Sasayra

I'm planning a trip, this time for early/mid October 2007. Total time available is 14 days (not counting 2 wasted travel days) and we know we want to spend 5 days in Paris and 4 in Venice and surrounding towns.

But I'm stuck on the other 5 days. I've been to Florence twice now (and love it); I've spent a few days in Rome, but have only seen the Forum and the Vatican due to weather and time constraints. I'm traveling with a friend who agrees Paris and Venice are musts and beyond that is open.

Do we go to Tuscany for a couple of days (since it'd be new to her and I love the area and won't suffer in the least) and then to Rome...or

Do we go straight to Rome...or

Do we go farther south and try something completely new, like Naples or Palermo, etc.?

Any thoughts based on time of year and variety of experience?

Thanks!

Sara

BowenLinda

Sasayra, a year or so ago a friend and I spent 5 days in Paris, flew to Venice and stayed 5 days, trained to Florence where we picked up a car and then toured Tuscany for 5 days.

We really enjoyed the gradual reduction in city size and noise, and we thought each destination was a great counterpoint to the other two.

... although no one can have too much of Roma!

Have a great holiday.

Grandma

I'd rent a car in Venice. Drive thru Tuscany hitting a few highlights (to whet your friend's appetite) , drop the car in Orvieto and spend two days in Rome.
We've done similar... but our time frame may have been longer. (Memory getting a little dim -

BowenLinda

Posted too soon - should have added that we went the last week of Sept/first week of Oct.

Weather was terrific everywhere, although it was definitely sweater weather in Venice (at night)and in Tuscany during some of the days.

Sasayra

Thanks for the responses! I was just in Paris and Venice and Florence this last April, and thanks to lack of knowledge (we didn't realize we needed to purchase tickets in advance) we ended up renting a car in Venice and driving to Florence. But it worked out great, giving us the freedom to really explore the backroads of Tuscany and not be limited by train and bus schedules.

So far the consensus seems to be go with the Rome/Florence/Venice itinerary. Which sounds lovely to me!

And having a year (plus) to plan gives one of us time to learn to drive a manual transmission since this trip won't include the driver from this spring.

Thanks for the responses!

Sara

Kathryncee

Rome is great!
I will say this.. we did fly to Palermo and really, really enjoyed it.. though I mostly did it for family research info so it suited me fine.

We are planning to go to the Cinque Terre area in a few weeks.... have you considered this? Essentially, you could fly from Paris to Nice (1.5 hour flight), spend a few days in Nice... take train to Cinque Terre area and train onto to Venice.......

Hope this helps!

gard

Hi

Rome is not a bad bet My wife and I went there last year and we had a great time in Rome for 5-6 days. I have posted a trip report with pictures and links on my homepage http://gardkarlsen.com/rome_italy.htm . Maybe you can find some useful info there.

Have you been to Paris before? I went there in April and spent a week in the city. I have also posted a trip report from that trip on my homepage http://gardkarlsen.com/Paris_France.htm .

We also went to Venice a few years back. Here is the trip report: http://gardkarlsen.com/italy_venice.htm

I hope that you can find some useful info in my trip reports. Get in touch if you have any questions

Regards
Gard
Stavanger, Norway

Sasayra

Kathryn,

Thanks for the suggestion about Cinque Terra! You're right, it's a great spot. I stopped there both trips to Italy (2001 and this last spring). I think this time, though, it's not quite right for this particular travel companion.

Thanks for the trip reports, Gard! I love reading those. I'm going to read them myself and pass them along to my friend. Planning and reading about others' experiences is half the fun. Okay, not half. But a third, at least!

Sara

Kathryncee

I would do a few days in Tuscany if you could do it- Siena is supposed to be great and since you will be in larger cities, that may be a nice break.

suze

I did Paris, Venice, and the Lac Leman area outside Geneva one 3 week trip.

Sasayra- I'm curious and just have to ask, you really couldn't buy a simple train ticket from Venice to Florence just by going to the train station? Even if you were willing to go a few hours later?

Sasayra

Kathryn,

I think a few days in Tuscany is a good idea. I really wanted to see Sienna last time and we didn't so I can make up for it this time.

And Suze, yes, we couldn't get tickets for anywhere leaving Venice. We were willing to go to Milan, or any city outside of Venice (even outside of Italy if that's what it took), and take a train from there south, but no, all trains out of Venice (we were told) were booked. The next ticket they would sell us - and we took them, even though we ended up renting the car - was for Sunday, two days later. There were many people having the same problem, lots of frantic young people on the phones outside calling home. I'm getting the feeling this is an uncommon experience. (I'm glad to hear that, because it caught me by surprise from my previous experience in Italy a few years ago when we showed up whenever we wanted a train and had no issues.)

Sara

annhig

WE rented a car in venice and drove across to Lake Garda then down to Tuscany. In October, you could just head off and stay where took your fancy - accommodation should be easy to find.
Or go to the lakes and fly back form Milan.
In 5 days, you won't have time to do Tuscany and Rome, though!
Happy planning!