6 day northern Italy itinerary help, please!

Hi Pam.

Since you can't check into your hotel until later in the afternoon I would suggest using that day that you land to travel to your first destination. October will still be fairly nice weather and whether you do Venice first, then Florence or vice versa, I personally would choose that over staying in Milan. I may be missing it, but Milan is just a stopover town for me.

Enjoy the adult time! ;-)

With such tiny kids, I think what you REALLY need to do is RELAX, aaaaaahhhhhhhh....

How about this: Start by going directly to one of the lovely Italian lakes for 2 nights (Como or Maggiore), then Venice for 3 nights, and spend the last night in Milan. You really don't have time for a whole lot more. You might be able to squeeze in a day trip to Verona from Venice, or perhaps see it for a few hour on route to Milan. Easy peasy, and not too stressful.

I just got back from 10 days in northern Italy. Spend as little time in Milan as possible! As another poster said, consider traveling to your first destination on the first day and just spend the last night in Milan on the way back. We arrived at Milan Malpensa at 9:35 am (actually we were a little early) and were on the bus by 10:40 am, only delayed so long because our bags took so long to be off-loaded. We flew back on the 10:25 am flight. We stayed near the Milano Centrale train station on our last night, took the 7:15 am bus back to Malpensa (took an hour from Centrale to the airport), and had no problems with check-in (which only opens 3 hours before the flight). Have a great trip!

I would not give up Venice! You might even get a nap on the 2.5-hour train ride there, which dead-ends at Venice, so you can't miss your stop. Buy tickets at Milano Centrale station upon arrival. If you'll stay one night in Milan before flying home, you can see its highlights in an afternoon, such as the Last Supper (reserve ahead), going up on the roof of the flamboyant Gothic Duomo, and classy groceries at Peck (you can take cheese home to the US but not meat or fresh fruit/veg).

Agree with Laura...don't miss Venice... especially wonderful adult time in a city that can be a little difficult with kids should you return... so take advantage of it now! I would also leave Milan immediately and if you don't need another big city you could have a lovely few days in CT... enjoy the sea and spending some time walking around and relaxing. If the weather is nice take a day trip from Venice to Burano.

I would split the 5 nights between Venice & Florence and the last night in Milan.

If I went to Florence and saw only the David it would be worth the trip! Oh - and ate!

I would split the time between Florence and Venice also with 2 nights in Venice and 3 in Florence since hotels in Florence are less expensive. It's only 2 1/2 hours from Milan to Venice on the high speed train, the same from Venice to Florence and less that 2 hours Florence to Milan so it's really easy to see both places in the amount of time you have. If you'd prefer 3 days in Venice rather than Florence (I wouldn't but that's me) just leave later on the 3rd day. Spend your last night in Milan in a hotel close to the airport or at least close to the train station. I'd do this:
10/11 Train to Venice. Afternoon sightseeing (you'll get over your jet lag much quicker if you're outside walking around)
10/12 Venice
10/13 Venice. Train to Florence in late afternoon or early evening.
10/14 Florence
10/15 Florence
10/16 Florence. Late afternoon train to Milan.
BTW, although you may not be able to check into your room when you arrive, every hotel I've ever stayed in has kept my luggage and moved it to my room once it was ready.

We just came back from Venice with our boys 9 and 11. I would have KILLED to be in Venice without them! It was great with them too, don't get me wrong, but we longed to just linger at a cafe, look at cute shops... not things little boys enjoy! It's first on our list for a kid-less trip someday!

Kim

I love Milano but with limited time you can skip it. A good value hotel in Venice is the Locanda San Marcuolo, very near the San Marcuolo vaporetto stop. Quiet area and so convenient for late-evening or night vaporetto rides.

I would begin in Venezia, then Firenze, and the last night in Milano.

I have been to Italy a few times and the city of Florence is a favorite of mine. It is a very walkable city with so much to enjoy. I agree with the previous posters that you could easily take the train right to Florence, then to Venice and back to Milan. Sorry, but Milan is not on my favorite.. to do list.

PS stayed in a B&B a short walking distance from the Cathedral last year.
Gina

i just returned from northern Italy with 3 other adults. we flew into Florence, spent 48 hours there and followed Rick's excellent advice on booking the museum (academia) tickets in advance on line to avoid the lines that went around the block. we did a day trip on the train to Pisa, doable, but doesn't sound like you have time. there are express trains from Florence to Milan, we booked our tickets in advance. I would ABSOLUTELY advocate for Varenna on Lake Como, beautiful, romantic, tranquil, and an easy train ride from Milan (which was the hub for our train day) from Lake Como we took train to Venice, an entirely different city than Florence. In my group, 2 had been to Italy before, and 2 had not. we hit some great high points and did it all by train.... in 6 days

Pam, we did a 6 night trip in and out of Milan last year. we spent the 1st 2 nights in Milan at Hotel Berna(which was great). We took a wonderful, magical, day trip to Varenna and Bellagio. Then we took the train to Florence and spent 3 nights at the lovely Hotel Europa. For the last night, we came back to Milan to spend the night prior to the trip home. We got back early enough to take a day trip to Bergamo.... We fell in love with Italy! So much so that this October we are going back . This time to Verona and Venice.
Let me just say that the folks on this forum helped me plan that first trip (have been back to Europe twice since)and it certainly helped it from being so overwhelming. I was so glad I asked all those questions, that sometimes seemed trivial. The answers were indeed valuable.