Hi, we are a group of 4 traveling to Italy from Sept 1st to Sept. 16th. We are flying in and out of Rome. While we are still debating where to go and how long to spend there we thought we would throw this out there and tweak things depending on the feedback. Our flight is overnight so we arrive early on 9/2. We are thinking of taking the train from Rome up the coast to Cinque Terre and spending 3 nights there. From CT we would take the train to Verona and p/u a rental car and spend 3 nights at an agriturismo in Arco and use this as a base to explore the Dolomites/Lake Garda region. We would then return the car and take the train from Verona to Venice where we would spend 2 nights. From Venice we plan on taking the train to Florence, picking up a rental car and spending 4 nights in Tuscany. From Florence we'll train to Rome for the last 2 nights. Are we attempting to see too much? Any suggestions on B&B's, Monasteries, Agriturismo's in the areas we are traveling to? We are looking to keep our accomodations to under 100E per night. We do plan on returning to Italy in a year or two and spending more time in Rome and the areas south of Rome such as Pompeii, Amalfi coast, etc. It's amazing that as you start planning a trip like this that 2 weeks seems like not nearly enough time. Thank you for the feedback.

I have lived in Venice for 20 years and am always stunned by how little time people plan to spend here. They almost always agree that short-changing Venice was a big mistake...the city and its life is so unique and far more intriguing than visiting a few museums and taking a gondola ride. leave some time to do nothing but live it. reconsider!

I do not like the sequence--especially the start.
Consider this:
Land FCO---to Florence--overnite
Get car---to Tuscany--3 nites
Drive to CT via Pisa---3 nites
Drive to Garda area---3 nites
To Venice-- drop car--3 nites
Train to Rome for overnite
Depart FCO

A car is so much easier for 4 people. And, that first day jaunt to the CT is a killer. If you need to drop one nite make it the CT.

IMO you are "attempting to see too much". And I agree with samveniceit - Venice deserves more than 2 nights. By the time you check out of your agriturismo in Arco, return the rental car, travel by train from Verona to Venice and check into your hotel in Venice you'll have spent a good part of your day in transit, leaving you only about day and a half in Venice. I was in Venice for a week (7 nights) last year and could have easily spent more time there. Already planning a trip for this year!

It looks like you have 15 days in Italy. A suggestion would be to choose 3 locations and spend 5 nights in each. Where to stay would depend on what your interests are.

Are your flights already booked, because you could save some time by flying into one city and departing from another - no backtracking.

I disagree with Bob's suggestion to bring a car to Le Cinque Terre, especially for your time frame, unless you put Cinque Terre closer to the end of your trip. But I do think attempting to reach le Cinque Terre by train from Rome right after getting off a transatlantic flight sounds quite dreary.

Some suggestions:

Check out flying from Rome to Genova, and going to le Cinque Terre that way.

Think about this:

Rome > Florence

Florence to Venice -- pick up car when leaving.

Dolomiti

drive to CT

drive Tuscany

drive to Rome airport area, but spend a day visiting Ostia Antica before leaving.

If there are specific things you want to see in Venice or its a big priority for you, then by all means spend more time there. But the notion that places "deserve" more time to me sort of gets things backwards. Many people are not especially interested in man-made cultural sightseeing, and Venice is a place without even trees or gardens! I enjoy spending hours looking at architecture and painting and mosaics, but I live near Cinque Terre for a reason!

I always take a car to the CT, but I stay in Portovenere, Levanto or Monterosso--all easily accessible by car. It makes good sense when you need it before and after.

This is all good feedback. The thinking in taking the train immediately after landing was that it would be easier to just sit on the train for 5 hours and recover from the overnight flight than to start driving. I do agree that seeing 5 areas might be too much. The reason for 3 nights in CT is that we wanted to do some hiking in that area. Same with the Garda/Dolomite region. Our flights are set in and out of Rome. We took advantage of an Alitalia sale and got the flights for $695. I suppose we could avoid backtracking and look into flying to Genova or maybe from Venice back to Rome on the tail end? Or, as suggested we could start by going to Florence first to avoid the long 1st day train ride to CT?

hi degiulio,

we did basically the same trip in september 2007 (without the stop in the lakes)

our itinery was as follows:

Land in Rome - two nights
Train to cinque terre (would highly recommend vernazza as the base there - going back in may and can't wait) - three nights
Train to Florence - three nights
Rental car to the countryside - three nights
Drive to Venice (it sounds long, but it wasn't bad at all) - three nights in venice
Fly home from venice

are you able to change your return flight from another city? the return journey to rome will eat up a lot of time, and if you could do it open ended, you'd have a more relaxed pace. people on fodor's told me we were attempting too much - ultimately i found it just right - but you are trying to fit one more destination in and you have to do a return trip to rome. i think it might actually be a little too much.

here are some other suggestions of places to stay. the under 100E was generally our goal as well - though it didn't always work - venice at that time will be expensive, we got a 'good' deal at a b&b for E140 a night. but, pay the extra cash and stay on venice proper - its totally worth it. venice is 100% better after dusk when the tour boats and bus tours leave and you can get an amazing 'feel' for the city. agree that two nights isn't enough. would recommend exploring the outer 'ring' of venice during the day and spend time at st mark's at night. (less people this way)

hope these help, they were all in great locations and we really enjoyed our stay at each place. We might have moved the country hotel either closer to the main towns in chianti or closer to montlacino - in any case, enjoy!

J

http://www.corte1321.com/en/index.htm (Venice)
http://www.bestbb.it/eng_camere.htm (Rome)
http://www.borghesepalace.it/ (Florence)
http://www.giannifranzi.it/ (Cinque Terre)
http://www.borgoalcerro.com/ (Tuscany)

ps - people trash gianni franzi a lot - we were nervous actually that it might be a bad experience... but it was actually great.

the catch is that there are a lot of stairs up from the town square to the rooms. i mean a lot - not sure of your demographics, but we were 26 yr olds in reasonable shape and we found it tough with all the bags. just a thought.

but, as you say - the hiking there is amazing. (not to mention the food)

We basically did your trip in reverse, without Verona and we spent 25 days doing it. We started by flying into Milan and out of Rome. We spent 4 days in Asti, train to Venice, one week (I agree with the lady that lives in Venice didn't want to stay that long, husband did and I would go back to Venice in a heartbeat) train from Venice to Florence, 3 days Florence 3 days Sienna, bus to Rome for 7 days. So, the point, I think you are trying to see too much to quickly, take some time to really enjoy Italy, you will not be sorry. It isn't always about "seeing" things, it is about far niente: the art of doing nothing and soaking up the differences between one culture and another. That is why my husband and I travel.