We are planning a two weeks trip to northern and north-central Italy in September. The plan is basically - lake Como - eastbound towards Stelvio, the Dolomites, Fanes- Sennes-Braies, Venice, the north Part of Lake Garda, Northern Tuscany and the Apennines, Florence, and Cinque Terre.
We would like to add one or two daily trips to beautiful forests. Either the deep and dark magical type, or autumn coloured (in middle-late September). What would you recommend?
Thanks,
Nadav
Tuscany is the most forested region of Italy, so I will suggest two of the largest and most beautiful in the region, and actually in the whole of Europe.:
The National Park of the Casentino Forests
and the
Vallombrosa Forest
They are close to each other, in north east Tuscany, just east of Florence.
The first one, partially in Tuscany and also Romagna, is on the east and north side of the Casentino Valley, the second is on the west side of the same Casentino Valley.. You will need a car to explore the area although there are buses (and a train down the valley from Arezzo). Dante lived there in exile, therefore there are several references to the area in Dampnte’s Inferno.
Below is some info on both. But you can google the names and find the official park websites and much more as well.
https://www.visittuscany.com/en/attractions/parco-nazionale-delle-foreste-casentinesi-monte-falterona-e-campigna/
https://www.visittuscany.com/en/attractions/vallombrosa-forest/
You will find plenty of forests at lower elevations in the Dolomites. For example, I remember doing a few forest hikes in the Braies area, out of Villabassa.
Can't help with forest info, but your list of destinations sounds like more than a two-week trip to me, unless you're revisiting some favorite areas.
Thank you everyone for your answers. We'll see if we can squeeze a day in one of these special forests somewhere.
Acraven - Well it's 16 days actually. Why do you think it's too tight? I was thinking - 2 days for lake Como, 1 day in the Stelvio area, 4 days in the Dolomites, 1 in the north shore of lake Garda, 1 in Venice, 1 in Florence, 2 in northern Tuscany, 2 in Cinque Terre, 1 for travels.
So 8 places in 15 nights, and you want to add another? That sounds like way too many. You lose a big chunk of a day just changing locations. A one night stay is just a few hours of actual ground time.
One day in Venice and one day in Florence: Honestly, I wouldn't bother going to those places if that was all the time I had. Packing up, checking out of the hotel, getting to the new base, finding your way to the new hotel, checking in, getting settled--I suspect you are not allowing nearly enough time for all those steps.
How are you planning to move around, car or public transportation?
By car. Our style of travel doesnt include spending time on shopping or even eating in restaurants. It's mainly driving, stopping at interesting and beautiful spots and combining a few daily treks / hikes. We are more into nature than into cities, so not planning to go to all the museums and cathedrals of Venice and Florence, just strolling in the streets and getting the atmosphere (and the pictures). I feel like we have a lot of time, even a spare day that I'm not too sure about. Here's my planned itinerary:
day 1 - arrive to Bergamo by noon, drive from the airport to Lake Como (stay near Colico)
day 2 - full day around Lake Como (second night in Colico)
day 3 - drive east (from around Colico) through Stelvio pass (stay in Solda)
day 4 - Dolomites
day 5 - Dolomites
day 6 - Dolomites (preferably 3 nights in the same place, would appreciate suggestions on a nice village to stay that would be a good base for the Dolomites).
day 7 - drive south (from around Bolzano, 1 hour) to the north of Lake Garda (night there)
day 8 - drive to Venice (around 2 hours) and sightseeing there - (night in Venice)
day 9 - morning in Venice, than drive to Florence (3 hours) (night in Florence)
day 10 - full day in Florence (second night in Florence)
day 11 - travel around Tuscany (night in a farmhouse)
day 12 - around Tuscany (second night farmhouse)
day 13 - drive to Cinque Terre (stay there)
day 14 - Cinque Terre (second night)
day 15 - morning in Cinque Terre, than drive to Bergamo
day 16 - flight home
We actually have 16 full days, as the flight is in the 17th day, so we have 1 spare day to add somewhere.
What do you think?
Our travel styles are too different for me to offer useful advice, but be sure you're working with reasonable driving times. ViaMichelin, which folks seem to think provides more accurate time estimates than Google but is still comsidered over-optimistic, estimates 1 hr. 54 min. from Ortisei (an often-suggested Dolomite village) to Riva del Garda at the northern end of the lake. The estimate from Riva to Venice is 2 hr. 43 min., and from Venice to Florence it's 3 hr. 28 min. Those estimates in and out of Venice do not take into account the time you'll spend moving yourself and your luggage from the parking lot to your hotel, and vice versa, which is likely to be quite substantial.
Incidentally, Bergamo has a lovely medieval upper town. It's a shame to be so close and not see it, but I'd want to minimize my driving if I were connecting to Bergamo after an overnight flight.
