Italy itinerary

Claire,

With 3-4 weeks you should be able tour all the places you mentioned at a somewhat relaxed pace. A few thoughts.....

For your visit to Lago di Como, were you planning to stay in Varenna (the usual favourite with many here). It's a good mid-lake base to visit other locations such as the posh resort of Bellagio.

For the Tuscany portion of your trip, there are lots of choices. I'm assuming from your comments that you don't plan to return to Florence (which is in Tuscany)? You could also consider visiting Orvieto or Assisi, which are in Umbria.

Regarding "beaches", the resorts on the Adriatic side (Rimini, Pesaro, Cattolica) are very touristy. Hopefully Roberto will spot this post, as I'm sure he'll have some good advice on that. You could also consider the beaches of the Cinque Terre, which would be a better fit for your route from Lake Como to Siena. While they're also "touristy" to a point, the atmosphere there is more relaxing and informal (IMO). The beach shown in the photo is the new town area of Monterosso, which has the best beaches of the five towns.

Given your location, you might find it helpful to attend the next regular meeting of the Sacramento RS HelpLine group. They meet at a Panera Bread, I believe on the third Saturday of the month. Check the "General Europe" section for a bulletin on the time and place.

Happy travels!

Thanks Ken

Haven't gotten as far as which towns in Como or Dolomites. I did go to the Sacramento meeting last month and got great feedback for a trip which set me dreaming of Italy. And I am interested in Umbria. I am also researching Sicily. Sorry if this is so scattered but it is fun to dream and looking forward to returning to Italy. We may spend 2-3 weeks in those areas and pick up a tour in Sicily....Thanks for the info on the Adriatic beaches.

Claire, sounds like a great trip, time to enjoy places you didn't get to before. If you go back to Venice, you can take the vaporetto to Torcello, often overlooked. Regarding beaches, some facilities close at the end of September/beginning of October, others remain open until the beginning of November.

Hi Claire,

Will you be coming to the meeting this month? I can give you a recommendation in Tuscany if I didn't already. I don't remember because we had so many people last month. This month should be a bit calmer!!

If you want a lake with easier proximity to Venice and the Dolomites you might consider Lake Garda. It would be easy to visit Verona too, which we really enjoyed.

Thanks for all the input. I did get a recommendation for Tuscany at the last meeting. And I will look into Lake Garda. I am thinking about starting in Venice and renting a car from that region, heading to the Dolomites, Lakes and then Siena and Umbria. First time renting a car in Europe. Any recommendations for that and also has any of you gone to Sicily. There is a 10 day tour there. Never taken a tour before in Europe except for a concert tour in 1984 with 100 teenagers!! We usually plan everything and do trains.

Also at the last meeting, Susan and Monte had a recommendation for accomodations in the Dolomites which I am hoping to hear about.

I use Auto Europe when I rent cars in Europe. They are a consolidator based in the U.S. For driving in Italy each driver needs an International Drivers Permit (IDP). You get it at AAA. You will need a passport sized photo for it, but they will do that at AAA if needed. I do it there because its easier than making another stop elsewhere.

Not sure what you intend for Fall 2014. If it's around Sept. 21, then beaches are feasible, if closer to Dec. 21, beaches are not feasible. Actually these past few weeks Italy has had some major snowfall in various parts of the country.

The weather in Central/Southern Italy is very similar to Northern California's, at least temperature wise, since Italy is not as dry as here in California (especially so far this year). Northern Italy is more similar to Oregon, temperature wise, but with less rain than Portland, since the Alps act as a shield against many weather systems coming from the Atlantic.

If you go early in the Fall (Sept/early October), the Dolomites are good. You could fly to Venice and after visiting the city a few days you could rent a car from Piazzale Roma and venture to the Dolomites (I recommend the Val Gardena, such as the town of Ortisei or Selva etc.) . In NorthEast Italy you could visit Lake Garda (nice beaches and mountains dropping onto the lake), Valpolicella (wine region), Colli Euganei (more wine and spas), the cities of Verona, Vicenza, Padua. Ravenna and Ferrara are close by as well.

Lake Como is closer to Milan (about 2.5 hours east of Venice) but 3 weeks is actually quite a bit and you could visit all of Northern Italy in that time frame, including Lombardy and Piedmont with all the Alps and all the major lakes (Garda, Como, Maggiore, Orta). With a car you'll have more flexibility so it will be a good opportunity to visit the small towns and countryside.

If your husband is interested in sea (not just lake) beaches, near Venice I recommend Jesolo. Croatia however has better places on the North Adriatic coast. If you decide to visit there, inquire with the rental car company because there are rental restrictions which may prevent you from taking the car across into the Eastern European countries (lots of car burglaries there). Maybe Croatia won't be a problem, but still inquire (just don't drop the car off to a different country from where you pick up, because the drop off fee would be exorbitant).

On the Italian side, the Northern Adriatic coast is nicer around Mt. Conero, near Ancona. The Rimini to Cattolica area is more geared to entertainment (not so much nature and beauty of the sea). The crowds mentioned by Ken will be gone in September, when the area becomes a beach vacation spot primarily for retirees. Riccione is the nicest town in the area IMO.

Thank you all for the great ideas. Roberto, beach not necessarily for jumping into the water. He just likes vacationing on the coast even in less than warm weather. We are a bit inland in Sacramento (great rivers though)so it's always nice to vacation close to a body of water.

I appreciate your advice. Thanks

Your car won't get stolen in Croatia. It could happen there just as likely as the US or Australia. We hired one for 5 weeks last year and drove all around Croatia from Dubrovnik all the way up the Dalmatian coast to Istria, east to Zagreb and back to Dalmatia. No problems! The only place we didn't take the car was the islands. Hired the car after visiting them. Croatia is a very beautiful country! I don't think you can go wrong no matter where you decide to go there. Few of the places I love are Rovinj, Zadar and Plitvice lakes. There are so many more places I can add to that list. Next year we are planning a 5 week trip around Italy but this time we are not driving. The trains sound too good to be true there. Good luck with your planning!

Thanks Jane. We have always taken trains in Europe and are very impressed (with lots of pre-planning) with how efficient they are for touring a country. This will be our first attempt at car rental in Europe because we want to see more country where trains aren't as good an option.

we just got back in sep from our 4th trip to Italy and did most of it by car. we flew into Milan and took the train to venice (2nd time) basically to see the annual rigatta down the grand canal. we picked up our car at Hertz right there at the giant garage at the end of the causeway in venice. We drove to Lake Como, Milan, Cinque Terra, Luca (Pisa), Siena, Assisi and assorted hill towns before seeing Orvieto as a last stop before flying out of Rome. We had a English Garmin GPS but it was pretty worthless. Driving tips. The Superstradas (road # preceded by SS) are nice divided highways with no tolls. We had no trouble using our non chip credit card on the toll Autostradas. There are rest stops about every 10 miles. If you drive the autostradas there will be several things to remember. If you are going on a long stretch like Venice to Milan you will get a ticket when you enter the highway that you pay when you get off the autostrada or when you hit the "beltway" at a city like Milan. When you see the pay booths there will be three signs. One is for the auto pass like we have in the US. One will say something like Carte which is for credit cards and the third will have a sign that symbolizes the idea that you can use a credit card or cash. Avoid that line as it is always long. use the carte lane and stick you ticket in (see the arrow on the ticket)then put in your credit card. it will kick out and the gate will go up. on short stretches of road or where the road hits the "beltway" you will not get a ticket but you merely stick your credit card in and go through the gate. we stayed in Siena for three nights and used it as our base to see the hill towns. When you come off of a major highway is your biggest sign problem. Example, When we got off the SS at Sienna the road sign did not give an entry gate name for the city. WE had to know to follow the sign that said Assisi rather than Florence and we got right to the southern gate to Siena that we wanted. Also at hill towns parking lots are labeled P1 P2 etc rather than by name

mjruffus, how many days was your trip?