Please critique my Italy itinerary (again)
 

Okay, I have posted on this before but need more help. Per bobthenavigator’s suggestion, I have looked into a lot of different flight options and have concluded that I need to wait until at least after the first of the year to purchase my tickets. I am planning to fly from ATL to London and then take Eurojet to/from Italy. Eurojet is not even selling tickets for my time period yet, and ATL to London on my dates is way more expensive than it should be (unless I use Hotwire, and I don’t want to resort to that just yet, especially with a Eurojet connecting flight). So I can’t book my flights yet.

But I do want to book my hotels and figure out my itinerary. After further research I am set on seeing Rome, the Tuscan countryside and Florence. I want to fly into Rome, but can fly out of Milan, Venice or even Rome (Eurojet service/prices are about the same to both). For those of you who didn’t see my other post it will be my husband and I traveling, we have 12 days and we have never been to Italy before.

Here is my tentative itinerary:

4 nights Rome
3 nights Tuscany (probably Montalcino area)
2 nights Florence
2 nights Cinque Terre
1 night whatever city we fly out of – could be Rome, Milan or Venice – to make sure we catch our flight w/o a hassle

My questions are:
- Should we do the Cinque Terre?
- If we do do the Cinque Terre where should we fly out of? And what order should we do our destinations in? (choices are probably Rome – Tuscany – Florence – CT or Rome – Tuscany – CT – Florence)
- If we don’t do the Cinque Terre what should we do instead?

Thanks!

It would help if you list your dates.Does your 12 days include flying time? I don't understand why you would consider flying to London when you want to go to Italy. I would price flights flying into Rome and out of Milan from Atlanta and forget about London.

Instead of Cinque Terre, which is beautiful, spend the last two days in Venice, which is unique, beautiful, spectacular, and shouldn't be missed. Then you can fly out of Venice. Start in Rome, then Montalcino, Florence and leave from Venice.

What are the dates again? If before May, then skip the CT and do Venice--flying home from there. Delta has a good flight at about noon from Venice.
I agree,why assume London? That just adds a connection--and likely not an easy one. If price is the answer then wait until you see what your true options will be in 2005.

Sorry, the dates are Sept. 1 (arriving in Rome Sept. 2) thru Sept. 14. I was planning to connect through London because 1) that is the cheapest european destination from Atlanta and 2) Eurojet flies to numerous Italian destinations from there.

I know it is a pain to make an extra connection, but if it means paying a total of $600 (each) for the tickets instead of the $1000+ (each) it would be worth it to me. I would rather spend the extra $800 on museums and good italian food than airfare. Of course, before I buy the tickets that way I will double check to make sure that a direct open jaw is still outrageously expensive, of course I would prefer the direct flights.

Whichever way I end up going, I know I should wait until after Jan. 1st to buy the tickets. But I really want to book my hotels now...I emailed a hotel I liked in Florence the other day and it was already booked! Plus...I'm off from work this week and just have to satisfy my travel addiction by planning! So...anyone else want to weigh in on my destiantion choices?

What you say seems to make sense, but I'd deduct two days from your trip. I can't imagine scheduling flights on my own with Easy Jet and planning to make connections within a few hours in London -- even if you can fly into and out of Gatwick (but there are limited Easy Jet flights from there). I'd plan on staying a night each way in London to make the connections. By the time you've done that and thrown in the cost of the Easy Jet flights (little as that is), plus the transfers, etc, your savings will be somewhat eaten away and you will have lost two days of your trip doing it.

Sounds like a great trip. I assume you will be renting a car for the Tuscan countryside. Do you plan to drive to CT or take a train? If you are driving it would make sense to do Rome, train to Florence, then rent a car for Tuscan countryside before driving to CT. If you are planning to train to CT, then the order of your current itinerary looks good. Personally for a first trip I would skip CT and either add to Tuscany or add Venice. If you do go to CT, Milan would be good to fly out.

Hi audrey,

You might find after the first of the year that open jaw into Rome and out of Venice is about the same as trying to do London/EasyJet.

Is there a reason why you have left out Venice in favor of the CT?

That's a good itinerary, but remember that Florence will be an absolute zoo in early September - shoulder to shoulder people. It will be quite a shock after 3 days in the lovely, quiet, serene, Tuscany countryside around Montalcino. Think real hard about that!!! I would instead add 2 days to the Montalcino stay, and visit Siena on one of those days (it's easy to drive in/out from Montalcino). Siena has somewhat the same look & feel as Florence, but not the art and not the crowds.

Cinque Terre - I've helped dozens of people with itineraries, and most people that have visited the Cinque Terre wished that they had spent less time there. If you do stay there, leave from Genoa instead of Milan - it's much closer. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES try to drive to the Milan Malpinsa airport from anywhere south, east or north of Milan on the 14th, which is a week day. The commute traffic is a mess and your driving time will be un-predictable. I would suggest that you stay the last night in Stresa on Lake Maggiore - it's a nice place to visit & an easy drive to the airport.

Most people that I have helped, enjoyed Venice & the Tuscany countryside the most. One woman (a lawyer in LA), reported back to me that she absolutley adhored Venice. When she got to Florence, she had a meltdown because of the crowds (she was there in late Oct). The crowds around David were horrendous, and she had to wait in line 45 mins, even with a reservation.

Personally, I would slow down your trip a little.

4 nights in Rome
5 nights near Montalcino (visit Siena)
Drive to Chiusi (30 mins from Montalcino), drop off the car & take the fast train to Venice
3 nights in Venice & leave from Venice.

I don't think I sent you my 20+ page itinerary on Italy. I cover all the places you will be visiting. There is a lovely drive in the area around Montalcino (our closest friends live close to there & we've visited them many times). I've sent it to over 150 people on the AOL travel board, and since I started "attending" this board a few weeks ago, I've sent it to over 20 people. E-mail me if you want a copy.

Stu Dudley
San Mateo (San Francisco), Ca

>>>I've sent it to over 150 people on the AOL travel board, and since I started "attending" this board a few weeks ago, I've sent it to over 20 people. E-mail me if you want a copy.<<<


I forgot - AOL has an e-mail option on the reply to a posting on the message board - Fodor does not (at least I don't know how to do it). Anyway, my e-mail is [email protected]

Stu Dudley
San Mateo (San Francisco), Ca

Okay, okay I give in! I will do Venice instead of CT if DH will agree to it. DH and I had just watched a travel video on Venice and thought it didn't look that attractive compared to the CT, which is why we were thinking to do the CT. But everyone here seems to be in favor of Venice and it would be much easier with the flight logistics.

Stu, I know Florence will be a zoo, but I have resigned myself to this and am still determined to go. One of my best friends spent two months there the summer before last and loved it despite the crowds. We have similar travel tastes (we met studying abroad in Spain!) and she has a lot of good suggestions for what to see/do that will hopefully help ease the pain of the crowds.

So, the itinerary (pending DH approval, of course) will now look like this:

4 days Rome
3 days Montalcino (or other small Tuscan town)
2 days Florence
3 days Venice

Does this look good? Also, are there any days when things in any of my destinations tend to be closed so I can try to plan around that? We can adjust our dates of travel by a day or two if necessary.

Patrick, forgot to mention, your points are very well taken. If necessary, we could overnight in London adding an extra day to our trip to making the connection easier. But of course, we'd have to factor in the cost to see if it's worth it. The bottom line is I just have to (nervously) wait and see on airfare.

That does make more sense, and will give you many more flight options. I hate those London connects from different airports. Do not get too antsey on the hotels--get your flight dates first. I bet the hotel was not full--just not taking this far out. Get real serious 6 months prior. And, I hate those early departures from Venice--real hassle.

audreyleigh--look at it this way. CT is a very pretty coastal area--one of thousands of such pretty coastal areas on the planet. When it was still relatively "undiscovered," it had some other things going for it as well. But those days are long gone.

Venice is a unique world treasure. There is no other place like it on the planet.

Actually, you'll have a wonderful time whether you choose CT or Venice--so don't agonize over the decision. But I'd still take Venice.

I agree with Rufus.

Comparing CT and Venice is impossible. And yes, there is only one Venice.
But oh those early morning flights out of Venice are terrible.

>>But oh those early morning flights out of Venice are terrible.<<

Last time we were there, we took a Taxi to a hotel near the airport the night before our flight home. The hotel had a shuttle to the airport.

I would do that except I stay in a small town in Veneto where friends are so am driven to the airport real early the morning of the flight. So early I don't even bother going to bed the night before. I sure sleep well from Amsterdamn to SFO - am like a zombie.

I think your itinerary is great! Yes, Florence is crowded, but for good reason! I would definitly spend two days there.

As a budget traveler, I have always flown into London and then gotten to my destination from there. The most recent two trips, I did this using Easy Jet. We had no problems at all. I gave myself quite a few hours between landing in London and taking off, but I had to commute between airports. We did spend our last night in London at an airport hotel (that we got for a FANTASTIC deal on using Priceline) so we could catch our 8:00 AM flight home.

Hope that helps!

Thank you all so much for your advice, I am really feeling good about the itinerary now! LOL Loveitaly, if our flight is that early we might have to try your strategy....plus we could save money by not needing a hotel if we're not going to sleep :)