Italy My Way

I

Is there any opportunity to create my own "My Way" Italy itinerary and
still have the help with transportation/transfers and hotel
accommodations?

Sure. That's what travel agents do…for a price. But many of us make our own arrangements with hotel booking sites and by simply learning a bit about the various transport systems. This forum is a great place to do that as those are the sorts of questions which are answered here every day (take a browse through the previous forum questions). What sort of "help" are you looking for?

rp,

You can certainly create a custom "My Way Italy" tour to fit exactly the sights you want to see, but you'll have to put the work in with respect to transportation/transfers and hotels. That's where the guidebooks and this forum can really help.

It's impossible to make more specific suggestions without having some idea on the Itinerary you're considering. If you could post the details here, I'm sure the forum members will be able to provide lots of great information.

Thanks for replying and offering to give me some help :)

We are planning to go in October of this year. The more I read and look online, the more confused I seem to get - soooo many decisions and choices! We are in our 50's but fairly active. We are very early risers and like to get early start to our day. We don't mind long busy days seeing and doing. I know a lot of things can be done independently, but the tours seem to make life easier with transportation issues. Here is what I am thinking and questions:
Day 1: Fly into Milan (from US), check into hotel and do a little sightseeing, and have a nice dinner
Day 2: Swiss Alps Bernina Express day trip (have wanted to do this since I was about 12 years old!)
Question: I see lots of "tours" for this that pick us up in Milan, but wondering if we should fly into Milan and then somehow get to Tirano on day 1, and just purchase a ticket for the train without paying for an organized tour. How would we get to Tirano?
Day 3: Would love to see Lake Como area and spend the day sightseeing and doing a boat ride.

Question: If we go to Tirano on Day 2, should we stay there and go to Como from there or would we need to get back to Milan? Again, there are tours that would pick us up in Milan. If don't do a tour to Lake Como, how do we get there?
Question: Our next stop is Venice. So, I see the train is about 2 1/2 hours. We are thinking we could get to Lake early, spend the day and then take the train to Venice that evening.

Day 4 : Venice

Day 5-7: Train to Florence
While here we want to see the main sights in Florence, side trip to Pisa, side trip to Siena and San Gimignano.
Question: Which of the side trips can be done together, or would each be a day? Not interested in wine tours, but really want to see the countryside scenery and spend time walking around the towns. Also, as corny as this may seem, we really want to do a vespa tour. My husband has had motorcycles most of his life so we feel comfortable driving one. So, we are thinking 3 full days here??
Day 8-9: Early Train to Rome
Want to see all the regular tourist things for first time visitors. We've been seeing two full busy days will work. My husband is not a fan of big cities or really even museums so I'm thinking he'll be ready to move on after 2 days.
Day 10-12: Sorrento
Question: Train here from Rome?
Want to do a drive along the coast, spend time walking around Sorrento and Positano, visit Capri and do a boat tour to Blue Grotto.

Question: Most of what I'm reading discourage driving ourself. So...a tour along the coast???

Question: Am I correct in that you can catch a ferry to Capri from Sorrento? Will I be able to get on a boat to the grotto in Capri or does this need to be prearranged with a tour?

Day 13: Fly home from Naples or will need to return to Rome (depends on airfare prices)
Question: If I can get good rates to fly home from Naples, how will I get there from Sorrento? I've seen suggestions for private driver but that seems pretty expensive. If so, even if air is cheaper from Naples, it might be less expensive in long run to go back to Rome and leave from there.

ALSO...We can extend our trip by a day or two so recommendations for any other side trips would be appreciated, or if you think more time is needed in this itinerary please let me know.

Questions: Never traveled in Europe (as I'm sure you have guessed). How hard is it going to be to find, purchase tickets, and get on the trains headed to right locations! Should I buy train tickets in advance? Should I buy attraction tickets in advance? Hotel recommendations for cities - don't need luxury but want nice/clean/private bath/good location (easy to get to from train and for sights).

I know you say you are not interested in the Rick Steves My Way tour of Italy, but we were in the same boat as you were three years ago. We felt very confused about travel in Italy. I am so glad that we did take the My Way Italy tour. Since then we have gained our confidence to travel independently! We just spent 5 weeks on our own in Great Britain and are planning our trip for this year, 4 weeks in France. I would suggest you purchase Rick Steve's Italy book. In the book all your questions (or most) will be answered! It really isn't difficult to travel in Italy. The train system is very efficient and easy to use. We stayed 3 days prior to our tour starting in Venice and after the tour spent 5 nights in Sorrento and 3 in Rome. Another book you should read is RS Europe Through The Back Door.

Thanks pfresh3! I thought about doing it and adding on about 4-5 days for the extra activities we want to do. I'll look at it some more. I'm retired, but my husband is self-employed. Not sure if we can work out the extra time to add on. The tour is 13 days + a couple of travel days already. I guess my biggest concern about Italy is the transportation from one location to the next. I will definitely get the books you suggested.

Transport from place to place in Italy is more simple than one might think. The train system is excellent, fast, comfortable, and mostly the railway station is in the centre of the city. Tickets are really easy to buy from machines that "speak" English, and accept both plastic cards and euro notes. Sometimes we have booked tickets on line, other times just bought them at the station. It depends how locked in you want to be to a specific train.

It is hard to understand your travel plans as presently written. It is easier to make suggestions if you nominate where you are sleeping.

Also note that Europe uses the European form of dates. In Europe, 7/8 means 7th August. In the USA it means 8th July. Just something to be across, and it does no harm to spell out the month.

If you are asking for suggestions for hotels, it helps if you nominate your price point in euro, rather than dollars.

As far as I can tell, you have at least 7 overnight destinations (more with day trips) in 11 full days of touring, and some of the destinations are widely separated. You will spend most of your time getting from one place to another and settling in – you're not going to have time for actually doing much. Getting the guidebook is an excellent idea; I would also get a map of Italy so you can see how widely separated some of these destinations are.

I also suggest you calculate travel time between destinations. The website/app Rome2Rio will show you transit options and approximate travel time. The website bahn.com will give you actual train schedules – and everything you want to do can be done by train (far more easily than driving). Once you calculate the transit time, add at least another 2 or 3 hours to to give yourself time to pack, check out of the hotel, get lost, find the train station, buy tickets if necessary, find the right track/train, and then reverse the entire process when you get to your next destination. If you do this, I think you'll see why I say you're going to spend most of your time getting from one place to another.

With 11 days, I would only do 2 destinations max, but you could comfortably do 3.

Planning this type of trip can be a lot of fun, but I think you'll find that many people here suggest slowing down and giving yourself time to actually enjoy Italy.

EDIT: if you really want to visit this many destinations in such a short time, one way to do it os on a guided tour. It's not the way I like to travel, and you lose the ability to set your own schedule and change plans, but it will efficiently get you from place to place so you can cram more into the available time.

Sherry, I have 5 overnight destinations (Milan, Venice, Florence, Rome, Sorrento) in 13-14 days. I know, this is still a LOT! I will definitely look again at travel times between cities. Most show a "fast train" between cities with 2-3 hours travel time with the most inconvenient being having to go from Rome to Naples and then Naples to Sorrento. I may need to add a couple days to the trip.

rp,

Your plans are not actually that complicated, and you should be able to work this out without too much difficulty. The first step will be to establish an efficient route. After that you can "fill in the blanks" with hotels, sightseeing and other details.

Perhaps you could consider something along these lines.....

• D1 - Flight to Milan / MXP
• D2 / N1 - Arrive MXP - Malpensa Express to Milano Centrale and then travel directly to Varenna on Lago di Como (with such a short Itinerary, spending a night in Milan is a waste of time, and IMO your time would be better spent elsewhere).
• D3 / N2 - Varenna, touring and possible day trip to Bellagio (a few days in Varenna will be a great place to recover from jet lag)
• D4 / N1 - Train to Tirano and then transfer to the Bernina Express - I believe the panoramic cars only have one departure per day at 13:00, so plan your departure time from Varenna accordingly - you might consider going only as far as Pontresina or St. Moritz, spend an hour or two looking around and then return to Tirano by regular train for one night - I don't normally recommend one night stops but in this case it's the best option.
• D5 / N1 - Train from Tirano to Venezia Santa Lucia - I'd probably use a departure at 09:08, arriving at 14:40 (one change in Milan).
• D6 / N2 - Venice
• D7 / N3 - Venice
• D8 / N1 - Train to Florence (2H:05M via high speed train - you can use either Trenitalia or Italo on this route).
• D9 / N2 - Florence
• D10 / N3 - Florence
• D11 / N1 - Train to Sorrento via Naples (about 2.5 hours via high speed train) - when you arrive at Napoli Centrale, you can either go downstairs and buy tickets for the Circumvesuviana train OR the more comfortable method would be to hire a private transfer for for the drive to Sorrento - the Circumvesuviana has a bit of a reputation for pickpockets and scammers, but it will be the cheapest option.
• D12 / N2 - Sorrento (possible day trip to Capri)
• D13 / N3 - Sorrento (possible day trip to Pompeii or Herculaneum)
• D14 / N1 - Train or transfer back to Naples and then high speed train to Rome (about 1H:10M via high speed train)
• D15 / N2 - Rome
• D16 / N3 - Rome
• D17 - Return flight

With this suggestion, I tried to include not only the locations you mentioned but also a reasonable time in each one to allow you to travel at a more relaxed pace (which is the best way to savour Italy). If you don't have that much time, then you'll have to decide which parts to skip. For a trip this short, I'd normally suggest limiting the trip to Rome and north. Transportation in the south is not as well developed and therefore it takes more time to get around. It would be preferable to planning a separate trip for the south (or you could take the RS South Italy tour which is a really efficient way to see that area, as they take care of all transportation, hotels, etc.) However if you really want to include Sorrento you'll either have to add more time or skip something else in the list.

One point to note is that rail schedules for October won't be posted until some time in June, but you can get a good idea by checking departures in the next month or so on the same day of the week that you'll be travelling.

I'd highly recommend packing along a copy of the RS Italy 2016 guidebook. That will be an excellent resource both for planning your trip as well as planning hotels, sightseeing, transportation, restaurants, etc. If this is your first trip to Europe, reading Europe Through The Back Door prior to your trip would also be advisable (I believe someone else also suggested that). If this is your first trip to Italy, there are some potentially expensive "caveats" to be aware of when using trains or other public transit there. If you need more information, post another note.

Ken, thank you so much for an awesome reply! Very helpful suggestions!

Ken, thank you so much for an awesome reply! Very helpful suggestions!

I think Ken has some great suggestions. Be sure to spend at least two nights and two full days in Venice. You won't be sorry. Venice is an amazing city.

In Florence my suggestion is to rent an apartment for about 4-5 nights, there are several global websites but I suggest you something more local... like www.florenceapartmentsrentals.com they rent apartments in Florence for family too and also have a Shuttle service for day tours in Cinque Terre !

Cheers

Patti,
I see you've never traveled to Europe. I have a few observations:
Carefully weigh the convenience of a "My Way" tour against the flexibility of striking out on your own. How adventurous are you? Have you done any traveling with a tour group?

In the days before the internet, planning your own trip would have been a daunting task. Nowadays, there's a wealth of information available that allows you to make all arrangements before you leave home. My wife and I just returned from a December trip to Tuscany. We made all reservations, including walking tours of Florence and Rome months before we left. We knew what bus to take from our home base of Greve to Florence and even what bus to take (#14) from the bus terminal to our rendezvous point at Piazza San Marco. If you and/or your husband are good at research and detail, you could design your own trip and have most, if not everything reserved and arranged before departure. You could plan in as much flexibility as you want.

I suggest instead of making day trips from Florence, you take the train to Siena and day trip from there to San Gimignano. For instance, take a late afternoon train from Florence to Siena, with accommodations in the heart of the walled city. Spend one full day in Siena. On the second day, take a bus trip to San Gimignano, leaving early and returning late afternoon. Spend the night in Siena and catch an early train to Rome the next day. You could look into taking a late train to Rome instead of spending the night, but it's 3 hours by train and it would make for a very long day.

I think you are overbooking. You're trying to do too much and will spend too much time getting from here to there. No matter how hard you try, you can't see it all. Instead, slow down and enjoy the essence of Italy. My wife and I took a school trip when we were in high school in 1966. On the tour we saw 8 countries in 21 days. It was great, but we "skimmed" the sites. There was no depth. On our December trip we gave ourselves time to not only see some of the must see items (Uffizi, Pantheon, etc.) but also get off the beaten tourist path and spend some quality time with folks who lived there. For instance, we spent an hour one morning in the shop of an artist who had a small shop in Greve. We left with some wonderful art, including ones he painted. These now hang in our home and remind us every day of the magical trip we took.

We are planning to go in October of this year. The more I read and look online, the more confused I seem to get - soooo many decisions and choices!

The 1st decision is tour or on your own. You'll see more with a tour such as RS since they can do things more efficiently than you can (buses that leave when RS wants them to, reservations at major sights, etc) plus the benefit of a guide who gives you much more info than you're going to get from any book. But you pay for this convenience.

Or do it on your own. You've already got some good advice about durations, about trying to see to much. What I suggest is start with an itinerary from a RS tour. They have a plan that experience has shown them people generally like. If you like it, then book those locations! I'd suggest adding an extra day or two in cities, and an extra day every 3rd or 4th compared to the tour pace since you can't duplicate what they can do. And an advantage of doing it on your own is that if you really want to explore some locations you aren't forced to leave because the bus is going; plan some extra days. Now maybe you aren't interested in some of the places on the fixed tour, or you wish it also went to X, Y, Z. On your own you can start to make changes. Done a piece at a time, it isn't overwhelming.

Hi!
Do not be afraid of transportation in Italy.
Bus and Train networks are very good.
I may help you for Florence and Tuscany or, Should you be interested, Torino and the Piedmont, Langhe region where the Barolo is grown.
Let me know.

Doug thanks for the suggestions. I'll look into them.
John - While we haven't traveled in Europe, we do travel quite frequently. We've done some group things in the past and just did not enjoy it as much as being on our own and spending as much or as little time as we want at attractions. We also do enjoy the flexibility of extending time in a particular area if we decide to do so.

Is there any comparison of the Cinque Terre area with what we would see in S. Italy (Sorrento, Capri)? Trying to narrow down the territory and what we could possible cut out of this trip. Both of our children have visited the southern area and said they loved it - absolutely beautiful. They've also been to Florence/Tuscany area and said it was their favorite and they think it will be ours too. Their recommendation is to eliminate Venice, and that spending a very full day in Rome would be enough if we got into major attractions with "skip the line" organized tours, and since we are not going to want to spend a lot of time in museums. This is definitely not the advice of most of what I've read. Of course they were college students when they went!

Is there any comparison of the Cinque Terre area with what we would see in S. Italy (Sorrento, Capri)?

Haven't been to Capri, but of the other 2 I'd say the CT offers walking between towns along amazing coastline but not a lot in the town (just look at any aerial photo of the towns online and you'll see how small they are). I'm not aware of any similar hikes from Sorrento or Positano, although maybe they exist. Sorrento is a beautiful small town on very scenic coastline with lots of streets for walking, shops, restaurants, views. Positano is much smaller. Not far away are the ruins of Pompeii or Herculaneum (the latter is my favorite of the 2).

spending a very full day in Rome would be enough if we got into major attractions with "skip the line" organized tours,

All anyone can say is "know yourself". There are people with 8-12 hours to kill at the airport that go into a nearby city and are happy with that. Personally I could spend days wandering in Rome, but look at guidebooks (and watch the RS videos, you can stream any of his shows free from this site) and decide how little or much you need to see.

I won’t comment on your planned itinerary, other than to suggest that you miss Cinque Terre. If the weather is bad, a real possibility in October, then you have burned a couple of days for not much gain. The towns are picturesque, not so picturesque if it is bucketing rain.

Taking a Rick Steves tour is a possibility, but then you are stuck with the RS schedule and hotels, even if you do the “my way” thing. Do remember that the RS-selected hotels are selected both for traveller convenience and also to suit the RS commercial imperative.

It’s worth the exercise of exploring your own bookings, going, in a way, for a test drive.

Experiment on www.trenitalia.com, and there is a tab you can select for English. Try making a booking, say Florence to Venice SL for a couple of weeks ahead, and you will see how simple it is. When you finally book, your ticket, which you print off at home,will give you the train number (Treno), the carriage number (Carozza) and your seat number. It is easier than booking a flight.

Experiment with hotel booking sites. I have used www.venere.com, also www.booking.com. Check out the hotel locations and what the rooms look like.

One thing though, if you do plan on visiting Venice, give yourself three nights at least. Venice takes a bit of getting to know, figuring how to get around, planning how to get from A to B. In Venice, you do need a paper map – cell phones don’t cut it too well in la Serenissima. We have spent in total about nine months in Venice, and are still discovering things, quirks, doors that were previously not open.