Traveling to Northern Italy, without a car
 

Hello fellow, travelers,
My friend and I are planning a trip to Italy next September or October. I have a tentative itinerary in mind, but I would love to have the experts opinion on it.
My friend and I are in our 70s and prefer not to drive. I have been to Italy before and have seen Florence, Cinque Terre, Rome, and the Amalfi coast. My friend has never been to Italy, but she has made it clear that she would prefer to stay out of the big cities. She loves to hike and explore. I would like to have a balance of activities so that we are both enjoying ourselves. My tentative plans are to fly into Milan and head straight to Lake Como for 2 nights. From there, I thought we would head to the Cinque Terre, to spend 4 nights and do plenty of hiking. After that, I would like to spend 2 nights in Lucca before we head home. I'm hoping we can fly home from Pisa but we may have to take the train to Florence a flight home. I am often accused of trying to see too much in a vacation. Is this itinerary too ambitious? Will the weather likely be suitable in late September or early October for hiking and exploring these towns? I know we are hitting touristy areas but feel like we don't have a choice without renting a car.
Thank you in advance for any and all suggestions.

You don't mention where you're flying to but Pisa is a bigger airport with more flights.

Yes weather can be an issue for hiking. Not an issue for cities.

Is it too much? Once you factor in travel likely.

Not all the hikes at 5T are easy with some tough ones included, are you both up to them?

Alternatively you could fly to Verona and take the train to Padova and then walk up the gentle slopes of the Colli Euganei with nice views over the Med. Then fly back from Venice. This would be all new to you and a little different. There is a spa between the peak of the CE and Padova which might help reduce the aches and pains.

Don't feel that you have to visit well touristed places just because you plan to use local transport. Many places are accessible by bus or train, especially if content with infrequent services sometimes.

For your plans, I don't think I would head north from Milan and then south. With so little time that doesn't make a lot of sense to me. If you've been to Cinque Terre before you might prefer to visit another location on the Ligurian coast.

Thank you for your reply. I appreciate your input.
B

That is a great idea. My son goes to Finale Ligure regularly and loves it there. I will look into towns closer to Genoa.
Thank you for your suggestion .
B

I love this idea. I am looking at train routes right now. Thank you so much for the suggestion.
B

I love this idea. I am looking into train routes now. Thank you very much for this suggestion.
B

Lake Como has more hiking and more diverse "other activities" than the Cinque Terre, but you can't see/do much if you only spend 2 nights there (possibly jet-lagged?). If you spent more time there, from Varenna (mid-Lake Como), you could take a day trip by train to St. Moritz. It's several hours on the train, but there is some beautiful scenery.

With only 8 nights to work with, I'd spend them in two places with the last night near the departure airport.

A few FYIs:

September and October are still very much high season in terms of tourist crowds.

The transfer from Varenna to, say, Ravenna, takes about 5 hours. Unless you're staying in Como town, you'd likely need to add up to an hour. And then the transfer from, say, Ravenna to Lucca takes another 4 hours. In a short-ish trip, that's a lot of time lost in transit.

IMO, the CT always feels more crowded than other places. No exception on the trails, train platforms, ferry docks...

Jean, where did Ravenna come from? I didn't see it mentioned previously.

BTMurdock, if you are able to find more time, there are a million places to enjoy in the area. You have picked three lovely but very popular spots so going somewhere quieter might be nice.

LOL. Ravenna... I'd like to say it was auto-correct, but it was just a brain freeze. Replace with any Cinque Terre town name.

I agree withe suggestion of 2 bases as it will probably be a case of less is more, particularly without a car. Does your friend have any part of Italy on her bucket list that you you might want to consider? Assuming that she genuinely does not and you need to fly into Milan, I would opt for one of the less touristy / crowded lakes. One option could be a combination of Turin and Lake Orta. However if you want potentially better weather, perhaps you should consider Lake Garda and Padua.

Thank you for all of the input. Lake Garda and Verona sound like good alternatives. I'll have to look into airfares. I know that flights from Seattle to Milan or Florence are a lot less expensive. Whatever we decide, I think that visiting 2 areas would be best.

Have a look at Lake Maggiore which is close to MXP and you could easily end there and take the train to the airport. Turin is a fabulous city, with good transportation and not crowded at all. We loved Lake Orta, really small and beautiful. Not sure how you get there without a car though. Genoa is a great base and you can easily do day trips to various towns on the coast. CT is a zoo! And since you have already been, I would consider skipping it. Dont sell Milan short -- lots to see and do there. With 8 nights I would stick to just 3 places tops. You could easily do Milan, Lake Maggiore and Turin and have a fabulous trip. Are you coming from the West Coast? If so, dont forget about jet lag. Staying a couple nights in Milan (2 nights) upon arrival might work well to recover from jet lag, then go to Turin for 3 nights and end in Lake Maggiore where you could go straigt to MXP on your final day. Lots of options fo ryou --Italy has so much to see.

You can do Milan-Turin-Orta-Milan by train with a change in Novara both from Turin and to Milan (or vice versa). Staying in Stresa or Pallanza on Lake Maggiore instead is a more direct route from Milan, but not from Turin.

for rapid planning you can use rome2rio (but don't trust the results it just gives you a rough plan very easily.

trenitalia (switch the flag is British for English) is the bees-knees and use seat61.com to check concepts etc

Not sure if you have moved on from the Cinque Terre or not, but here is a site that provides some info on current trail status: https://www.cinqueterre.eu.com/en/ci...rent-situation

September and October likely would bring rain that might change the conditions on the trails and lead to more closures. Some of the alternative suggestions posted by others may be a safer bet.

In Lake Orta we stayed at one of their apts and loved it Right on the Piazza and free parking a 5 minute walk away.
https://www.ortaparadise.com/orta-paradise-26

Thank you for this info

Thank you for this info. That is a lovely apartment!