Itinerary review

Gail - I will say what a few others will tell you - You're trying to do an awful lot in a relatively short time and, in so doing, are going to be rushed and miss some of the true flavor in each section. Cinque Terre, for example , deserves more than a day. Milan, quite frankly is not a "must" to see ( and I'm Italian), One day in Florence is not enough but should probably be for another trip since Tuscany is Fabulous and worth a few days. Rome and Venice - Of course deserve at least a couple of days each!
Regarding the car rental I would suggest getting it anyplace else BUT Venice - more complicated!

Greg

I disagree that your itinerary is rushed, except for maybe in the case of Venice-one full day might be rushing, but it depends on your interests. If you aren't an art buff and you don't want to visit any of the other islands in the lagoon, 1 day could be plenty of time for you.

I do agree that Venice might be a difficult place to pick up a car, Florence might be easier. It could even be cheaper to stick with trains until Florence, depending on how many people are in your party. Also, I'm not sure that having a car in the Cinque Terre is an advantage, that area has relatively cheap public transportation.

I'd definitely compare the cost of a few extra days on your car expenses (including overnight parking) versus train tickets to Ravenna, Cinque Terre, and Florence. However, adding more train time will probably mean that you have to shuffle your trip somewhat.

I hope this helps, have an awesome trip!! Buon viaggio!

Gail,
I could debate train vs. car travel all day, but as long as you’ve compared both options to factor in cost and convenience, I’m sure it’ll be great. As for renting a car from Milan, I think trains run the Milan-Venice route every half hour to an hour (check Trenitalia to make sure), so it depends on if that’s often enough to be more convenient to you than driving whenever you feel like it and parking your car in Venice for a couple days. And sorry, on my last post I meant to say “1 full day” in Venice, meaning that day plus whatever time you had after arriving from Milan the previous day. I like that you included more than one evening in Venice, for a fairly short visit.

Have you bought your plane tickets? Just in case you haven’t, you might consider a loop of northern Italy instead of flying open-jaw--especially since you are interested in CT. Lexma is definitely right, on your current itinerary, Cinque Terre is kind of out of your way. If you did a loop, though, that area would make a decent link between Tuscany/Rome and the end of your trip in Milan.

Thanks Kate,
We actually have 2 nights in Venice (arrive on the 24th, leave the 26th) There are 3 of us traveling and like the freedom of car travel to chose to go (and stop) when we want to. We may decide to just get the car when we leave Milan. Thoughts on that?

We visited Italy a bunch of times, including trips where we flew into Milan, before we actually visited Milan. Once we did visit, I found that I liked the city very much. Even so, for your first trip, unless you are really into Leonardo and his Last Supper, or into opera, I'd probably go straight from the airport to somewhere else (or fly into another city altogether, such as Venice).

I'd probably also skip Lake Como, unless you really like gorgeous mountain lakes and scenary (I didn't really like Lake Como, I thought it was boring, but I may be the only person who thinks that).

I would definitely add time to Venice - you currently only have 2 nights, one full day, there. There's a lot to see there, and it's easy to avoid the tourist crowds.

If you want to stay in rural Tuscany, further south than Chianti will be more centrally located (unless you really love Chianti wine). Try to spend more than one night in the Cinque Terre - a very long drive, and that area deserves more time.

I think renting a car as you leave Venice makes a lot of sense - we've done variations on that several times. Driving to and in Ravenna is easy. The mosaics of Ravenna are amazing; one of my top-ten made-made sights that I've ever seen. If you like Renaissance art, consider more time in Florence than just a day trip.

If you spend 3 nights in Cortona, and then go to Rome, you could also drop your rental car in Orvieto, and take the train to Rome from there. Also, where do you intend to day trip to? If you plan to day trip to Umbrian towns, you might want to stay further south (Bavagna, Spello, etc.).

The CT is out of the way of the rest of your trip. Another itinerary possibility: Drive Venice - Ravenna - Cortona - Tuscany, and fit in the CT then, though you're still out of the way for ending in Rome.

Just a small detail, but I would advise against driving in and around Florence as well as Cinque Terre. It would probably be best to train to Ravenna (which is very doable), train to Florence, train to Cinque Terre and back, then rent a car and head out to Cortona and do your daytrips. Training to Cortona would be very doable, but depending on where you want to go for your daytrips, a car would probably then come into play and be most efficient for that.

Have fun!