Italy - October 2017 - Itinerary Evaluation

Robby,
How about the Cinque Terre? It is a string of 5 small villages on the Mediterranean Sea and you might go there after Rome, it would be a nice place to relax and recover from jet lag. I spent two nights there this past Oct. and we stayed in the delightful town of Monterosso. Almost everyone in my tour group loved the Cinque Terre the best of all the places we visited (17 Days Best of Italy). Others on the forum will give you better guidance for the rest of your itinerary.

Judy B

Some ideas within here ...
Saturday, October 7, 2017 Fly in to Rome (2N)
Sunday, October 8, 2017 Rome
Monday, October 9, 2017 Travel to Orvieto (2N)
Tuesday, October 10, 2017 Daytrip to Civita di Bagnoregio
Wednesday, October 11, 2017 Travel to Assisi (1N)
Thursday, October 12, 2017 Travel to Montepulciano (2N)
Friday, October 13, 2017 Daytrip to Pienza
Saturday, October 14, 2017 Travel to Firenze (2N) - Fiesole in the afternoon
Sunday, October 15, 2017 Daytrip to Lucca
Monday, October 16, 2017 Travel to Bologna (or Padova) (2N)
Tuesday, October 17, 2017 Daytrip to Ravenna (or Vicenza)
Wednesday, October 18, 2017 Travel to Venice (3N)
Thursday, October 19, 2017 Venice
Friday, October 20, 2017 Venice
Saturday, October 21, 2017 Leave Venice for USA

Robby,

Your proposed Itinerary is far too busy, IMHO. You're going to be spending a lot of your time in trains or buses, rather than enjoying the towns you've come to see.

"We want to try to do more smaller cities with minimum bus and train hassle.We want to try to do more smaller cities with minimum bus and train hassle."

I suspect this itinerary is going to have considerable "bus and train hassle".

I'd have to give some thought to how this could be changed. if you're committed to visiting all the spots on your list, I doubt there will be much improvement possible.

You have some flexibility if you plan mostly 2 night stays in interesting places. Any excursions scheduled for the intervening day could be 'optional' depending on how you felt at the time.

I agree with Robby, your itinerary is way to busy. Day trips are not always great in Italy because many sites close during afternoon hours and some of the best experiences in small towns is in the evening when all of the day trippers have left. If you don't have to see all these places cut out some day trips and enjoy the town that you are staying in. We spent three nights (two days) in Assisi two years ago and could have easily used another night! If you don't need to see Rome again I would travel from the Rome airport to the Termini(Rome train station) and head immediately to Assisi or Orvieto for your first few nights. I would skip Bologna or maybe stop there for lunch on your way to Venice. Also, if you don't wish to see Florence this trip stay in Lucca or Cinque Terre instead. Have fun and try to slow your pace!

I wanted to visit Pienza on a recent trip but couldn't figure out a reasonable way to get there without a car. Various Forum posters convinced me of the difficulty by public transportation so I gave it up.

Please anyone take your best shot at editing this Itinerary. The only thing I'm committed to is spending the last few days in Venice. After that I would like to see Assisi and Civita di Bagnoregio but I could drop one or both if necessary. Everything else is clean slate.

Also Considering something like this maybe.......not sure about all the bus and train details???

Friday, October 6, 2017 Leave USA

Saturday, October 7, 2017 Fly to Rome arrive at 7:20pm Local Time
Sunday, October 8, 2017 Rome

Monday, October 9, 2017 Travel to Naples (Base in Sorrento)
Tuesday, October 10, 2017 Capri

Wednesday, October 11, 2017 Amalfi

Thursday, October 12, 2017 Herculaneum
Friday, October 13, 2017 Travel to Orvieto

Saturday, October 14, 2017 Daytrip to Civita di Bagnoregio
Sunday, October 15, 2017 Travel to Firenze (Fiesole in the afternoon)

Monday, October 16, 2017 Daytrip to Lucca

Tuesday, October 17, 2017 Travel to Venice

Wednesday, October 18, 2017 Venice

Thursday, October 19, 2017 Venice

Friday, October 20, 2017 Venice

Saturday, October 21, 2017 Leave Venice for USA

For an energetic couple in your mid 30's I think the 'bones' of your trip are perfectly fine, especially if you travel lightly with luggage. A casual assessment of the Forum's demographic suggests to me that we all have a few years on you.

Rome (2N)
Orvieto (2N)
Assisi (1N)
Montepulciano (2N)
Firenze (2N)
Bologna (2N)
Venice (3N)

Rome (2N)
Orvieto (2N)
Assisi (1N)
Montepulciano (2N)
Firenze (2N)
Bologna (2N)
Venice (3N)

David's itinerary is very good. I wouldn't go south of Rome because it wastes too much travel time. You need overnights in Orvieto and Assisi because of the travel time between them. I haven't been to Montepulciano, so no comment. You've been to Florence. Don't go there just to day trip to other places. If you want to revisit Florence, fine. Otherwise skip it. I loved Bologna but many don't. Your original plan has 4N in Venice. That leaves you 3N after Montepulciano. You could stay in Ferrara and day trip to Ravenna (highly recommended), then see Padua on the way to Venice (check bags at the train station). Or Ravenna (2N) and Verona (1N). Love Verona.

The amount of time you spend somewhere depends on why you are going/what you want to see/do there.

Get a good guidebook (Lonely Planet) and be honest about why you chose your places. Roma and Firenze may be familiar, but if you are using Firenze only as a base for a daytrip, stay in Lucca instead.

If you want to see the Amalfi Coast, do it.

Try to have a minimum of two nights everywhere.

You can base in Bologna and daytrip to Ravenna and Ferrara on two different days.

OK.....I have taken all the advice and have come up with this.....the only thing I don't like is about 4/5 hours of travel between Cinque Terre and Venice....and maybe weather in Cinque Terre but I think it might be worth the chance???

Friday, October 6, 2017 Leave USA

Saturday, October 7, 2017 Fly to Rome arrive at 7:20pm Local Time

Sunday, October 8, 2017 Rome

Monday, October 9, 2017 Travel to Orvieto

Tuesday, October 10, 2017 Daytrip to Civita di Bagnoregio

Wednesday, October 11, 2017 Travel to Assisi

Thursday, October 12, 2017 Assisi

Friday, October 13, 2017 Travel to Lucca

Saturday, October 14, 2017 Lucca

Sunday, October 15, 2017 Travel to Cinque Terre

Monday, October 16, 2017 Cinque Terre

Tuesday, October 17, 2017 Travel to Venice

Wednesday, October 18, 2017 Venice

Thursday, October 19, 2017 Venice

Friday, October 20, 2017 Venice

Saturday, October 21, 2017 Leave Venice for USA

Personally, I would skip the CT although the area is beautiful. You will force yourself to travel from coast to coast if you include CT, and the weather may be iffy at best and really bad at worst. I have not been to Bologna but want to go. I would pick somewhere between Lucca and Venice for the nights allocated to CT. Exactly where, not sure. I would take a risk and make final arrangements for those nights once I was in Italy.