blacktaro

Hi everyone, my first post here.

I am currently planning a trip with my spouse to visit Europe later this November. My previous time visiting Italy were going in HOHO tour so I did not have much chance to go deep with each place. Thus, we are spending a large portion of this trip traveling ourselves this time.

My initial itinerary are as below:
Day 1: Landing in Paris early morning and spent a day there
Day 2,3,4,5,6: Taking HOHO tour visiting Paris -> Lucerne -> Venice -> Rome -> Florence
Day 6: Hop off tour at Florence and staying in this city
Day 7, 8, 9, 10, 11: Florence
Day 12,13,14,15,16: Fly back to Paris from Florence and stay there till my return flight.

The reason I am taking HOHO tour is my spouse has never been to Europe, so we both agree to have a quick sight seeing of major destinations which will be covered under this tour. Other than that, it is also a convenience way to travel from Paris to Florence - my favorite city in Europe of all.

My question would be:

1. Since I've never been to Italy on November, how should I expect the weather of Northern & Central Italy at that time of year?
2. Would 5 days be enough for Florence? I am planning to do some shopping of local craft (leathers work, jewelry) and also visiting several art museum (e.g: David statue, etc.).
3. I love the scenery of Tuscany so is it advisable to rent a car in Florence and driving around the region? (I have been driving in Southeast Asia - Vietnam for decades without any issue and I have IAA license)
4. Any other recommendation, suggestion on my planning of this trip from you guys would be highly appreciated!

Traveler_Nick

Autumn in Tuscany is rainy,cool and not the time to head out into the countryside. You can certainly go to any of the towns but unless you get lucky you won't find the landscape very nice.

I don't think you're going to see anything with a day in Paris, a day Lucerne -> Venice -> Rome . I'd really reconsider that.

Also if you mean this November I'd be checking what's available . Okay November is off season but this year is far busier than the past. You're going to find selection thinner than normal with the resulting higher prices.

blacktaro

Hi Nick,

Thanks much for the reply. Then I will stay around Florence and maybe visiting Sienna in that 5 days period.
Meanwhile, for Paris, I will spent the first day just wandering around and resting from the long flight. The main time in Paris will be day 12 -> day 15 of my trip, so in total I will have around 5 days in Paris.

Could you please help to elaborate more in "but this year is far busier than the past"? Does that mean there are a lot more people traveling Italy this November?

Traveler_Nick

So far this year the crowds have been pretty large in the major cities. Glancing at one of the booking sites Venice seems to have less empty rooms than normal for November. Florence doesn't look that bad. Rome looks busy.

Both Rome and Florence are big enough you'll find something even last minute but the choices in the past you'd have much more choice .

bilboburgler

Driving around Asia is not like driving around in a country with ZTLs. https://www.autoeurope.co.uk/travel-...to-avoid-them/
Nor is it like traveling in a high density train area.
Saying this, Tuscany has limited good public transport.
And, November can be a miserable time to drive around the countryside, though Climate Change does make it difficult to plan based on previous years (Sicily has raging fires at the moment in the middle of October which is just weird)

I'd plan on spending most of my time visiting cities and use the train to get around. Bring only carry on luggage and plan to visit Florence, Pisa, Lucca and then, only if you get bored take a bus to Siena. No need to hire a car, work out where to park it, pay the fine etc etc