A far-flung itinerary in need of some fine-tuning

If you stay in Pisa, you can daytrip to Florence, Lucca, and CT. Plus see maybe a little more of Florence. Since you have to see Assissi, I'd cut Orvieto, go from Rome to Assissi, then Florence.

Steve's idea is confusing since he appears to be geographically challenged about what's in Tuscany (Volterra, Lucca, Florence) and what isn't (everything else). I'd just ignore trying to make sense of what he says.

Elaine has a pretty good idea and it would certainly work.

However, I think you can pull the whole thing off. It's your trip, so cram it all in there while you can.

When you're done in Rome, snag a car from the airport or Termini station, whichever suits you since you'll already know where both are. Orvieto is only an hour and a half north (ignore advice you'll see about getting a car in Orvieto -- you can't waste time fiddling around with changing modes of transportation all day). Spend the night.

Next day: drive another hour and a half to Assisi. You're there by early to mid-morning. Personally, I'd back-track ten miles or so to Perugia to spend the night since it's more interesting in the evening, but that's up to you. You can see all there is in Assisi in four hours or so. Assisi is a prime example of why it would be hard to pull this trip off using public transportation since it's a good hour hike uphill from the train station to the town. There might be a bus, but I've never noticed one.

Next day. Drive about three hours to Volterra and spend the night. Days are long and you'll have plenty of time to poke around and see what you want.

Next day: Drive around two and a half hours to CT. I'd stay in Monterosso since it's fairly large, you can get the car right up to the edge of town, and you can stroll to the other towns in short order. Ignore the advice you'll see about abandoning the car in Spezia and riding the train -- you've already got a means of transportation. Enroute to CT, you might want to stop in Pisa for lunch after seeing the tower and such -- it'll only take a couple of hours.

Next day: Lucca's another hour and a half away.

Next day: Florence is an hour away, dump the car on arrival.

Thanks for the advice. We have been to Italy a couple of times and have always taken the train. We have found this a stress-free way to travel. Ed 's proposal of driving was one we hadn't entertained because we thought it a bit of a gamble to get an automatic since neither my wife nor I drive standard. Having never driven in Europe before, how stressful is it driving those Italian highways?

My first question is if you have been to Italy before then have you also been to Rome and Florence before?

Most people make day trips to Assisi and Orvieto from Rome, however if you have been to Rome I think spending one night in each place is Ok, because essentially you are just taking an extended day trip and it will trim time off your trip north to Tuscany and CT. You could go to Orvieto and then the next day head to Assisi, or vice versa. If you have never been to Rome then cut out Orvieto spend the extra day in Rome and head to Assisi and spend one night there.

From Assisi go to CT, spend two nights there. From CT you could go to Lucca on your way to Florence. Cut out Volterra if you have never been to Florence and spend the extra day in Florence. You really do need a minimum of two days in Florence. If you have been to Flornce then use the extra day to give you some flexibility to stay and extra day in CT or Lucca. Or still use it to give yourself two days in Florence.

And Ed, be civil.

Don,

If you haven't driven in Italy - don't drive into Monterosa. We drive all over Italy and that is the one drive that we were sorry we did and would NEVER do again.

Tuscany and Umbria are easily driven and are better enjoyed with a car - you will be able to stop and enjoy things along the way (like fields of sunflowers that are exceptionally beautiful in July.

But ditch the car before you go to the CT.

We needed to keep the car during our visit to CT, so we stayed at a very good B&B called Locanda Miranda in the nearby village of Tellaro. It had plenty of parking. Then each day we drove the short distance to CT and left the car at the public parking lot near Vernazza. Then we traveled between the CT villages using the shuttle train or the hiking trails. We had no problems.

I'd agree with Sally not to drive to Monterosso.

If you want to check out Locanda Miranda - which also has a great restaurant - go to:

www.miranda1959.com

Driving in Italy is a cinch, just like driving anywhere else. I did not find the road into Monterosso to be particularly daunting, you just need to go a bit slow.

You need to watch for ZTL's but the only one that could really bother you is Lucca and you can't miss it since it's everything inside the walls (it's roughly an oval of a mile by half a mile) and there's plenty of parking outside. If you drop the car at the Florence airport, you'll be well clear. Similarly, your exit from Rome from either Termini or the airport will go nowhere near a ZTL (not quite, you could screw up leaving Termini unless you head east to the beltway, which is the best way to go anyway).

Cars with automatic transmissions will cost you a bit more, but it's the only way I think you'll be able to see everything on your list in the time you have.

The road into Monterosa isn't daunting by itself... It's when you meet the trash truck coming at you that it is hairy. We lost the passenger side mirror because the truck would not move and expected us to get around him...

(We never heard a word from the car rental folks since we had good insurance)

We're partial to train travel. Italy has mastered it. And it gives us our relaxing and regrouping time. And I do think this itinerary is alot to do in 11 days. Will you be able to enjoy anything if your trying to do everything? IMHO one day in Florence is not enough. But if you stay there for a home base for three or four nights, you could easily do day trips to Orvieto and Lucca.

My only thought would be that you are going to waste a lot of time checking in/out of hotels. Maybe set three places to stay, Rome, CT and Florence and day trip to the other locations. You could stop in Orvieto on the way to the CT. If its important to you to spend your evenings in those places though, then go for it, but remember to pack light!

Don,

With such a short trip, I'd definitely recommend dropping one or two of the locations you have listed. Although one night stops are feasible in many cases, it's important also to allow adequate travel times between locations.

I'd recommend staying with your original plan to travel only by train, as it will be quicker and more efficient (especially when using the faster trains). That will also avoid the necessity of getting an I.D.P., buying a GPS and especially avoiding the dreaded ZTL zones.

Given your criteria of definitely visiting Assisi and the Cinque Terre, you might consider something along these lines....

Day 1: Flight to Rome

Day 2-4: Arrive Rome; touring

Day 5: Train to Assisi (time 2H:13M, one change in Foligno); touring

Day 6-7: Train to Florence (time 2H:30M, direct); touring

Day 8-9: Train to Lucca (time 1H:22M or so); touring

Day 10-11: Train to Cinque Terre (time 1H:20M or so - I used La Spezia Centrale as the destination, since I didn't know which of the five villages you'd be staying in - easy to transfer to the local train from La Spezia).

Day 12: Train to ???? (you didn't specify where your return flight would be departing from - if you're going to use Milan / MXP, you may have to adjust your schedule to get there the previous day so that you have time to get to MXP).

Realistically, I believe this is all you'll have time for with such a short trip. As Rick frequently says, "assume you will return".

Happy travels!

Hi Ken,
Thanks for your itinerary. We are thinking of flying out of Florence. Is it difficult making a train connection to Florence from CT on the day we are flying out? Or, should we change the schedule a bit so that we spend the last two days in Florence and then fly out from there?

Don,

You'll probably have an easier time finding flights out of MXP than Florence. I returned home last year using that method via Air Canada, although the flights were actually "code share" with Lufthansa (change planes in Frankfurt).

I don't believe there are any connections from Florence to Frankfurt (which is a major hub and your best bet to connect to a flight home). If you absolutely want to return from Florence, one option would be a flight to London Gatwick via Meridiana/Eurofly. There should be lots of flights back to Canada from LGW.

Cheers!