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Newbies to Italy

Posted by (pleasanton, ca, usa) on

This is our first trip to Italy. Three old (60s) ladies and one old gentlemen all decendents from Pranzlieto and Bario in Piedmonte planning to visit old bones and meet new faces. We are arriving in Turin on May 28th and plan on leaving back home on June 8th or 10th. We will spend 2-3 days in Turin area then open to all suggestions. From doing some reading we may want to visit Cinque Terra, some Hill towns and either Venice or Como lake area. Hope we have enough time. We do not feel need to visit the Big cities and prefer to stay in central to northern Italy

Would love any and all suggestions on building an itinerary. Hope we are not late in planning this trip to make reservations. Can drive or take trains or both.

Graci and many thanks for your assistance

Doug

Posted by
1994 posts

For a trip in late May, I would suggest making hotel reservations soon – particularly in the CT and Venice. With 10 or 12 days, I would suggest no more than three locations. You're likely to be jetlagged the first day and therefore not optimally productive. Also, remember you lose at least a half a day of touring time each time you change locations.

I think you can do this by train, and I would recommend that unless somebody really wants to drive in Italy. The hill towns are really the only place you could even use the car, and instead, I would suggest picking one town with good train service and doing day trips from there. I particularly like Assisi, which has good train and bus connections to a number of other hill towns. I'm also sure others will chime in with their favorites.

Posted by
16243 posts

Plan nights instead of days.
You have 11 nights on the ground May 28-Jun 7 (or 13 if you leave 2 days later).
Remember that 3 nights in one place are actually only 2 full days in that place. Transfer days are wasted days as they go mostly to checkin/checkout, packing/unpacking, and travel time. So it's best to spend at least 2 nights at the same hotel, to minimize those time wasters.

If you plan 3 nights in Turin (2 full days), how would you like to allocate the other nights?

Maybe something like:

Turin: 3 nights
train to Cinque Terre
Cinque Terre: 3 nights
trains to Venice
Venice: 3 nights
train to Lake Maggiore (via Milan)
Lake Maggiore: 2 nights (the last two nights before flying out of Malpensa airport, which is very close to Lake Maggiore)

That's it, 11 nights are gone.

If you want the hills towns of Piemonte (like Barolo and other towns in the Langhe and Monferrato), you might need to add a couple of nights to your trip. Tuscany is too far of the way for your short trip and your intended destination in northern Italy. But I would at least add one extra night and spend it at the lake (3 instead of 2). To me spending 3 nights in each location would be perfect, otherwise it's too much jumping around.

Posted by
308 posts

Hello,
I am not sure of your religious affiliation but the famous Shroud of Turin will be on display during your time in Turin. If you haven't made a hotel reservation yet, I would do so ASAP because alot of pilgrims will be in town to view the Shroud. You can make a reservation online for a time to view the Shroud here http://www.piemonteitalia.eu/prenotazione/frontoffice/ingresso.do;jsessionid=5pM2J1TW0hT5jsZnKsbp11h0vyRD7FkvWhqWzQgbHJtT2Kyl9lzB!1328034345!1108322802

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