Just back from Northern Italy and would love to share our experience
 

My husband and I just returned from 2 weeks in Northern Italy. This was our 3rd. trip to Italy and the 1st. one where we both agreed that a few more weeks would have been great.
Here was our itinerary:

2 nts. Milan
1 nt. Riva del Garda
2 nts. Cortina
1 nt. Castelrotto
1 nt. Tirano
2 nts. St. Moritz, Switzerland (after a train trip on the Bernina Express)
1 nt. Turin
1 nt. Asti
2 nts. Lake Orta.

Looking back on this it seems like we were really moving fast but it sure didn't seem like it at the time. I think we covered around 1200 miles and what wonderful memories we made.
Thanks to all who offered advise in the planning stage. If I can be of help to anyone, please e-mail me.
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Wow, I love your destinations, but you may have set a record--9 destinations in 13 days. How was the drive to Tirano? Where would you go back to and spend a week?

Hey Bob, carmar hasn't set any records. We've done 11 stops in 14 nights, (10 stops in 13.) It's the distance between that counts, and carmar's itinerary isn't all that geographically dispersed. Moreover, it looks like carmar and spouse were primarily interested in scenery, as we were in the aforementioned trip. This keeps the 'intensity' lower than one might expect.

And I agree, carmar, that one always wants more time - that's just the way of vacations! Which gave you the most favourable initial impression - Lake Garda or Lake Orta?

I'm curious about Lake Orta. Some say it is the prettiest of the lakes. Have you been to Como and Stresa? If so, how would you compare them with Orta?

Carmar,
Did you hike in the Dolomites ? And is Orta convenient to Milan ? Did you drive or train, and what car company did you use ?

We had originally planned on spending 2 nts. in Castelrotto but it was raining and generally nasty so after looking on a map and figuring it may take us longer than we had 1st. thought to drive to Tirano, we decided to leave Castelrotto and spend the night it Tirano. (it took us 6 hrs!)
Tirano was much nicer than either of us had thought it would be. We had the best dinner I've ever had in Italy in a small town about 20 miles from Tirano called Teglio. It was all local food and nothing like we've ever had before. There was a large parking lot in Tirano where we left our car for the 2 days that we were in St. Moritz. The parking was free.
We have been to Lake's Garda, Como and now Orta. Of the 3, I think I liked Sirmione on Lake Garda the best simply because we were there on May Day which was a very festive time and the weather was perfect. I don't think you can go wrong on any lake, though.
It took us about 1-1/12 hrs. to get to Malpensa Airport from Lake Orta what with traffic and having to fill up the rental before we returned it. We always go through AutoEurope for our rentals. It costs us $800 for 12 days.

Dear carmar,
Could you tell us a little about your night in Turin? I was hoping to stop there on a future trip through the Alps to Milano. Thanks.

The jury is still out on Turin. The city and surrounding areas are getting ready for the 2006 Olympics so there is construction everywhere - where there was a road, there is no more. We had a lot of trouble finding the hotel we planned on staying at and we never found an English speaking person to help us with directions.
Once we found our hotel, we had a beer, some dinner and called it a night.
We spent the next full day walking and walking. Via Roma is a great street with covered walkways and neat shops - not just the run of the mill ones.
I don't think we saw all the city had to offer because of the transportation problem. I would love to go back after the Olympics to see the improvements.