AllyG3

Hello all!
I am a new member here as I am in need for much advice on planning an independent trip to Italy. I was so sure that I was going to take a group tour, but the more I read....the more I dislike what they have to offer. So, here I am....6 months away from departing to Italy and I have no idea what I am doing!!!
Here are a few details about my trip and a rough itenerary....

Depature date: Saturday, July 21
Length of stay: 12 nights/13 days - leaving Friday, Aug 3rd
Traveling are (2) adults - Myself & my husband

*Arrive in Rome*
Rome - 3 nights
Florence - 4 nights (day trip to Siena & day trip to Pisa)
Venice - 2 nights
Venice to Paris - overnight on train
Paris - 2 nights
*Depart in Paris*

I am not sure whether to stay in Italy the entire time and spend those extra days at the Amalfi coast, or go to Paris. I really want to go to Paris while I am in Europe, but I also want to have a fullfilling experience in Italy. This is going to be our only trip to Europe until we retire as we are thinking about starting a family next year, so we want to make the most of it!

I was just researching some hotels in Rome last night and some of them are already sold out! I am getting really nervous that I have to start booking things soon. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks!!!
Ally

jamikins

I would highly recommend skipping Paris and saving it for another time. It will take a bit of time getting there which is not really worth it for 2 nights. Remember 2 nights only = 1 day. Each time you move you eat up time, I always estimate 1/2 day to checking out, getting to the station/airport, traveling, and then doing it all over again at the other end before you can even go out and enjoy yourself.

I wouldnt add another location either, I would add another 2 nights to Rome (if you are coming from N. America or somewhere on a long haul flight you will likely be jetlagged). And then another night to Venice that would have been the overnight train.

Most newbies try to fit in too much assuming they will never be back and end up trying to do too much and spend alot of time in transit rather than enjoying the location they are in.

Happy Planning!

jamikins

PS - I bet once you travel to Europe you wont wait until you retire to get back! You will be planning your trip to Paris on the flight home!

AllyG3

Thanks jamikins!

I was thinking that Paris might be a little too much as well. So, while I am staying in Rome, do you think I should take a small day trip to the Almalfi coast? or, just stay in Rome?
Also, I am a little confused on how to get to these small day trips (Siena, Pisa, Almalfi). I am from N.America, so I'm not sure if I could rent a car. Would taking the bus be my best option? or do I have to do day excursions?

Does this look right? and will these excursions be really costly?
Rome --> Almalfi (day excursion)
Florence --> Siena (day wine excursion)
Florence --> Pisa (train)

Myer

Other than the daytrips to Siena & Pisa you've planned all cities.

I think you can get a taste of both Siena & San Gimignano the same day as they're not far apart.

Are you going to rent a car? There are those who will insist that you cannot go anywhere without a car. I was in Tuscany with my wife in June 2010. We have never rented a car in Europe.

Yes, it is limiting and there are places you cannot visit. But if you plan carefully (train and bus service in Italy are good) you can do a lot.

I'm not sure why you selected Pisa but with some care that daytrip can easily include Lucca. We did that and enjoyed walking thru the town. We then rented bikes and made a circle around the town on its wall.

As to Pisa, our only interest was to spend a bit of time in the area of the Leaning Tower. If you want to spend a lot of time in Pisa that's one thing.

Most people get off at the Pisa Centrale station. It's quite a long walk from there or you can take a bus.

I found out that there's a little known train station (Pisa San Rossore) that's 5 minutes past the main station. Not all trains stop there but I believe the 9:53 train from Florence does. Check the train schedule.

It's a very small station and in fact you don't even go inside. About half a dozen people will get off there. It's a 5 minute walk to the Leaning Tower. You can spend your time there and walk back to the same spot you got off the train and get onto the Lucca train there. Again, print out the train schedule so you know how much time you have.

On another topic. If you've never been to Europe or almost any area, it's tempting to think that this is your opportunity of a lifetime. Once in a lifetime.

I've done that several times and things and priorities change.

In 2007 I went on "my trip to the Southwest (US)". I have since been back to Utah twice more and expect to be there again.

Europe isn't any different.

But, Rome, Florence, Venice and Paris are a good start.

jamikins

The Amalfi Coast is doable but its a LONG day and there is so much to see in Rome I personally wouldnt do it. If you do want to you can take the train from Rome Termini to Naples and then another train called I think the Circumsuviana (commuter train) to Pompeii and Sorrento. From there you still need to get to the towns on the Amalfi Coast and back. If budget is no object you could look into a private driver. A more realistic daytrip would be Pompeii and Sorrento as they are not as far. To me this has never been worth it for a few hours on the Amalfi Coast when there is so much to see. The transport links just make it too much of a hassle for me and can get $$.

Siena is an easy day trip from Florence by bus (if you do a search here you should find more info) and Pisa is an easy train ride. If you want to do wineries just keep in mind they arent like N American ones where you can just walk up and do a tasting. Many require reservations etc so maybe look into an organised tour from Florence for the day. You could also search for that here.

Hope this helps!

njswyo

My sister and I just did a trip to Athens, Rome, Florence and towns in between for 2 1/2 weeks. We flew from Athens to Rome and then rented a car and had a ball. We also did 3 night in Rome which for the first time, I think is enough to get a taste of the city. If you can afford, I would highly recommend a private tour of the Vatican if it is important for you to see. What an experience we had as we were in the Sistine Chapel with about 10 other people before the masses came in!! I have the name of a wonderful guide Suzi who has lived in Rome for years but happens to be from Chicago. We walked so much on this trip that we literally went through 2 pairs of shoes. We then rented a car and drove from Rome to Florence stopping at Assisi for the day and then driving to Cortona and spending the night there. After visiting Cortona, we drove to Siena, spent the night at a great place within walking distance and in hindsight, would have spent one more night at Siena as it''s hard to see in a day. From Siena, we drove through wine country on the way to Florence. We stopped at a small town Greve-in-Chianti and sent home wine and olive oil!. Off to Florence, we spent 3 or 4 nights there. I love Florence and you can do many day trips from there. Have not been to Pisa but if you're only going to see the tower, I would skip it and visit one of the other towns on the way to Florence or do a day trip to wine country, a cooking class or something like that. Do not miss the markets in Florence especially the food market. On another trip, we spent 3 nights in Paris, not enough but in the summer it may be so busy you wait in line a lot. Don't forget to get your tickets to museums online or at least have your hotel get them. Saves so much time. Uffizi is a must for that and if you go to Paris, so is the Lourvee, Threre are other entrances to the Louvre which at Christmas time was packed and no one was going in the other entrances.

jamikins

Here is a good thread about doing a day trip to Pompei:
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...n-a-budget.cfm

And you can check train schedules at www.trenitalia.it

StCirq

I would skip Paris. It's not worth the journey there for the time you'll have and if you take an overnight train you may not get much or any sleep.

I would add the days to Rome. I would not do the Amalfi Coast.

Being from North America does not prevent you from renting a car anywhere in the world. I would highly recommend renting one to see the Tuscan countryside - unless all you want to do is stay in big cities.

You will almost certainly figure out how to get back to Europe. Practically everyone gets smitten and returns. So don't try to cram too much into this trip. There is MORE than enough to savor in just a few venues.

Mimar

Are you arriving after a long overnight flight? If so, you need to allow a day or 2 at the beginning of your trip to get over jetlag. Not the whole day, just lessen the intensity of your sightseeing.

I would skip the Amalfi coast this trip. It's too much trouble to get there and get back. You could better use extra days in Rome and/or Venice.

Paris is the obvious outlier. But, if I understand you correctly, you will have at least 2 full days in Paris. Maybe it's worth it to you. Trip-planning is like dieting. You're always having to give up something you really like.

If you decide against Paris, consider flying into Venice and out of Rome. That allows you to get over jet lag in Venice, where wandering around in a daze is appropriate sightseeing. And insures you'll be alert for Rome.

AllyG3

wow...thanks so much for the replies! I am definitely a newbie at this so I need all the help I could get! I was thinking about Pisa mainly for the leaning tower...but, if Lucca is nicer, than maybe I don't need to waste time in Pisa.
I don't know how renting a car would work since I am from another country. Wouldn't I need to get an international drivers license, or something similar?
I think you guys are right...that I will probably want to go back to Europe! I am going to take Paris off the list and just stay in Italy. So here is the new itinerary....

Rome - 5 nights
Florence - 4 nights: day excursion at the wineries in Siena, and train to Pisa/Lucca
Venice - 3 nights

Maybe I will take off Almalfi as jamikins suggested being that it will use up a lot of travel time.

So, am I hitting all the right areas? Is Siena the place to go for a wine tour?

AllyG3

Yes, I am flying from N.America, so it will be a long overnight flight into Italy. I have read on other forums that it is best to fly into Venice, is that because there isn't much site-seeing?
So, maybe I could rent a car once I get to Florence? Where do you normally pick up a car rental...at the train station?

bobthenavigator

I like it--much better trip.
Consider the reverse if your Venice flight is very early.
Hire a driver for your Siena/ wine tour day.

jamikins

The reason for Venice first is that its smaller and more manageable for some than Rome, which can be quite intense...but more importantly the flights out of Venice back to N. America are very early, making getting to the airport difficult. So if you fly into Venice and out of Rome you eliminate that issue!

Your new itinerary is MUCH better Renting a car is easy - to drive in Italy you do need an international driving permit, but this costs about $15 and you can get it from any AA outlet, just bring in a passport pic. Its really just a translation of your drivers license and is required for Italy. Check out www.autoeurope.com to get an idea of prices. This is a wholesaler but generally the cars you end up booking are from major rental places like Europcar or Hertz.

Myer

About Pisa and Lucca.

when I originally checked the train schedules, it wasn't any better going directly to Lucca instead of making a stop in Pisa.

By stopping at San Rossore station we didn't waste much time getting to the Tower. We spent about an hour or so there.

The 9:53 train from Florence goes to San Rossore without any transfers. It arrives at 11:14.

There's a train from Pisa San Rossore at 12:25 and 12:55. It's a 20 minute ride to Lucca. No changes.

Then there are 2 or 3 an hour returning to Florence from Lucca until about 8:30PM. It's about 1.5 hours to get back to Florence. Many of these trains don't require a transfer.

Buying train tickets in Florence is very easy. There are ticket machines in the main station (SMN). You can select English and they take credit cards.

You enter where you're starting from and where you're going.

For small places I would buy the tickets in Florence before leaving. That would be for the train from Pisa to Lucca.

The return from Lucca is probably ok to buy it in Lucca but once you're buying tickets in Florence you can buy the return as well.

isabel

I agree with the others about skipping Paris this trip, and also about starting in Venice and ending in Rome. Venice is just more laid back, better for your first taste of Italy,and then Rome at the end, when you are 'used to Italy'. I also agree that a day trip to the Amalfi Coast from Rome is not worth the time and trouble for the amount of time you'd have there. However, if you want a taste of Italian coastal towns you could do a couple of nights in the Cinque Terre Region. It is quite close to Florence and I think would give you a taste of something different. I think it's more interesting than Pisa.

I would do 2 nights Venice; 3 nights Florence with a day trip to Siena; 2 nights Cinque Terra (or somewhere in that region); 5 nights Rome (with a day trip to Orvietto).

All of this is very doable by train (except the day trip to Siena is better by bus). While renting a car is not hard you really don't need it for the things you want to see and then you don't have to worry about parking, driving, getting lost, etc. Trains in Italy are so much better than in the US - they go everywhere, are reasonably priced and frequent.

AllyG3

Thanks again everybody for all your suggestions!!! You have been a tremendous help!

isabel - thanks for your suggestion of visiting Cinque Terra, it seems to be really popular place to visit. I'll have to do a little more research on the place.

Myer

Since Cinque Terre has been brought up.

Let me expand on what we did.

We started going to Pisa and Lucca as I described above.

Instead of returning to Florence we took the train to La Spezia (at the start of Cinque Terre), checked into our hotel (we kept our hotel room in Florence and only took with a small backpack) and took a short local train to Riomaggiore (a few minutes) to see the sunset and have dinner.

The next day we took the train again to Riomaggiore, hiked to Manarola and Corniglia and then back to Manarola (Corniglia doesn't have a marina).

We then took a boat to Porto Venere, wandered around for a while before bussing back to La Spezia to pick up our backpack and train back to Florence.

A great 2 days.

Myer

If you want to see photos of a lot of these places you can visit my web site:

www.travelwalks.com

Select the 2010 Tuscany trip (I know Cinque Terre isn't in Tuscany).

AllyG3

Myer - thanks for your advice and the pics! you certainly took gorgeous pictures! But, after a little research on Cinque Terre I found that the area has been heavily hit in Oct 2011 by flooding and a lot of the surrounding areas were distroyed and/or need major repair. I am a little nervous going there now because some of the trails have been closed down due to this incident.