Hi I2001,

Congrats on your trip go a lot just got back in fact

Fodors Gold Guide losts of great planning info.

Air RT into Milan(MXP) generally LOTS cheaper

than waht you are proposing.

aa.com has FFmiles CC my wife and I

picked up 40000 FF miles good free RT flights into MXP for us

Regional train from 2-5 euro per hour of training like

a local seat61.com was best fast trains were double that.

eurocheapo.com ricksteves.com good budget sites.

This time we booked nice hotels like

hotelpausania.it Canal view suite 59 euros Otel.com

Pitti Palace Venice similar price

Sheraton Roma $69 Hotwire.com

Hoteldelfino.com $60 Otel.com

Had a wonderful time came in under $1k each...

So happy planning... have fun,

Sorry meant Florence above

http://www.hotelscombined.com/Hotel/...l_Florence.htm

We saved a lot just hopping on/off slow trains

There are small machines the locals use for Scontos(discounts)

We went Cambio Class Rome to Florence for 5 euro

fast train was 40 euro to substntial savings in slow training

Cars are quite expensive big charges to park in cities avoid

Have fun!

pls help with any feedback on my itneary.

rome - 3 nights
venice - 2 nights
florence - 2 nights (day trip to pisa,will skip siena)
sorrento - 3 nights( day trip to capri,day trip to pmpeii and one day relax in sorrento.

any sugesstions feedback will be appreciated.

Too many short stays. Cut to maximum of 3.

Siena is more worthwhile than Pisa IMO.

You need to consult a map and plan your trip so you are moving in a logical direction.

Fly into your first city and out of the last.

My fiance and I did the following itinerary this past Septemeber. We flew into Venice and out of Rome.

Venice 2 nights
Bellagio 4 nights
Florence 2 nights
Positano 4 nights
Rome 3 nights

It was a lot to do but I had it all very well planned we loved it. I could have used an extra night in Venice which was definitely my favorite city, followed by Bellagio/Positano, Florence and then Rome. We enjoyed relaxing, eating, drinking wine and taking in the beautiful scenary and culture more than anything. I would love to go back and do a trip to tuscany next time. I did not make it to Sorrento but Positano was so beautiful and I highly reccommend it. We did a 3 hour boat trip around Capri which i thought was the best way to see it!

lauren p - can you pls give your trip details.would really appreciate it.

sure, what are you looking for specifically?

what hotels did you stay at? did you travel trhu train between cities? if you used the trains did you buy point to point tickets or did you buy the pass?

Venice - Best Western Hotel Ala
Bellagio - Hotel Du Lac
Florence - Hotel Davanzati
Positano - Buca di Bacco
Rome - Hotel Cesari

LOVED Buca di Bacco (room with a balcony is a must). Hotel Davanzati was great, clean, reasonable with good location. I would 100% stay at those 2 again. Hotel du Lac and Hotel Ala were both good, locations were good, not too expensive but nothing special. I probably wouldn't stay in Cesari again - it had a great rooftop but rooms were a little musty and dated. It was the one hotel I really ddin't like at all.

We took trains everywhere and we bought point to point tickets but I had the entire train schedule mapped out before we left and we followed it the entire trip. Because we did so much moving around I wanted to be sure we were on the earliest trains so we didn't waste too much of the day. We actually got car service from Naples train station to Positano and same back and I would suggest doing that.

hey lauren,
what kinds of trains did you use? did you have to waste a lot of time waiting in lines? also would you by any chanceh remember the website thru which you got details pls. will really appreicate your help.

thanks

This is the official Italian railway site: http://www.trenitalia.com/homepage_en.html

itallly 2011,

you are young - you don't need to see all of Italy in one go - and you can't so pick 3 places you REALLY want to see that you can easily get between and go with those.

and you really don't need to spend a long time in queues for train tickets- you'll only be getting 2 or 3 each. at main railway stations there are loads of automatic ticket machines [which have an english option] or if you know when you are travelling, you can book the more expensive sorts of tickets on line at a discount on the trenitalia website. the cheaper trains - the regionale - can't be booked and are very cheap - €5.80 from florence to Pisa one way.

and when I got to the main station in florence at 8am yesterday morning, there was no-one in the ticket queue at all, so I just rolled up, asked for my ticket, divested myself of all my change, and there i was.

don't forget to validate your tickets in the machine before you get on the train!

thanks annhig for your detailed response.

i just have one question do these cheaper trains take more time to reach the destination than the euro rail?

also should we buy tickets in advance or just buy at the station. we will be travelling during the peak season.

thanks so much for your help.

also is it better to buy tickets online before we leaveout of u.s or get there and buy tickets as you go.

hi itally,

yes the regionale trains are slower - and less clean IME - but they are cheaper. and you can't buy tickets for them on line, though you can buy them in advance when you are there - you just go to the station, buy the ticket which will be valid for the next 3 months or so, and then, when you want to travel, you must remember to VALIDATE YOUR TICKET.

frankly, i can't see any point in your buying your tickets before you leave the US, but that's up to you. what you can do is to look at the timetables for the dates you want to travel on the trenitalia website, and print them out. then, when you get there, supposing you want to travel from Venice to Florence on a particular day, and train, you can go to the main station in Venice [following the signs to 'Ferrovia" that are painted on the sides of the buildings, you can't miss it] and buy your ticket for that train. that would be a good idea if you want to travel on a non-regionale where you have to have a reserved seat. you could mark the print-out of the timetable so you can show it to the ticket seller, if you don't trust your italian!

if OTOH, if you just want to travel when you feel like it on a regional train, just turn up at the station, buy your ticket from a ticket machine, and there you are.

as you are not going to be travelling huge distances and there are many trains on the routes that you will be using, there's no point in deciding now what you want to do - you may change your minds when you get there. I bought my ticket for the fast "freccia bianca" train from Orbetello to Pisa two days before I travelled with no problems at all.

PS - there is no such thing as euro rail trains - they are simply an organisation that sells rail tickets and passes. as you are only going to be in one country, www.trenitalia.it is what you need.

PS - there is even a website showing you the facilities and lay-out of the "grande stazione", some pages with english translation:

http://www.grandistazioni.it/cms/v/i...003f16f90aRCRD

The MINI fares offer a substantial savings and IMO make it worthwhile to book in advance. We try and avoid the regional trains. Not only are theyt slow but I agree with ann that they are often not clean with disgusting (IME) restrooms.

Sadly, kfusto, the toilet on the freccia bianca wasn't much better, though the rest of the train was cleaner and more comfortable.

annhig, I have seen that as well. Such a contrast to what we have become used to in recent travels to Germany and Austria where they are uniformly clean.

One of the few negatives about traveling in Italy IMO and IME are the sad condition of many bathrooms, both public and in bars/cafes as well.

it reminds me of a trip that DH and I did 25 or so years ago to France, when the loos were pretty awful. We went over the border into Spain and suddenly it was bathroom heaven-even the most fly-bitten bars and cafes had decent toilets.

why can't Italy do the same?