Italy Itinerary

You are going to Italy and plan only "short day trips to Rome/Florence/Pisa". Why?

Nancy -

We've done this a couple of times and it works well.

Places like Lake Como and the Cinque Terre cannot be done with day trips - give those at least two nights each (remember - one night stays are just murder on any travel fun).

We rent a villa in Tuscany - right in the heart of Chianti between Florence and Siena - day trips are a snap - you can drive anywhere you want (I do not advise driving into Florence though - use the SITA bus). We rent Il Palagio in Panzano (www.infochianti.com) - a great villa - very clean, nicely appointed, fantastic pool and a breathtaking view. If you are going in the heart of the summer you'll appreciate the pool.

Panzano is a small village with some great restaurants and the most famous butcher in Tuscany. Very charming - that is why we keep returning.

Have fun!

I would say that you would need to stay in at least 3 different areas: Cinque Terre, Rome, and Tuscany. My rule of thumb is that if a place is more than a 2-hour train ride away and there's more that one day's worth of stuff to see, it's worth moving to that city. Check the Italian rail system's web site, www.trenitalia.com/en/index.html, to see how far apart are the different cities that you are interested in. BTW, Rome and Florence won't qualify for getting away from it all. They are great cities and well worth visiting, but they are cities, with the crowds that come with cities.

Italy is about the size of California. Would you stay in SF and plan day trips to LA and San Diego?

Oops - in response to the last two people, I guess I should have been clearer. We definitely intend to spend time in Florence/Rome/Pisa, but want to spend the majority of our trip outside of the large cities. I should have been clearer in my initial request. We are looking for suggestions as to staying in one place or moving around to 2-3 places, and would also like to hear from people as to where they stayed. Thanks.

Italy is intense, so be prepared to have some lag days. Our itinerary this year was this:

Arrive Rome
5 nights Rome, hit all the museums early, hired a guide.
Flight (Alitalia) FCO-VCE
3 nights Venice, slow paced, only went to one museum. This was nice because Venice is expensive and the city itself is a museum.
Train to Florence, rental car to small place near Florence.
7 nights in Tuscany, day trips and we liked staying outside of a city. It was a nice break to be woken up each morning by a rooster rather than cars. Favorites were Siena and Lucca.

Do NOT try and see everything, especially in Rome and Florence. It will kill your momentum and it'll see more like work than vacation. Italy is itself a cultural paradise and as long as you accept the lack of social order (and make sure you are not run over by a Vespa), you'll love it.

One more thing, if you rent a car, unless you drive stick in the states, get an automatic. Its spendy but worth it.

Dont forget Venice for 2-3 days.One thing to remember is that in most places the best time is in the evening when the day trippers leave.Staying in one place is handy but especially if driving part of the fun is traveling from place to place.2 nights in a place is best.

We did a month long trip to Italy in May of this year. It was wonderful. We are photographers and stayed in each of 3 places a while to photograph and took side trips.We flew into Venice-- what a nice little airport and easy to boat into Venice from there. Stayed 8 days. Really wandered all over the island. You will want to do this as San Marco Square is very touristy-very touristy. We went to Burano by boat- beautiful colored houses. The we rented a car in Venice and drove down to a wonderful castle on the historic register of Italy-- it overlooked Lake Trasimeno on the border on Tuscany and Umbria. Went to all the hilltowns and drove every where from our apartment in the castle. We were there 14 days-- then dropped the car off in La Spezia and took a train to the Cinque Terre- Stayed 1 week in Vernazza- went to all villages, took wonderful photos, hiked,etc. Then we trained to Pisa, stayed overnight, flew pisa to Rome and Rome to the U.S.A. Some people in the castle ever took the

train to Rome for the day and to Florence. We did not go everywhere, but liked having 3 places as homebases. Jane

Please don't forget Venice, one of my favortive cities in Italy. I would suggest:

3 nights Venice, add more days if you want to do day trips to Verona or the islands Murono and Burono.

6 nights Florence, from Florence you can do many day trips to Siena, Pisa, and many of the hill towns. Keep at least 3 days for Florence.

4 nights Cinque Terre, loved here! I spent four nights and probably could have spent even more, used it as a vacation from my vacation!

5 nights Rome, from Rome you can do day trips to Naples, Pompeii and even Sorrento. I would not stay in Rome much longer, while there is a lot to see the city is big, and dirty there are much nicer areas of Italy! But it's still a must on an Italy itinerary.

Overall I think you should spend nights in Venice, Florence, Cinque Terre and Rome. Thats 4 main cities not much unpacking and re-packing and you can do many day trips from these main cities. Hope that helps!

I don't think there is such a thing as short day trips to Rome or Florence-there is absolutely too much to see and do. Pisa maybe...slow down and don't try to do too much, plus it is going to be hot, hot hot and crowded during that time and they don't do air conditioning like we do. I think your idea of staying in one area and doing day trips is great, plus it will be really nice you are staying long enough to not feel rushed. One night stands are brutal. you spend so much time getting there and settled in you don't have much time to look around. staying put for several days is terrific