Fodor's Travel Talk Forums - Itinerary fine tuning

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Itinerary fine tuning

Hi We will be traveling to Italy in June end. Our tenative schedule is as follows Day 1 Arrive Milan in the morning- Directly head towards Rome by train. Day 2 Rome tour Days 3 Afternoon Leave for Venice by train. Day 4 Venice Tour Day 5 Evening leave for Milan by train Day 6 Early morning Depart Milan- 10.15 a.m I need some suggestions on above especially Day 1 and Day 5..should i take a train to Rome or is it better to fly if it not very expensive to fly...second thing is the trip back to Milan on day 5...would it be feasible to leave from Venice to Milan Airport on Day 6. Any comments / opinions are welcome thanks Nimesh

Are you flying across an ocean for this short little trip? If the answer is yes, then I would recommend deleting Rome AND Venice. Plenty to see in a 150 kn circle around Milan. If the answer is no, then I would recommend deleting Rome OR Venice. Or maybe both, even if you DO live in Europe. Travel around less; see where you are more. Best wishes, Rex

I half agree with Rex: I'd say keep Venice and skip Rome. But if you want to keep both Venice and Rome, here's how: Day 1: Arrive Milan; train to Venice. Day 2: Venice; overnight train to Rome. Days 3-5: Rome; overnight train to Milan. Day 6: Fly home. Or add a day to Venice and subtract one from Rome if you prefer.

This is called "fine tuning"? Two days in Rome (getting there one afternoon and leaving in the afternoon two days later) and the better part of two days in Venice (plus two nights there) does make this a worthwhile, but short trip. It is unfortunate that you must fly in and out of Milan, but if you only have 5 nights in Italy, then I think your itinerary is doable.

Hi All I appreciate's evryone's response(though conflicting).....btw i m flying from Milan to USA back home...the reason i chose Rome first is because Venice is closer to Milan than Rome and i didnt want to make my departure hectic and rough...in any case i dont want to skip Venice and since i had 5 days i thought i could possibly cover another city (Rome) as well. any suggestions please thanks Nimesh

It will be a very short, rushed trip. But in my opinion, any trip is better than no trip. And given your choices I would take the train rather than fly because it will give you the opportunity to see a lot of the Italian countyside. I hope you are at least flying from the East coast.

I don't know what is your "cost" of getting time away to make this trip - - but I would go in October, since you have the expense of flying from the US - - and try to see if the reduced airfare would allow you to "afford" a longer trip.

Hi Rex I m flying from India to Boston...halting at Milan (Because Al-italia stops only at Milan from my country)..so my travelling cost isnt that high per say considering the round trip from Boston to India with a Nimesh.

Hi Rex I m making a round trip from Boston to Bombay with a halt at Italy. And so the cost of trip per say isnt that high. As regards Milan halt i didnt ve much of choice because AlItalia has connection to India from Milan only...however my eyes are riveted to Venice and Rome.I know 5 days arent sufficient for any vacation but i thought i would give a try. Looking at some of the messages on this forum, i feel comfortable to take a Eurostar I class from Milan to Rome on Day 1. However my concern still revolves on day 6. I would have a loved to leave Venice early morning around 4.30 by IC train straight to Milan (for a 10.15 a.m flight to Boston) giving me three wonderful nights in Venice itself. I was trying to check the schedules in trenitalia.com but they have schedules upto 15th June only( as of now) and apparently there is no early morning train from Venice to Milan. If so, eventually this might compel me to leave Venice on Day 5 evening for an overnight stay at Milan (somewhere close to the Airport). I hope something works out for me...second thing i wanted to know is whether we can keep our luggages in Milan Airport under safe custody.This might alleviate us the burden of carrying the same during our visit to venice and Rome. If somebody can throw light on above that shall be great Thanks again. Nimesh.

I haven't got an ounce of trust for the Italian train system (especially inter-city) so I would really suggest to be on the safe side, don't rely on trains being on time, to catch your flight. We had trains cancel on us at the last minute if not constantly late.