lenore29

Hi Everyone,

I will be travelling to Italy on 23 Sept -7th Oct and would like to seek your advise. You provide such detailed info and I hope you can help me with my planning too. Pls bear with me as I have so many questions:

I am travelling with my fiance and have come up with the following tentative itinerary. Travelling from Paris-Venice-Florence-Castellina in Chianti-San Gimignano-Siena-Rome-Sorrento-Capri-Anacapri-Amalfi Coast

1)How many days/nights should we allocate to each area?

2)Is it advisable to stay overnight in the Tuscan region (Castellina in Chianti/San Gimi/Siena)? We were thinking of just passing through as a day trip and have not decided.

3)We want to stay 1 or 2 nights in either Sorrento, Capri, Anacapri or Amalfi as we heard this has absolutely beautiful sea views. Which of the four do you recommend and any wonderful hotels with stunning view for EUR150-200?

4)Can anyone suggest the best way to travel through these regions? We were thinking of either trains or planes. If you could provide details this would be appreciated.

5)Can you pls recommend your preferred accomodations (hotels or B&B) that are clean, decent, with private toilet, and in very accessible & convenient location (EUR50-100max)

6)Do you suggest we take guided tours at any of the areas or is free and easy the way to go? If guided tours, pls suggest some affordable and reliable vendors.

7)I want to do the outlet tours just outside Florence. Anyone can recommend which is the best way-hire car and drive ourselves or hire driver or go with day tour group?

8)And lastly, I need to get back from my final stop (probably Amalfi/Capri/Sorrento) to London. What is the best way to travel back to London?

Thks for your patience to read through all my queries and we do appreciate any advise/tips on any/all of the above. Thank you.

Rgds,

Lenore

ira

Hi Lenore,

Well, your questions show that you have thought about this.

For Paris to Venice see http://web4.myair.com/docs/cust/en/index.shtml

I suggest 3-4 nights in Venice

Take a train from Venice to Florence.
www.trenitalia.com

2 nights in Florence

For Florence to Sorrento, you might want to rent a car.
See www.novarentacar and www.autoeurope.com.

3-4 nights in Tuscany

Leave Rome for after you have been to the Amalfi Coast.

5-6 nights for Sorrento and the AC. You might want to stay overnight on Capri.
You can get to Rome from Sorrento by taking the Circumvesuviana commuter train to Naples and then on to Rome (same station)

http://www.vesuviana.it/orari.htm

or if you will be on the eastern end of the coast, take the SITA bus to Salerno and the train from there.

Also see Helpful Information: Italy 2
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34568596

Enjoy your visit.

TuckH

IMO you are covering too much ground in too short a period (two weeks).

You said it yourself..."just passing through" and "travel through these regions"...

The answer to your first question (How many days/nights should we allocate to each area?) would appear to be this: ONE
You'll almost always be in transit from one place to the next.

Don't be in such a hurry to get the trip over and done with. Please slow it down so that you can enjoy yourselves.

Weadles

I totally agree with the previous poster. You've got two trips packed into one 14-night stay. Also distances in Italy are greater than you might think. For instance, most of Tuscany is a good 5-hour+ drive from the Amalfi Coast, so to only spend two days on the Amalfi Coast doesn't make much sense.

I'd recommend deciding which area you most want to visit this trip and revising your itinerary accordingly.

By the way, you can easily fly back to London from Naples.

Good luck with your plans!

suze

That's only 15 days and you've listed 11 places you want to visit! That's simply too much to be possible IMO.

1) I like 3-5 nights in each area.

2) Trains are good or possibly busses required for someplace like Amalfi Coast.

5) From your list I have been to Venice twice and Paris once. We stayed at only 3-star hotels but even they are more than your budget. I don't believe you will find many 50 euro hotel rooms convenient, accessible, clean, decent with private bath especially in places like Venice or Rome (in the countryside maybe).

8) I believe the best way back to London would be to fly on a European budget airlines.

ira

ttt

jal52

Lenore, I am traveling 23 Sept. to 8 October and am covering much less territory. We are going San Francisco to Rome, staying one night to meet up with my brother and his wife, renting a car and driving to Tuscany to spend 6 nights in a villa. Then we are driving to the Dolomites and spending 4 nights in Castelrotto, then driving to Venice and dropping off our car before staying 3 nights there.

I have also done a driving trip to France where we stayed 1-3 nights each location. It was a lot of fun, but we were in locations where the sightseeing was more limited and we did not have traveling companions.

If this is your first trip to Italy, I suggest you cut your itinerary down.

Jean

I suggest you leave Rome and points south for another trip. If you re-post with a revised itinerary, I think people will provide many helpful hotel and logistics info.