Want to visit a few countries early next year- need help with the itinerary. I want to spend enough time to see all of Italy(major cities/areas). Looking to experience culture not just visit as a tourist. How long should I plan and any suggestions on the best itinerary? Also planning on a few other countries but will probably not spend as long. When is the best month to live in Italy. Thinking of traveling via trains throughout Italy and continent. Thanks.
Posted by
Elk Grove, CA, USA
6898 posts
How much time do you have to spend overall in Italy?
Posted by
Clifton Park, ny, usa
109 posts
I guess this is a little too open ended to give a meaningful response. Are you saying you have a month to visit Italy? I would pick September. If you really want to experience the culture and not just visit as a tourist, I would include one area that is not a major tourist destination and spend some time there.
Also,it is helpful to know what your interests are, general budget, are you traveling with a group, where are you arriving from and where do you go next? Generally, I would plan on traveling in one direction so as to avoid the need to backtrack.
Posted by
Elk Grove, CA, USA
6898 posts
Carla sent me a PM saying she has 3-4 weeks in Italy. Still, Linda has some great questions as well. First, the flight in and out. Best of all worlds in to fly into one city (i.e. Rome) and fly out of another (i.e. Venice). All airlines will do this but it can cost more. If you must fly into and out of the same airport to save money, that's OK. We usually fly on airline points and it's easy to do. Second, I would suggest flying into Venice or Rome. Again, if you have to fly out of the same airport, it's OK. These two cities are on or near the outside edges of major tourist areas (unless the nice areas of Sicily or Sardinia are on your list). Milan is OK but your are 3hrs by train to Venice, Florence or the CT.
If these thoughts don't sound all wet, message back and we can begin adding to a suggested travel itinerary.
Posted by
sauk rapids, mn
267 posts
larry makes a great point about flying to milan. our 1st stop was the ct and after spending all night on a plane then 3+ hours on a train we were wiped. we actually found it to be around the same price to fly open-jaw versus if we would have flown in and out of one city. we flew into milan and out of rome. good luck :):)
Posted by
Tresana, Highlands Ranch, CO, USA
23269 posts
And sometimes open jaws are cheaper. How about into Milan and home from Rome? And you cannot see all of Italy in 3 or 4 weeks. If you don't want to be a saw this, done that, then pick three or four areas and settle in for a week.
Posted by
Vernon, Canada
32212 posts
NOTE that Carla has another post in the "To The West" section regarding travel in 2010.
I wanted to mention this so that we don't end up with too many duplicate replies.
Cheers!