I am planning a trip for Sept, and the itinerary is: Days 1 & 2 Travel to Rome arrive a.m. day 2 Days 3 – 5 Tours and/or Free Time in Rome Day 6 Travel to Florence Day 7-10 Tour/Day Trips in and around Florance Day 11 Travel to Cinque Terre Day 12 Hike, relax on the beach, drink wine Day 13 Travel to Venice Day 14-15 Tour in Venice Day 16 Travel Home My question is about the travel days. I am thinking about whether it would be feasible/enjoyable to break up the train days like this: Day 6 Train a.m. to Assisi and tour then train p.m. to Florence Day 11 Train a.m. to Pisa and tour then train p.m. to CT
Day 13 Train a.m. to Bologna and tour then train p.m. to Venice It is my first trip to Italy and I would love to see these sights, esp. Assisi. Would I regret not having more time at these sights? Would it make my travel days too hectic? Thanks for your insight!
Posted by
Bay Area
3551 posts
Florence to Assisi is about 3 hrs by bus one way. While I lv Assisi I think it is out of your way on this trip. You can stop in Pisa via train on your way to CT, allow about 1-2 hrs. The leaning tower etc are very close together. If your train goes via Bologna then by all means stop at this great University town. But ck your train routing and scheduling carefully I believe there may be some transfers involved via Bologna. I have always trained it from CT to Venice via Milan.
great that you are inquiring you do ot want to miss anything in the top areas you wish to visit. Buon Viaggio.
Posted by
Forest Grove, OR
11661 posts
Hi Janelle. I think you can do the Assisi stop if you are willing to leave Roma early and arrive in Firenze late. (Be sure to check with your lodging in Firenze. Some B&Bs and apartments are funny about arriving too late.) I am not a fan of busses, so here's what Trenitalia has to offer. There might be some change for September, but this should be close. Roma to Assisi depart 0743, arrive 0957 OR dp 0950 ar 1159. The early train will put you in a good place for a highlights of Assisi tour ala Rick's self-guided adventure. If you don't arrive until Noon, you will hit some afternoon closures that will interfere with your plans. Assisi to Firenze depart 1717, arrive 1949 OR dp 1917, ar 2147. If you get in to Assisi at 0957 and leave at 1717, you should have time to see the highlights and have lunch. You still have four full days in Firenze, which is nice.
Posted by
Pa and Italy
4152 posts
You should have GAC confirm this but I believe you must buy two tickets for these trips. You cannot get off a train and tour for several hours, then get back on the train to continue your journey. I believe the regional trains have a time limit once validated which prevents this. If you are taking a train with reserved seating then you definitely cannot do this as your seats will be for a specific train at a specific time. You can easily buy two tickets to split up the trip at the same cost as the trip straight through. Again, check with GAC to make sure. He/she is the train travel expert and can give you more guidance. As for if you can fit these trips in, I would say yes. It will be a long day of travel but you seem to have set aside full days for travel so I think you'll be fine. donna
Posted by
Forest Grove, OR
11661 posts
Donna is correct: It is two separate trips. Thanks for clarifying.