I'm headed to Italy for the first time in September, is this itinerary doable? My BF and I are young and active and want to see/do a lot but also have downtime to unwind and relax. Do you think I need more time in one place? Should I cut something out? Would love any opinions you may have and recommendations on where to stay, restaurants, things to do, and tips!
- Florence (2 nights)
- Sardinia - Santa Teresa di Gallura (4 nights): fly from Florence and rent a car at Olbia airport
- La Spezia (2 or 3 nights): train or bus from Florence
- Chianti (3 or 4 nights): rent a car at Florence airport
Posted by
San Francisco Bay Area (USA)
15174 posts
For Florence alone you should plan at least 3 nights (4 better).
If you want you can take day trips from Florence to other Tuscan places (including Chianti, but also Siena, Lucca, Pisa, Pistoia, Arezzo, San Gimignano) but you'd need to add a night for each day trip you plan to take from Florence. You can also stay in a more rural setting (like Chianti) and use that base to visit small towns and countryside. You'd need a rental car for that purpose.
Regarding Sardinia, I'm not sure if there will be flights from FLR to OLB in September, that flight (I think Vueling) is generally seasonal in summer only, in any case Pisa or Bologna might have one. For Sardinia I'd suggest a longer stay. I've never stayed less than a week in Sardinia, distances are long due to the type of roads (nicely paved but curvy and therefore slow). Great beaches for sure.
La Spezia is a not so pretty industrial and Italian Navy port city. I'd stay somewhere else nearby, like the Cinque Terre villages or Levanto or Bonassola or the like.
Posted by
San Diego, California, USA
799 posts
Hello ogreen126, and welcome to the forum!
I have a couple of concerns for this schedule particularly if you actually want to see anything in Florence. At this point you essentially have 1 actual day in Florence to see anything and it is really your first day in country which can be problematic in terms of acclimation and errands like cash and SIM cards etc. Florence on it's own is worth multiple days and you are currently treating it only as a transit hub for all your other trips. If your real interests are beaches and rural countryside side then this might be intentional and that's your prerogative.
I'd hesitate to fly on an already short schedule because of the time involved but if you really want to see Sardinia then it is the only way. Would it be possible to get into Sardinia rather than Florence on the way into Italy cutting out one leg of that flight? If you want to fly I would also look at Pisa for availability.
If you want a mix of city, beach and rural countryside - not a bad mix - I'd say do either Ligurian beaches or Sardinia plus Florence and Chianti.
- Florence is amazing - figure out what you must see - David, etc. - and book those tickets in advance.
- In Liguria I would look either north of La Spezia/Cinque Terre at the towns just up the coast - Levanto up to Rapallo - or on the south side of the Bay of La Spezia (also called the Bay of Poets) at the beaches of San Terezno and the more resorty Lerci with a marina and a castle. There is also the small CT like town of Tellaro and Sarzana over the hill. All of these are 15 minutes apart by bus and you would need to take a bus or a cab from the train station. Given beach town parking I would recommend against a car unless you really want to explore inland otherwise a car is an expensive burden.
- In Chianti with a car look into Siena, San Gimignano, Volterra, Greve in Chianti, Cortona, Montepulciano, Montalcino, Pienza and maybe Arezzo. Decide how far you're willing to drive and choose one or two places to base yourselves out of and take some time in a couple of towns. The Tuscan countryside is as beautiful as advertised.
Hope that helps, have a great trip,
=Tod