rebekahsparker

I'm planning a trip to Italy for our honeymoon in September. First time to Italy for us both!
Unfortunately it will be a quick trip, 10-11 days, so I want to be realistic with our plans.

The initial plan was to fly into Rome, drive to Pienza, explore Tuscany a few days and then return to Rome for a few days before heading home.
After seeing itineraries on this forum I now wonder if we also have time to include a couple days in Cinque Terra before returning to Rome.

If we do add CT to the list, can anyone recommend the best way to get to all three destinations? Does it make sense to rent a car for the whole trip, even for driving from CT back to Rome?

rebekahsparker

Please excuse the typo in the title of my post. :/

Andrew

Why are you round-tripping into/out of Rome? Can't you do an open jaw flying into Rome out of Pisa or something? (Are you booking your flights with a specific airline?) Even Milan would be a closer airport to fly back from than Rome, perhaps.

Anyway, if you can fly out of Pisa, you could make it up to the Cinque Terre before departing from Pisa, and that would save you a ton of time having to drive all the way back to Rome.

You don't have to drive the entire trip, either; you could rent a car just for Tuscany and take trains everywhere else, if you wish. Italy has an excellent train system. It might also be possible to drop a rental car at a different place than where you picked it up for no extra cost, if that's another issue.

rebekahsparker

The one-way flights seemed much more expensive (with one leg costing as much a the roundtrip), but I agree that it would save valuable time so I may need to do more digging on my flight options.

I'm starting to think more along these lines: Explore Rome first, get a car for our time in Tuscany, drop car off in Pisa, train to Cinque Terre and back, and fly out of Pisa.

If we were able to make that work, does that seem like a reasonable itinerary for the length of the trip?

Andrew

Yes, it would be very expensive to book one-way flights. That's why you need to book it as an "open jaw" - aka "multi city" flight when you check fares - not as two one-ways. I think you'll be surprised that the cost may not be much more than round tripping to Rome or may even be less - depending on your originating city. For example, Delta has a flight out of Pisa (last I checked) into JFK, so if Delta happens to be the airline that works best for you anyway, Pisa might be very affordable as your departure city.

FYI, it's extremely common for people to fly with "open jaw" flights to Europe; I'm guessing a majority of people do it that way.

rebekahsparker

YES! Much better - thank you for pointing out that distinction. The prices are definitely doable "multi-city."

Andrew

I hope you make it up to the Cinque Terre - I thought it was wonderful. I'm not a "museum person" myself so I wasn't the type to appreciate the museums of, say, Florence the way many others do. But I loved the views and hiking through the villages of the Cinque Terre. Some friends of mine who honeymooned in Italy a few years ago thought it was their favorite spot in Italy. Others would sharply disagree - but everyone has a different opinion about Italy!

franzjosef

Recently I purchased the ticket which is LA-Rome, Milan-LA.
There was no price difference. Maybe from east coast RT will be cheaper, but from west coast, you have to buy one stop flight anyway. We go to Cinque- Terre after Tuscany, and we go to Milan airport fom there.

rebekahsparker

I booked my flights - arriving in Rome, departing out of Pisa. I'm really pleased with our high-level itin: Rome, Pienza, and Cinque Terre.
Andrew - My fiancee and I are like you. We want to try different things while in Italy, but we're more interested in relaxing and soaking up the scenery, the people, and the food/wine than we are in seeing too many museums. We will certainly hit the high points in Rome (esp since my fiancee is Catholic), but I'm glad we decided to include Tuscany and CT because I think they'll fit us well.