jerseygrl

Hi all,

I thought our itinerary was set, however just found out my husband cannot take as much time off work as we thought. Originally we were planning on doing France and Italy, but with less days we feel it is better to stick with Italy. I really could use some help now. We have to travel end of July-August and will have 11 nights leaving on day 12 in the morning to fly home to NYC.
So back to the drawing board we go:
I will also add that we will be using miles on continental for the flights which limits us to flying in and out of Milan and/or Rome.

We really wanted to visit:
Venice
Lake Como/Bellagio
Portofino/SML
If we visited these areas, I thought it would be ok to use Milan to fly in/out of. Could we add another place to visit or is that too much? I would also love to see Siena or wine country.

OR

Should we fly to Rome and do the Amalfi Coast?

We have to be back in Italy in September for a wedding in Florence and had planned to go early to give ourselves 4 days in Rome and then head to florence.

Im just so confused and just want to have a set itinerary. i keep going back and forth as to where to visit for this trip in July. I could really use some help and advice on choosing an itinerary. Thanks!!

tuscanlifeedit

Actually, as the person NOT going on this trip, it looks easy.

Go to Florence and Rome in September. From Florence you can do a morning or afternoon visit to Siena or a wine area, or Siena and wine area... anyway, you get it. It's easy to do either or both from Siena.

For this trip, fly into Milan and do Venice, Como and SML. That's plenty for 11 days because you'll be crossing the country, and each of those places have a lot to see or do and are easy (especially Venice and SML) to see another town or two from.

kybourbon

I would fly in and out of Milan this trip and stick with the northern areas.

If you are lucky, the Chianti festival might be going on in Greve while you are in Florence as it's in Sept. You can easily hop a bus to Greve for the day. You could also bus from Rome to Siena (3 hours) on your way to Florence and spend a night if Siena is a must.
http://www.sena.it/Home/78-1-en.html

greg

Once you say Amalfi Coast, it suddenly makes your itinerary hectic. It takes time to get to AC and back and AC destinations are spread out. Consequently, you will end up dropping more than one of your other destinations.

I think it is better to look at two trips at the same time. That give you more time=resources to play with. That is what the previously poster recommends. You are really doing two trip optimization.

On your return trip in September, if you do Rome first then Florence, where would you fly home? If you are thinking of:

Rome(4)-Florence-Rome(1) where last Rome night is likely needed to sync with you flight home. If this is the case.

Florence-Rome(5) sequence would usually reduce cost and gives you at least a half day more at the same time.

jerseygrl

Hi All! Thanks so much for your responses! I was leaning towards doing northern Italy, but figured I would ask anyways. So I agree. I think we should stick with northern Italy this trip. Having 11 nights to spend, how do you all think we should split up our days? And are there any day trips that should be considered from these 3 areas? Thanks again for the help!

nytraveler

At the time you are going I would stay as far north as possible. You might want to look into a couple of the other lakes - we loved Maggiore and Borromean Islands.

Agree it makes sense to attach Rome to Florence later in the year.