Latetraveler

My spouse and I are wanting to plan a trip to Italy (our first trip there). Our interests lie between Sicily and Cinque Terre (probably too much to cover in one 10 trip). We like to stay somewhere at least three nights and do day trips. This may have to be done in two separate vacations. We are most interested in laid back relaxing vacations with beautiful scenery and few tourists. We are looking for any and all advice and/or suggestions. Latetraveler

clayman

Clarity on a couple of questions will help in you query. (ten day trip?) When do you plan your trip? Where would you prefer to fly into? Do you want to rent a car for your day trips?

It will be hard to avoid tourist in Italy but your time of travel matters. My wife and I spent 10 days last March (starting day 17th) staying in just two locations, Pienza and Rome. Of course Rome was crowded but in the hill towns of the Val d Orcia, http://images.search.yahoo.com/searc...=val+d%27orcia we encountered a small number of travelers on any given day.

This forum's contributors can advise you as to where to avoid crowds, but fellow travelers can be good experience also. Our method of relaxing is to have an itinerary but don't let it rule the day! The experience is the joy, not always seeing everything to exhaustion!

nytraveler

Agree we need to know when you are going.

CT is usually mobbed with tourist except in the winter - and then it may be too cld to enjoy the hikes.

Sicily is hot and humid and probably best seen in April or May. And you can easily spend 10 days just there.

mamcalice

We spent 10 days in Sicily in late September and early Octobeer and found the weather to be excellent. We were not aware of lots of tourists but of course there will likely be lots of tourists wherever you go during spring, summer and fall.

I absolutely loved Sicily and enjoyed Cinque Terre as well but Sicily was on our 6th Italy trip and CT on our 5th. Think about other parts of Italy. We have visited Florence on each of our 7 trips and Rome on all but one. They are both spectacular.

With 10 days, I would choose either Sicily for the entire time or CT and one other place.

bobthenavigator

I agree!
Choose either Sicily for all 10 days or combine the CT with rural Tuscany--or Piemonte.
Here are my Sicily images:
http://www.slowphotos.com/photo/show...y.php?cat=3828

Approach_Guides

10 days in Sicily would be phenomenal (and my personal choice between the two areas).
I love the area around Catania, which offers great experiences (such as Mt. Etna, Siracusa, and Enna), but is wonderful for fans of Baroque architecture. The Late Baroque Towns in the Val di Noto (includes Noto, Ragusa and Catania http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1024) are great towns to experience the fanciful Sicilian style of Baroque architecture.
I also enjoy Palermo, especially its Norman architecture, history and mosaics. Palermo boasts four amazing mosaic sites: Cefalu Cathedral, Palatine Chapel, Martorana and Monreale Cathedral. Because mosaics are a part of a site’s architecture, they cannot travel to museums, making seeing mosaics a unique experience for travelers.
Finally, spending time in the south will provide an opportunity to be on a beach, view the beautiful Scala dei Turchi, and visit the temples in Agrigento.
No matter what you choose, you will have a wonderful time.
Enjoy your trip!

Latetraveler

Sorry for the errors and omission. I did mean 10 days and my travel plans are for September. Is it possible to fly into Rome, spend two days and then head to Sicily by train for several days? We will probably have to travel back to Rome for the return flight home. What is there worth seeing in southern Italy besides Sicily? Latetraveler

qwovadis

Go a lot annually usually best to fly RT into ROM

Train down to Sorrento area www.hoteldelfino.com

good value pretty recently booked $60/nt Otel.com

great booking site for europe then down to

www.booking.com/city/it/taormina.en.html

Back up to Rome...

If you can make more time www.metropole.it

is nice for the CT also www.lucca.info

Florence and Venice are wonderful

but too crammed in the time you have.

Recently got great 4-5 * values in Rome

www.betterbidding.com Sheraton $69 Hotwire

around my flights and the Intercontinental $180

bidding Priceline.

Have fun,

Sassafrass

Well, south of Rome, there is Naples, Pompeii, Herculaneum, Sorrento, The Amalfi Coast wih Positano, Amalfi, etc. There is also Paestum and Capri. You could spend your whole ten days in that area.
Absolutely agree with everyone else. Spend all ten days in Sicily or combine CT with areas closer to CT. I would not want to spend so much time and money going back and forth when I could be actually seeing interesting places near Florence/Tuscany.

deboluccia

I don't think Sicily would be my choice for a first trip to Italy. It's really not that easy to get around there and there's not that much to do. Most people who go there have some kind of family connection but unless you're Michael Corleone you might be disappointed. Why not stick to Florence, Rome, and Venice with a side trip to 5 Terre? There's a reason people go to those cities first. If you absolutely don't want to do the obvious thing then pick someplace like Arezzo and do day trips to Perugia and Assisi while you're there. Or do 5 Terre and stay on the Ligurian coast and see places like Portofino and maybe hop up to Montecarlo while you're there. (Amazing train ride btw) That would be my choice because September is a great time to be on the coast whereas inland it might be pretty hot still. Buon viaggio!

franco

Ten days are not nearly enough for Sicily, so if you wish to go there, you already have to limit yourself to a specific part of Sicily - and you cannot even think about spending one minute in Rome or anywhere else. Ten days, that's really not much for a country as rich in culture, art and history as Italy.

>What is there worth seeing in southern Italy besides Sicily?<
You want the complete list? In no particular order:
S. Vincenzo al Volturno, Teano, Carinola Sessa Aurunca, Alife, Caserta, Caserta Vecchia, S. Agata dei Goti, Capua, S. Maria Capua Vetere, Aversa, Cimitile, S. Angelo in Formis, Benevento, Napoli, Forio, Pozzuoli, Pompei, Ercolano, Torre Annunziata, Castellammare di Stabia, Positano, Amalfi, Salerno, Capri, Ravello, Scala, Paestum, Padula, Teggiano, Roseto Capo Spulico, Rossano, S. Maria del Patir, S. Severina, Stilo, Gerace, Tropea, Cosenza, Altomonte, S. Demetrio Corone, Peschici, Monte S. Angelo, S. Leonardo di Siponto, Siponto, Vieste, Lucera, Foggia, Troia, Carpignano Salentino, Muro Leccese, Casarano, Specchia, Tricase, Patù, Giurdignano, Vaste, Poggiardo, Otranto, S. Maria di Cerrate, Lecce, Copertino, Galatina, Galatone, Nardò, S. Vito dei Normanni, Oria, Brindisi, Ostuni, Grottaglie, Martina Franca, Massafra, Locorotondo, Castellana Grotte, Conversano, Palagianello, Mottola, Taranto, Cisternino, Alberobello, Bari, Valenzano, Ruvo di Puglia, Castel del Monte, Canosa di Puglia, Molfetta, Giovinazzo, Bitetto, Bitonto, Gravina in Puglia, Altamura, Montescaglioso, Laterza, Matera, Miglionico, Metaponto, Tursi, Anglona, Rivello, Cancellara, Oppido Lucano, Castel Lagopesole, Acerenza, Venosa, Ripacandida, Monticchio Laghi, Melfi, Larino, Petrella Tifernina, Matrice, Canneto, Sepino, Venafro, Pietrabbondante, Agnone.

Of course I was bragging: this is far from a complete list indeed! But all the major sights are on it. As you can see, not even ten weeks would be sufficient, let alone ten days...

Sassafrass

There is tons of stuff to see and do in Sicily, with some of the finest Greek ruins in the world, Roman ruins, a volcano, beautiful cities, etc. However, it is also much, much harder to get around.

It might be nice for a first timer to be car-free, and you can do that from Rome to CT, Florence, etc. though you would probably want a car for Tuscany. With only ten days this trip, it might also be better to use the entire ten days for sight-seeing rather than using nearly two days of it traveling back and forth to Sicily. You would end up with just over a week for Sicily, and that is not enough time to really see Sicily. I am afraid you would feel rushed and short changed. Either way, pick one or the other.