Itinerary Feedback

Your itinerary appears do-able, however bypassing Florence might be a mistake. Florence is simply such a photogenic city, with incredible architecture. It's also the birthplace of modern society as we know it today. We stayed in Florence 3 nights Easter week, 2012 before heading to the Tuscan countryside for 4 nights in an agriturismo. We just rambled from hill top town to town in a rental car, including Siena, San Gimignano and Volterra.
Our rental car was dropped in Orvieto, another great hill top fortress, 70 minutes north of Rome by train.

Landing in Venice and returning to the USA from Rome is a smart move. You have not specified if you intend to rent a car. If you don't rent a car and intend to rely exclusively on trains and buses, then you should choose Florence as your base for your time in Tuscany. Florence is the transport hub for Tuscany and logistically it will be easier to visit Tuscany from Florence, even if you dont find Florence appealing (that's what you think now, but wait till you actually see it!). If you rent a car in Tuscany, then you can be pretty much anywhere and from there day trip to places with your car. You won't need a car to see the big cities (Rome, Florence, Venice) and actually it's a hassle to have one. However a car is good to visit the countryside and the smaller villages, where bus service is infrequent. While in Tuscany you may want to consider renting one for a day or two to visit the smaller villages and the countryside. Siena, Pisa, Lucca, Arezzo have frequent and fast train snd/or bus connections from Florence and can be easily visited from Florence on day trips.

That plan looks well thought out. Don't give up on Florence, particularly as you are photographers. Florence is a great base for all of the Tuscany around it. You are right that the normal train to CT from Venice would be via a change in Florence. If driving check for the usual caveats designed to keep the money in your purse and not given to the police.

We had 2 nights in Florence, so really only a day (arrived from Venice around 3pm) - we managed to see the Duomo, climbed the bell tower for amazing views, went to Accademia, quick run over Ponte Vecchio, next morning visited Pitti Palace...for us, it was enough...if Florence doesn't hold a lot of interest, then a day is fine...we finally went on our 3rd trip to Italy...we aren't big art lovers tho. Really, it all comes down to what you are interested in...if hill towns are more your thing, do that...our 1st trip to Italy, people were like...'You HAVE to see Florence!'...don't get me wrong, it is a beautiful city, but for us, not the highlight... And let me suggest - if you want photo ops - stay out late in Venice, when the cruise ship crowds are gone...and if you can get up that early, go out at 6:30-7am...there is hardly a soul around...you will have Rialto and St Marks almost to yourself! Best if you can have accom right in Venice for this...you won't regret it!

Thanks everyone for the feedback and suggestions! We do plan on renting a car while visiting the Tuscan hill towns, sorry for forgetting to mention that! We would love to base ourselves somewhere where we would be able to visit towns like Siena, San Gimignano, Volterra, Montepulciano, Montalcino, and/or Cortona. Our main interest while in Tuscany is definitely visiting as much of the Tuscan country side as possible! The main reason why we weren't planning on spending much time in Florence, is that we aren't huge art museum people. We would like to see David and walk around the city, but don't have any interest in the Accademia. I do realize that Florence is more than the Accademia, and we may well end up loving it....so, if we were to break our stay in Tuscany into two parts - Florence and Tuscan Hill Towns - would it make sense to do the Florence part on the journey in-between Venice and CT and then pick up a car after CT and spend the remainder of the time in a hill town or should we do Venice, CT, Florence and then the Tuscan hill towns before heading to Rome? Hope that makes some sense :) This portion of our itinerary is definitely the part of our itinerary that I'm struggling with the most! Thanks again for all of your help!

Jennifer, As this is your first trip to Europe, I'd highly recommend reading Europe Through The Back Door prior to your trip. It provides a lot of good information on "how" to travel well in Europe. Use the Italy Guidebook to work out details on sightseeing, hotels, transportation, etc. If I'm reading your Itinerary correctly, you have 17-18 days listed above, but no allowances for your two flight days. I'm assuming you've allocated time for those? The order of cities looks good, as does your plan to use open-jaw flights. One thing to keep in mind is that your trip from Venice to the Cinque Terre will take the better part of a day, so you won't have much time in the C.T. As you'll be driving in Italy, each driver will require the compulsory International Driver's Permit, which is used in conjunction with your home D.L. Failure to produce an I.D.P. if requested can result in fines on the spot! You can easily obtain an I.D.P. at any AAA office for a small fee (Passport photos required). You'll also need to be aware of the dreaded Zona Traffico Limitato areas, which are becoming increasingly prevalent in Italy (especially in Florence). Passing through these zones can result in expensive fines! Recent posts here would seem to indicate that authorities in Italy are becoming more aggressive in collecting the fines from foreign drivers and there may also be charges from the rental car firm for providing renter information to law enforcement. There are also some potentially expensive "caveats" to be aware of with train travel in Italy. Post another note if you need details. A day trip from Rome to Pompeii is possible, but it will be a LONG day. Good luck with your planning!

Congrats on your anniversary and congrats on your trip! I went to Italy for a study group in 2007 (Rome, Florence, Pisa, Milan) and I LOVED Rome...like need to stay 3+ weeks there....there are not words to describe my love for Rome. We are going on cruise in May 2013 and only staying 2 days in Rome. I am upset, but anxious to see what else Europe holds. Now, Florence...I liked it. But it is SOOO touristy. I agree that it will be a great place for your husband to get some beautiful photos, but it just felt so commercial to me compared to the rest of the places I visited. However, that is just me???.....I don't think you should completely write it off. Maybe 1-2 days there would suffice. Don't think I would revist Milan or Pisa so you're not missing a whole lot there... Unfortunately, I haven't been to Venice or Tuscany (we are visiting Turkey & Greece in May), but I think you are going to have an absolutely beautiful time!!! Congrats again :)

As photographers... it all depends on what you are looking for...My least favorite places to photgraph... big cities with sites that everyone knows and have been photographed to death. You are probably not going to get any better photographs than the postcards you can buy on the street. My favorite places to photograph, especially in Italy, are any little hillside village or town in Tuscany, a field of sunflowers, the winding roads and beautiful trees in the Tuscan countryside, old vineyards, unique buildings with little doorways...most definitely NOT the huge cathedrals with tons of tourists milling about or the artwork in the museums. I am a professional photographer and I sell artwork of European scenes... One favorite place however, is Venice, but as mentioned above you need to be up before the sun comes up and you will literally have the place to yourself and be able to capture images that are amazing. Also, the same holds true for the countryside and villages. When the light is low you will get the best photos. Lots of times when I am in big cities I will use my iphone for simple record photos... but for some serious photography I am out of the cities.

Stick to your guns on Florence. I've been there, love it, but if I never see Venice again I'd be fine with that. People differ, and it sounds like you know what you want. There's so much to see in Italy that you need to make decisions about whats in and whats out. If you do go to Florence, be very careful about driving in since they have many ZTL; might be better to park at a train station and take it the last few miles in to the city center. I think you might not have enough time in the CT. Its going to take most of the day to get there. I've found that even going somewhere 2 hours away by train takes 1/2 a day, CT is around 6 hours by train (you can look up schedules on the bahn.com site or Trenitalia). Suppose you leave 8am, you'll be there around 2pm then need to get to the hotel, drop your bags, change and get ready, etc. It will easily be 3pm which is getting late; you're certainly not going to be hiking between a bunch of towns that day. Then you have 1 full day, and leave for Tuscany the following morning. We've found that with a car we can visit 2 hilltowns in the same general area per day. Since you'll be in Tuscany, you might also want to visit some hilltowns in Umbria. Just as beautiful as Tuscany. As for Pompeii, again, this is going to take much of the day when you add it getting there, walking around, getting back. Not saying don't do it, just be aware of the time it will take. Also you might want to consider Herculaneum as an alternative to Pompeii; IMHO the ruins resemble a city frozen in time more than the ones in Pompeii. Or consider Ostia Antica as a closer alternative from Rome.

Jennifer, One other thought.... It might be more efficient to travel Venice > Tuscany > Cinque Terre > Rome, as that might reduce your travel times slightly. Stopping in Florence for a night or two would be good, as the travel time from Venice to Florence is very short. You could drop the car either after your Tuscany visit, or in La Spezia prior to your Cinque Terre visit. It's very easy to get to Rome from the C.T. via direct train (about 3H:45M). You won't need a car in the C.T., so no point in paying for one. Cheers!

Thinking a bit more, I'll say this. In your early 30's, you have many years of travel ahead of you. Often less is really more. Rather than chewing up a day getting to CT, if I was in your shoes and couldn't add more nights to the vacation then I'd drop CT this time out. Add a day to Venice and to your choice of Rome or Tuscany. You'll be trading 1 full day in CT for 2 full days elsewhere, which I'd do. Save CT for another visit when you'll have time to not only hike the trails but visit nearby towns like Portovenere, Portofino, and other interesting towns in the area. Others, of course, may differ in what they'd do. Since this thread is about itinerary feedback, let me suggest this. Make a calendar for your trip with squares big enough to put 2-hour chunks from 8am to 10pm or so. Much will be blank since you haven't planned your daily itinerary, but it will help you see how much time you'll be spending just going traveling town to town.