My wife, 13 year old son and I are going to Italy for 17 days this summer. We fly into FCO and out of VCE at the end, so I have our final 5 days booked in Milan, Verona & Venice. We have a few days of relaxation booked before hitting Rome, where we'll spend 3 pretty intense days, I imagine. Then, we have 5 days before our confirmed reservation in Cinque Terre. (All travel is by train) I'm looking for itinerary suggestions for those 5 days. Logical choices are Florence, Assisi, Siena. Would anyone with experience like to recommend an itinerary? Example: day one take an early train to Assisi, stay overnight there. Then take train to SIena, hotel 3 nights, and on the 3rd day do a day trip to Florence, staying until 9pm to enjoy the evening lights, and catch the last train back to Siena. The next morning take a train to Pisa, then on to CT. Or whatever. The less time on trains the better, probably. Thanks, Dave
Posted by
Divide, Colorado, USA
83 posts
We spent several days in Bellagio in the Lake Como area. It was relaxing and absolutely beautiful. The Alps frame the northern part of the lake. I would definitely recommend this area for a few days. We stayed in Bellagio and took the boats mid-lake. Our place in Bellagio was La Limonera and it was wonderful. You can book it online. It's easy to take the train from Varenna to Milan. By the way, we loved taking the trains in Italy. Very easy to do because at the station you can change the language to English at the kiosk and purchase your tickets point to point (cheaper too).
Posted by
Long Beach, CA, USA
360 posts
spending time in Florence is a logical choice if travelling by train and it is also one of the best cities in Italy Florence is also a great base for day trips into other tuscan cities/villages
I'm not totally clear on how you plan on routing yourself and how many days you plan to spend in each place but it sounds like you are trying to cover a lot of places in 17 days
Posted by
OP
san francisco, CA, USA
55 posts
Yes, we are planning to see a lot. Gosh, I thought 17 days would be plenty for a country the size of Northern California! lol In Rick Steve's book he states that Florence is worth a good day...I have 3 nights booked there, (and had planned to do day trips to Assisi and Siena) but I've been getting the impression that there might be a better way to do it. That's what I'm looking for... Dave
Posted by
Long Beach, CA, USA
360 posts
if you are travelling by train and flying into Rome and out of Venice I would look at something like this: Rome - 4 nights Florence - 4 nights (w/day trips) Cinque Terre - 2-3 nights Milan - 1-2 nights Verona - 2 nights Venice - 3-4 nights assuming these are your cities of choice if you skipped Milan you could do this option Rome - 4 nights train to CT - 2-3 nights train to Florence - 3 nights Siena - 2 nights Verona - 2 nights Venice - 3-4 nights Rome to CT would be your longest train ride at about 3hr45min just some ideas to think about
trying to keep train routes reasonable and avoid backtracking...
Posted by
clarksboro, nj, usa
27 posts
We really enjoyed siena. Do not miss the opportunity in the Dumo to visit the Piclimino library, People do not talk about it much but the frescoes are unrestored and give my wife as much of an uplift as the cistine chappel. Just hearing the storey of the libraty was really exciting. The stories around the Palio race are also very interesting. And this is where one of the earliest banks was established.
Posted by
seattle
2147 posts
We enjoyed Perugia which is close to Assisi. Sounds like you will hit msny highlights.
Posted by
indy, in, usa
6 posts
There are itenerarys for Venice, ROme and FLorence all mapped out here
http://www.cheapandsingletravel.com/