My husband and I are planning a trip to Italy for 2 weeks in June. We plan on flying to Milan and renting a car and driving from there. We have been told that Genoa is a great place but Rick Steve's doesn't mention it in his book so I'm wondering if it is worth the time as we only have 2 weeks. We also have been told to see Lake Como. I'd appreciate any comments on the two options. we are planning on going to Cinque Terre from there, spending 4 nights and then on to Lucca/Pisa maybe for a night, then Florence and San Gimignano for 2-3 nights. Is it better to see Siena from Florence than to spend a night there? Also is Assisi worth a night or is that a day trip from Siena? We will then drive to Rome and plan on spending 4 nights there. Any thoughts or comments on our itinerary will be much appreciated. Thanks so much Susan
Posted by
Sacramento, California U.S.A.
10727 posts
I think Lake Como would be a great place to get over jet lag. Four nights in the Cinque Terre is a lot of time. Do you plan to hike there? I would choose Lucca over Pisa to stay the night. "Florence and San Gimignano for 2-3 nights." Is that 2-3 nights each? I'm a bit confused about your allotted time in Tuscany. Please clarify.
Posted by
Vernon, Canada
32402 posts
Susan, With only a very short two weeks, Lago di Como would be better destination than Genova (IMO). Does the two weeks include your two flight days? Which town on Lago di Como are you planning to stay in? Varenna is the favourite with many here. Four nights in the Cinque Terre is good, but that depends on what you want to do when there. If you plan on hiking as well as taking day trips in the area, that's a good time frame. Which of the five towns are you planning to stay in? Having a car in the C.T. won't be of any benefit. You won't be able to get to some of the towns by car. Of the five, Monterosso is the most "car friendly". There are some potentially expensive "caveats" with travel both by rental car and train / bus in Italy. If you need further information, post another note. A combination of train and rental car might be a better option (train will certainly be faster in some cases). I'd probably skip the one night stop in Lucca / Pisa, and use the time elsewhere. Staying in Siena would be better than a day trip, as it has a different "character" at night. Good luck with your planning!
Posted by
OP
Issaquah, WA
23 posts
Thank you Ken and Andrea. I forgot to mention that my husband and I have been living in wonderful Portugal for the last 1 1/2 years so we won't have the jet lag issues that we would if we were traviling to Italy from the US. We plan on hiking and taking the boat between the 5 towns in Cinque Terre hence the 4 nights. But should we shorten it to 3? Also we plan to stay in either Sestri Levante or Levanto as we've been told that they are less crowded and hectic. Do you agree? We'd appreciate your thoughts.
Posted by
OP
Issaquah, WA
23 posts
I'd like your thoughts on rental car vs train while traveling in Italy. We'd get rid of the car in Rome, but we love to travel by car as we can stop along the way and see places we might miss by train. But, we also realize that traffic, tolls etc could really hinder all that. You said you had some thoughts, so please let me know. We are really open on where to go between Cinque Terre and Rome so again, any thoughts would be great along with # of nights you'd stay in those places. We could stay in Florence for 3-4 nights and just take day trips to some of the other little towns, but many of them appear to be one hour plus away and I'm thinking that accommodations in places like Siena would be cheaper than in Florence. So, again, any thoughts would be really helpful. Thanks so much