9 Day Itinerary Help

This seems to have been copied from a travel site . It takes much longer to change locations than just the actual travel time, so plan for at least half a day to transfer areas. Have you looked at available accommodations? This is very late to be looking for places to sleep for August.
So I ask you-
What are you really interested in? You say you are interested in experiencing the culture, but you'll be experiencing train and/ or car travels. Where is the time for relaxing and soaking in the flavors of the area? I'd suggest visiting about half of these areas, with a minimum of three nights a location. Again, after looking a u-tube videos , RS videos, and joining area- specific Facebook groups , what actually interests you?
Enjoy this beautiful country and safe travels.

Hi, thanks for the response! Yes, unfortunately it’s a last minute planned trip, however, thankfully there still seems to be a large number of airbnb available. That said, we are trying to book everything as soon as we can. That’s why I’m looking for help to narrow down which areas to visit and stay.

I copied and pasted that version of the itinerary from ChatGPT just to summarize some of the areas we are considering. My questions I added hope to steer us in the right direction.

To add additional context, my wife and I love the following:

• Great and authentic food, particularly seafood, and wine

• Being on the water/swimming and enjoying beautiful views

• Exploring beautiful towns, especially those with cobblestone and narrow alleys

• Visiting beautiful gardens

• Exploring at an enjoyable pace - we do not like running around from area to area

• Immersing ourselves in culture and avoiding tourist traps

Thank you.

Hello brandon.look92, and welcome to the forum!

With 9 days I agree with Pat and would avoid moving around this much. I would pick one lake location and two city locations at most to visit in nine days. Stresa or Varenna, Verona and Bologna would make for a scenic and food filled trip. But be aware that Italians eat aggressively locally so if you want seafood you'll need to visit a sea adjacent city to get seafood which none of these are. The same is true for wine - if you love a certain type of wine you should visit that region because other regions will have their wine.

Milan, Verona and Bologna are all easily connected by fast trains do that part of the itinerary is easy. Verona is largely pedestrian and easily explored locally. Bologna is a much larger and busy city but the core is easily explored on foot. Verona has a more northern experience and beer is often featured more than in other parts of Italy but very old fashioned restaurants will also serve traditional meats like horse so stay alert if you're squeamish. Bologna is considered the culinary center of Italy and is largely meat and pasta centric with tortellini in brodo and ragu (called Bolognese sauce elsewhere) are everywhere.

ChatGPT just collates what it ingests with no understanding so this probably 100 travel agent tour brochures mashed together. Nine days on the ground is 2 cities or 3 at most if you want to have any memory of where you where and what you saw. You seem to know what you want to experience so I would do some research in this site and others and decide where you want to visit.

This itinerary seems dependent on flying into Milan which you don't at all need to do and I would probably pick a different location if you're looking for seafood stop in your itinerary. Maybe flying into Venice is better choice and then out of Bologna would be a better choice for example.

I applaud you starting somewhere but I would start by defining the visit you want to experience and building out from there rather than starting with someone else's idea of what you might like. Time of year makes a huge difference as well - especially for seaside locations.

You're on the right track for starting to plan a good trip, good luck,
=Tod

Hi,

Here’s my trip report from June 2022 that covers some of your locations with details of lodging I recommend, plus activities.

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/trip-report-please-do-not-comment-until-i-change-the-title-filling-in-the-report-thanks

”I want to make sure to be able to experience the true Italian culture (which is why making it to Bologna or another recommended town sounds great), while being mindful of crowds and the heat.”. I’ve stayed in 39 cities in Italy, and almost all of them outside the main tourist path will give you this. You don’t need to go all of the way to Bologna if this is your reason to head there. Mantova - mentioned in the trip report or others in there can fulfill it.

I love the Stresa area, but if you’re planning to take the funicular up to Mt. Mottarone, that was the scene of a horrible accident several years ago, so it’s not open.

For your time, I would pick Lake Maggiore or Lake Como - not both. And I’ve always just traveled by train. It’s very easy & inexpensive.

Hi, circling back here, we were originally going to structure our trip as outlined below, but now we're wondering if we should pick Lake Maggiore OR Lake Como and not visit both. If so, which might you recommend for August? Since we're flying into Milan, Lake Maggiore seemed convenient, beautiful, and perhaps a bit less touristy. As of now, we booked airbnbs for 3 nights in Lake Maggiore, 3 nights Lake Como + Camogli (tbd below), and 3 nights in Milan.

All are within cancellation so we can adjust accordingly.

We are wondering if it's worth skipping Lake Como and heading down to Camogli (seems like a great alternative to Cinque Terre) and in line with Italian Riviera comment from someone else.

• Day 1: Lake Maggiore (Airbnb booked in Stresa, but may switch to Arona)
• Day 2: Lake Maggiore (Airbnb booked in Stresa, but may switch to Arona)
• Day 3: Lake Maggiore (Airbnb booked on Isola Bella!)
• Day 4: Lake Como (Airbnb booked in Griante area)
• Day 5: Lake Como (Airbnb booked in Griante area)
• Day 6: Lake Como (Airbnb booked in Griante area)
• Day 7: Stay in Milan. Day trip to Verona and Sirmione, etc.?
• Day 8: Stay in Milan. Day trip to Bologna.
• Day 9: Explore Milan

Any tips SO appreciated! How would you structure your 9 days balancing Lakes, potentially the coast, amazing food, culture, cobblestone streets, etc.?

Hi Brandon and welcome to the forum!
Question? I'm having a bit of trouble figuring the timing of this trip so for clarity....

Your day 1: Is that arrival day at Milan Malpensa? And you're looking at traveling onward to Stresa that same day? if staying just 2 nights, you'll only have some (jet-lagged) arrival hours and 1 full day there before moving on. Maybe that's enough for you but worth mention?

You'll have just 1 night and approx. a half day on Isola Bella before moving on.

Day 7: If you are traveling back to Milan from Lake Como or Camogli on this day, you won't have time to day-trip Verona or anywhere else this same day. It's enough for a few odd hours of Milan after arrival and checking in + 1 day trip on Day 8 + 1 day exploring Milan on Day 9 (or another day trip) before flying home on Day 10.

You see what i'm getting at? I'm just concerned that you're going to end up with more of the "running around from area to area" that you're trying to avoid?

I’m not familiar with Griante but doesn’t look like there is ferry access there
Be careful about booking places til you are sure of itinerary and transportation options

I would choose ONE lake location

Looks like you have 8 nights in Italy?
Fly in to Milan
Train immediately to Bologna 3 nights
Train to Verona or Milan 2 nights
Train to Stresa 3 nights

Stresa is closer to MXP than Milan. Very easy to take the airport bus

Or do the opposite
Stresa 3
Bologna 4 with day trip to Verona
Milan 1

Every time you change location you lose at least half a day. If the transits are more complicated add more time
In your case with such a short time I’d stick to places easily reached by direct train with short journey time

Thanks everyone. We fly in and out of MXP and have 9 full days (including arrival day at 9:30am).

How much of a shame will it be to miss Lake Como? It sounds like Lake Maggiore is also magnificent - now I am feeling like choosing one lake option might be the better option and using the additional time to get down to Camogli area would be a more diverse trip than spending the bulk at both lakes.

If Lake Como is a must see, we could potentially add it as a day trip from Milan at the end of the trip or substitute Lake Maggiore altogether.

How do you get 9 full days with arrival on 8/10
Departure on 8/18?
That is 8 nights on the ground in Italy which equals 7.5 days at best

Hi, just for clarity, we fly overnight on 8/9 and land 9:30am on 8/10 (1st full day). Our last full day is 8/18 (9th day), with flying out of MXP early 8/19.

Thanks for clarifying that
You have 9 nights or 8.5 days
You won’t be at your first location til around noon or later depending on where you decide to go

Probably a good idea to pick one lake and not attempt to see both in such a short time span. Lake Como is an easy day trip from Milan. Just take the train from Milano Centrale and get off at Varenna-Esino. Be sure to buy your round trip train ticket before leaving Milan to save time. It's a 64 minute train ride one way. Spend the day in Varenna, visit the gardens at Villa Cipressi, have a nice lunch at a seaside cafe, then after lunch maybe take a 15 minute ferry ride to Bellagio. Given the choice, I would rather spend less time in Milan and devote a day to a day trip to Varenna, but that's my personal preference. However, keep an eye on the weather forecast. I wouldn't go to Lake Como in the rain. Maggiore is also an easy day trip from Milan, but I can't give as much help there.

hey hey brandon.look92
where are you traveling from to milan and traveling back to from milan, USA?
don't understand or know what ChatGpt is and totally agree with Pat. why allow someone or something make arrangements that haven't been there and have no clue of the travel time it takes.
you are traveling in high summer season, last minute and to all the places that will be so crowded with many other travelers want to see and do with no elbow room to walk/roam/trains and enjoy, too many places in a short time. many summer/vacation travelers like you are going to be disappointed with what's out there.
getting there on 8/10 at 9:30am with jet lag (so different for everyone), room check-in is 3-4pm. what do you do waiting with luggage.
one lake (como or maggiore) train to either spend 2 or 3 nights (got room already?)
take a train to verona and spend couple days. walk the piazza with the many shops/restaurants, take a food tour or a class in making gelato, italian risotto & pasta making class "waystours.com"
tripsavvy.com/14 best things to do in verona
back to milan for couple days before flight home.
take a train to turin "torino" and go to the museoauto.com
il quadrilatero: a maze of back streets of shops, markets and churches.
coffee drinks to order: caffe shakerato (dolce-sweet or amaro-bitter), bicerin in turin
place in time and space of automobiles through history with it's large collections of cars over the eras.
doeatbetterexperience.com or eatingeurope.com/milan with a food tour
indianajo.com/40 best things to do in milan
visit the galleria vottorio emanuele. oldest high end shopping mall, the glass roof, find the bull tile and do your spin like other
walk along navigli canal with many shops/restaurants/bars or take a boat ride down canal, many other attractions and activities to see in milan, high fashion capital and home to risotto.
your time is short so have open eyes and see what all of italy offers. stay in northern part and enjoy it. you will make another trip or two or three!!! can't see it all. just a few options for you and wife, pack light have fun
aloha

Hi there, for mid-August, is there realistically any difference in crowds between Lago Maggiore and Lago Como?

We've ultimately decided to choose one Lake instead of both, but are wondering if either will be better from a crowds perspective. As of now, we have accommodations at both lakes, but are going to cancel 3 of the nights at one of the lakes.

I’d guess Como more crowded than Maggiore
More room to move around in Stresa as well

hey hey brandon.look92
i would go along with ChristineH and stay on lake maggiore. looking at many posts here on the forum it's 95% lake como which means CROWDS. august is vacation time for many europeans and all want water attractions/activities.
take a boat tour around lake and to the islands, fishing village of isola pescatori roam around have lunch at lake side restaurant
isola madre, isola bella. see what the islands offer, architure, gardens, restaurants, shops with local artisans.
getyourguide.com/lake maggiore
even though third party we have used for many other places and never had a problem. we all have different opinions
lake-maggiore.com
several years ago we went to lago di garda (lake garda) for a wine festival/celebration. it was fabulous. each lake has it's known fors, drinks, wines, food. just keep open minds and enjoy that italian air and that local glass of wine. don't forget having gelato and the many italian pastries everywhere.
couple of us friends went on a mission which place had the best gelato and tiramisu (took picture of place for remembering) along with lots of laughs, enjoy
also check out airbnb/experiences/verona/or milan
has many options/tours/walks to see & do. worth a look
aloha