suz78

Hello helpful fodorites!

Please let us know what you think of this itinerary. It's our Honeymoon so we want to spend a fair amount of time just relaxing and soaking up the culture, but also take advantage of our long stay to see plenty of sights. This is a pretty close approximation of a Rick Steves-recommended itinerary... what do you think? We know we want to have the three days to relax in Lake Como when we arrive (and have booked our room there), but other than that we're flexible.

*Flying into Milan, Out of Venice*

June 14 Arrive in Milan, Train to Lake Como
15 Lake Como
16 LC
17 Depart for Cinque Terre
18 CT
19 Depart for Florence
20 Florence
21 Depart for Tuscany Hill Towns
22-25 Assisi, Sienna, Orvieto etc
26 Depart for Rome
27 Rome
28 late pm depart for Venice (night train)
29 Venice
30 Venice
July 1 depart Venice

Grazie!

alison

i assume you already have your air tickets booked? because if you didn't, it would make much more sense to fly into venice and out of rome.
your itinerary looks good, but a bit rushed. you are only staying 2 nights most places which usually turns out to allow you one full day of exploration at that destination. While my dream has been to hike the CT, i am finally doing it this summer on my FOURTH trip to Italy. Unless that's a major priority for you, you might consider cutting out CT and adding that time elsewhere. that way you could take trains everywhere and only need a rental car for the hill towns.

MFNYC

This seems doable but exhausting. It's a lot of moving around, and thre's definitely not enough time in Rome.

I'd be tempted to drop Rome and add time to Florence and Venice. I love Rome, but there's so much travelling in your itinirary, that those couple of days in Rome towards the end of the trip, may not give you a chance to really enjoty it. Also given that you have to backtrack north, after Rome, time is wasted travelling that could be spent soaking in your surroundings at a more leisurely pace.

mjs

I agree that this is not a relaxing and soaking up Italy itinerary. Flying into Milan and out of Rome would also be a better open jaw for you if you want to keep Rome as Italy is more of a north-south country than an west-east country. I too would skip Rome with this trip if all you have to spare for Rome is 1- 2 days. If you want to keep Rome I would add 2+ days to Rome and either cut out the CT or shorten Tuscany.

bradykp

I say it depends....

Do you want a relaxing honeymoon or do you want a Rick Steve's tour? Rick Steve's powers through towns, and it's a great way to see as much as possible in a country. But, Rick also tells you that you should always have the mentality that you'll be back. You can't really pack it all in at his pace, it's very tough. I love his recommendations, but I'm going to have to disagree with this itinerary as I think for a honeymoon, you'd enjoy a relaxed pace.

On the other hand, if you really won't ever go back to italy again, then do what you have planned. It's doable, just hectic.

suz78

Thank you everyone!

This is kind of what I suspected. The "We'll be back" attitude I think will be essential to keeping our sanity But FI is doing all the planning and is very enthusiastically following Rick's advice.

He says that since we'll already be close to Rome at the end of our Tuscany days, it's not that far out of our way and would be silly not to go. He feels like it's one of those places we "have" to see (though he predicts it will be my least favorite part of the trip - he's been, I haven't). What about staying longer in Tuscany and making Rome a day trip from there?

Thanks again!

cjtrav

I agree that you don't have enough time in Rome but I don't agree that it will be your least favorite. Every place you are going has it's own appeal and Rome is so full of energy with surprises around every corner that I'd add a day to get a better flavor of it. You could easily steal a day from the Florence/Tuscany time to make it a little more relaxing. If the weather is good and you like to hike, the Cinque Terre will be a major highlight. We stayed in Levanto and took a 5 minute train ride to the CT. We also loved Como. Very relaxing. We like to keep moving on a trip so this itenerary doesn't sound daunting to me.

HowardR

I think Lake Como is a great destination for starting your honeymoon....and Venice is equally great for the trip's conclusion!
You might think about either taking a day from Tuscany and adding it to Rome, as has been suggested....or perhaps eliminating Rome and adding that time to Florence, Tuscany and/or Venice.
That isn't "must-do" change, just something that might make the honeymoon just a little smoother.
Still, all in all, I say, "Go for it!"

ellenem

In this already-busy itinerary, I would not treat Rome as a daytrip from Tuscany. I agree with others who suggest that you add more time to Rome or delete it and add time to other destinations. keep inmind that every time you change hotels, you'll use half a day checking in and out, taking trains, and so forth.

tcreath

I agree with the others; this trip will be very hectic and not very relaxing. I would probably drop either the Cinque Terre or the hill towns and add it to Rome and/or Florence. You could easily daytrip to some of the hilltowns from Florence.

I wouldn't assume that Rome would be your least favorite town. I went to Florence and Rome 2 years ago, Florence as my choice and Rome as DH's. I didn't care for Florence but absolutely love Rome and am going back for the third time next month, so you never know! But Rome deserves more time than just a day and a half. Otherwise you will feel rushed to see everything and you won't have time to slow down and take in the atmosphere of the city.

Good luck!
Tracy

ira

Hi S,

One more vote: This is very hectic.

>...late pm depart for Venice (night train)

What train are you taking? It's only 4:30 hr from Rome to Venice.

bradykp

a day trip to rome would be useless in my opinion. anything less than 2 full days where you wake up in rome and go to sleep in rome would be crazy to me. can you imagine taking a day trip to new york city if you were visiting boston? not that the distance is that far, but say it was the same distance. would that be worth it?

suz78

Ok, the Rome daytrip was a bad idea. Thanks for setting us straight on that one!

I will check into what train we're taking, Ira. I think FI was under the impression that it took all night? Something Rick recommended, of course.

So it sounds like we'll either cut out Rome, or take a couple days off Tuscany to add to it. I'm loathe to cut time from Tuscany so we'll see...

And you're right, I shouldn't discount Rome, I'm sure I will find it enjoyable. FI is just basing that off his stay there during a backpacking trip from his college days - it'll be quite different 20 yrs later and traveling much more comfortably!

suz78

Thanks to your help we've come up with another itinerary for our honeymoon:

June 14 Arrive Lake Como
15 |
16 |
17 Arrive Cinque Terre
18 |
19 Arrive Florence
20 |
21 |
22 Arrive Sienna (or other Tuscany/hill town for home base)
23 |
24 |
25 Arrive Rome
26 |
27 |
28 Arrive Venice
29 |
30 |
1 Fly home

This gives us three nights everywhere except the Cinque Terre (2, after 3 relaxing ones in Lake Como). How does this sound?

viaggio_sempre

Suz - You are doing better than my wife and I did when we started planning our trip! We now have a stack of 25 itineraries with changes all for the better. The first change was the hardest to make; our last change was the best. We now have the best trip for us - I hope your planning continues this well.

viaggio_sempre

I know you didn't ask for this, but it is what we settled on, with saving Rome for another time.

June 18 Fly into Zurich
June 18 Arrive Lugano, Switzerland
19 --
20 --
21 --
22 Arrive Menaggio, Lake Como
23 --
24 --
25 Arrive Florence
26 --
27 --
28 Arrive Rapallo (near CT)
29 --
30 --
01 --
02 --
03 --
04 Arrive Milan
05 -- (see opera at La Scala)
06 Arrive Berner Oberland
07 --
08 Arrive Zurich
09 Fly home

viaggio_sempre

Suz - If you like festivals, there is a big one in Florence on the 24th (St. Johns Day) and Pisa on the 25th (costumes and competitions). I am not at my own computer, so can't include websites, but will include later if you like. Hope this isn't too much info, but I am so excited about Italy, I can hardly contain it.

BTW, we started out with Rick Steves info, too, and even went to his all-day travel info thing since we are only three hours from Edmonds, WA

bobthenavigator

Not bad and certainly doable. I would still drop one destination---probably Florence[Blasphemy]--and add those days to the CT and to Rome. The trip to the CT will be time consuming and leave you with really one day--and a crap shoot on the weather.
Nice trip--you will have fun !

mjs

I too think this is not bad but I too would simplify it a bit more by staying in Florence and doing day trips to Siena/Pisa and perhaps a day drive through some of the hill towns. Would than add another day to Rome. As an alternative you might consider driving down from Milan or Como to CT via the Italian Riveria, than through Tuscany with a drop off of your car in Florence etc.