Please help with itinerary for 18 days in Italy.
 

Hi everyone, please help me with the itinerary for our honeymoon trip to Italy.
We'll arrived in Zurich on Sep 3rd. Stay 3 nights in Lucerne then make our way to Italy. Our last stop is Venice then fly home on Sep 24th.
This is the itinerary I came up with : Lake Como (or a near by place) 2 nights, Santa Margherita Ligure (or another place in the riviera) 2 nights, Florence 3 nights, Tuscany 4 nights, Venice 3 nights. We will not go to Rome on this trip.
We still have 4 days left. Should we visit another places or should we extend our stay at those mentioned places?
Is there another place in Switzerland worth visiting before we go to Italy?
Anything we should change on our itinerary?
Your input is greatly appreciated.

Add two days to Lake Como, one to Santa Margherita Ligure and one to Venice.

I would add days to the places you have already chosen. Venice and Florence both offer good options for day trips. Will you have a car in Tuscany?

Agree with adding days to existing stops, rather than adding stops.

Consider that you really don't have four extra days. You've listed five places on your itinerary already. What about the time needed to get from place to place? You'll eat up about a half-day each time you move. Instead of trying to add stops, consider day trips from your existing stops. For instance, you could take a day in Siena from Florence, or Verona from Venice.

I agree with those who suggest to spend more time in Lago di Como and the Italian Riviera.

It is not clear what you mean by "3 nights Florence, 4 nights Tuscany." Florence is in Tuscany, and Tuscany is a province that is actually quite large. Where are you going in Tuscany and how are you getting there? It might work out better to see Florence just before you go to Venice depending on where else you are planning to visit in Tuscany.

Lucerne to Como there is a direct train at 8:47AM. Buy tickets here:

http://www.sbb.ch/en/home.html

Pre-pay trains in Italy [except locals] up to 120 days in advance here:

http://www.trenitalia.com/cms/v/inde...005817f90aRCRD

Use the non-registration option. Tickets will be e-mailed to you, but print the confirmation just in case.

When at the station, always refer to the train #.

For on-the-spot tickets the machines accept a CC with a pin #.

September is not that far away... Have you booked your hotel reservations yet? If not, I'd suggest doing so soon. Also, do you plan to travel by train or car? Be aware that train tickets are cheapest when purchased 90 days in advance. If saving money is important, you should go to the trenitalia website ASAP and see what discount fares are still available.

You mentioned visiting"Tuscany" by which I'm guessing you mean that you want to visit several smaller towns in the region. If that is the case, you may want a car for that portion of the trip. Buon viaggio!

Thank you so much for all of your comments. We are now working on booking hotel and train.
After consider all of your advise. I adjust the itinerary as below :

Sep 3rd : Arrived in Zurich airport at 3pm. Take a train directly to Lucerne (1h).
Stay in Lucerne from Sep 3rd to Sep 6th.
Leave one night Sep 6th open. May stay in a small village in the Alps.

Sep 7th : Take train to Como Lake
Stay in Como Lake 3 nights. Please recommend me a hotel or place to base for these days.

Sep 10th: take train from lake Como to the Riviera area.
Stay 3 nights in the Riviera (Santa Margherita Ligure or Monterosso…???). Please recommend me a hotel or place to base for these days.


Sep 13th : take train to Florence. Stay in Florence 3 nights. (would it be too much considering we'll have another 4 nights in the region ?)

From Sep 16th to Sep 20th : rent a car and stay 4 nights in the country side of Tuscany. Please recommend me a place to stay. We kind of like the idea of staying in a castle for the experience.

(For the total 7 days in Tuscany should we divide it differently?)

Sep 20th: take the train to Bognola, Stay one night here (on the way to Venice)

Sep 21st to Sep 24th : Venice and go home.

Please let me know what you think.

It would help to know if you have a hotel budget, or is it limitless?

Regarding your questions... I dislike one-night stays, so I would take a night from Luzern and spend 2 nights Luzern and 2 nights in a small Swiss town. I wouldn't change hotels to see Bologna. I would add the Bologna night to the Florence nights and visit Bologna for one long day by train from Florence. I would drive the car from the Tuscany base all the way to Venice and drop the car there, although if your arrival is on Sunday, Sept. 21st, you'd have to return the car at the airport.

When staying at Lake Como, you most likely want to stay in either Varenna, Bellagio, or Menaggio. Don't actually stay in the town of Como if you can avoid it. I was going to stay in Como when I went last summer, but was suggested to go to Varenna and it was absolutely incredible. I would have to research which hotel I stayed at (it truly is escaping my mind), but it was a great stay.

If you decide to visit Bologna as a day trip, pay attention to when most things are open. Some of the most interesting sights are only open in the mornings, and almost everything closes between 12.30 and 4pm. On Thursday afternoons, the food markets are closed, and they are also closed all day Sunday.

I would prefer to drive from the Italian Riviera to Tuscany and tour the countryside before seeing Florence. Then after seeing Florence, I would take the train from Florence to Venice.


What Brad says about the town of Como vs. other towns on the lake is correct.

We stayed in Bellagio and this hotel was excellent, amazing views right on the lake. We travelled to the other towns by boat.

Name Hotel Metropole Bellagio Lake Como
Address Piazza Mazzini, 1, Bellagio (Co)
Tel. 0039031950409
Fax. +3931951534
Email [email protected]

1 x Double Front Lake View
Breakfast Included

150 euros a night. This area is not cheap but Bellagio was just amazing

Thank you for all the comments. They are very helpful.
So I adjust the itinerary as below:

Sep 3rd : Arrived in Zurich airport at 3pm. Take a train directly to Lucerne.
Stay in Lucerne 4 nights from Sep 3rd to Sep 7th.

Sep 7th : Take train to Como Lake
Stay in Bellagio or Varenna 3 nights. Thank you Annemariekel for recommendation on the hotel. It looks lovely but it is not available on our dates :(

Sep 10th: take train from lake Como to Santa Marghetina
Stay 3 nights here.

Sep 13th : take train to Florence. Stay in Florence 3 nights.

Sep 16th : rent a car in Florence and drive to Tuscany country side. Stay in the country side for 5 nights. I am still working on where to stay.

Sep 21st: return the car at Florence train station and take the train to Venice
Stay in Venice until Sep 24th then go home.

The reason we don't put Florence right before Venice because we don't want to end the trip with two big cities next to each other. We like to have relaxing time before Venice.

Thank you Ron Z for recommendation on the train. With our trip like that, should we get some kind of train pass or should we just buy individual ticket for each journey?
Please recommend us place we should visit or day trip we should make at places we stay.
Another question is should we stay in Venice or a little bit out of Venice?

We stayed here last NYE and loved it

http://www.santantonio.it

It is just outside of montepulciano and a good place for day trips to the val d'Orcia area.

Stay in Venice.

It would still be helpful to know your hotel budget, but you need to start booking. The nicer lodging options in Bellagio and Varenna are disappearing fast for your dates.

Try using venere.com or booking.com to get a good overview of availability for specific dates.

In Santa Margherita Ligure, the Hotel Nuova Riviera is a charming little place. It's a short walk from the town's harbor, and all the shops and restaurants. Very nice and helpful owners.

DD and I had a huge triple room, with a huge rounded wall of windows. New bathroom. Continental breakfast included.

http://www.nuovariviera.com/ing/index.html

Thank you for all of your advices. I'm ready for my trip :)

I agree with Annemariekel; we stayed at the Metropole in Bellagio and it was really nice. Well-located with a friendly, helpful staff. I had left part of my power cord for my Mac at home and when I asked if there was any store in the area where I might buy one, they told me that they had an extra one and let me have it. IMHO, that is service! Would definitely stay there again if we go back to the lake region.

What a great sounding itinerary - do you have any estimation of cost for the 2 of you for it?