Vacation Help - Rome/Tuscany
May 31st, 2008, 11:28 AM
#41
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TuckH and KyBourbon, you are both right but we aren't sure where you would pick up a car in Rome when we hear it is traffic chaos. What do you think?
Then if we did that, we would want to keep the car to see Tuscany and then SML, Positano and CT. We would then return the car in Florence.
Your thoughts please. You are right. It is backtracking. Where would be a good base location in Tuscany and how many days do you think we'd need in this scenario. We were hoping to stay in one spot and then see the places you mention, Montelpucciano and the Chianti area.
Appreciate your interest in helping out.
Then if we did that, we would want to keep the car to see Tuscany and then SML, Positano and CT. We would then return the car in Florence.
Your thoughts please. You are right. It is backtracking. Where would be a good base location in Tuscany and how many days do you think we'd need in this scenario. We were hoping to stay in one spot and then see the places you mention, Montelpucciano and the Chianti area.
Appreciate your interest in helping out.
May 31st, 2008, 11:42 AM
#42
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If driving out of Rome bothers you (it should), train to Orvieto, see the beautiful town and cathedral, rent the car and off you go. Make a stop in nearby Civita di Bagnoregio.
For a base, I'd choose Montalcino in the Val d'Orcia. You can reach San G, Volterra, Siena, etc within an hour from there. The other option is San G. reaching the Val d'Orcia area in an hour. You could allocate your 4 nights to either spot. I'd return the car in Pisa.
San G. has an advantage over Montalcino in that you could daytrip into Florence (by bus) from there or a nearby town, say Poggibonsi. You could also reach Chianti from there so - San Gimignano it is, for 6 nights (4 for Tuscany and 2 for Florence).
For a base, I'd choose Montalcino in the Val d'Orcia. You can reach San G, Volterra, Siena, etc within an hour from there. The other option is San G. reaching the Val d'Orcia area in an hour. You could allocate your 4 nights to either spot. I'd return the car in Pisa.
San G. has an advantage over Montalcino in that you could daytrip into Florence (by bus) from there or a nearby town, say Poggibonsi. You could also reach Chianti from there so - San Gimignano it is, for 6 nights (4 for Tuscany and 2 for Florence).
May 31st, 2008, 12:13 PM
#43
Train to either Orvieto or Chiusi and pick up the rental car. Maybe stop in Montepulciano on your way to spend a night or two in the Pienza/Siena area. Stop at San G on your way to CT/SML area. From there head to Florence, dropping the car in Pisa on the way (if you want to see the tower and it's easier than driving in Florence). From Florence ?
May 31st, 2008, 12:13 PM
#44
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Byron:
Your last post said:
Rome 4 nights
Florence 3
Tuscany 3
SML 3
?
That's 13 nights. But you said you want to keep it to 14 total. If you include Venice, are you changing the above, and then flying out of Milan instead of Pisa?
Your last post said:
Rome 4 nights
Florence 3
Tuscany 3
SML 3
?
That's 13 nights. But you said you want to keep it to 14 total. If you include Venice, are you changing the above, and then flying out of Milan instead of Pisa?
May 31st, 2008, 03:50 PM
#46
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You can fly to the U.S. out of Venice. It's not ideal, as the flights are usually very early. Flying out of Milan complicates things. On the other hand, if you really want to add Venice, that's an entirely different itinerary...you could fly into Venice, out of Rome and make changes in the middle of the trip.
But I really like the itinerary you've been working on. About the car, do you feel you need it in SML? If not, you could do:
Rome
Tuscany (car)
Florence (turn in car)
SML
Pisa
Regarding Tuscany: If you'll only have 3 nights, I suggest staying in southern Tuscany and concentrating on the Val D'Orcia. You could stop in San Gim on the way to Florence. Save Chianti for another trip. You'll have plenty to see/do with only 3 days. (Personally, I would take 1 of the Florence nights and make Tuscany 4 nights.)
But I really like the itinerary you've been working on. About the car, do you feel you need it in SML? If not, you could do:
Rome
Tuscany (car)
Florence (turn in car)
SML
Pisa
Regarding Tuscany: If you'll only have 3 nights, I suggest staying in southern Tuscany and concentrating on the Val D'Orcia. You could stop in San Gim on the way to Florence. Save Chianti for another trip. You'll have plenty to see/do with only 3 days. (Personally, I would take 1 of the Florence nights and make Tuscany 4 nights.)
May 31st, 2008, 04:31 PM
#47
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Jeanne, see initially we were thinking taking the train from Rome to Florence and then when done there we would get a car and Tuscany and drive to SML and get rid of the car at Rapallo and just do the train and bus for that area of Portofino and CT. But then you guys made a good point about Rome and getting the car from there.
You are right - maybe save Venice for next time but I am not sure there will be a next time. We tend to always go to see a different country after our travels and never make it back.
I was thinking at one point as I reviewed the Chianti chats that maybe if we stayed in Chianti we could train or bus into Florence from for instance Castellina and use that as our base for 6 days. But my husband thinks we need to stay in Florence and experience Florence at night etc.
We are getting alot of good feedback from you guys that make us think about the best route.
Thanks again.
You are right - maybe save Venice for next time but I am not sure there will be a next time. We tend to always go to see a different country after our travels and never make it back.
I was thinking at one point as I reviewed the Chianti chats that maybe if we stayed in Chianti we could train or bus into Florence from for instance Castellina and use that as our base for 6 days. But my husband thinks we need to stay in Florence and experience Florence at night etc.
We are getting alot of good feedback from you guys that make us think about the best route.
Thanks again.
May 31st, 2008, 04:58 PM
#48
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If you <i>really are</i> taking the "we may never get back" approach...here's my 2 cents.
Go to Venice! It's beautiful and you'll never see anything else like it. You could fly into Venice, out of Rome:
---Venice 3 nights
---Chianti 6 nights
(or Florence 2/Tuscany 4)
---Rome 4 nights
If you want to combine Chianti/Florence, Castellina and Radda are both nice places to stay. It sounds to me like the better plan might be 2 nights in Florence, then the Val D'Orcia 4 nights. (Again, if you won't return, you'll want to see that area. Bella, bella!).
Go to Venice! It's beautiful and you'll never see anything else like it. You could fly into Venice, out of Rome:
---Venice 3 nights
---Chianti 6 nights
(or Florence 2/Tuscany 4)
---Rome 4 nights
If you want to combine Chianti/Florence, Castellina and Radda are both nice places to stay. It sounds to me like the better plan might be 2 nights in Florence, then the Val D'Orcia 4 nights. (Again, if you won't return, you'll want to see that area. Bella, bella!).
Jun 1st, 2008, 04:24 AM
#49
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Byron, allow me to remind you of some of your opening words...
"We want to enjoy the Italian lifestyle and don't always want to be on the rush."
The basic contradiction, as I see it, is that this will be your only visit to Italy and you have just 14 nights to accomplish this.
Italy has SO MANY treasures that it's worthy of more than one visit. If that's not possible, I certainly agree with Jeanne to add Venice but I do not agree about including Chianti at the expense of another location. OTOH, since time is so precious, I'd minimize the time wasted going from point to point. I'd also not go all the way up to Milan for the flight home - stick to your original idea of Pisa.
And - all things considered, I don't think it's important to spend nights in Florence.
The Bottom Line: Base your planning of this trip on the premise that you will indeed return to Italy - perhaps again and again...
"We want to enjoy the Italian lifestyle and don't always want to be on the rush."
The basic contradiction, as I see it, is that this will be your only visit to Italy and you have just 14 nights to accomplish this.
Italy has SO MANY treasures that it's worthy of more than one visit. If that's not possible, I certainly agree with Jeanne to add Venice but I do not agree about including Chianti at the expense of another location. OTOH, since time is so precious, I'd minimize the time wasted going from point to point. I'd also not go all the way up to Milan for the flight home - stick to your original idea of Pisa.
And - all things considered, I don't think it's important to spend nights in Florence.
The Bottom Line: Base your planning of this trip on the premise that you will indeed return to Italy - perhaps again and again...
Jun 1st, 2008, 08:58 AM
#50
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Agree. I wouldn't place that much emphasis on spending nights in Florence.
My preference in the above itinerary would be:
Early train from Venice, arrive in Florence by 11am. Leave luggage at Florence station storage area. See David, Ponte Vecchio, other sites.
Pick up car in late afternoon. (I'm assuming this is not winter when sun sets at 5pm) Drive to Montepulciano area for 5 nights. Add a night to Rome, making it total 5 nights.
My preference in the above itinerary would be:
Early train from Venice, arrive in Florence by 11am. Leave luggage at Florence station storage area. See David, Ponte Vecchio, other sites.
Pick up car in late afternoon. (I'm assuming this is not winter when sun sets at 5pm) Drive to Montepulciano area for 5 nights. Add a night to Rome, making it total 5 nights.
Jun 1st, 2008, 09:36 AM
#51
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I just found out another level of complexity. We're flying with BA. The Toronto flights fly into Heathrow. Heathrow flies only to Milan and Rome. Other locations, such as Pisa and Venice fly into Gatwick. So that might help you understand some of our thinking.
What we were now thinking is getting a car at SML after we have completed our three nights and drive to Venice and get rid of the car and stay two nights in Venice and then train to Milan. Does that make sense?
We now think we need to look at 16 days.
Jeanne and Tuck, thank so much. I really want to see the SML and CT area. Everyone seems to talk about the beauty of this area. We were going to either take the train from SML to the CT and/or one way on the ferry to see the view.
What we were now thinking is getting a car at SML after we have completed our three nights and drive to Venice and get rid of the car and stay two nights in Venice and then train to Milan. Does that make sense?
We now think we need to look at 16 days.
Jeanne and Tuck, thank so much. I really want to see the SML and CT area. Everyone seems to talk about the beauty of this area. We were going to either take the train from SML to the CT and/or one way on the ferry to see the view.
Jun 1st, 2008, 09:54 AM
#52
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I'm confused - is Rome, Tuscany and Florence now out?
There's redundancy in SML and CT - do one or the other.
A day is lost driving to Venice. More time is lost with a train to Milan. The airport - Malpensa - is way outside Milan so you'd have to find your way there. If you're going to leave via Malpensa, turn the car in there and avoid the city of Milan entirely.
There's redundancy in SML and CT - do one or the other.
A day is lost driving to Venice. More time is lost with a train to Milan. The airport - Malpensa - is way outside Milan so you'd have to find your way there. If you're going to leave via Malpensa, turn the car in there and avoid the city of Milan entirely.
Jun 1st, 2008, 10:29 AM
#53
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Tuck, no we are not dropping those cities. We seem to still be thinking the following:
Fly into Rome from Heathrow. Stay 4 nights.
Then we have two choices at this point. 1) Train to Florence. Stay 3 nights. Then get the car when leaving Florence and do Tuscany for 4 days. In these 4 days make sure we see Pisa, Siena, Val d'Orcia. We know we are back tracking a bit but it doesn't seem like much backtracking. Then drive to SML and drop the car off. Stay 3 nights. See Portofino and CT. We would at this point either train from SML to Milan and stay one night to see a bit of Milan and fly out the next day to Heathrow direct and off to Toronto. That makes 15 days. OR after SML, we thought we'd get a car again and drive to Venice and see some countryside and drop the car off and stay two nights. This makes the trip 16 days (if we fly out of Venice to Gatwick) or 17 days as we would
go to Milan for one night and fly the following day to Heathrow and then to Toronto.
OR based on the suggestions we received from you guys consider the following after Rome:
2) We know you guys say to take the car from Rome or Orvieta. So after the 4 nights in Rome, then do 4 nights in Tuscany (Val d'Orcia, Siena, Pisa) and drive up through San Gimignano and make our way to SML. Turn in the car and stay 3 nights. See Portofino and CT. Then we thought we would get a car again and drive to Florence vs the Milk Run Train in order to get there and spend 3 nights. After that, we have two choice: 1. go by train to Milan and stay one night and fly out of Milan the next day to Heathrow or 2. fly from Florence to Gatwick and shuttle to Heathrow.
I hope this makes sense.
Maybe Venice just needs to be the next trip to Italy and include Lake Como. Maybe we are trying to do too much. We are willing to go up to around 16 days.
Now I know why we start thinking and planning a year in advance to ensure we book things to our liking.
Sorry for any confusion guys.
Fly into Rome from Heathrow. Stay 4 nights.
Then we have two choices at this point. 1) Train to Florence. Stay 3 nights. Then get the car when leaving Florence and do Tuscany for 4 days. In these 4 days make sure we see Pisa, Siena, Val d'Orcia. We know we are back tracking a bit but it doesn't seem like much backtracking. Then drive to SML and drop the car off. Stay 3 nights. See Portofino and CT. We would at this point either train from SML to Milan and stay one night to see a bit of Milan and fly out the next day to Heathrow direct and off to Toronto. That makes 15 days. OR after SML, we thought we'd get a car again and drive to Venice and see some countryside and drop the car off and stay two nights. This makes the trip 16 days (if we fly out of Venice to Gatwick) or 17 days as we would
go to Milan for one night and fly the following day to Heathrow and then to Toronto.
OR based on the suggestions we received from you guys consider the following after Rome:
2) We know you guys say to take the car from Rome or Orvieta. So after the 4 nights in Rome, then do 4 nights in Tuscany (Val d'Orcia, Siena, Pisa) and drive up through San Gimignano and make our way to SML. Turn in the car and stay 3 nights. See Portofino and CT. Then we thought we would get a car again and drive to Florence vs the Milk Run Train in order to get there and spend 3 nights. After that, we have two choice: 1. go by train to Milan and stay one night and fly out of Milan the next day to Heathrow or 2. fly from Florence to Gatwick and shuttle to Heathrow.
I hope this makes sense.
Maybe Venice just needs to be the next trip to Italy and include Lake Como. Maybe we are trying to do too much. We are willing to go up to around 16 days.
Now I know why we start thinking and planning a year in advance to ensure we book things to our liking.
Sorry for any confusion guys.
Jun 1st, 2008, 10:45 AM
#54
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I like:
a) Your Option 2
b) "fly from Florence to Gatwick and shuttle to Heathrow."
c) "Maybe Venice just needs to be the next trip to Italy and include Lake Como. Maybe we are trying to do too much."
a) Your Option 2
b) "fly from Florence to Gatwick and shuttle to Heathrow."
c) "Maybe Venice just needs to be the next trip to Italy and include Lake Como. Maybe we are trying to do too much."
Jun 2nd, 2008, 02:36 PM
#57
ok Byron, here's the rub - you jsut can't do all you think you want to do and have a relaxing holiday.
can't be done.
do you really think that you might not return to Italy? ever?
if that's the case, i suggest you pick the 3 places you REALLY want to see, and arrange your itinerary around them.
otherwise, plan on the basis that you will come back and do the other bits, and try to make your life as easy as possible.
as Rome and Milan are the easiest airports for you, it makes sense to use them and plan your travel accordingly ie to travel between Milan and rome. leave other places for another time when your airport opportunities amy be different.
Here's what I would do in your position:
fly into Milan - train to CT. stay 4 nights. recover from jetlag, adjust to italy, etc.
from CT, rent car, drive to San Gim, stay 6 nights.
drive to Orvieto, return car, stay one night.
train to Rome, stay 5 nights.
now you will have your "italy legs" and have a beter chance of coping with it.
go home, not needing another holiday.
regards, ann
can't be done.
do you really think that you might not return to Italy? ever?
if that's the case, i suggest you pick the 3 places you REALLY want to see, and arrange your itinerary around them.
otherwise, plan on the basis that you will come back and do the other bits, and try to make your life as easy as possible.
as Rome and Milan are the easiest airports for you, it makes sense to use them and plan your travel accordingly ie to travel between Milan and rome. leave other places for another time when your airport opportunities amy be different.
Here's what I would do in your position:
fly into Milan - train to CT. stay 4 nights. recover from jetlag, adjust to italy, etc.
from CT, rent car, drive to San Gim, stay 6 nights.
drive to Orvieto, return car, stay one night.
train to Rome, stay 5 nights.
now you will have your "italy legs" and have a beter chance of coping with it.
go home, not needing another holiday.
regards, ann
Jun 2nd, 2008, 06:03 PM
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If you haven't been confused enough, I'd like to put in my vote for including Venice.
I've been to Italy 3 times; twice we did Rome/Florence/Venice, and the third time it was Florence/Venice after a few days in Paris.
We're returning this summer to do a more relaxing itinerary with a flight into Venice, then a train to Florence to arrive by about 2:00 pm. We'll stay in Florence 3 nights, then drive to San Quirico 3 nights to use as a base for exploring the Val d'Orcia region. From there, we'll drive to Siena and stay 2 nights. I really wanted to stay in San Gimignano, so we added in 1 night there before driving to Venice to relax for 4 nights before flying home.
It's a bit busy, but we also try to cram in more than we should. I'd never miss Venice, though. It is sooo beautiful and we love being on the water in the summer.
I'd skip Milan rather than miss seeing Venice. BTW, we have a very nice flight back to PHL out of Venice: 11:35 a.m. on USAirways.
You're wise to plan a year ahead. It sounds like you'll have a wonderful time planning and traveling!
I've been to Italy 3 times; twice we did Rome/Florence/Venice, and the third time it was Florence/Venice after a few days in Paris.
We're returning this summer to do a more relaxing itinerary with a flight into Venice, then a train to Florence to arrive by about 2:00 pm. We'll stay in Florence 3 nights, then drive to San Quirico 3 nights to use as a base for exploring the Val d'Orcia region. From there, we'll drive to Siena and stay 2 nights. I really wanted to stay in San Gimignano, so we added in 1 night there before driving to Venice to relax for 4 nights before flying home.
It's a bit busy, but we also try to cram in more than we should. I'd never miss Venice, though. It is sooo beautiful and we love being on the water in the summer.
I'd skip Milan rather than miss seeing Venice. BTW, we have a very nice flight back to PHL out of Venice: 11:35 a.m. on USAirways.
You're wise to plan a year ahead. It sounds like you'll have a wonderful time planning and traveling!
