Please critique Italy first timer itinerary!
 

Hello-I've been reading these threads for weeks and have been gathering loads of info for our upcoming trip to Italy in June.

My husband and I are planning a 10 day trip. We really want to spend most of our time in the Tuscany area, although we want to see Rome and Venice too. Just not sure if this is too much.

Here goes...
Fly into Rome
Spend 2 nights in Rome.
Hotel Smeraldo

Rent a car to drive to Tuscany area...
Stay in Castellina in Chianti
-Having a hard time deciding on a place to stay. There appears to be so many good ones. Narrowing down to Palazzo Squarcialupi or Villa Casalecchi.
-Plan to stay 4-5 nights here.

Drop off rental car and take a train to Venice. Is Siena the best place to drop off and catch the train?

Spend 2 nights in Venice and return to Rome by train to depart. (can't do open jaw based on airline voucher we are using).
-Considering Locanda Orseolo as a hotel.

It sounds like a great trip. I'm sure that you'll get many people recommending that you add a day to Rome or a day to Venice, but you sound like you know what you want to do.
As far as the car is concerned, I think you'd be better off dropping the car off in Florence and taking the train to Venice from there.

Sounds good to me to and I agree about the car. Florence is a much bigger city, and it'll probably easier to leave the car with a bigger agency that is used to doing different drop off/pick up points.
Don't worry, sounds like you've got it all worked out.
Have fun,
Melissa

Is Locanda Orseolo still available for your dates? LO has become very popular (and with good reason). There are only 15 rooms - most, but not all have canal views, so if a canal view is a priority for you don't procrastinate on this one.

Your trip sounds lovely.

Hi Jl

Nice trip.

The bus from Siena to Florence is 7E
The ES* from Florence to Veniceis 27E.

www.viamichelin.com says that it is a 3hr drive from Siena to Venice. You might want to drop the car off in Venice.

Thanks-I'll have to consider driving to Venice...that might be less of a hassle.
I'm assuming that we'll be able to catch on easily to driving in Italy. Would you definitely recommend this over just taking a train from Rome to Siena and then taking a bus to Castellina and the smaller hill towns? Assumed this would really limit what we could accomplish in a day, is that a safe assumption?