Please Critique Italy Schedule
 

Any comments on the following schedule for our May trip to Italy would be appreciated. Total stay: 11 nights.

We are flying into Milan (arrive Tues AM) and out of Rome (depart following Sat AM), and will be using public transportation between cities.

Day 1 - Milan
Day 2 - Milan
Day 3 - Bellagio
Day 4 - Bellagio
Day 5 - Venice
Day 6 - Venice
Days 7-11 - Rome

Thanks in advance. All your great advice is, as always, much appreciated.

Take one day from Milan and add it to Venice - it takes almost 6 hours to get from Bellagio to Venice, by train, so if you use your current schedule you will only have a day and a half or so in Venice. I would stay in Milan one night, then Bellagio for 2, Venice for 3 and Rome for the rest.

Hi hunny,

Is there a particular reason for 2 days in Milan?

I would rather spend that time in Venice.

skip Milan and spend an extra day in venice or any other town.

I am starting to see a pattern here...
:-)

Thanks, everyone, for the great help.

I concur--skip Milan, but I would do 3-3-4 since day one will be long.

I would also skip Milan but I would also skip Venice completely and visit Florence instead. Venice is not for everyone and I personally do not enjoy it.

ohhhh, I can feel the arrows now!

Skip Milan and go straight to Bellagio.
It's a tiring day, but once you're there, you can relax and regroup.
Divide the extra time between Bellagio and Venice. Consider evening trains so that you're not losing so much sightseeing time during the days.

The first night in Bellagio will make you feel just right. I agree, skip Milan.

So many opinions!
Mine?
Good to use trains... hassle free and fun.

As for the itinerary, the 'real Italy' exists in the smaller towns. I agree about Milan... skip it. Try to add a quiet night in a small hill town or coastal town. Stay in a private residence. Get 'connected.' If you do this I will here from you upon your return... you will thank me, and I will say 'Prego.'

Great idea to spend 5 days in Rome. Rome is amazing, fun, exciting, the ancient existing alongside the modern...We all loved Rome, even my teens. Choose a centrally located hotel...staying near the Pantheon is a good location, a great walkable area with lots to see within walking distance. We stayed at Hotel Nazionale a Montecitorio on Piazza Montecitorio, very centrally located.

I have noticed a pattern on-line. People who love Venice usually got to stay for a few days. We loved Venice and stayed for 3 nights. The San Marco area in Venice is the most crowded. If you want your lodging to be away from the crowds yet still convenient try the dorsoduro area of Venice.

Didn't see Milan...seemed too much like a modern city when I looked it up. sorry I don't know Bellagio but consider 4 days in Rome, 3 days in Venice, and 4 days in a small medieval hill-town in Tuscany.

Trains are very convenient and enjoyable. We took the Eurostar, which includes reserved seating in the price. It was fun.

Can you fly into Venice and out of Rome? Or into Rome and out of Venice? We flew into Rome and out of Venice and it worked out great. If you fly out of Venice try to get a morning flight that's not too early...ours left around 10:30 which was nice. You have to get from your hotel in Venice across the water to the airport.

Thanks again for some really great advice. The schedule looks a little weird (in that it is "missing" Florence, Tuscany) but as I went on a family trip to Italy 5 years ago, I didn't want to retrace those steps for a honeymoon. I've been to Rome but my fiance hasn't, and Rome is definitely a place I'd love to see again. (I guess throwing a coin in the Trevi fountain will pay off!)

Funny thing is, both fiance and I are looking forward to Milan - the Rick Steves video we watched piqued our interest - maybe because we're urban at heart (we both moved to NYC from smaller cities). However, I'm going to take everyone's advice and cut the stay in Milan down significantly...we want to check it out, but it doesn't appear to be "worth" a tremendous amount of time given all that Italy has to offer.

hunnym, since you've already looked at the Rick Steves video, I can tell you that we used the Rick Steves guidebooks for restaurant recommendations and found some really great places to eat in Rome and Florence. For some reason had more difficulty finding satisfactory places in Venice. (Venice is expensive in general.)

His recommendations for Rome were especially fun, tasty, and memorable. We all loved them, even my teens.

hunnym, and than the other side of the coin. I love Milan!!! Isn't it interesting how each of us have different ideas and thoughts

For me, flying into Milan and not spending a couple of days there would be heartbreaking.

Whatever you do, have a fabulous trip.

Hi hunny,

>..both fiance and I are looking forward to Milan - the Rick Steves video we watched piqued our interest...<

It is not that Milan does not have features that are not uninteresting, it's just not a first-tier place for a honeymoon.

I too would pick Venice over Florence, at least from a honeymoon standpoint.

Perhaps my time in Florence was tainted by the horrific drive/parking situation, but when we were there it just didn't give me the ooh, ahhh feeling Venice and Rome gave me.

I'm glad I went to Florence and perhaps will try it again sometime but for now my vote is more Venice. I wish we had spent more than 2 days there.

I might offer a compromise. I enjoyed Milan. I'd think of arriving there in the morning (presumably after an overnight flight?) and spend the day and night. See the cathedral, maybe the Last Supper. Visit the beautiful Galleria and do some window shopping (or actual shopping) along the fabulous fashion streets. These are easy low energy things to do your first day in Italy. Have a nice dinner and stay in a nice hotel. Then head to Bellagio the next morning refreshed and ready to relax and enjoy it. If I'm not mistaken, you're going to end up needing to go into Milan from the airport to get the train out to Lake Como anyway, and the transfers to Bellagio. Adding that to the long flight means a hellish first day.

But yes, add that extra Milan night to Venice.

Frankly I can't imagine Italy without Florence and Tuscany! Venice is wonderful and one might consider it more romantic, however, depending on the time of year it is hard to beat a couple of bottles of a great Italian Chianti at the little pizza place (across the road from the expensive restaurant) near Piazza Michelangelo at sunset. The views from the terrace were fabluous!

Personally I think Patrick's "comprise" is perfect. A day wandering around Milano, he mentions all the interesting places, a good nights sleep and than off to where you want to go IMHO is the way go!

Skip milan and move straight to Bellagio.

Rick Steve's made milan into one of those tricky real estate gimacks. You go look at a home and are disappointed that it wasn't nearly as nice as the photos made you believe.