Northern Italy

I love northern Italy, and I've been to all the places you list. I suggest starting with the RS Italy book. Do you have a copy? Plan for at least two nights at each location, at least three in the larger cities. That eats up your 8-10 days pretty quickly.

Hi Debbie, If you haven't booked your airfare then consider flying open-jaw: into Milan and depart from Rome, for example. I recently did a similar trip, but with a bit more time. I flew into Milan and then headed to the dolomites but you could go to Lake Como or you could head directly to Venice (or fly into Venice if you decide to eliminate Lake como from the itinerary). I spent 2 nights in Venice with only 1 full day; it deserves 2 full days. From Venice I went to the Cinque Terre. That is about 5h via train, but well worth a stay of hopefully 3 full days! If you like to hike, stay for 4! If you like to eat go to Il Pirate for EVERY breakfast and at least 1 dinner. From CT, I went to Florence. You could also choose Siena and make a full day trip into Florence. Siena is a wonderful option because you can experience the agriturismo. I stayed at Agriturismo San Marciano and some of the best meals of my life accompanied by phenomenal wine. Then fly out of Rome. If you don't want to do open jaw, then stick with a Venice-->CT-->Verona on the way back. I'm not sure, but it may be too hectic to dip down to Pisa and Florence and then try to make your back way north to depart. Good luck! You'll love Italy!
Sara

with 8-10 days you can't do it all but you can do quite a bit of it I've done a similar loop but I usually have more time fly into Milan and head to Lake Como area where I prefer to stay in Bellagio, spend a few nights depart Bellagio and train to Venice (you will be going back through Milan) spend at least 3 nights Venice after Venice train to Florence, I would give Florence at least 3 nights (more if you can) from Florence you can day trip to Pisa or see it on your way to Monterosso as all trains connect in Pisa, after Florence train to CT, I stay in Monterosso, spend a couple of nights and then back to Milan for 1-2 nights, fly home any way you can add days? If you can't add the time I would say you would have to drop CT and take train from Florence to MIlan
you also might want to look into flying into and out of Linate Milan airport rather than Malpensa, just an idea

Spend a day in Milan (if you have some special interest in seeing it, otherwise I think your other destinations are more interesting). Then take an early train to Verona, spend the day and continue on to Venice for 3-4 nights. I'd give Venice 3 full days, then take an evening train or early morning train to Florence for the remainder. Fly into Milan and home from Florence. From Florence you can see Pisa and Siena as day trips. If you want to add another city, choose either Bologna or Padua, as a day's visit en route between Venice and Florence. The Cinque Terre are too far to include in such a short trip.

It took us two weeks to do Northern Italy and our agenda included Florence, Tuscany (Siena & San Gimignano), Assisi, Pisa, the CT and Venice. We stayed in 3 hotels - Florence, La Spezia and Venice. We day-tripped to the other locations. We flew into Florence and out of Zurich. For what we wanted, we couldn't do it in 8-10 days. But, if you reduce your locations slightly, it looks like you could do it. Also, it could depend on where you are flying into and out of.

I appreciate those who took the time to share their advice with me. Your comments are very helpful.