I would appreciate your kind feedback on the following itinerary. We are somewhat flexible, except for the part about having to be at a conference in Barga May 20-25, so open to other suggestions or rearranging! Here we go: May 12, (Saturday) depart ATL May 13 (Sunday) arrive Milan, 8:30 A.M. Immediately take train to Varenna on Lake Como
May 13, 14, (Sunday, Monday) Lake Como 2 nights to get over jet lag May 15th (Tuesday) Train to Florence,15, 16, 17, 18, Florence 4 nights. (Tues-Fri) Could possibly day trip to Sienna. May 19th (Saturday) to Pisa, then on to Lucca, 1 night. To get to Pisa/Lucca should we take train, bus, car? May 20 to conference, 20-25, (Sun –Thurs) sleep in Barga 5 nights. Would it be best to have a car here? What is the best way to get from Lucca to Barga? May 25-27 (Friday, Sat, Sun)Train from Barga to Venice, 3 nights (is there even a train fro Barga to Venice?) Fly out of Venice morning of 28th. (Monday) Thanks!
Posted by
Elk Grove, CA, USA
6898 posts
The itinerary looks good. If you sleep OK on the plane, you might get some sleep on the overnight to Milan. If not, your plan is just fine. To get to Pisa and Lucca, the train is easiest and best IMO. You can even store your luggage in the staffed "Left Luggage" facility in the south end of the PIsa station. Yes there is a train to Barga which is 35km north of Lucca. On the www.trenitalia.com train website, it shows two different stations 1) Fornaci di Barga and 2) Barga-Gallicano. You'll need to find out which one works best. Yes, there are train runs from Barga to Venice. Almost all runs will take you back Lucca where you will change trains. You will change trains again in Florence. The journey times vary from 4.5hrs to 6.0hrs. Here's a link to what I see.
http://orario.trenitalia.com/b2c/nppPriceTravelSolutions.do?stazin=Fornaci+Di+Barga&stazout=Venice&datag=17&datam=11&dataa=2011&timsh=12&timsm=00&car=0&stazin_r=Staz_DA&stazout_r=Staz_A&datag_r=01&datam_r=01&dataa_r=2011&timsh_r=01&timsm_r=00&trencounter=0&nreq=5&solotreno=0&npag=1&sort=0&trencounter_r=0&nreq_r=5&solotreno_r=0&npag_r=1&sort_r=0&traintype=&traintype=&lang=en&channel=tcom
Posted by
Natick, Mass, USA
31 posts
this seems like a good itinerary to me, but in addition to taking a day trip to siena from florence, i'd also day trip to one of tuscany's hill towns: san gimignano, volterra, montepulciano, montalcino, cortona, orvieto, etc. (or, even better in my opinion, stay the night and sleep one less night in florence). florence is nice (and surely worth a visit), but personally, i'm one of those travelers who thinks that once you've seen a duomo, you've seen a duomo, and once you've seen an art museum, you've seen an art museum. florence gets a bit redundant after a couple of days, in my opinion.
Posted by
Little Rock, AR
105 posts
The itinerary looks quite good. I am one of those folks who would disagree with the "duomo is a duomo, museum is a museum" folks. There are few, if any, places on the planet that provide more artistic and architectural "bang for the buck" per square mile than Florence, and there is nothing wrong IMHO in spending some quality time there. Siena is gorgeous, but it is similar to Florence in many ways, so if you are wanting a different experience, take a day trip to a couple of the hill towns from Florence. Barga is a wonderful place. I had far too short a visit there years ago, and would love to go back. Hopefully your conference will allow some sightseeing time..... Also, IMHO a few hours in Pisa is plenty. My general rule in Italy is that if a train goes there, take the train.