charchar1

HELLO. Im taking all SUGGESTIONS. Im planning a last minute trip to Italy with Hubby. Below is my Itineray.

Fly into Venice

3 NIGHTS - VENICE 2 DAYS

4 NIGHTS - TUSCANY 3.5 DAYS

4 NIGHTS - ALMALFI 3.5 DAYS

3 NIGHTS - ROME 2.5 DAYS

Fly out of Rome

QUESTIONS????

VENICE-Do I spend the extra money to be in the main area or use my points and stay 15min boat ride away?

TUSCANY- Ill be staying in the chianti region - taver nell val di pesa- It seems to be very centrally located between pisa, florence, and sienna. Other areas of interest are Cinque Terre and umbria. How should I do all this? What should I leave out. Should I take a day from another area? Should I split my time between areas. Or leave it for another time?

ALMALFI- all be staying in Ravello. It will be a long travel day to get here from tuscany. Should I make an over night stay in Fiuggi and continue on the next morning. Places of importance Naples and a few suburbs outside of naples are a must (husbands family from area). Then pompei, vesuvio, salerno, almalfi coast also would be nice to see capri.
Rome-Lots to see- wont see all of it - Do I take a day here and add it somewhere esle?

We currently feel that we should have a car.
P.S. We would like to relax at some point.

THANKS TO ALL WHO HELP

Julie_Hurst

Hi charchar1. Sounds like fun ahead for you & hubby! For what it is worth, here are my comments.

Venice location depends on you. We like center because it maximizes our time & saves our aching feet & backs! We also like to be able to go back & forth to our lodging during the day to rest, sometimes eat (apt.), get something we forgot, drop off something we are tired of carrying around, sit on the balcony & watch the Venice world go by, etc.

Rome is our favorite place in all of Italy. 2.5 days would not do it for us. However, that is your choice, obviously. During your 2.5 days, you can still see the most famous highlites, such as the Vatican on 1 day & the Ancient City (coloseum, forum, palatine) on the other. Your 1/2 day can be spent wandering and/or seeing the Pantheon, P.Navona, Trevi Fountain.

We did Tuscany once & it was not our thing for repeat. We prefer the sites & action of ancient cities to scenery. But many, many folks on this board, love Tuscany.

Some on this board may advise you that you are covering too much area in the time alloted. Have you reduced your time in each city by the packing/unpacking, checkin/out, travel time - including your getting lost time? If not, you may not have as much time as you think for each place. Will you have the car parked while you are in Venice? Do you plan to drive into, around, & out of Rome - others on this board say that is not recommended & if you do, have you arranged parking?

Lastly, we don't do rental cars; we do trains. We don't like the possibility of liability issues in a foreign country caused by a possible accident. But lots of tourist do the car rental thing without any problems.

Have a great trip, Julie

BruceK

Here are my comments, but understand of course that everyone has different tastes.

Venice: stay in the central area. The pleasure in Venice is in walking around the city.

Tuscany: From where you are staying, you will need a car for this part of the trip. If your interest is art, see Sienna and Florence, and perhaps drive to Assisi, not far. If your interest is the countryside and hiking, go to Cinque Terre. You do not have much time; my preference is to see less in more depth rather than vice versa. Probably skip Pisa, Umbria (unless you go to Assisi).

Car: Only use car in Tuscany, go by train between
other destinations. Car can be a bother, trains are good.

Amalfi, Rome, Naples: Drop your car in Florence, take train to Rome/Naples. Stay there, see relatives, then go on to Ravello. Unfortunately, Ravello altho
beautiful is out-of-the-way; Sorrento would have been better. But if you are committed to Ravello, take the boat from Naples to Sorrento, then either boat or bus to Amalfi, then bus to Ravello. See Pompey, Vesuvius while in Naples, see Capri,
Amalfi coast while in Ravello. Then come back to Rome for the end.

Dayle

Hi charchar,

I would stay in Venice, not a 15 min boat ride away. (Where, Lido?)

With only 3.5 days in Tuscany just enjoy the towns near where you are staying. You really don't have time to visit the Cinque Terre. Florence as a day trip and Siena are more than enough!

Agree that this is the part you want a car for. However, if you are going to visit Florence and Siena, I would just stay in one of the two and skip the car. Maybe do a day tour to Chianti instead of getting a car just for the day.

Staying in Ravello to visit Naples suburbs and Pompeii is really not the best idea. You will be spending lots of time in transit getting up and down. For the places you list to visit on the Amalfi Coast, Sorrento or even Positano would be better.

I agree that you are really speeding along. Cutting one destination would be far better! I would cut the Amalfi Coast and save it for another trip.

Greekgazoo

Venice - 2 days is PERFECT, not too much and not too little.

Tuscany - 3.5 days, honestly 3.5 days is just enough to see Florence (2 to 2 1/2 days, then one day trip to either Pisa/Lucca or Siena, both are worth it!!!)

Amalfi Coast - 3.5 days, Pompeii definitely worth the day trip. Capri to say that you have been there worth a day trip, even tho it is VERY touristy and VERY expensive to shop there. Sorrento, a great day trip.

Rome - 2 1/2 days = PERFECT