Itinerary help -- Northern Italy May for 16 days

Jerry,

I know this is a lot of travelling , but most of these places seem to have a recommended stay of 1-2 days.

• I agree that you're traveling to too many destinations.

• I don't agree with 1-2 nights for all destinations on your itinerary
  because 1 night stays only leaves you with a few hours to visit that
  location, 2 nights gives you 1 full day, 3 nights = 2 full days, 4
  nights = 3 full days and so on...

• Keep in mind that each time you relocate, you will lose about half of
  that day (checking-in/out of hotel, getting to train station, waiting
  for train, transit time, getting to hotel in new location, checking-
  in, getting situated to new location, etc, etc...)

• If I were you, I'd stay in northern Italy the entire 16 nights, so
  I'd skip Siena & Florence.

I'd do something like this:

1. Arrive in Milan> train to Varenna/Bellagio (3nights)
2. then train to Verona (4N) with day trips to Lake Garda and/or Bolzano
3. then train to Padua (3-4N) with day trip to Venice.
4. train to Monterosso in Cinque Terre (3-4N) with possible day trip to Lucca/Pisa
5. back to Milan(1-2N)
6. fly home from Milan

When one is on vacation, time just seems to fly by so quickly!

Hi Priscilla,

Thanks for your reply. We are narrowing it down and have decided to drop Siena and Lucca like you suggested
I am a little apprehensive of 4 days each in Verona and Padua though , even with day trips

Since we are essentially doing a triangle of Milan , Padua and Cinque Terre ( with the lakes not being on the way to anywhere and Verona being between Padua and Milan) do you see any benefit to travelling one way or the other ? Either Milan/Padua/CT/Milan
or Milan/CT/Padua/Milan ? We agree that landing in Milan and going directly to Varenna is the best

Jerry

The train travel time around the Milan/CT/Padua/Milan loop is not going to be any different, whichever direction you complete the circle. Between Cinque Terre and Padova, travel time and connections are similar whether you go via Florence, Bologna, or Milan, with the connection points different on each departure. Since you already come from Milan one way, I'd try to choose a different route/scenery for the other leg.

How to Look Up Train Schedules and Routes Online gives you the DB train schedule link and tips for using it. When you get an overview of schedules, view details to see the connection points or map.

Jerry,

We are narrowing it down and have decided to drop Siena and Lucca like you suggested
I am a little apprehensive of 4 days each in Verona and Padua though , even with day trips.

• Remember that 4 nights is equivalent to 3 full days in a particular location, so if you stay in Verona for 4 nights, you will have 3 days to explore Verona and/or take day trip to Bolzano (as you had mentioned wanting to go there) or Lake Garda.

• Same idea when you stay in Padova for 3 or 4 nights, this means that you
  will have 2-3 full days. So one day you will take day trip to Venice
  and the other 1-2 days you can explore Padova.

• You may want to visit Lucca & Pisa on a day trip from CT if you choose to- it's an easy train ride.

do you see any benefit to travelling one way or the other ? Either
Milan/Padua/CT/Milan or Milan/CT/Padua/Milan ?

Laura is correct, there really is no right or wrong way to do this Milan> Verona>Padua>CT>Milan loop.

The only reason I suggested going to Verona after you visit Varenna is to break up your trip, so in a sense, you will be
going from lake to land to sea then back to land. If you want to go from Lake (Varenna) to sea (CT) to land, then that's your call :-)

If you're set on visiting Siena, you could skip going to Padova & head to Siena (from Verona) via Florence.

After all... this is your trip! ;-)

I would stay at least two nights in each location. If you've been to Florence before, do you need to go back for a few hours? Same for Venice.

From Padova, you can take a daytrip to Ferrara (less than an hour away), or base in the lovely Ferrara and daytrip to Padova.

If you can squeeze two nights for Lucca, you can do a 1/2 day trip to Pisa.

I would make Verona a 2-night stay and spend 2 nights in Lucca.