Italy in June

Could you clarify a couple things for me. By 110 euros/night are you only talking about lodging? I assume that is what you mean but I want to double check. Also June 8 - June 30 is 22 days and above you only have about 15 days worth of travel. Are you also asking where else you should go?

Hi Kathy----you can use one of the European rail sites to research the routes and travel times to figure this out. I like the Swiss one (www.rail.ch); it will show routes in Italy and is easier to use for prelimary planning purpposes. If you want the Italian one it is Trenitalia.it.

You can do an nice loop with little backtracking by going Rome to Venice (3 h 45 minutes); Venice to Florence (2 hours); Florence to CT (2 h 45 minutes to more than 3 hours); Ct to Rome, 4 h 45 minutes to 5 hours.

Stay 2 nights in Venice, not 1. It is well worth it.

I put Florence as your landing place in Tuscany but would suggest you look at nearby towns as well for your base for a week. You can save a lot of $$ by renting an apartment instead of staying in hotels. (We are renting a 2-bdr. apartment in Lucca for less than half the cost of a hotel room).

You can find apartments by reading reviews on SlowTrav.com combined with searches on websites like KnowItal:

http://www.knowital.com/tuscany/accommodation/

For weekly rentals, it helps if you are staying Saturday to Saturday as most set their availablity calendars that way. You might take that into account when planning your route and adjust accordingly.

Scott, yes 110 euros for lodging. We would also like to spend some time on the island of Elba. My thought was to rent an apartment in Tuscany and do day trips from there.

Lola, Thanks for the websites, I will look at them.

I feel so overwhelmed planning this trip, so much to see and do, not sure where to begin. Thanks for your reply

It may seem overwhelming, but you actually have a good bit of the planning done. You just need lodging reservations, which means deciding the order in which you travel.

If you land in Rome on June 8 and spend 2 nights there (already booked, you say), then head to Venice for 2 nights, that will put you back in Tuscany to begin a weekly apartment rental on Saturday, June 12, which is ideal. Start with the website I gave you; I'm sure other people can suggest more. (I found the same places tend to appear on multiple websites). The review section on SlowTrav is really very helpful in narrowing down your choices. Send out about 5 or 6 e-mail inquiries and see what happens.

You'll also want to line up something for Cinque Terre; I have heard they are getting pretty booked up for June. If you go straight there from Tuscany, you'll arrive on a Saturday, and the weekends are generally harder. If you have trouble finding something, maybe this is where Elbe would fit in your trip. I have no idea how to get there but assume there are ferries from Piombino.

After Elbe (assuming you stay 2 days or more) you would be in Cinque Terre mid-week, so it should be easier to find lodging. You might start by e-mailing Christian at La Marina rooms to see if the apartment is available. We aren't staying there but I did correspond with him about a June stay and he was very responsive. You could also try the places listed in Rick's book.

Don't feel overwhelmed once you dive into it I think you will find that it is half the fun. It is for me anyway. If you have not purchased any of Rick's books yet, now is the time to buy one. Definitely buy Rick's Steve's Italy and consider buying his Rome or Tuscany books. He explains almost everything you need to know and it will alleviate a lot of the pressures of figuring it out yourself.

Generally, traveling by train is the way to go. If you are not renting a car when you are in tuscany then a bus will be your next best option to get to various towns in the tuscany region.

As for lodging check out Rick's books and tripadvisor. Find as many places as you can that look nice and let the emails fly. Cast a wide net and you will find something.

With regard to your route try to keep the doubling back to a minimum. A little bit will be unavoidable since you are flying in and out of Rome. But the less double backing the better because you are not wasting precious time. If you can squeeze it in I would also suggest checking out Sorrento and the Amalfi coast. If you decide to go there I would suggest heading straight from Rome to Sorrento and start your trip there. Good luck.

Kathy---I just want to add that since you mentioned Elba, I got interested in the idea myself. I never realized it is so close to the mainland and so accessible! We're thinking of adding a daytrip there to our own itinerary. (We'll be in Italy in June as well.)

Thanks for the inspiration.

Also, I completely agree with Scott that planning is half the fun. Once you start getting into the research, especially on the internet, you'll be hooked.

Have not been to the island of Elba but met a family from Switzerland several years ago at the agriturismo we were staying at. They were telling us of their vacation one year on Elba and they said it was lovely. Hope to go someday!