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Comments on Itinerary for 1st time visitor to Italy

My husband and i will be traveling to Italy end of April to mid May (14 days approx). What do you think of this itinerary....Fly into Milan and take train to Varrena for 3 nights, then Venice for 2 nights, Florence for 3 nights, Cinque Terre for 2 nights, Rome 3 nights....then fly home (Washington DC) ? We can be flexible with days and dates but don't want to exceed 14 days total. Thank you so much
Sharon

Posted by
174 posts

That itinerary is pretty close to my recent trip, but we had seventeen days...with your schedule, I would probably drop the Cinque Terre and add a night to Venice and Rome.

Posted by
4761 posts

I agree with Terri. A bit too much in the given time, especially if you're first time visitors. I agree that if something has to go, it should likely be CT. Either split the nights between Venice and Rome or add both to a Rome.

Also, don't forget that each time you change locations, you're losing about half a day. So you don't have as many days in each place as you think.

Posted by
80 posts

Thanks! I think taking Cinque Terre out of the itinerary is best. Any hotel recommendations in any of those cities? The list on TripAdvisor is overwhelming. We want to stay in good locations, close to attractions. I love quaint small but comfortable places but not opposed to bigger hotels if they provide the best combination of price and location. Would prefer to stay under $300.00 a night.

Thanks
Sharon

Posted by
26841 posts

Varenna to Venice by train is about 4 hours, and to that you have to add getting to the train station in Varenna and from the train station to your lodgings in Venice (can be time-consuming). So you're giving yourself probably less than 1-1/2 days in Venice. It wouldn't be enough for me.

Posted by
11247 posts

For hotels and B&Bs, I like to look at Rick Steves' lists when I am overwhelmed. $300 a night is robust, even when allowing for conversion from Euros, so you might set your budget parameters in a site like www.Booking.com at $200-$250 (which is way more than we spend, BTW) to narrow down selections. I would not use TA for this.

Posted by
3586 posts

I agree with Laurel (above) that $300/night is an ample budget for lodging. We have stayed in many wonderfully charming places for much less. Rome is probably an exception, but we haven’t been there in some years. If you go to booking.com, you can set filters, so you see only listings of the types you want. I usually look only at those with top review scores, 9+ You can book on the site, or google the hotel and book directly. .
I disagree with the advice to check RS’ guide. We have had a couple of bad experiences with his recommendations

Posted by
1059 posts

I would drop one day from Varenna and either add it to Milan or Venice. I also would probably drop the Cinque Terre and add the nights to Venice and Rome.

Posted by
80 posts

Thank you all so much. I will look at bookings.com as it seems to be reference often in this forum. I'm going to add an extra day to Venice, Florence and Rome and drop Cinque Terre. I thought about only booking 2 nights in Varenna but since that is our first destination from the states we will need a day to get caught up.

Posted by
366 posts

In Florence and Rome, we have stayed in convents and been very pleased. We stayed in October 2017 at Sanctuary B&B in Firenze, just 3 blocks from the Duomo and in Roma, at San Lucia Fillipini near the Victor Emmanuel Monument. Both places were very inexpensive, clean, safe and quiet and less than 150E/per night. Use the monastery stays website, as the convents themselves don't maintain a website.

Marie

Posted by
4761 posts

I agree that using booking.com and setting filters should help narrow your search. I rarely recommend specific hotels, since people's preferences can be so individual, but we stayed at a couple of places in Oct that we really liked. Hotel Campiello in Venice (close to San Marco and the San Zaccaria vaporetto stop) and Hotel Paris in Florence ( 5 min walk from the SMN train station and about the same to the Duomo).

Posted by
15560 posts

I don't have specific hotels, but rather areas. The Dorsoduro in Venice is quieter and tends to be cheaper. Nothing is far in Venice. In Florence anywhere in the historic center is good. It's a small area, easy to walk to all the sights and the train staion too. In Rome, sights are spread out and buses are slow, so I just like to be near a metro station. I've found the area between the Spanish Steps and Barbarini to be my go-to place.

I would definitely recommend 3N in Venice. One more in either Florence (use it for a day trip) or Rome, where there's always more to see.