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13 Day Adventure in Italy- Advice Welcomed!

In September we fly into Milan at 9:30am (Day 1) and fly out of Rome at 9:30am on Day 14. That’s 13 Days on the ground in Italy.

Is this Itinerary realistic? Can we fit it all in and still have some relaxing? We are traveling with teenage boys and are not terribly interested in seeing too many museums, but rather more active sight seeing.

Day 1- Milan Airport to Lake Como or one of the lakes

Day 2 train to Venice

Day 5 Train to Florence to pick up a car heading to the Mountain towns in Tuscany region. Find a centralized place to stay to do day trips.

Day 8- Find a place to drop the car and train to Cinque Terre

Day 10- Train to Rome

Day 14 Fly out of Rome early am

Thank you!

Posted by
4152 posts

For me it's too packed. You have 12 full days and are trying to visit 5 different places, three of them being large cities. My suggestion is to cut out the Lake and CT. You really don't have enough time for these two locations.

Spending the day you land at the lakes and trying to fight off jet lag is a wasted day.

Taking a day trip from Florence to the CT, for me, is also a waste of time.

With 12 full days I would plan 3 for Venice, 4 for Florence and 5 for Rome. This will allow you to visit these cities and not be rushed. September is going to be very hot and humid and the crowds are going to be at their worst. Don't short yourself in any of these towns.

Donna

Posted by
7837 posts

It will not be relaxing at that pace since you are flying in a then taking two trains at least to go to Como on the same day checking into a hotel and then packing your bags checking out of the hotel going back to the train station taking at least 2 trains to go to Venice where it is crowded for two days and a half and then packing up your bags again and going to crowded Florence getting off the train to rent a car and so on and so on.

You might want to cut something.

Posted by
11315 posts

It is a lovely itinerary if you have 3 weeks. 😉

Lake Como can be a lovely place to relax and start your trip, but not for one night. You could drop that stop and go straight to Venice then add your “found” day to the Cinque Terre which I think is worth three nights. Conversely, drop the CT and add those nights to Como and/or Tuscany.

If you to go from Tuscany to the Cinque Terre, drive to La Spezia and drop your car there.