need help fine tuning Italy itinerary Please!
 

we will be in Italy for a full 14 days (plus two travel days)in May 06. I've
consulted with all of you for ideas, all
well received..but now I have a "hole"
in my itinerary I need your help with.
we have our air tickets, so at least I am
sure of what we begin and end with. Here is
what I have "penciled" so far:
2 days Cinque Terre/Santa Margherita area
3 days Florence, including 1/2 day Pisa and
full day Sienna day trips.
4 days Rome (is 4 necessary?)
3 days ??????? (here is my "hole")
2 days Venice
flying into Genoa, out of Venice.
not super duper museum people, though I
must see David in Florence, Vatican, Forum,
Pantheon, and Colliseum in Rome.
We are traveling by train. I was considering
going to Sorrento, but train rides would be
lengthy, and hubby is resisting my idea of
a plane ride from Naples to Venice.
Sooooo... looking for ideas please!
PS is Bologna a worthwhile stop??? Thanks

oops I almost forgot, since I need to consider opening/closing days. My
???? days are a Fri/Sat/Sun thanks again!

Add a day each to Rome, Florence and Venice.

daisy58 - If it was me, I would add 1 day each to Venice, Florence and Rome. I was in all three in October and 2 days was not nearly enough to see all of Venice.

You have three days listed for Florence. But in reality with your day trips and travel time from CT you only have 1 day to see Florence.

Thats just my opinion. Have a great trip!!

Tom

what would you consider to be good day trips from Rome and Venice? Is the Venito (sp?) a worthwhile daytrip from Venice? I do not have my guide books in front of me (for the 1st day in 2
months) but isn't that where Murano and Burano are? are they worth the stop?

Personally, I wouldn't do a daytrip from Venice unless I was there for at LEAST 4 days.

As for Rome. A trip out to Ostia Antica was a very nice alternative to spending half of a day to go to Pompeii.

Tom

Daisy, Daisy!

Cool your jets! When you are in Rome and Venice for such a short time there is no need to do day trips away. I agree with the other posters, add a day to each of your major cities. Or, as an alternative, add one day to Rome, spend a day & night in Orvieto on your way to Venice, and DEFINITELY add a day to Venice.

On my Sept trip, I really enjoyed a day trip out of Rome to Tivoli to see Hadrian's Villa and Villa d'Este, famous for it's amazing garden and fountains.

Buona fortuna!

is 2 days in the CT (and surroundings)
enough time?

As I was reading your post, I was thinking that it would be a good idea to take your three extra days and add one each to Rome, Venice and Florence, so I agree with the previous advice. You will lose 1/2 day minimum each time you move (definitely more than that going from Rome to Venice), so that shortens the time in each city.

As far as whether four days in Rome is necessary, you could spend much longer and still not see a fraction of what is there. I had 4-1/2 days and barely scratched the surface.
Have a great trip!

Hi d,

I also suggest adding a day to F, V and R.

>...is 2 days in the CT (and surroundings) enough time?

I think so.

((I))

I would definitely not add another place to that itinerary, rather divide the "extra" 3 days among the places you already have.

For me, personally I'd put them all in Venice. 5 days would be so much better than only 2!! With such short stays in each city, again this is personal preference, I wouldn't add any "day trips".

Murano and Burano are islands that are part of Venice. You could add the extra days to Venice and make a nice day trip to one or both islands. But don't bother moving hotels.

The Veneto is mainland. It is not really a very scenic area, kind of built up suburban-looking.

If you really insist on staying somewhere else between Venice and Rome, consider Ravenna. Or maybe Verona. But I vote for the extra days in Florence, Rome, Venice.

My two cents , I would add the days to CT and Venice. We did 2 nights in CT and while it was enough to see all the villages next time I will add another day as it would have been nice to chill out some more on the beach. 4 days in Rome for us was plenty to see all the main sites , amble around, get some shopping done and sit in P. Navona in teh evenings enjoying cappucinos and people watching.

1. You won't see all of Italy so relax and pick a few spots to get to know and live in. You can always go back!
2. 3 days Florence, including a 1/2 day trip to Pisa and 1 full day Siena trip, leaves you with 1 day in Florence. I would recommend more time here, as there is really so much to see, and I don't mean just musuems!!! Add 2 days here. Pre-book your entrance time to see David, or else you will spend alot of time in line-ups.
3. 4 days in Rome -- Lots to see and do, so no worries here.
4. 2 days Venice -- add 1 day here for sure.
Remember, you will spend at least 3 hours in transit from Florence to Rome (count 1.5 hrs actual train time and 1.5 hours messing about time (i.e. to the station, waiting for the train, getting off the train, getting to your hotel...)). Going from Rome to Venice will be longer, as you backtrack from Rome to Firenze and then to Venice, and you are looking at a train ride of at least 4.5 hours (then add in your travel times and wait times, for a total of around 6 hours). So, for example, if you take the 14:55 train from Rome (now your morning is taken up with checking out of the hotel, and getting to the station), you will arrive in Venice at 19:16. By the time you find your hotel and check in, the evening is pretty much gone. Check www.trenitalia.com for schedules (available in English!).
5. Bologna is nice, but you might want to wait for your next trip for this one -- time in Florence, Rome or Venice is a better investment of time given your schedule.
Happy Holidays!

On the day you land you can go from Genoa direct to your CT hotel?

My way to view any itinerary is to count hotels... Yours has 5 (possibly 6?) in 14 days. That would be too much time for me on a short trip... checking in and out of hotels, to and from train stations, spent changing room, packing and unpacking, etc.

At least if you allot those 3 "extra" days to places already on your list, you could get it down to 4 hotels.

I actually did not count the overnight in Genoa in my 14 days. We will be arriving Genoa @9:30 pm, I figure by the time we take the bus to the Brignole station, check into our hotel pretty much across the street, it will be close to 11pm. Just planning on jumping into our jammies and sleeping fast to prepare for our destinations,
which, after all of your advise, I am
re-penciling as follows:
2 days Cinque Terre/Santa Margherita
4 days Florence (still stopping in Pisa
enroute, still including day trip Siena)
5 days Rome
3 days Venice (2 1/2 including that
4 1/2 hr train Rome/Venice.)

I really enjoyed Sorrento and Capri. I love water and boating and had I had another day I would have braved renting a boat.

I like your revised plan. You can easily spend a week in Rome without getting bored and Venice deserves the extra time.

Much better plan, daisy.

Have a lovely visit.

((I))

I didn't do it but considered a canal trip from Venice to see the Palladian architecture. Also if you want a small town in between Rome and Florence, consider overnighting in Orvieto.It is an easy train stop and quite nice.

tinarose(and all others too!) I have read quite a bit of mention of Orvieto,
and it sounds lovely. Only 1 hr by train from Rome, as well. However, it is 5+ hrs from Orvieto to Venice, so that only makes that trip longer. BUT,
since this plan has me in Rome for 5 days, what do you posters think of going to Orvieto as a day trip from Rome? Also, apparentely there is a bus that goes from Orvieto to Civite (sp?)
would these towns be enjoyable as a duet in a day trip?

Hi there!
There is no shortage of towns and sights to do as day trips from major centres. My only question is why? You will have plenty to see and do and enjoy while in Rome. I can understand that you want to pack in as much as possible during your trip, but at what cost? The Colesium? The Trevi Fountain? Nero's Palace? The Vatican? St. Peter's? The Palatine? The markets? The Spanish Steps? The more you pack in, the less time you have to enjoy yourself as you will be spending ever so much time on public transport getting to those places that you won't have time to enjoy!
Just my humble opinion...

Here another proposal: Go from Florence to Amalfi (beautiful coast, history, lifestyle, daytrips to Pompei and Capri), then to Rome and then directly to Venice. 4 days for Rome is okay, however, Venice deserves at least 3 days.

Hi d,

>what do you posters think of going to Orvieto as a day trip from Rome? <

I would.

I suggest lunch in the garden at
I Sette Consoli
Pzza Sant’Angelo 1A
phone/fax 011 39 0763 343911

One of the best restaurants in the region. About 40E pp for the fixed price lunch.

((I))

Rome is certainly interesting and there is lots to see and do. I was there in july and the heart and crowds got overwhelming. Sometimes its nice to be out in the countryside where it's quieter and cooler. I liked Orvieto for an overnight. Very convenient to the train and a sweet little town.

Yes, Orvieto makes a good day trip from Rome. As does Ostia Antica.

ostia antica is great as well as orvieto, a closer alternative and with the same feel would be bracciano. This town is cute, small and has a castle.

Hi alex,

Thanks for the mention of Bracciano.

For those interested.
http://www.romeartlover.it/Bracciano.html

http://www.comunedibracciano.it/

((I))

is bracciano the town with a castle?
that would be a great day trip (hubby
and I both like castles) can you tour
the castle?

Yes, the castle can be toured. We looked into this as a daytrip from Rome but ended up going to Ostia instead. While I don't regret my decision, I regret that we didn't make the time to go there as well. It looks like a neat place (my husband stumbled on it by accident while researching for our trip) and we really wanted to go. There isn't much information on it, so if you go please post your thoughts!

Tracy

daisy58 - Your itinerary looks quite similar to the trip we took this past June: http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34645606
I think you'll have a great time.

Between Rome and Venice you've got a wonderful opportunity to see Ravenna - which is easily worth a day. Then, since you're hitting the major, major cities, take a couple of days to see some of the great "second" cities: Mantua, Ferrara, Verona, and Padua are each worth at least one day. Any and all of these are compact, accessible, have their own unique character - and the Byzantine mosaics in Ravenna will knock your socks off.
Bologna is worth a day, but it's charms are more subtle and not as immediate as the cities I listed above.