Milan - Florence - Pisa and back to Milan

5 places in Italy in 3 days. Are you serious? And if you are, why?

Is this a serious question? Have you looked on a map? Put some pins in a map. There is absolutely no way you can half of those places in the time you have allowed. Since you loving traveling, that will be all that you are doing sitting inside a bus or train. The best you can do is Milan - Florence - Milan.

You have more places than travel days. Impossible to do. If you are starting and leaving from Milan, I would suggest a day trip to Bologna ( 1 hour by train) , or maybe one night there, and back to Milan. Or maybe Florence, it is about 2 hours. Cinque Terre is about 4 hours. You don't want to spend all your time on trains and not see the cities.

Holy Moly!
Can you do it? Yes.
Will you 'see' much of anything? No.

What time does your plane land in Milan and at which airport?
What time is your flight out of Milan on the 31st (assuming you fly out on that day)?
Are you flying in from Bangalore and departing to the same?

i will be in Milan on Sunday . so seeing around Milan is not in these 3 days.
(sorry for wrong description)

and i can skip Bologna. also open for suggestions for these 3 days.
Florence , Pisa and Cinque terre in 3 days ?

Is it possible ?

Does the sky diving near Milan you enquired about earlier figure in this at all?

Nearly anything is possible - but that shouldn't be the question. Pisa, at the most, is a half day. C Terre is area and not a specific location. Pick a city. Florence is a day, three days, a week - it just depends on what you want to see and do. Ya, you could hit it in the morning, see a couple of sites, and move on. And if this satisfies you, then it is fine. There are some tourists who are more interested in checking off locations and not seeing them in any great details. After all, in some ways all castles are similar as is all cathedrals.

This site tends to have folks who like to travel a little slower and spend more time in each location so you are less likely to get positives response from a drive by travel.

But back to your original question. Yes, it is possible. Most here would not do it. And, travel by Regionale train will be the cheapest possible way to do it.

Ok, I would take a train from Milano Centrale to Florence (Firenze S.M. Novella) on the 29th. Sightsee and stay overnight. I would spend the $$ on a faster versus slower train to maximize your time: daylight is short this time of year.

On the 30th, do some more sightseeing in the morning and then take a train to Pisa Centrale. Stow your bags at the station and spend a couple of hours. Jump back on the train to Riomaggiore or Monterosso in the Cinque Terre: spend the balance of the day (again, daylight will be short!) and stay overnight.

On the 31st, do some more exploring and catch a late afternoon train back to Milan.

Explore train schedules/tickets here:
http://www.trenitalia.com/tcom-en

Oh, and look at tickets prices from Milan to Florence on Italotreno too: they often have some good deals:

http://www.italotreno.it/en

You do not have to order tickets in advance but you can land some very low prices by doing so. The risk you take is that the lowest-priced tickets are not refundable so if you miss your train, you have to purchase another ticket.

hey Frank,
yes i totally agree that i should see details in these places but wish i had come here for a long vacation.
I would like to spend a day each in these places ..

Hey Norma,
Yes wanted to go skydiving . but did not work out .

hey Kathy,
Thanks, this will be my plan. thanks.

You're welcome! It helped to know that you were willing to give up Bologna and didn't have to fit Milan into those 3 days!. My suggested schedule is still whizzy (for me) but much more doable than the scenario I thought we were working with! :O)

One more note? You'll be in Milan during All Saints Day (Nov. 1), which is a public holiday so expect many shops to be closed. As this religious holiday falls on a Sunday, also expect to have to work around masses if intending to visit any of the churches. Without checking all of them, I'm not sure whether there will be additional/longer services than normal.

The mass schedule for the cathedral (duomo) is here:

http://www.duomomilano.it/en/calendar/

(If anyone else has useful info on All Saints that Dilip should be aware of, I'd be grateful!!!)

Hello Kathy,
Thanks, i'm already in Milan now, so have a lot of time to look around here.
only on weekends(if i don't work) i'm trying to travel up and down of Italy in the time i'm here,
and hence so tight schedules !! ;)
Going to Rome tonight in bus and back on Monday morning (just for 2 days) .. so u can imagine :P

If you have more suggestions for me post it here , thanks
i have already been
Pavia,
Lugano,
Lake como
Lake garda
Bergamo

Dilip

Kathy gets a 10 for making a good, workable plan for this concentrated visit. And, Dilip, your plan will work best if you can get your hotels reserved so you can save time arriving at each town. Consider proximity to train stations for quick exits out of town. This time of year hotels shouldn't be scarce.

Aw, Swan, what a nice thing to say! Thank you! (blushing)

Dilip, you've already done from Milan what I know how to suggest so we'll need good input from some RS experts here! It's a shame that you've only 2 days for Rome but I do understand about work schedules.

Are you having a good time? That's the most important part. :O)

I just remembered that a friend of mine really enjoyed Brescia so you might take a look at that one as a day trip from Milan? Also Varenna in the Como area, if you haven't done that one.

It sounds you have only 2 nights available: Oct 29, 30.
I would go to Florence only and forget everything else. I wouldn't bother going to the Cinque Terre, especially if the weather is so so. On Sunday 25th October, Europe switches back to Standard Time (roll the clock one our back), that means that by 6pm it's dark. You don't have much time to visit Pisa and the Cinque Terre on the same day given the shorter days.

Head straight to Florence on the 29th.
Return to Milan on the 31st.
Florence needs at least 2 days.

You can do Pisa and Siena in a rushed day from Florence by train.
08:28 Florence / 09:28 Pisa
11:32 Pisa / 13:38 Siena (change at Empoli)
17:19 Siena / 18:50 Florence (or bus return)

@Kathy, i give you 10/10 too :)
I'm back .. yeah 2 days does not do justice at all i agree . Rome is very beautiful and was reading more history than what i studied during my school ;) :P
I had booked tickets for vatican museum/sistine chapel , collaseum to avoid queues, so, that saved some time.
walked 10 to 10 . yes, got tired but i saw the most important places of Rome.
Still in hangover of the place <3.

I will check Brescia, and i went to varenna on my trip Lake como - I covered varenna and bellagio in one day .. (its beautiful)

@djp_syd - Yeah, thanks for that, i will check out the possibilities. i will post my final plan .

@Roberto - If you suggest so, i can skip Cinque terre. But wouldn want to miss one of the wonders of the world. Pisa. will sqeeze in half a day to make it.

Thanks for all the responses

Dilip

You can see Pisa in 2 hours or less (actually based on your previous visits, you can probably do Pisa in 10 minutes).
Everything worth seeing is in one square called Piazza Duomo (or informally Campo dei Miracoli): Leaning Tower, Cathedral, Baptistery and (maybe) Campo Santo (cemetery).
Check the train schedules below. The Regionale Veloce trains (lit. Speedy Regional trains) take less than 50 min from Florence to Pisa (and vice versa);
www.trenitalia.com

A bus to Siena from Florence is also an option.

Day 1 :
Reached Florence early
- Duomo Piazza signoria
- Uffizi gallery
- Ponte Vecchio
- Miachael Angelo Piazza for Sun set
- Local florentine Wine & dinner @San niccolo wine bar (just below the piazza) -- Amazing food and Wine

Day 2 :
- Dome of the cathedral (opens at 8 15)
- Academy gallery
- Santa maria basilica
- Train to Pisa @2
- Leaning tower of Pisa, cathedral ( ~3hrs)
- Back to Milan by night.

today was also able to catchup for a soccer match at San siro tonight (Inter vs Roma).
quite an eventful weekend.

Thanks a lot everyone.

You did very well! And all that in just two days!

Did you feel cross-eyed at the end of those days, or pleasantly tired but happy that you'd successfully accomplished what you had set out to do?

Wow. Sounds fantastic, especially the eating and drinking.
You did well in your short time. Congrats.

Nope, not at all. may be this is my way of travelling.

To add to this, i went to watch soccer match at San siro on saturday. (Milan vs Roma)
On sunday went hiking in San Salvatore , Lugano ; (different from Indian terrains but worth the panoramic view)
and today i'm back in office ;)
so it sums up how i travel :P

and yeah, Local food and wine was worth the long day i had !!

You are one busy fella!