Italy itinerary - going crazy!

It looks good as long as you realize you are putting 4 nights towards Siena and only one towards Florence AND Lucca together. Florence itself is easily worth several days but you have to decide what you want out of the trip. If you only want to see the smaller places like the hill towns and whatnot, then I guess your schedule is fine, I just personally can't imagine only being in Florence for a day so I have to comment LOL! Something I ran into when I was planning my 2 weeks in Italy about a year ago was fitting in as much as possible while also staying long enough in each place to experience it more than superficially. I decided to just limit myself to Venice, Florence and Rome and take day trips. Unfortunately I missed a lot of the Tuscan and Umbrian hill towns and CT and some other places I now can't wait to see, but it only whet my appetite to go back for another 2-week trip and see places I had to skip the first time. So long story short, I would say your schedule looks fine depending on the kind of travelers you are. Personally I don't like to be on the move every day or two but if that's ok with you, then it's fine - you have to design the itinerary that will fit into what you and your husband like to see and do on vacation and how you guys like to travel so that's why I only offer what I did as a comparison, not a suggestion. I'd just caution against trying to see so much you don't actually see anything anywhere. Otherwise have a great time! (Oh and you could probably drop off your car in Siena, but be very careful of the traffic limiting zones in these cities, people come home and a year later get hit with hundreds of euros in fines for traveling within these areas in Florence, Siena, and other cities).

We just got back from 2 weeks in Italy with Grand Circle Tours. Rather than shell out $110 per person per optional trip, we decided to do it ourselves. Without a car we were able to take day trips to Florence, Siena, Cinque Terre, Venice, and (if I hadn't been tripped out) Ravenna all from our base in Montecatini Terme. The train station was 3 blocks from the hotel. You can get anywhere in Italy cheaply by train and/or bus. Our day trip to Venice for example started at 5:30AM, got to Venice at 10, toured for 6 hours and caught the 4 PM Eurostar back. The train to Cinque Terre was 2:30 hours.
From our base in Sorrento we used the trains to see Pompeii, Herculaneum, Naples, Stabiae, and Paestum. The Amalfi coast is best seen by tour bus, fantastic views and lots of vertigo, but only if you get a seat on the right hand side. I'm serious! Get in line early to be sure you get on the right side of the bus. If you don't want to take that chance then take a boat ride to Amalfi.
Also you didn't mention Capri, but if you're going to be in Sorrento then don't miss Capri! Catch the boat at the bottom of the cliffs and spend the day on Capri seeing how the other half lives. Take the bus to Anacapri and then the chair lift to the top for some fantastic views. Back at Capri town there are many very scenic walks out of town that take you past some fabulous views and very pricey properties.

Gary,

Could you please tell me the mode of travel you used to get to Paestum and how long it took to get there & back & do the tour? Thanks!

Martha

Our base in the Campania area was Sorrento. The least expensive and fastest way to get to Paestum was to take the F.S. train (i.e. trenitalia.it) from modern Pompei to Paestum and then walk the half mile to the site. Note the spelling by the way. The Romans used two i’s, but modern Pompei (in particular, the trenitalia website) insists on just one. To get to the Pompei station we took the Circumvesuviana train from Sorrento to the Pompei Scavi stop (i.e. the ruins) and then walked about 1.2 miles along Via Plinio and Via Sacra to the Pompei station. Via Plinio skirts the southern edge of the ruins and becomes Via Roma near the main piazza. You hang a right on Via Sacra at the big church. The station is at the end of this street. If you miss the 9:23 to Paestum you can either wait for the 12:18 or take the next train to Salerno (they run every 10-15 minutes) and catch a bus at the waterfront to Paestum (see Rick Steves’ Italy 2008 book for details). It's easy. You can almost see the sea from the station and the bus stop is well marked.
Don’t miss the museum at Paestum. Your Campania Artecard works here. It also works on the FS train, by the way. It has the famous “Tomb of the Diver” frescoes. You have to walk all the way around to the back of the building to see them. Ask if you get lost.

Allow all day for this excursion. About 2.5 hours for the site itself, 1.5 to 2 hours for the museum, and then travel time

Hi Claudine. Obviously a personal choice, but a couple of observations based upon our trip this year. First off I think you are trying to do too much. I would bypass Lucca and go direct to Florence from CT. We did that and spent 2 nights in Florence. You will be busy but it is compact and walkable so you should get a flavor and see the big sites in 2 days. Driving around Siena is not fun (I know). You won't use the car in the city, and its just not a good base (if you plan on staying in town) with a car. If you stay outside the city, it can work. I'd spend 2 nights in the Siena area and then head further south, perhaps stopping at Montalcino or Montepulciano (even Piensa) for one night- 2 if you can add time. It's such fun visiting little hill towns. From there drive to Orvieto which is a great place to drop the car and take the one hour train ride to Rome. Most of all relax. There are no really wrong answers. Just guard against being spread to thin, and CT to Lucca and florence for 1 night is an example. You're in for the adventure of a life time! Enjoy...

Thank you all for your responses! I think the biggest thing to consider is scaling our itinerary back a little to not squeeze too much in... to absorb Italy without running around too much.

Claudine: You've got it: "to absorb Italy without running around too much." At least some of us here think there's wisdom in those words.

Hi Claudine,

One piece of advice--I personally would advise not flying into/out of Paris at all costs. I flew into Paris on my way home back in '04 and had to transfer planes...worst day of my life travel-wise. Although, I DID fly into Charles four days after a portion of the airport collapsed, so that might have had something to do with the chaos. However, fellow travelers waiting for the plane said that the airport was not the best.

LOVED Paris though!

Claudine,
I just got back from Italy the end of June. Here was our itinerary:
3 nights Vernazza, Cinque Terre
4 nights Florence - day trip to Siena
1 night Orvieto (spectacular hill town in Umbria)
4 nights Rome

We had only 12 days and this worked out great! Our trip really resembles
your current plans. I would have liked
one more night in both Orvieto and Rome but we had a great time and felt
we spent enough time in Cinque Terre, Florence, and Siena considering this
was our first trip to Italy. We didn't feel drained with too much travel. Have a great trip!

Shannon

Claudine, I have to agree with a previous post in that you're trying to fit too many stops into a limited time frame. You'll have to allow travel time between destinations which will make the actual stop in some cities even shorter. You'll also lose the first day in flight times.

Given the circumstances, I'd probably arrange something like this:

Fly to Geneva & drive to France to visit Aunt (2 nights) - buy train tickets & reservations for the trip to the C.T. at the Geneva airport station if possible.

Drive back to Geneva airport, drop car and board train for Italy (I believe a Road Use Pass is required to drive in Switzerland?).

Train to Cinque Terre (2 nights) Using Vernazza as an example, one train to consider leaves Geneva Airport at 08:47, arriving Vernazza at 17:34 - time 8H 47M with changes in Geneva, Milano & Monterosso - reservations compulsory.

Train to Florence (4 nights) - One train to consider leaves at 09:34, arriving Firenze SMN at 13:03, time 3H 29M, one change in Pisa. From Florence you could take a day trip to Siena OR use 2 nights in Florence and 2 nights in Siena, on the way to Rome (if you choose that option, use Bus from Florence to Siena). You could also add one day to this segment and do a day trip to Lucca.

Train from either Siena or Florence to Rome (5 nights?) - this is only a short journey. You can easily spend 5 days or more in Rome, as there's so MUCH to see! However, you could also add a day here and do a day trip to Pompeii or Sorrento - it will be a LONG day though! With only a two week/16 day trip, it likely won't be possible to see more of the Amalfi coast, unless you drop something else.

That uses most of your time. IMO you don't have any room to add Paris or other stops. I'd suggest open jaw flights - fly TO Geneva and fly home from Fiumicino / Rome (use the Leonardo Express to get to the airport from Termini station).

Hope this helps? Happy travels!

4 nights in Sienna is long, you will see everything in 3 add one night on to Florence or Rome. You cant have to much time in Rome!

Rent a car out of Siena, its not expensive and great to drive around Tuscany. Just be careful in the hill towns. NEVER drive inside the city wall!!! We had some scary experiences!

Claudine,
Take more time to see the hill towns, yes, the big cities are wonderful, but they'll kill you, trying to do all the tourist stuff. We just returned from out second trip to Italy and when we go back for our third trip it will be to see only small hill towns.
We were in Montepulciano for a week, love it, loved Pienza, just 10 min. from Montepulciano. Montichillo, (Not the correct spelling, but close) is just 5 minutes from Montepul. It has a wonderful restuarant, La Porta, and the a dress shop that beats most in Rome. Assisi is a little farther away, bigger, but a neat town, clean, friendly, pretty. St. Francis Church is beautiful. A must if you are in Assisi. The markets in the small towns are fun. Cortona has a nice market on Sat. Cortona is close to Montepul. too. You need to see Florence, but like someone said it is easy to walk around in Florence and hit the tourist things. We did the Uffizi and Academia on the same day, and I felt like I saw all the important pieces and lots of others I hadn't counted on. Guess it depends on how much art you want to see. We did spend 5 days in Rome, did the typical tourist things but the five days gave us time to wonder around before or after our tours. Trastevere is my favorite area in Rome. Be sure and just walk around here, great bakeries, restuarants, beautiful church, Santa Maria and shops.

I liked flying into Rome better than Paris (Did Paris the first trip) both are big and busy but I thought Rome was a little easier and friendlier, just my opinion!
Oh, we didn't go to CT this time, but we loved it. Beautiful!!!!! We stayed at Hotel Steno. Good Hotel, not on the beach but we really liked it. It is in Monterossa???? It was a Rick Steves suggested hotel. I seem to be rambling on and on, just enjoy your self, take some time to rest after a long hot day, hopefully it won't be as hot in Sept. as it was in June.
Dana