Lenkaya

We are going to Italy in the beginning of October. First I'm flying from Paris to Milan and from there I’m having a really hard time figuring out the itinerary. So far we decided to stay 1 day in Milan and we are renting a car there. The flight back is from Rome. I really want to see the following places: Venice, Florence, Cinque Terra, and Rome. Can you please recommend how many days we should spend at each place? I really don’t want to make the trip heavy on museums. The idea is to see the country a little and have a good time. The total time I have is 10 days.

suze

Well personally with only 10 days I'd skip the CT. And go from Milan, to Venice, to Florence, to Rome, traveling by train between the cities. 4 cities in 10 days is still a fairly aggressive schedule. Getting to the CT takes some extra time and doing and I'm not sure how you can do all 5 destinations on a 10 day trip really.

Michael

Forget driving if your main interests are the cities you mention. There are excellent train connections that will get you between to point faster than car travel without the worries of finding parking. I agree that you should drop Cinque Terre.

annhig

Lenkaya,

given your interests i wouldn't necessarily drop the CT. but if you try to do all that you've listed you'll end up seeing very little except the inside of a car or various trains.

you have a choice between what is essentially a car trip, or a train trip -

by car, pick up on leaving milan, go to the CT, drive to somewhere near Florence [do florence as a day trip by bus or train, don't try to drive there] drive to Orvieto, drop car, train to Rome. that gives you the city of Rome, plus the coastline/countryside of the CT and Tuscany. up to you how long you stay in each place and apart from in Rome, where you definitely need to book, you might do this itinerary "on spec".

by train, from Milan train to Venice, train to Florence, train to Rome. book all accommodation in advance - NOW.

mamcalice

Given the places you want to visit, a car is not only unnecessary, it would be a burden. You can't easily drive or park in Cinque Terre, Florence, Venice or Rome and the trains are great.

Consider dropping one destination from your itinerary. Florence is my favorite place in Italy but because you have no interest in museums, you might consider dropping Florence. CT is a bit out of the way, is an outdoor activities destination and could have rainy weather in October. You might consider dropping CT. In any case, you will see much more if you limit your stops by at least one.

Lenkaya

I was thinking of renting a car mostly becayse we got an amazing deal and trians will cost us way more. Don't wnat it to be a burden though . I'm thinking of driving to Venice right after landing in Milan. I really wanted to see an Opera there but there is nothing on that day.

suze

"Way more"??? Are you sure about that? Trains in Italy are not that expensive.

Lenkaya

The entire car rental is $300 with insurance and the train ticket from Milan to Venice is $80 for two.Just an example.

Michael

<i>The entire car rental is $300 with insurance</i>

to which one must add tolls if using the autostrada, fuel, and parking fees.

Lenkaya

Now that you put it this way.....Though we get to pass a lot of beautiful places on the way and stop whenever you want .

Michael

http://www.viamichelin.co.uk/ will give tolls and fuel costs for any itinerary that you specify, For example, it will cost close to 50€ in tolls and fuel to go from Milan to Venice.

hollywoodsc

Michael > great site, thank you!

Lenkaya

This is great Michael. Thank you.
I'm thinking leave from Milan at night and go to Venice. Spend 2 days there and go to Florence/Tuscany for another 2-3 days. Then to Rome for 3.5 days.

annhig

lenkaya - have you looked at what's on in Florence and Rome? or Verona?

Venice is not the only place where you can see opera in Italy.

Lenkaya

I wanted to see it in Milan but nothing is there. I'll check out Rome. Is 2 days in Venice enough?

Lenkaya

What would you say should be a good breakdown by days?

annhig

Is 2 days in Venice enough?>>

not for me, lenkaya, but you are limited to 10 days overall.

incidentally, 10 days = 9 nights. that means 3 in each place, with at least 1/2 a day lost every time you move.

I think that i would leave Venice to another time, and unless you are fixed on the CT, go from Milan to Tuscany, spend 5 nights there, and 4 in Rome.

it will seem more like a holiday, especially as you say that museums are not your priority.

travel_princess

We did a similar trip on our first trip to Italy in reverse. We spent 3 nights in Rome, 3 nights in Siena, 2 nights in Florence, 2 nights in Venice and 1 in Milan. We did rent a car for the Tuscany portion. We picked it up in Florence drove to the countryside and toured around but dropped it as soon as we got back to Florence for our 2 nights there as there is no parking. We took trains between all the other destinations. Everwhere we went was fantastic so you will have a great time!

We really spent no time at all in Milan so we are heading there and the Lake District in October.

Lenkaya

Sounds amazing! Thank you so much for all the great advice.
This should be a greta trip even if I don't get to see it all. We are staying 3 days in London and 4 in Paris before Italy.

suze

Everyone's different, I realize. But to me personally Venice is the one city I would absolutely definitely positively keep on my itinerary, because I find it so magical there.