atcken

Hello,

My wife, 18 year old son, and I are close to finalizing our itinerary for our 1st trip to Italy. So far this board has been very helpful - I took the knowledge I'd gained from reading many listings on this forum and sat down with a travel agent for several hours to flesh out an itinerary.

We'll be leaving in early July, so we opted to work our way north due to the heat. With all the experience on this board, I'd appreciate comments/suggestions. We planned the trip to be more of a country viewing odyssey rather than an art and museum filled vacation, although we'll incorporate some of that. To save a little money, we're tripling up in all of our hotel rooms.

Here goes:

Day 1 - USA to Rome
Day 2 - Arrive Rome for three nights stay at Colonna Palace. Recuperate.
Day 3 - Rome touring (considering purchasing day tour for major sites)
Day 4 - Rome touring, maybe day trip to Orvieto or longer day trip south.
Day 5 - Morning train to Chiusi, pick up car at train station, stay 2 nights in Castello-Chianti region (still working on place to stay in this region)
Day 6 - Drive around hill towns, explore via car
Day 7 - Drive to Viareggio, stay 2 nights at Hotel Plaza E De Russie.
Day 8 - Trip to explore Cinque Terre area (hiking). Stil deciding if we get there by boat, train, or car.
Day 9 - Drive to Pisa, turn in car, train to Venice. Stay 2 nights in Venice at Duoda Palace.
Day 10 - Explore Venice.
Day 11 - Train to Milan, pickup car and drive to Stresa, staying 3 nights at Hotel Astoria.
Day 12 - Explore area/relax.
Day 13 - Explore, maybe day trip to Borromean Islands.
Day 14 - Drive to MXP (Milan), return car, return flight to USA.

Again, I appreciate all comments and suggestions.

Ken

BoulderCO

I think you are trying to do too much in too little time. I would suggest seeing Orvieto on your way to Chiusi or just arrange to pick up your car in Orvieto. Don't give up one of your days in Rome when you will be going right by Orvieto the next day. You will need all three days in Rome. I would perhaps drop Viareggio and the CT and allow more time at your other stops.

nytraveler

Have you looked into your car rental costs? I'm not sure if it makes sense to rent 2 separate cars or just keep the same one for the whole trip. I know you would be paying for the car for 1/2 days in Venice when you won't use it - but, you would be saving the train fare from Pisa to Venice and you would have one longer rental - which might get you a much better rate than 2 rentals of less than a week each. It's really easy to deal with the car in Venice - there's a huge garage on the outskirts where you can levae the car and pick up a vaporetto or water taxi to your hotel.

Also, I like the Stresa idea. We did that at the beginning of a trip and it helped us unwind from the flight and the rush of packing/leaving arrangements.

Exploring the islands is great - there's a little local ferry where you can pay a modest inclusive cost and travel from one island to another for the whole day. (Don't do the private boat rental - they usually ask a lot and then rush you through the islands so they can go back and get another set of passengers.) Isola Bella is truly beautiful and we had lunch at an outdoor cafe on Isola del Pescatori and it was really charming.

ira

Hi atc

It's more driving than I would do, but it's doable.

I would also pick up the car in Orvieto and skip the daytrip rather than taking the days away from Rome.

jgita

Hi,
Your plans sound good. My only concern is 3 in a room all those days. Maybe some of the nights you can get a single room for your son for not too much extra. My experience has been that usually a triple room is just a double with a cot added. That leaves you with less space and more people in what's often an already small room, not to mention a small bathroom to share.
Think about it. If this is the only way you can do it then go but if you can squeeze a bit more out of your budget, it might be worth it.
Have a great trip,
j

atcken

Wow...thanks for the quick replies. Reference the car...I want to include as much train travel as possible (we like trains) but I know training around Tuscany might not be that practical. I would actually prefer less car but I think we need it around Tuscany and around Lake Maggiore...but maybe not. I'll compare the costs closer though - more car versus no car.

Good point on the 3 to a room - I'll check the cost for an extra room at least some of our hotels.

Orvieto was just a thought as I've heard it spoken of so much here. We can just as easily spend all our "Rome time" in Rome. It will really only be two days anyway as we'll be so jet lagged the first full day.

Thanks - more suggestions welcome. How about wine tours in the Tuscany region?

Ken

atcken

Okay - revised our transportation/itinerary somewhat at the good advise of people here. We'll only be using a car from Chiusi for 4 days. We'll use it to drive around Tuscany and then drive to Viareggio. On day 9 we'll drive to Pisa, turn in the car, and then train the rest of the trip (and taxi, of course). I like BoulderCo's suggestion to use ferries from Stresa to the islands.

We were able to upgrade most of the rooms to Jr. Suites for between $20-40 Euros a night. Two rooms was just too much but the additional size of the suites should be fine for us.

Thanks for the great advise.

Ken

ira

Have a great trip, Ken.
Your itinerary looks much better.