kreinika

My mother and I are planning a trip to Italy this November for two weeks. Looking for advice for two women who are interested in culture, landscape and food! Museums are not at the top of our list (no offense), but maybe one or two would be nice. I am reading that it is Truffle and Chestnut season in November....sounds delish!!!

1. We want to spend a majority of time in Florence. Planning on using AirBnB while we are there. We want to rent a car...are there "day trips" we can take via car or should we stick to the train?

2. We really wanted to see Lake Como, but hear November is not the season to visit due to weather as well as majority of shops/restaurants will be closed? Is that true? We love the outdoors...is there anything you would recommend that is close to Florence or Rome?

3. What else would you recommend for a 70 year old Cancer Survivior and a 47 year old Daughter?

I really want to make this trip special for my Mom! She deserves a nice vacation and want to create some lasting memories. Thank you in advance for your advice.

michelhuebeli

Florene is all about the museums and the historic buildings, so maybe not the best choice for basing yourselves. Also if you get a car - again - Florence is not the place to deal with a car.

Daylight saving will be over, days will be awfully short, sunset is before 5PM, so the "landscape" component will be affected.

The season at the lakes is over, but on a good day it still can be pretty.

I could see you two gallivant across the countryside, Toscana, Umbria, in your rented car, avoiding the expressways and getting back to your lodgings before sunset, somewhere in a village, to settle in for a cozy evening.

Then again, because it tends to be less cool, you could gallivant around Sicily and have a lot of fun. Not many tourists, lots of interesting places - have you looked into that?

jamikins

I agree that for your interests Florence doesn't make much sense.

What about basing yourselves in a town in the country to take advantage of the beautiful culture, landscape and food!

I just posted this on another post, but it makes sense for you too:

We love the area around Montepulciano and would highly recommend this location

http://www.santantonio.it/

It is in Val d'Orcia, our favourite part of Tuscany, and a short 5 minute drive to Montepucliano where you can find lots of good restaurants. It is also a short drive to Pienza, Montechiello, Montalcino etc.

We have spent 2.5 weeks over NYE week in 2013 and 2016 and plan to return in 2017.

Here are our pics (they are from winter of course)
https://flickr.com/photos/[email protected]

Happy Planning!

bvlenci

Buonconvento or nearby might be a good location. From there, you'd have the choice of day trips by train or bus to Siena, Florence, Montepulciano, Montalcino, and Pienza. I'd still want a car though, even if it wouldn't be absolutely necessary if you stayed near the train station.

I don't know if they have AirB&B out in the country, but the cost of hotels or other types of lodging (maybe an agriturismo) would be much lower than in Florence.

kreinika

I love all the advice!! I think you sold my Mom and I on Tuscany and Umbria areas. jamikins...thank you so much for sharing your photos! AMAZING!!! We are getting more and more excited to go after looking through them. The planning part is probably the hardest? I think we are now looking into Rome first and then making our way to Umbria and Tuscany. If there is time, maybe a quick trip to Naples? Does anyone have advice on a Travel Agent that can help book and plan our Italy excursion? Even if there is a local that can take us on a little day trip tour? SO EXCITED!!!

isabel

As noted, November has short hours of daylight, and quite possibly rain. So I would base in places that could still be interesting/pleasant in the evening and/or the rain. Maybe instead of Florence try Siena. I've always used public transportation but from what I could see, driving in and out would be less of a problem. I stayed just outside the main 'entrance' to the old city (pedestrianized area) and there was a large car park nearby. Siena has enough to do in bad weather even if not into traditional museums. But from there you can easily take the bus to Florence for day trips (don't drive to Florence) and use the car to explore smaller hill towns.

If you are going for two weeks I would do maybe one week there and the second week elsewhere. Rome would be the obvious choice (no car) and there is so much to see there besides museums. And there are day trips from there. Orvieto is another great town which is an easy day trip (although I think it's worth spend a couple nights, depends on how you feel about moving hotels every few days). And lots of people do a day trip to Pompeii/Naples. Doable by public transportation but if you'd rather not deal with that there are numerous organized bus tours that do Naples/Pompeii as a day trip from Rome.

DO NOT use a Travel Agent. Seriously. Most of them make their commissions by selling cruises and organized tours and most of them have never been to Italy and don't know how very easy it is to do it yourself. Not only will you waste your money on a travel agent but they will more likely than not steer you wrong.

You've already got a basic plan and we will help you fine tune it. Most of the regulars on this forum have traveled extensively, and love it so much we spend our free time at home when we are not traveling ourselves helping people like you plan trips.

Happy planning.

kreinika

HELLO ALL...I am taking all of your advice and researching areas myself instead of going through a Travel Agent. Here is what I came up with in a nutshell. Let me know what you think?

Fly into Rome
ROME: 3 nights

FLORENCE: 5 nights *seems like a central location where we can take a train/bus to some day trips around the area

SAN MINIATO - Chianti: 2 nights w/ Car *Truffle Festival

MONTEPULCIANO: 5 nights w/ Car *Relax and travel around area

ROME: 1 night and fly home

Looking at doing some Day Tours and found "The Roman Guy" seems pretty casual and fun? Have you heard of them?

frencharmoire

With a combination of train + taxi, you can visit the San Miniato truffle festival as a day trip from Florence. That might be easier than trying to find a parking space around San Miniato, since the festival attracts a lot of people.

A lot of people would land in Rome and go directly to Florence their first day. Then they would have their entire sightseeing visit to Rome at the end of their trip. It depends on how you feel about a very long travel day.