Italy in 28 days - advice appreciated

no right hand drive experience?

You mean driving on the right side of the road ( as in the USA) or driving in the right hand seat of the car ( as in the UK) ?

I have not plotted out all your locales, but I see you have 5 consecutive 2 night stays. Is it possible to do some consolidating to not have to move from hotel to hotel so frequently?

Two nights in Florence is not enough time there.

You have a lot of traveling in your itinerary, but it appears to be well planned. All your places are great to visit, but you only have four nights in Rome, two in Florence and two in Venice. Those are the BIG THREE and not to be cut short.

I agree with the earlier posts: This reads as a bit rushed, especially as regards Rome, Florence and Venice. Have you taken other trips of this length paced the same way? It's a long time to go-go-go like that.

Note that the Bernina Express rail trip departs from Tirano, not Torino. Very different places.

I also think it looks good except maybe too many 2 night stays. My question: why La Spezia and not in CT itself? IF you are basing in LS for visiting the CT, you are adding more travel every day than necessary, which adds to all the travel you are already doing...

Thankyou for feedback!

I hope we haven't packed too much in by trying to tick off the wishlist!?!

I meant driving on the right as in Italy instead on the left as in Australia.

Good pickup with Tirano... i did mean that.

The train timetable indicates only 10 minutes to Manarola from La Spezia and our apartment is not far from the train. We were looking to save some money on accommodation this way. Did we make a mistake?

First, if you plan on driving in Italy, please read this. Lots of helpful and important information.

https://www.italybeyondtheobvious.com/dont-mess-with-ztl-zones

On with the itinerary. After many trips to Tuscany, I would change your path this way.

Spend 2 nites in the CT unless you plan to hike the trails.

Pick up your car as you are leaving La Spezia.

Drive to Pisa and after the Duomo and tower head to Volterra. Spend the night. Explore the town the next day. Then...

Drive to San Gimignano. When finished here, drive to Castellina or Montalcino. Spend 4 nights. Either of these are centrally located to see the other towns. Nothing more than an hour away. Most are closer.

When finished with this area, drive to
Florence and drop the car. 2 nites Florence.

Train Florence- Venice. And the remainder of your itinerary.

Driving in any of the major cities is a bad idea, even for those who 'drive on the right' as their native method. In th erural areas, where trains/buses are not practical then a car is the way to go. As much as possible, aim to use trains.

The Italians have a 'unique' mindset when it comes to driving and the folks on two wheels and an interesting subset.

For a 1st time driving on the right, you may want to pick Canada, not Italy :-)

Joe, for where they want to go in Tuscany, a car is a must.

I've been driving in Italy since 2004, I've never had a problem. I have visited all the places they're going. Some of them several times.

The issue with the Cinque Terre is that on many (most? all?) days in peak season, it is severely crowded with day-trippers. By staying in a different town, you sort of put yourself in that crush. If you stay in one of the CT towns, you can get up super-early and enjoy some quieter time. The same in the evening. But it's true that most of us have to give some thought to hotel costs.

You sure have packed a lot into 28 days. You will spend most of your vacation getting from point A to B. By my rough count you have 9-10 days of the 28 with either "bus, ferry, or train" starting the day. Travel days are draining and can be stressful. Find a spot, spend 3-6 days exploring the city/region and then move on. Don't have your trip full of looking at your watch to make sure that you are going to get the train/ferry on time. Leave something to come back to.
Enjoy your planning.