Italy in 8 days
 

My husband and I(early 50's) who have been to Italy (Rome Florence and Venice, 26 years ago) are traveling to Italy sometime between January and April 2012. We are looking to stay 8 days and our focus is Florence where our son is staying in a Study Abroad Program. What would be a great 3 city visit including Florence; so Florence - 3 nights, and 2 other cities? And what would the highlights of the cities be? When would be the best time to go during those months? Traveling by train would be ideal too.

Thanks for any help.

seat61.com/italy regional trains are nice cheap

April is nice was there this year...

eurocheapo.com will have great city guides

venice-tourism my fav if you want to go back

Have gone every one to 2 years off and on for 30 years

never get tired we stayed at www.bauervenezia.com was great

good deals on Otel.com or Orbitz.com right at Grand Canal

If you want some new areas

assisi.com old town St Francis basilica beautiful historic

orvieto.info beautiful Etruscan hill town

lucca.info great vineyards hike bike city walls

or my fav www.metropole.it at PortoFino/SML train station

ferry to all the cinqeterre.com towns from there.

All of this just a couple of hours from Florence

Choose about 3 of these after research you cannot go wrong.

Happy Planning!

By train you could pick Siena, Lucca, Orvieto, Assisi, Arezzo or many other towns. Are you flying in and out of Florence? I would pick April, but avoid Easter holidays if possible.

Rome and Naples, or Rome and Venice, with an open jaw from the latter two cities. I suggest Naples if you go in January or February because it would be warmer there. You might want to take a look at my last trip report that included Rome and Naples; click on my name to find it.

Unless you pick smaller towns to visit, such as the excellent group listed by kybourbon, I suggest you only pick one other actual city. You could visit Florence and Rome in 8 days, comfortably.

As far as what to see, you should consult a guide book and see which attractions in each town appeal to you. Some people like museums, some like markets, some like scenery.

I would add Perugia to the list, as it is a very nice small city.