Fodor's Travel Talk Forums - Italy just returned

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Italy just returned - a few comments

Hello, I just returned from 17 nights and Italy with my mother and sister. I thought I would post a few comments about what I learned. My itinerary was: 4 nights Rome 4 nights Sorrento 2 nights Siena 3 nights Florence 2 nights Venice 2 nights Varenna 1. Don't trust people that say they work for the train in Naples, even if they show you their jacket which says they do. Although they will help you, you won't need it and they will want a lot of money. They target people going to Sorrento. 2. Residenza San Pantaleo in Rome is mediocore-poor. 3. Hotel Il Nido in Sorrento (triple with bath 88Euro/night - balcony with sea view), Hotel Christina in Florence (triple with bath 108Euro/night (room#4)) and Ai Bareteri in Venice (triple with bath 155Euro/night) are wonderful and in great locations. I would totally recommend these, and cannot say enough about them. 4. Albergo Milano in Varenna and Alma Domus in Siena are good. 5. I wish I had not rented a car. I rented it to travel from Sorrento to Siena, explore Tuscany, visit Pisa and return in Florence. I found the signs confusing and it would have been a lot faster to take the Train. 6. Personally I didn't find Siena too great. I wish I had stayed in Florence longer and done day trips to the countryside. I know some people really like it. 7. Venice is a gem. I heard mixed reviews about Venice -smelly, etc. I was really glad we added it (in response to advice on this board). I wish I had spent one more day there. 8. "Bargin" glass can be found just before and after the Rialto bridge at stands in the middle of the street that the bridge is on. We found that prices varied quite a bit and we could not see a difference in quality. 9. S. Vaggi on the Ponte Vecchio in Florence (2 stores) seemed to have very good prices on gold. The gold also seemed to vary a lot in price for items that were the same. I'm sure I will think of more. Thanks to everyone for their help in the planning. Natasha

Natasha, What did you decide to do for your 2 days in Venice and what did you really feel you missed out on? And did you take a Gondola ride? If so how much did it set you back? I'll be leaving on my honeymoon soon and will be staying in Garda (Lake Garda), Venice, Florence, Rome, Cinque Terre... I am really wishing I had allotted more than 2 days to Venice, so I want to get the most of of them! Thanks in advance! Kristy

KAM, We did not take a gondola ride. One person approached us and offered a ride for 60 Euros instead of the regular 75 Euros because it was the afternoon and they were not busy. I don't know how long the ride was for. A lot of people were taking rides in the evening, so in the afternoon they are actively seaking people out. We didn't do that much in Venice, but this is mostly because we were counting on Venice to get most of our souvenirs. We probably spent more than the average person would shopping for glass. We also went to Murano to see a glass making demonstation. Then we took the boat to St. Mark's square (S. Marco). We got to the church at 2:20pm and for some reason on that day only they closed at 2:00pm. We could have gone to the top of St. Mark's basilica for the Museum and view and to the top of the bell tower with an elevator to view the city. We would have had time to do this, and it would not have been a bad idea. Venice seemed very peaceful and it would be easy to spend time walking around, watching the boats, etc. You will probably have time to get everything done, you will just be sad to leave. I would also suggest taking boat #1 around the grand canal, but if you take a gondola ride you will not need to.

Hi Natasha. Glad to hear you loved Venice. As for wishing you didn't have a car, did you not use it to explore any of the smaller towns in Tuscany? I think a car is very helpful for that.

Natasha.... re: Siena, I agree! I just returned from Italy on Monday, and while I loved all the other locations that I visited in Tuscany, I just wasn't impressed by Siena. Il Campo was nice enough, but by far not the most beautiful piazza in Italy. I found the streets to be rather dark and dank -- not to mention insanely packed! But I had a great time everywhere else! (Rome, Pienza, Montalcino, Castellina, Florence, Vernazza in Cinque Terre).

natasha, thanks for your input of your itinerary. here is ours starting september 2 4 nights sorrento (limo from rome to sorrento) hotel tramontano 4 nights florence (train from sorrento to florence) hotel balestri 3 nights venice (train from florence to venice) hotel violino d'oro 3 nights rome (train from venice to rome) hotel santa chiara we have considered driving, but the trains are highly recommended. we may get a eurorail 3 day pass with a two day rental car option. thank you, jim and camille

Jim and Camille, I think your itinerary sounds good. I don't know the cost of a limo to Sorrento. It sounds expensive, but might not be. It is too bad you are not flying into Naples, but I expect your tickets are already booked. I think the number of days for each city is pretty good. If doing my trip again, I would skip the car rental. I guess it depends on where you would like to drive, but I think your schedule looks good by train.

Jim and Camille, Why limo from Rome to Sorrento? Must be quite expensive. Why not Eurostar from Rome to Naples and then either limo, hydrophoil or get down and dirty on the Circumvesuviana. Also, you mention train from Sorrento to Florence. The only train from Sorrento is the Circumvesuviana (commuter) from Sorrento to Naples. Train schedules (trenitalia.com) will not show this and don't have a line from Sorrento to Florence. It's from Naples to Florence. You'll have to do the reverse of what I wrote for Naples-Sorrento.

myer, thanks for your comments. our travel itinerary will require driving to the pittsburgh airport on september 1...flying to philadelphia and then tranfering planes for an overnight flight to rome. the limo is a total of $370 including taxes and tips.it will be a non smoking/mercedes.this may be simpler and even more cost effective than other options. if we left the airport at 10:00am then we should reach sorrento by 2:00pm. if we can find a one way flight transfer to naples then we may consider that option, but will it be less than the limo when you consider there still is travel to sorrento? we figure the flight to naples and train or limo service to sorrento would not get us to our hotel any sooner or cheaper. two years ago we took the train from fco rome to termini then a train from termini to naples then the circumvesuviana from naples to sorrento then a taxi to our hotel. this process took 7+ hours. if we left fco rome at the same time 10:00am we would not get to our hotel in sorrento until at least 5:00pm. as you can see the limo is very expensive,but may be our best option...we still have time to decide. Note: when mentioning that we would train from sorrento to florence, i realize that we would need to take the circumvesuviana,a taxi or hydrofoil to get to naples and transfer to florence probably through rome. i decided to keep it simple for the posting. thanks again, jim and camille