Rome, Florence, Venice, Milan - How many days?
 

Hi guys

We will be visiting Italy in May 2010 and this will be the first time we're travelling to Europe (from Australia) so we have absolutely no idea of what we will be expecting.

We are planning for a holiday trip to Italy for approximately 17 days before heading to London. So the cities in Italy that we are planning to visit in particular order are:

1) Rome - we will arrive in Rome first from Dubai
2) Florence
3) Venice
4) Milan - our last stop before we fly to London

I am interested in herritage buildings, sceneries, cultural and the people. To elaborate on that, I love taking photographs of old buildings and sceneries and also the local people and culture. I have very little interest in art (but still would want to appreciate them since I am in Italy where art is big).

I love nature photography but because my wife is coming along, I don't think I would be able to travel out to the country side so we will be mainly stay around the city itself. I also need to reserve at least a few days in Milan for my wife to shop around.

Also, is it worth visitig Pisa just to have a look at the leaning tower or should we just skip that? I don't really want to visit Pisa if the only attractions there is the tower.

In terms of transportation, what is the best way for me to travel to the different cities in Italy (e.g. Bus/Train/etc)? And how do I go about arranging the transportation when I am there?

Thanks, hope to hear some response soon

Hi - you will get many more replies if you re-post this on the Europe board, and tag it Italy. Have you spent any time with guidebooks? I use the bigger ones with lots of pictures to plan trips, and then take ones with few pictures but lots of info on transport and restaurants with me.

Why do you think you can't visit the countryside? If you are going to be in Milan you will be very close to the lakes - in fact you could visit between Venice and Milan. I loved Lake Maggiore, and people rave about Lake Como.

If you are not visiting the Tuscan countryside you should travel by train - see bahn.de or trenitalia.it for schedules.

Hi thursdaysd

Thanks for your suggestion I have re-post this in the Europe board.

Hi there,
From experience this is the min. amount of time to spend in each city.
1) Rome - 3/4 days. Much bigger than one expects so research your time well. There are so many areas. Use metro, public buses but taxis at night.
2) Florence - max 2 days. A small city but a trip in Chianti area that surrounds Florence is amazing.
3) Venice - max 2 days. Two days in Venice and you have seen most of it. But its a great place to just take it slow and walk so take advantage of your slow time here.
4) Milan - 2/3 days - mig hectic city but very much alive. Depending on what interests you 2 days would be enough to see the main attractions. Food is good, its easy to move around on foot.

I would get to all of these cities via train. Go onto www.trenitalia.com, register and buy your tickets online. The Eurostar is the fastest (frecciarossa even faster).

Hope this helps!

Ciao

"Two days in Venice and you have seen most of it." - funny, I spent six days and could easily have stayed longer.

I love Venice so find the 2 days is plenty comment very funny. I could easily spend the entire 17 days only there!
-suze

These are just my suggestions. I live in Italy and wouldnì't we all want to send endless days in these amazing cities, I was simply giving some go from here help... with 17 days one can do what they want.

I've spent nine weeks in Venice, and I'm returning in November for another seven weeks.

"Two days and you've seen most of it" is rather selling Venice short, I'd say.