Italy in January (2009)

You fly into Milan, train to Bellagio for 1 night, then train to "Provence" (where in Provence would help) for 2 nights, then train back to Milan before going to Naples.You haven't said where in Provence but let's just pick a place in the middle of Provence, say Arles, to illustrate the travel time required to do this: It takes 11 to 12 hours for the train to go from the town of Como to Arles, that's just station to station time, with 4 to 6 train changes depending on what schedule you're on. It also takes you 1 to 2 hours to get from Bellagio to the town of Como train station by ferry, so now we're up to 13 or 14 non-compressible hours of travel time, one way, just to travel from Bellagio to "Provence", we're not even including the time to pack up and check out in Bellagio and get from the "Provence" train station to your accommodations, check in there, unpack, etc. That's all day just to get there, have dinner, fall into bed. Then it's going to take another 9 to 11 hours (including getting to the station and waiting for the train, we're not even counting the time to pack up your stuff, check out, etc) to zag all the way back to Milano, after you've just zigged from Bellagio to Provence--so that you can then fly to Naples the next day, then go to Rome, then to Venice, and back to Milan.It would help us give more specific advice if you say where in Provence, it's a big area. Sometimes people here say "Provence" but they mean the Riviera?

Hi Kent,
Thank you for taking your time to comment. I really do appreciate it.

Provence? I've been to Avignon. Thinking about Aix or Arles. Or some small, lovely town that will give the family a sense of "France" away from heavily touristed areas (food, local culture, traditions, language, architecture, friendliness, wine, etc). Any ideas?

To your point about the extra-extended ambitious attempt to travel from Bellagio (great town, love it) to "Provence", ouch! Your insight is spot-on. Too much all at once. Working on an alternate plan. Thanks. Just don't want to miss a little France since we'll be so close and spending the majority of our trip in Italy.

Cheers,
Scott

Here is my reconsidered path:

Arrive in Milan
Train to Provence (Aix, for example)
Train to

(rest to come)

Scott: Your revised itinerary will make for a more enjoyable trip. It's still a lot of travel time (see last paragraph below), so you'll want to allow for this non-compressible travel time in deciding # of nights and sequence of destinations on your itinerary. Either Arles or Aix would be good choices to sample Provence. Aix is a little closer to Milan than Arles but that shouldn't be the deciding factor. Rick describes both places in his book Provence & the French Riviera.Milan to Aix is 8.5 to 9.5 hours station to station, one way, depending on what train you take and want to pay for. Arles is 9.5 to 10.5 hrs from Milan, station to station (not including time to get to the station, wait for the train, etc).

Your itinerary sounds way to full. I would cut down some of your stops so you can enjoy yourself more. It sounds to packed to really enjoy yourself.