My Last Minute Italy + France Itinerary before booking hotels!
 

The only thing we have booked are the flights and the hotels in Rome. Does anyone have feedback?

Day 1: Sunday Sept 25, arrive 3pm in Rome
Nights 1-2, Sun-Mon, Two nights in Rome

Day 3: Tues, train to Pompeii Scavi and tour Pompeii. Spend the night somewhere between Sorrento and Naples (any recommendations?)

Day 4: Wed, Archaelogical museum in Naples, train to Florence. Stay in Florence in Florence one night (any recommendations?)

Day 5-7: Thurs, tour around Florence on our own. Rent a car and drive out into the Tuscan country side. Stay somewhere out in Tuscany for 3 nights, while exploring on our own. (Any recommendations for places to stay? Specific places/activities to do?)

Day 8-9: Sunday, either drive the car and pay the drop fee in Pisa, or return the car to Florence and take the train. (Anyone have tips on renting a car from Florence?) Make our way to one of the Cinque Terre villages
Stay in one of the villages Sunday and Monday

Day 10-12: Tuesday travel to Nice by train. Stay with DH's cousins Tues, Wed, Thurs. We will rely on them to take us on some tours around ;)

Day 13 Friday evening take Easyjet back to Rome, stay last night in Rome

Day 14 Flight out at 3:15pm

Any feedback/critique is welcome!! Thank you

I should add my ideal budget for accomodations is around $100-$150 dollars but could go higher where I have to (I did in Rome for our last night!) Thanks! That would be hovering near 100 Euro..... that makes me sound cheap!

Renting/returning a car to Florence requires understanding how to avoid going through ZTL. One way to avoid this altogether is to do the Tuscany country side before getting to Florence. Rent a car in Orvieto, for example, drive around and drop the car in Chiusi, train to Florence then Pisa. There are many other possible combinations.

The obvious comment about your itinerary is unfortunately too late. Your itinerary has open-jaw flight written all over it: fly into Rome and come home from Nice, or even better fly into Napoli then fly home from Nice.

greg > I agree, we did figure out the Nice thing a bit late... Totally forgot that staying with his cousins would be a possibility and it will be really fun to see them, oh well such is life!
I had no idea about ZTL I just did a google search about it. I will have to research more to see where we could go now. I'm so glad I didn't book the hotels around there.

This sounds very hectic. I would just stay in Naples as it would be easier than staying somewhere on the coast since you seem to be planning only one night. In fact, I think it would be easier to day trip from Rome than to haul luggage down there for one night.

I would train to either Orvieto or Chiusi to pick up a car for Tuscany depending on what part of Tuscany you are interested in. One nighters do not give you time in a city so I would eliminate the one night in Florence. Perhaps day trip into Florence (don't drive into the city - ZTL) instead of changing hotels so often. I would return the car in La Spezia.

Look at cars on AutoEurope which is a broker, not a car company. Minimum 3 day rental. Usually their cars are Hertz, Avis or Europcar. You have to match the location choices to the company when selecting pick up/drop off. If you select a pick up location in Orvieto which turns out to be Hertz, you can't select an Avis drop off in La Spezia (google each companies locations in the cities so you can match them) as AutoEurope will show not available. Be sure to look at opening times as most close for several hours in the afternoons and are closed on Sunday.

Read this link about ZTL in Florence and then decide whether you want to pick up there.
http://www.bella-toscana.com/traffic...ions_italy.htm

Your trip is very rushed and you don't want to have to spend hours of your time looking for hotels that will fit your budget instead of enjoying your travels. Do a search on this board for hotels in the locations you choose and make reservations before you go. This late you may not have your first choices. You could also try venere.com for suggested hotels.

ditto mamaA.

Why not stay in Naples?

If you are returning your car on a Sunday, your options are limited for where rental offices will be open. The easiest thing to do if you are going to le Cinque Terre is to drop off the car at the Pisa airport (that rental office WILL BE OPEN on Sunday), and take the train to le Cinque Terre.

I agree, I definitely want to book hotels before going. Thanks for the tips about the rental cars. My husband is still not convinced the ZTL is bad so I will read that link with him.

It is not clear if you plan to leave Rome and see Pompei the same day, or the next morning.

If you are planning on seeing Pompei the same day, head straight to Pompei, store your luggage at the main entrace to the excavations, pick up your luggage afterwards, head into Naples to spend the night in a hotel or b&b near the museum (not the train station). Leave your luggage at the hotel the next morning while you see the museum. Pick up luggage, move on.

If you plan to see Pompei the morning after you leave Rome, then stay in Pompei itself that first night. The next morning, stow your luggage at the entrance to Pompei, tour the excavations, pick up luggage, go to Naples, store luggage in Naples train staion, see museum, go back to train station to get luggage and move on.

Use venere.com to plug into your dates and budget for all your destinations and you will get availability. Book hotels or b&bs based on user reviews that you like.