Italy

The smartest thing you could do is get a copy of the RS Italy 2012 guidebook and start there, looking for things that match your interests. This bulletin board will be an excellent resource once your requests get more specific. Happy travels.

Thank you!

The best thing to do is to get a copy of the Italy Lonely Planet - you can pick and choose. I would definitely suggest Florence and Venice as part of your itinerary.

July will be hot and crowded you might want to consider something at the lakes (Lake Como...) or something along the coast
there are so many options in Italy, you need to narrow down what interests you the most

with a week I would do a maximum of two locations not more than 3-4 hours apart by train. If it were me I would seriously think about only one location and renting an aprtment for the whole time. You will need to think about where. As mentioned July can be hot.

Maybe we should rent an apartment for a week somewhere.......... That's what we are doing in Amsterdam before we head to Italy. This is great I love all these ideas been thrown at me. Renting in one spot for a week will most likely
bring me back to Italy to travel some more...... :-)

Does anyone have any suggestions for say a cycling tour in Italy for 4-5 days ? Nothing to extravagant price wise though.

Janet, may I suggest you start a new thread now that your request has become more specific than just "Italy"? :-) You might get more helpful responses.

most of the popular cycling tours go through Tuscany
July will be hot and crowded, not sure if you want to be cycling

Can you squeeze in 8 days? If so, seriously consider signing up for Rick's group tour, "Heart of Italy." Says nine days, but really only 7 full days, plus late afternoon the first day. It would save you all the work of planning, worrying about reservations, and since you are active, you'd fit right it with his tour groups. We enjoyed this trip several years ago, and last year I sent the link for his Heart of Italy tour to some friends (so they could use it as sort of a template to plan their own journey....which you could always do, too). But, it turns out they signed up for the trip, and they have been thanking me continuously since then.....they LOVED it. Click on the Tours icon on this web site to see the itinerary of that tour, plus other tours in Italy. If you enjoy plants/gardens, be sure to get over to the Floriade in Venlo while up around Amsterdam. It only happens once a decade. If not familiar with it, you can Google and see its web site. Happy travels!

I too would suggest staying in one fairly small area. We have never been to Lake Como, but Lake Garda was wonderful. We stayed at Hotel Diana in Malcesina. Great breakfast complete with Prosecco! But a car would be needed.