Need suggestions for where to stay (making it our home base). Prefer a village with friendly people, non-touristy, good views, easy day trips. We would like to just make ourselves at home and immerse ourselves in Italy. Any suggestions?
Posted by
SF Bay Area, CA
2030 posts
I recommend Cortona, in Tuscany. Small, accessible, lovely views. Popular with tourists, but not over-run with them. It's my "home base"
Posted by
OP
Foley, AL, US
21 posts
Well, that's probably true, but there is no way I'll get my husband to move around much. If we stay in the Amalfi Coast area, there are just a few places we'll be day tripping to and it will be September (are things still real touristy in September?
Posted by
OP
Foley, AL, US
21 posts
Thought of that but was afraid, under the circumstances, it would be too touristy, and also more expensive than other places.
Posted by
Sheboygan, Wisc., USA
934 posts
The problem with a home base and day tripping is that you are visiting towns during the day when everyone else is also daytripping.Most town that are hectic and busy in the daytime become much nicer at night.Thats why I prefer to move from town to town.(traveling very light of course)
Posted by
Spring, TX, USA
4 posts
What a coincidence, we are also going to Italy for our 40th, have a good time, you earned this one.
Jack
Posted by
OP
Foley, AL, US
21 posts
Thanks for the good wishes. Same to you.
Posted by
Pittsburgh, PA, USA
48 posts
Sue, I will give you my opinion. We went to Italy this summer for the first time and I am by no means an expert.
I recommend that you stay in the cinque terre. Manarola to be exact but any of the villages would be good. It has everything you are looking for. It is the least touristy of the villages. We were there over peak season and it was not over run. What tourists were there would leave at night. I'd look into renting an apartment. We rented from this company: http://www.acasa5terre.it/
From Manarola you could visit not only every village and town in the CT, but Genova and Pisa. I'm not sure about Florence or Rome but it is worth looking into.
If you type in your Itinerary on this webpage you can get a pretty good idea how far things are:
http://www.trenitalia.com/cms/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=ad1ce14114bc9110VgnVCM10000080a3e90aRCRD
Hope this helps!
Posted by
OP
Foley, AL, US
21 posts
Thanks for all the good info. We have been to Cinque Terre and loved the area. Just wanted to see something different this time. It is very tempting to go back there. We know we would enjoy that.
Posted by
Tel Aviv
15784 posts
September is definitely high season. I am just back (last night) from 2 weeks in the north: Milan, Venice and Tuscany. Though the crowds were less than I was expecting, there were certainly crowds everywhere, though, as already noted here, after about 5 pm (when the day trippers return to the cruise ships), there are considerably fewer.
How long a stay?
Posted by
OP
Foley, AL, US
21 posts
One month. Any suggestions??