dutto11

We are Americans visiting Munich to see relatives. We are taking this opportunity to see Italy. We will book multi-city Airfare and fly into Venice. My question, where should we fly out of? Rome has the cheapest airfares, followed by Tuscanny.
1.We train from Venice to Turin (or maybe Bologna), Italian Riviera (Rapallo), Piza, then fly out of Rome.
2. Train from Venice to Italian Riviera (Rapallo), then Pisa, then fly out of Rome.
3. Train from Venice to Tuscanny then Rome.
We fly into Venice April 19th and out of ?? on April 29th. I really want to see the Italian Riviera, Pisa and Venice. Everything else is a bonus. We hope to take day trips from a base either in Tuscanny or the Italian Riviera. I just read that the shoud of Turin will be in Turin while we are in Italy, so that might not be the best time to visit the city. But Turin or Bologna sound interesting. Any suggestions?

zeppole

I think it's probably a false economy to look at this from the perspective of which departure point is cheapest.

What airport in Tuscany are you talking about?

You really want to see the Italian Riviera, Pisa and Venice. So option 3 already looks like something you don't want to do.

dutto11

Hi Zeppole, you find me where ever I go. I could take day trips to the Riviera from Florence or Pisa in option 2, right? But you are right, my husband and I both like option 2, because we are not familiar with Turin, except my husband wants to take a day trip to the Alps from Turin. So is there more to see? We would fly out of Florence, but there are more flights out of Rome and gives us more flexibility. We only mention expense, because at some point the night train is cheaper. Sometimes getting to the airport, security, etc is not really a time saver. I don't know why I mentioned the difference in price between Rome and Florence, because it is more of flexibility and availability.

dutto11

P.S. I forgot to change the title after I created the post. My title doesn't make sense.

dutyfree

The shroud of Turin is there all of the time-but under lock and key in a church.

ellenem

Just verifying, you arrive in Venice on April 19 (versus fly from a U.S. city on April 19 and arrive on April 20). You depart for home on April 29. So that's 10 nights.

Here's how your choices break down:

1. Venice-Torino (Bologna)-Base for Rapallo/Pisa-Rome:
4 hotel locations in 10 days with three half-day train rides between destinations

2. Venice-Rapallo/stop at Pisa-Rome:
3 hotel locations in 10 days with two half-day train rides between destinations; perhaps see Pisa on the way to Rome.

3. Venice-Tuscany Base (lengthy daytrips to Rapallo/Pisa)-Rome:
3 hotel locations in 10 days with two half-day train rides between destinations plus lengthy daytrip train rides to see the actual places you really want to see.

I wold prefer 3 hotel locations in 10 days rather than 4. I recommend choice 2, since it includes what you really want to see and allows enough time to enjoy the locations considering the travel distance between them. Here's my suggestion:

Apr 19: arrive Venice
Apr 20: Venice
Apr 21: Venice
Apr 22: Train to Rapallo
Apr 23: Rapallo and environs
Apr 24: Rapallo and environs
Apr 25: early train to Pisa; train to Rome (YIKES! see below)***
Apr 26: Rome
Apr 27: Rome
Apr 28: Rome
Apr 29: fly home

**While I like this allotment of days, unfortunately April 25 is a huge holiday in Italy, so travel on that day, and perhaps the day following day, may be difficult. Even my itinerary may need to be shifted slightly.

dutto11

Thanks for everything...I just rearranged my trip. I moved it up to avoid April 25th.

zeppole

You cannot visit Firenze (Florence) as a day trip to from Rapallo. You can do it as a day trip from Pisa or Rome.

You can daytrip to Rapallo from Pisa.

You can day trip to the Alps from Torino (Turin), which has an amazing food, wine and chocolate scene, a marvelous cinema, Italy's best Egyptian museum, two car museums (one of which my not be open in April), and in general it is an unusual city.

http://www.hotelsearch.com/blog/10-reasons-visit-turin/

You are facing a long train trip from Venice to Rapallo, and another from Rapallo to Rome if you follow ellen's itinerary. If you don't like long train trips, You could spend 3 days in Venice, 2 in Turin, 2 in Rapallo and the rest in Pisa/Florence, then take the fast train from Florence to Rome for your last night, or fly out of Florence.

dutto11

Hi Zeppole, our flight from Rome is at 8:45 a.m. April 23 I would like to be in Rome at least the day before. Good link for Turin.

dutto11

Well, I was in New York for a week and all work on my iteniary stopped. I still do not know what we are doing between Venice and Rome. We have a hotel in Venice for three nights, since we get in to Venice at 2 p.m. we want a decompression day. We have a room in Rome for 2 nights. We leave early in the morning, so we will not see anything on our fly day. I am leaning towards Florence as a base, if we can get lodging at this late date. How is Pisa as a base?

mamcalice

FLorence is a much better base than Pisa. Not only is it more centrally located for day trips to Tuscan towns and Pisa but there is much more to see and do in Florence. For a first trip to Italy, I would start in Venice, move to Florence and finally to Rome. Rapallo is fine but, in addition to being out of the way, it is not on my "top 50" places to see in Italy. In April, it is likely to be cool and windy.

dutto11

thank you mamcalice, I am leaning towards this and have scouted out hotels in Florence. I found two hotels with good reviews; Alba Palace Hotel and Hotel Palazzuolo, both near the train station.