Itinerary Review- Comments Appreciated Rome, Tuscany, Lake Garda

You have 8 straight days where your visiting 8 different places. For me that's too much. I would suggest slowing down a bit and spending more time in an area.

Donna

Donna,

That was one of our concerns but we are really only staying in three places Rome, Tuscany and Lake Garda. In Tuscany we will only be staying in one central location. All the towns from a central location seem to be an hour or less away by car. In Lake Garda we will also be staying in one location with day trips.

It does make a difference if you use a home base in each location. You might consider taking the train to Orvieto and picking up your car there.

With only four hours it would be difficult to see Volterra and San Gimignano.

Good idea about picking out the care in Orvieto and I think you are right that the Volterra and San Giamigiano might be too much with the drive after.

Thanks for input

When we got to Orvieto we walked to the Hertz rental office, which is near the train station. We took care of the paperwork and left the car parked there while we went up the hill into town. They watched our bags for us. We then drove to our Agriturismo near Siena. If you would like a great place to stay, let me know.

Depending on where you stay in Tuscany, Assisi is a long drive, maybe 2 hours or more each way. I'd cut Umbria, including Assisi, into a plan for a future trip and just concentrate on Tuscany. Also, there is an excellent suggestion above to rent your car in Orvieto. Very easy to do there.

Any suggestions on place to stay is appreciated. We usually rent apartments though vrbo.

I understand using a place as a "home base" but 8 cities in as many days is still too much. You won't have time to enjoy any of them and will probably get home and realize you can't remember which is which. My suggestion is to cut out half of your stops and enjoy the places you're seeing.

Donna

Donna, everyone's travel styles are different. By basing themselves in 3 places, the OP will have the flexibility to do as much or as little as they want. Your plan looks great Tom. Having a gameplan is good, just don't be afraid to change it up. You can always forgo one of the Lake day trips if you're too tired by then.

For reference, a friend of mine recently did the Rome-Florence-Venice route, with added side trips to Pompeii, Naples, Tuscan hill towns, and the Italian riviera- all in 10 days! Whew! Too much for my speed but they loved it.

I understand that everyone has their own style of traveling but planning on seeing 8 different cities (and it's actually a lot more if you include all the side trips while at the lakes) is a little unrealistic. It's physically doable so if that's the only criteria then the OP should do this trip as is.

However, they will spend a lot of their time in transit. If they're okay with that then they should do it but they should be aware of how much travel is involved and the fact that they will have just a few hours in any one place.

They will also need to consider that they won't be able to drive into any of they cities they have listed. They will need to find parking outside the cities and either walk or take a bus inside. Parking is expensive and the lots can be quite a distance from where they want to be.

The OP is asking for input, this is what I am giving them. They don't have to read my posts or take my advice but it's out there for others to read and make the decisions themselves.

Donna

Any time you rent a car at any airport location in the U.S. or abroad, you're going to have substantial charges you'd not be charged if you rented in the city center.

The Hertz location is across the street from the Orvieto train station. Many turn in rental cars there or pick up cars there coming and going from Rome by the train (70 minutes.) Airport charges wouldn't apply there.

Orvieto would be the place to pickup a rental car. It's just a 90 minute drive into Siena and the Chianti area from there.

Just be variable in your travels.

We rented our car in Florence and dropped in Rome last May. I priced out airport locations and Orvieto and it just happened to be the cheapest this way, so I might suggest checking rates before locking in.

If you want to check out Siena and Assisi, I might suggest something around Cortona as its about half way between the two.

Take train from Rome to Orvieto and pick up car there.
Neither Orvieto nor Assisi are in Tuscany, just to get the geography straight.
Pick a base in vicinity of Siena and visit Assisi and Volterra or San Gimignano from there. Same with Garda. Pick a base in the north lake (
Malcesine or Limone or Riva or whatever ) and do day trips from there. Don't change hotels just to move 40 min up the road.