Help with Tuscany Itinerary

Posted by Nick (Oak Park) on 12/20/13 01:48 AM

Please give suggestions how to spend my last day in Italy for summer 2014. At the end of a week in Tuscany at a farmhouse north of Siena, we are spending two days in the Cinque Terre. I have one additional day to plan and then will be flying home from Rome the morning following the unplanned day. (I know that this is not optimal, but I could not pass up two frequent flyer award direct flights back home).

I have contemplated picking up a car in La Spezia and driving down the coast, staying overnight in some scenic town and then returning the car directly to the airport. Please give suggestions on a town to stay at or other alternatives.

Posted by Robert

Tampa, FL, USA

12/20/13 03:22 AM

1054 posts

Bolsena. Someone on this board recommended Bolsena to me when I was near Civita. I went there for an afternoon and loved it. It was a nice quaint lake town. Your near the highway to Rome.

Posted by Ken

Vernon, Canada

12/20/13 03:57 AM

32404 posts

Nick,

Another place you might consider is Orvieto. If you decide to rent a car, it's easy to drop off at the rental agencies near the station, and then take the Funicular up to the town. It's also easily accessible by train, should you choose that method rather than a car.

Orvieto is only about an hour north of Rome, so it will be easy to get there for your flight home. Take the regular train from Orvieto to Roma Termini, and then the Leonardo Express to the airport (DON'T forget to validate!).

Happy travels!

Posted by Laurel

Forest Grove, OR

12/20/13 05:49 PM

11852 posts

My Italian friends highly recommend Porto Santo Stefano, on the coast between La Spezia and Rome. It's on my list....haven't made it there yet. You can get to Isola Giglio from there, too. I suspect it is VERY popular in summer so you'd need to reserve a room.

Posted by Roberto da Firenze ⚜

San Francisco Bay Area (USA)

12/20/13 10:01 PM

16238 posts

Not sure how much time you have from the moment you depart the Cinque Terre and your flight. Also not sure how early is your flight home.

By the time you leave the Cinque Terre, take a train to Spezia, take a taxi to the rental agency (most are near the port) and complete the bureaucratic process of renting the car, most of your morning is gone.

From La Spezia to the Fiumicino Airport is going to take you well over 4 hours, just driving time (no pit stops included). So basically half a day is gone.

If your flight is early the next morning, you can't stay far from the airport. I agree with Laurel that Porto Santo Stefano, or even nearby Capalbio slightly in the interior, would be my top choices to stay along the coast, but both are too far from the airport to spend the night if your flight is early the next day.

If you have 2 nights available between the Cinque Terre and your flight, then I would spend a night in Porto Santo Stefano and one night closer to the airport (like Fregene or maybe even Santa Marinella). If you only have one night, then at most you can stop for lunch at Porto Santo Stefano (great fish), but then you need to spend the night closer to the airport (Santa Marinella is about 45 min drive to the airport)

Posted by Nick OP

Oak Park

12/23/13 11:56 PM

243 posts

Thank you for your suggestions. To answer some of your questions. We will have ONE remaining night after the Cinque Terre with an 11 am flight from Rome to ORD on the following morning.

We were in Orvieto a few years ago and I totally understand this suggestion as we loved this town, but will probably stay somewhere else. I am planning that we will probably spend several hours travelling and then spend the afternoon, evening, and early morning in whatever town that we decide.