siciliy.

Regarding smelly Venice, no problem at the time of year you are going. Whether Venice gets "old" quickly is very subjective. Milan is not crowded with tourists at all. It's mostly avoided by tourists.

largirl

Well, I was thinking about flying into Florence and out of Naples - something like this:

Florence -> Cavriglia -> Assisi -> Rome -> Sorrento with day trips to Capri and Pompeii -> Naples

However, I kind of want to go places that neither of us have been, and right now the tentative itinerary above is all places I've been already (minus Cavriglia). I'm hoping to be able to hit Siena at some point as a short trip from Cavriglia, which would also be new. Assisi I was thinking would be a stop on the way to Rome, but I'm not exactly sure how that'd work.

largirl

Clearly that itinerary above leaves out Greece. If we hit Greece, it'd be for the food and the white buildings with blue roofs and the scenery, not so much for the antiquities. That being said, I thought Pompeii was kick-ass awesome, but between that and Rome I think we'll be good on the theaters and ruins.

It's good to know that some of the things I've heard about Venice/Milan are misconceptions - but maybe even with that it's better to stick to mid/south Italy and skip northern Italy with our timeframe?

I'm loving the idea of Ischia and that area, as it fits right into my Sorrento plan. I'm definitely checking that out.

I'm also thinking about leaving Greece for another time, unless we can add another week to the trip....two weeks Italy, one week Greek islands?

dfr4848

This starts getting really subjective, but certainly you can do 2 weeks Italy and 1 week Greece. Just depends on what you want to eliminate and what you want to emphasize.

Oct - Nov is getting into the low season on the Greek isles, but we spent 15 days in Greece last Nov (including 3 on Santorini and absolutely loved it - fewer crowds, lower prices, etc). And it wasn't low season in Athens. And of course the antigiuties in Greece are very different than Rome and Italy.

You could do 3 days Athens, 3 Santorini, fly to Rome with trips to Sorrento, Pompeii and Capri (not necessarily day trips). Then up to Assisi and Florence.

Just a thought.

And yes, I'd also disagree on Milan and Venice. We've been to Venice 3 times. Never had a smelly day and thought it was a fascinating place - definitely unique (even with all the tourist). And Milan can be quite pleasant, with some amazing sites and with very few tourist.

dfr4848

largirl - obviously my itinerary supposes fly into Athens and out of Florence on open-jaw ticket.

largirl

It sounds like my husband won't be able to do a third week, so I'm thinking Greece is out. I put together a few possible itineraries (without real regard about how to get from one place to the other or train schedules; I figure we need to know WHERE we're going before we can get to that step) - here they are:

http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?k...LT09pRmc&hl=en

Thoughts? Does one sound better/more doable than another?

ellenem

better to post your lists here--not everyone has a google account . . .

Kristinelaine

Just wanted to say that I think Venice is a fabulous MUST-SEE kind of place. I can't imagine leaving it off your list. It is my favorite city in Italy. Absolutely unique.