After a year of digging and researching (I love it!), we're ready to finalize our itinerary. Fodorites have been my constant companion during my research and I thank you all for your expertise and advice. I have come up with 2 itineraries.

1) Please review and critique.
2) if we had only 17 days, where would you shave a day off?

mid-October 2007

Itinerary #1
Day 1 fly into Venice (from LAX)
Days 1-5 stay at Locanda Orseolo (4 nights)

Day 5 Train to Florence
Days 5-8 Lodging in Florence (3 nights) TBD

Day 8 Pick up Rental Car- drive to Tuscany

Days 8-15 Lodging in Tuscany (La Saracina-3 nights, ???-4 nights)

Day 15 Drive back to Florence, Drop off car, Train to La Spezia/CT.

Days 15-17 Cinque Terre (2 nights lodging TBD)

Day 18 fly from Pisa (or Florence) to Lax

Itinerary #2
Day 1 fly into Venice (from LAX)
Days 1-5 stay at Locanda Orseolo (4 nights)

Day 5 Train to Florence, Pick up car-
Drive to Tuscany
Days 5-12 Tuscany (7 nights)

Day 12 back to Florence, drop off car, train to CT
Days 12-14 Cinque Terre (2 nights)

Day 14 Train back to Florence, Drop off car.

Days 14-17 Florence (lodging 2 nights TBD)

Day 18 fly from Florence to Lax

I'd prefer to not do Venice and CT back to back it that is possible, but I'm open to it if it makes sense.

Thx.

Hi A,

In Itinerary 1 you are not leaving time to get from the CT to the airport.

In itinerary 2, I suggest picking car up in Venice and dropping it at La Spezia.

I also like 1, but would take off a day or two from Venice and add them the CT. Portovenere or San Margherita are both wonderful bases for that area.

# 1 is better. But why return again to Florence to drop off the car. Either plan on spending a night in Lucca and leaving the car there before train to CT, or just drive to La Spezia and drop the car there. There should be no problem in dropping off at another location.

I would go with whichever itinerary leaves the most time in Tuscany - because I love Tuscany!

Great suggestion on dropping the car in La Spezia. I didn't know how big the town is or where car rental locations are located.

Thx!

I agree with previous posters re choise #1 not giving you time to get to the airport.

Also, I would drive to the Cinque Terre. Regardless of where you're driving from, the drive to the Cinque Terre is pretty. Some of the hotels (Villa Steno) have their own parking, or you can park in the municipal lot (I can't remember how much it was, but it can't have been overly expensive, or I would remember). That way you can avoid going out of your way to take trains in and out of Florence. Some people prefer trains. I kind of prefer cars, but overall, I analyze whether car or train will get us to our destination with a minimum of hassle, time and cost.

Whether or not you intend to use AutoEurope (which we always use, and have never had a problem), you can use their website to locate rental locations in various towns. And note open/close times and days, too.