summerleek

We are taking our honeymoon in late August/early September of this year, and are looking for advice on our plans as we're afraid we've packed ourselves too tightly. We have never been to the region and have fallen in love with every stop, so it's very hard to cut things out!

We are planning to do plenty of hiking, but also can't wait to stroll through the towns and do a bit of beach relaxing. Ideally, we will leave time to get lost and sightsee along the way.

Thank you in advance for any input!

8/21 arrive PARIS
8/22 Paris
8/23 fly to Marseille
8/24 Marseille (pick up car)
8/25 Embrun
8/26 Piemonte
8/27 Como
8/28 Como
8/29 Parma
8/30 Manarola
8/31 Manarola
9/1 Piombino
9/2 Orvieto
9/3 Orvieto
9/4 drop car in Civitaveccia, train to Rome
night in Rome
9/5 am train back to Civitaveccia
ferry to sardinia (with car)
9/6 Sardinia (Cagliari)
9/7 Carloforte
9/8 Carloforte
9/9 Sardinia (Sassari)
9/10 Corsica
9/11 Corsica
9/12 Corsica (Bastia - Genoa)
drop car in Genoa
9/13 Genoa
9/14 fly Genoa to Paris
night in Paris
9/15 PARIS -> PDX

sandralist

You may not be able to take a rental car on the ferry, so check that out.

Personally, I would go to Sardinia first, and then I would probably drop Rome and Orvieto, and instead fly to Pisa from Sardinia, and work my way up to Piemonte (you can pick up a car rental in Rapallo, just north of Manarola, after you vist le Cinque Terre. Get rid of the car in Torino and take the train to Paris.

If you really can't part with the idea of visiting Orvieto, then fly to Rome after Sardinia and go immediately to Orvieto by train. You can take a scenic route through Tuscany to get to Manarola, but I would plan on at least one overnight in between Siena and Manarola to make it enjoyable.

sandralist

Sorry -- I forgot you also wanted to go to Como. In that case, after Piemonte, I would go to Lago di Como, drop off the car in Milan Linate aiport, and either fly or take the train to Paris from there.

sandralist

Also, should have added that if you go to Orvieto you can rent a car there for a scenic drive through Tuscany ( train routes through Tuscany are not particularly scenic)

nytraveler

I hope this honeymoon isn't right after a wedding since the first 10 days is a mad rush through places that you really don;t have much time at all to see anything. Not sure why you are going to Paris or Marseille since you won;t really have time to see much - why not just focus on Italy and the island.

And do check about taking a car on these ferries - it may well not be allowed and might void your insurance.

Christina

I'd rethink your stop in Paris for one day, just to then take a flight to Marseille. You'll have to go to/from the airport twice and won't have hardly any time in Paris, anyway. And what's the deal with flying to Marseille for just one more day and then renting a car? I'd Skip either Paris or Marseille. If you have to fly into Paris as you have a ticket, spend a couple days there perhaps.

Not sure what the Embrun point on your itinerary is all about, but you must have a reason to go there. So maybe take the train from Paris to Orange and rent a car (or Valence) instead of going all the way to Marseille, they seem closer. If you want to actually see Marseille, skip Paris and just fly into Marseille and spend a couple days there first. Or just take the train to Gap, you can probably do that with maybe one transfer from Paris.

summerleek

This is all so helpful, thank you so much.

We have decided to skip Marseille and Embrun and instead start in Turin (still via Paris we believe), then hit Piemonte, and continue on.

There are unfortunately no flights from Oregon to Turin, but we could fly to Milan and ditch the Piemonte stop... although we are especially excited about Piemonte.

Great idea to double check insurance for the ferries (we are not taking the car to Carloforte, but the other crossings do allow cars).

I am eager to look into the idea of ditching the car for certain legs, thank you for these leads. Please feel free to keep them coming!

Jean

Unless I'm unclear on your plans, I count 16 hotels and at least 14 driving days in 24/25 days. Yikes. I don't see a whole lot of accommodation for "plenty of hiking... beach relaxing... time to get lost." On the most mundane level, when do you plan/hope to do any laundry?

Have you investigated the surcharge for picking up a car rental in France and dropping it in Italy? In some cases, the surcharge can be more than the rental. You should rent a car that will hold your luggage completely out of sight since the bags will be in the car on many days.

We took a car on the Civitavecchia-Cagliari ferry, but I don't know about Sardinia to Corsica. The shortest crossing to Corsica would be Santa Teresa to Bonifacio. The Bastia-Genoa ferry is looonnng. Note that the charges to take the car on the ferries are pretty steep.

Have you checked the availability of hotels in your budget range yet? Some of the destinations are very popular in late August/early September.

Jean

I think dropping southern France was a good choice. Now, I think you have to consider what you want to see of the Piemonte area which, BTW, covers nearly 10,000 square miles. Would you be happy with just a drive-through on the way to somewhere else, or do you want to stop and explore for a few days? Is Lake Como still in the mix?

Sassafrass

Sandralist is giving you some good advice as to the order of things. You need to look carefully at how long your travel times will be, and not just on the road or train. Add in the time from your hotel to get to the train station, etc. and to get to your next hotel from the train or to find your hotel, drop off stuff and find parking, etc. That can add up to a lot of time, especially when you are going to so many places. You can end up spending more time coming and going than actually being someplace enjoying the experience.

Have you already booked flights? If not, why backtrack to Paris? That will cost extra money and time. Do multi-city tickets, into one city and home from another. It may cost a bit more, but will give you an extra day to be someplace rather than traveling and will save the cost of returning to Paris.

Have you already been to Paris? If so, why even start there if you do not plan to see the city? If you have not been to Paris, plan on a few days to actually see something. Also, where ever you land, coming from Oregon, you will surely have some jet-lag, so the first day will be a blur. You can't count on seeing or remembering much from that day.

Rome for only one night? Have you been there already? If so, just for one night, you might as well skip it. If not, give it some time. It is one of the great cities in the world and well worth a few days.

sandralist

Turin (Torino) is in Piemonte, and the most famous area of wine and food tourism is in between Torino and Genoa/le Cinque Terre. So you might find it easy to see the most famous part of it on your way to Sardinia.

If you are flying to Milan and eliminating France, you have lots of choices for accomplishing the rest of your Italian itinerary, although I would still suggest you eliminate Orvieto if at all possible. Did you pick Orvieto because you dream of seeing the cathedral, or because you saw beautiful pictures of the hill town and its views over the countryside? Because if it is the second, and its not the cathedral that is calling you, there are hundreds of beautifully situated hilltowns in Northern Italy that would be easier to fit into your itinerary. However, if the cathedral at Orvieto is important to you, then I suggest looking for a flight into Rome and out of Milan or Pisa.

I think there was a thread last year about good ways to fly to Italy from Oregon. All flights involve changing planes somewhere, either in the US or Europe, but if you change planes in an airport like Amsterdam, you can usually find a flight that will land you very close to one of the Italian destinations on your list.

If I can find that thread I will put a link here.

sandralist

This is thread that I was thinking of, even though the poster first asked about traveling from Seattle.

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...ly-mid-may.cfm

If you are closer to Eugene than to Portland, you might look to see which flights out of Eugene could hook you up with an American airport that offers a good non-stop to Europe, perhaps even Italy itself.

summerleek

Thank you again so much for the input, it is immensely helpful. We are also planning our (large) wedding for the beginning of August, so our plates our very full, and all of the advice is very welcome as no plans are set yet.

Since neither of us have been to the region, we are eager to take in the variety of beach, city, and mountains (which is leading to our overly-packed itinerary). We have restructured based on your input and are excited that this is sounding more achievable!

Our main hole is where to spend a few days between Lake Como and Portofino. Any suggestions?

All input welcome!

8/20 depart PDX
8/21 arrive MILAN
8/22 Milan
8/23 rent car, drive to Lake Como
8/24 Lake Como
8/25 Lake Como
8/26 Lake Como
8/27 Mountain town...
8/28 Mountain town...
8/29 Mountain town...
8/30 Portofino
8/31 Portofino - fly Genoa to Sardinia (Olbia)
9/1 Sardinia
9/2 Sardinia
9/3 Carloforte
9/4 Carloforte
9/5 Carloforte
9/6 Corsica
9/7 Corsica
9/8 Corsica
9/9 Corsica to Sardinia, fly Sardinia to Rome
9/10 Rome
9/11 Rome
9/12 fly Rome to Paris
9/13 Paris
9/14 Paris
9/15 Paris (fly home)

sandralist

In August, Portofino is going to wildly crowded with cruise shippers and the worst sort of spend-huge show off jerk tourists from around the world. It is a tiny town without parking or a train station which makes it impossible to get in and out during high season except by expensive boat trips that have limited hours. Since you are planning to go to Sardinia and Corsica, I highly recommend you give Portofino a miss.

I am not sure what you want from a mountain town, but what you might explore instead is to land in Milan and take the direct bus to Lugano in Switzerland. Get over your jet lag, and then go to a mountain town near there. Then go down to Lago di Como for a few days, then go to one of the Milan airports and get a flight to Sardinia.

I am not sure why you are going to Rome for such a very short period when it would be so simple to fly from Corsica to Paris.

sandralist

Something else you could consider is to land at Malpensa and get a private taxi to Lago di Como. From there, go to Lugano and rent a car, drive to a Swiss mountain town. After a few days, drop off the car at Lugano airport. take the bus to Malpensa airport, fly to Sardinia.

Sassafrass

Once again, Sandralist is giving you great advice, especially about landing in Milan and continuing directly on. Unless the cathedral in Milan is of great interest, or you are getting tickets for the last supper, save those two overnights in Milan and give that time to another place. You could do more around the lakes, or add time to Paris or Rome.

Also agree that you might consider skipping Rome this trip, and increase time in Paris, especially if you spend the time you had planned in Milan in the North. Then, give the time in Rome to Paris.

People sometimes think the longer the trip, the more places they can go. This is true only to a certain extent. If you are on a short trip of a week to ten days, you can rush a little more. You would be tired, but it would end. On a longer trip, you can soon exhaust yourself moving from place to place, so you need to slow down more, spending more time in each place. You are getting there.