Hello all, thank you in advance for your suggestions and expertise! I'm trying to plan the honeymoon of our dreams. I have been reading through many topics for several days now, but just wanted some insight into our itinerary. I'll be the first to admit, we probably should have only done 2 stops. But we are the adventurous type, so we wanted to see as many places as possible (and hopefully plan for our 1 year anniversary return :) Cost is not a priority at this point. I value convenience more than anything. Our dates and times are firm as follows:
We are headed over in mid-July, scheduled to land NAP airport at roughly 11:30 on a Tuesday. We have 2 nights in Conca Dei Marini, then 2 nights in Ravello. We will be departing Ravello on a Saturday (which complicates potential rental car scenarios...more on this later). The first major question is what is the best route to get to Cortona on this Saturday?
I have looked at a few options:
Option 1:
Private car Ravello--->Napoli Centrale (11:00-12:15).
Italo Napoli Centrale-->Firenze (12:55-15:46)
Rental car in Firenze SMN. I have been reading 100's of threads trying to figure out how easy it would be to get out of the ZTL on a Saturday. Would it worth the hassle to taxi from Firenze SMN to airport for car rental?
Drive from Firenze to Cortona. Arrive 18:00 at the earliest.
Option 2:
Private Car Ravello--->Napoli Centrale (Likely depart 13:00)
Lots of train options but probably Napoli Centrale-->Roma Termini (15:00-->16:10)
Rental car at Roma Termini (again how easy is Rome to get out of?...I've read conflicting reports).
Rome to Cortona by car. Arrive 18:30 at best.
Option 3:
Private Car Ravello--->Napoli Centrale (time to be determined)
Napoli Centrale to either Terontola-Cortona (12:31 to 17:28 or 14:31 to 18:28), Camucia-Cortona (awaiting tables), or Perugia.
The issue here is that it the availability of rental cars would be limited in these towns on Saturday afternoon and likely closed the next day (Sunday).
Then we stay 4 nights in Cortona and move on to Venice for 2 nights.
If we had selected Option 1 or Option 2 as above, we would travel back to Florence by rental car (assuming it's best to drop off car at airport location and avoid ZTL), then taxi to Firenze SMN, then take Frecciarossa Firenze SMN--->Venezia San Lucia.
If we had selected Option 3, we would have to drop off the rental car somewhere in the Tuscany region and take regional train to Firenze SMN.
Lastly, arrive in Venezia with private water taxi and grand canal tour.
2 Overnights, then depart VCE airport at 2:30pm
Any thoughts, suggestions, tips?
Thank you in advance!!