13 night northern Italy trip

Do you have special interest in Milan? Of course it has its charms, but as a modern city not necessarily high on everyone's list. I know you are coming a long way, but I would be tempted to press on just a little bit so you can put all of your Milan time altogether at the end. I suggested Asti on your Piedmont post. I did a trip where I flew into Milan, went straight to Asti by train to recover, then went on to Alba the next day for a few days. Then I went to Liguria, all by train/bus.

We once took the train from Genoa to the Cinque Terre area along the coast. It was a very scenic ride. We also spent 2 nights in Milan after a long flight. It isn’t our favorite Italian city, but worked OK for resting up a bit. Many beautiful places in Piedmont. If you like cities, Torino is great.

I agree with valadelphia about "pressing on" upon arrival. I'm from Seattle and I get it about the long redeye to get there, but as long as you are not planning to get in a car and drive away upon arrival (dangerous) the way I look at it, your arrival day is pretty much wasted anyway (you will be hard pressed to get much out of it and will be working mostly on staying awake until after dinner). So as long as that day is pretty much a throwaway, you might as well use it to get yourselves all the way to where you want to begin your time in Europe. As long as you can do that via reasonable public transit, push on to your actual destination. You'll still be exhausted from all the travel, but you'll begin your trip the next morning where you want to be, and will save you a full day (maybe two) which you can spend in better ways.

I'd also agree about reducing your time in Milan. It's OK, and I'd plan a day there (before you fly home) but given the other places you could spend a day, I'd keep Milan to one day (or even an afternoon, then sleep there before flying out).

3 nights in CT = 2 full days. Some folks might say that's one more day than is warranted, but tastes vary.

You didn't mention if you've been to Italy before. No Venice this trip? That's the obvious thing missing from most folks' northern Italy dreams...

This is our first time to Italy! We are trying to avoid the super crowded touristy areas, but couldn’t miss Florence and cinque terre. Venice will have to wait for the next visit :-). The last couple days in Parma is still up for debate. Any thoughts on another spot for a couple days besides Parma, but in that vicinity of northern Italy.

Thanks everyone for the great advice and feedback. Greatly appreciated!

Saluti,

Matt

In the Piedmont I would choose Alba as opposed to Asti. The centro storico is a 5 minute flat walk from the railway station. Great small city with excellent restaurants.

As much as I liked Parma, an option would be to spend the two nights in Verona spending one of the days on a day trip to Padova. Both of the cities have wonderful sights to see. Read about them and then make a choice. If you are going to Padova you must visit the Scrovegni Chapel (buy tickets ASAP).

If possible, take a small backpack. You’ll be happier! Check the Packing info in the Travel Tips section on this site.

I feel like my trip is set besides the last couple nights. Verona isn’t really speaking to our wants. I thought Parma might be nice just to be gluttonous and wine filled. Knowing us, our last two nights focused on food, where would you go besides Parma?

Thanks!

Focused on food?

Bologna, without question.

Focused on food? Bologna

As a youth fried baloney (another name for bologna sausage) on white bread sandwitches were comfort food. But then so was fried Spam.

Parma is a great city with many sites and excellent food. It is also relatively close to Milan. Bologna is also wonderful city but further away.

Bologna is also wonderful city but further away.

Yet a quicker train ride to and from Milano, thanks to faster trains on that particular route.

I am rather surprised.

Bologna and Parma are close enough that with 2 nites you could stay in one and visit the other.
While Bologna is larger, it is the food capital of Italy.

I am so not a foodie but I enjoy eating Italian food and drinking Italian wine, available everywhere in Italy. I concentrate on the daytime sightseeing. You can then get recommendations for meals wherever you are going to be.

The CT may be quiet crowded in mid-september. If you are real hikers you can get away from the hordes, otherwise it may be difficult. In Venice it may be much easier to avoid them. And Venice is sooo romantic

There's tons of info on Parma and Bologna, but Milan can be a tougher nut to crack. This article might be of use:
https://www.saveur.com/milan-is-italys-most-underrated-food-city

Are you going with Alba? Casa Dellatorre offers adorable rooms in a great location. The breakfast in the cafe was excellent. They do not have a website but are on all the booking sites.

Upon landing I would go straight to Como its just stunning we have been there 3 times. We get Como taxis to pick us up from Milan airport...it costs i know but after a 23hour flight thats our luxury...you wont regret it. From Como you can get the train straight to Milan Centrale and onto Cinque Terre. Enjoy your holiday.

I think this itinerary needs serious work to be enjoyable. As a first time traveller to Italy, I think you could target better locations. I typically look to whack off the further afield place on my itinerary and circle in from there. In this case, I'd get Piedmont out of your plan. Is there a loop trip you could piece together from Milan as your start and end point?

As others have recommended, I'd get out of Milan - ride the train to a near-ish location (within an hour or two) - Use the DB website (German rail) to easily navigate from Milan - otherwise, Rome2Rio is another helpful tool for your planning.

Get perked up with good Italian coffee for your train trip. Set your alarm in case you fall asleep on the train. Read your guidebook. Listen to Rick's audio guides. Do what you can to occupy yourself for the trip and really try to stay up as long as you possibly can to avoid jet lag. Get to your location. Shower off the day. Change your shoes. Go eat and drink, wander off your pasta with a walk about town. Don't get to bed until 10 or 11pm. Next day, rinse and repeat, or something like that.

Parma is an hour and some from Milan. Genoa is like 2 hours from Milan. Do you want Central Italy or water? Eat your heart out in Parma or be a tad cooler in the waterside breeze of Genoa? Move to CT the following day.

You've not shared what you are really interested in. Why Piedmont? Why Parma? I can assure you, food and wine is abundant and you will get your fill no matter where you go in Italy. Personally, Piedmont (Asti and Alba are just ok).

I'd likely go something like this:
Milan (get out ASAP), Parma (1 or 2), CT (2 or 3), Florence (3-4, you may want to hit Pisa, Lucca, or Siena), you could add Venice here (2-3 hours by train from Florence), make your way to Milan from Venice (you could stop in Padova (Padua), Vincenza for a night in between or just move from Venice to Milan). Book a late Last Supper visit. Have your last supper. Leave the next day. Return often and promise to always look for an open jaw flight - flying into one location and out of another. Rookie mistake.

Whatever you do, you and your forty-year-old selves will have an amazing time!

Thanks everyone!

Piedmont is for vineyards, Barolo and Barbaresco aka Nebbiolo (drooling emoji). I manage a winery in Oregon, so wine, food and history, pretty much in that order is our plan. I have changed Parma to Bologna. We will take a day trip to Parma from there. I’m sure we all miss spots the first time to a country. We shall live and learn, but I’m pretty sure fun will be had no matter what.

It’s time to make some memories and start the 40s off right. I look forward to more questions answered from you lovely people and filling you all in how it went.

Saluti,

Matt

Hi Matt,

I’m from Seattle and have traveled more than 10 years to Europe in September. We have taken a train (or 2-3) after landing at the airports on about half of those trips. I would highly recommend heading to some location like Stresa on Lake Maggiore - schedule the handy Alibus or taking a bus to Torino for your Piedmont location. (Malpensa airport is outside of Milan, so there’s no need to go into Milan, first.)

We have stayed at Parma for a couple of nights. I wouldn’t put it on the top list, but they have my favorite cathedral interior, and you could take a food tour. We ate a fantastic meal at La Forchetta (get reservations)! We stayed at Palazzo Dalla Rosa Preti, and they offered a private food tasting where they brought plates of several types of prosciutto, Parmesan, etc. paired with wines. We really enjoyed it.

If you decide to stay in Lucca, I definitely recommend signing up for the Extra Virgin Cooking class. Excellent food in a beautiful home by a professional chef, and I learned so much as we walked to a few stores to pick up ingredients.

The food at each town I’ve visited in Italy (more than 15) is so delicious! Be sure to walk a few blocks past the touristy restaurants, especially in Florence, to find the places with much better food that usually doesn’t cost more.

Happy Birthday! I have to say that Lake Como is our favorite spot in Northern Italy (Varenna), and is about an hour from Milan by train. And a few more hours on a train takes you to Venice. I would choose Venice over Florence, unless you are going for the museums. Have a great trip! Ciao!!

I agree with the others regarding decreasing your time in Milan and would consider Varenna on Lake Como or Stresa on Lake Maggiore. Happy travels!

Thanks everyone!

Milan will now be the last night of our 14 day vacation. We are heading right to Piemonte from MXP. I have since fallen in love with Turino :-). However, we still want to stay countryside with vineyard views. We will NOT have a car this entire trip and are more than ok with having others drive us around. Are taxis readily available all over wine country? Is there a reputable private wine tour company, includes wine and an amazing meal somewhere. I know it is harvest time when we are there, my Italian is shit, so really not looking to hit multiple wineries, only a couple.

Hi Matt --
Touring the wine regions of Barolo and Barbaresco sounds like a dream! You may also want to look into visiting Modena (as in aceito balsamico di Modena), as it has the S. Pellegrino #1 restaurant right now, Osteria Francescana.

I don't know of a private wine tour company to recommend personally, but I know they exist. Cellar Tours came up on a Google search.

https://www.cellartours.com/italy/wine-tours/barolo-barbaresco

I'd check out online articles on the Travel & Leisure and Food & Wine magazine websites (both Conde Nast I believe) for recommendations. This site, the Rick Steves guidebooks, and the commenters on this forum are extraordinarily helpful -- and are my absolute first place to start for any trip planning. That said, I have also found that a specialized and focused trip (or leg of a trip) like touring wine regions can benefit from adding on the next layer of research, sometimes in different places. Backroads and Fodor's often have good ideas to get inspiration in the food and wine realms, in my experience.

P.S. I think you will be very glad to have included Bologna in your itinerary. An amazing food city! I still remember having black truffles there for the first time in my life nearly twenty years ago -- thought I'd died and gone to heaven. The market there is fabulous too.

Thank you all again for your invaluable input! We have booked our last nine nights, but still figuring out where to stay in piedmont. It’s either Alba or Turin :-). Booked lodging in Cinque Terre, Florence and Bologna. We are so excited to enjoy this beautiful country.

Any restaurant/excursion recommendations for all 4 areas are greatly appreciated. We love fine dining, but also off the beaten path, the “unknown”. I will do research on the places not to miss, and look forward to do so :-)

Thank you again!

Matt

We are doing a somewhat similar trip next month. We will have a car however. We land in Milan and go to Bellagio for three nights, Stresa for two nights, Monforte d’Alba three nights, Santa Margherita for four nights, Milan 2 nights then fly home.

I think that you want to stay in Alba. We are taking a one day Barolo wine tour with Anna http://www.italianna.com/. They do all of the driving.

As for the Emilia leg of your trip, I have always had my eye on Modena for food. The number one restaurant in the world is there. It’s a serious foodie town. https://www.osteriafrancescana.it