Northern Italy Itinerary Advice

Why not keep the cars the whole time and return at Milan Airport? You are back tracking to go to Riva del Garda and you are left without transportation in the Chianti area.

Why not keep the cars and fly home from Florence, returning the cars there.

Then you don't have the journey to Riva or to Tuscany to worry about.

Also, it seems a shame to spend just one night in Venice.

I agree that if at all possible I'd spend at least 2 nights in Venice. Can you skip Verona? For hotel recos - what is your budget per night? That will help narrow down your choices.

You'll definitely need a car if staying in the Chianti area - public transport in rural Tuscany is sparse to nonexistent. In that case I'd drop the car in Florence and take a fast train back to Milan to fly home.

Do you plan to spend any time in Florence sightseeing? You might consider making Florence your home base and doing day trips to the hill towns instead of the other way around. Or stay nearby but far enough out of the city to get the feel of an agriturismo.

I have to be honest. Your trip sounds very rushed to me. And I think that moving 10 people around will take longer than you think. Will everyone wake up around the same time every morning? Do you have some slow pokes in your group who need longer to get ready? And then getting 10 people to the trains and buses on time?

It looks like you have 11 nights. And yet you have 4 locations you want to stay in. Day 2 sounds grueling. You want to spend the morning in Venice. You have to check out of your hotel. Then get to the train station to take the train to Verona. Have lunch there. Pick up rental car which can sometimes take a while. Then drive all the way to Ortisei. (At least 2 hours.) You are not allowing any wiggle room for things to go wrong. Such as heavy traffic, getting lost, etc.

If you keep Venice in your itinerary, you really should get a hotel by the train station. I would seriously consider omitting Venice from your itinerary. One morning is not worth the hassle. And you will see Venice when all the daytrippers are there. You could look into flying into Verona Airport or Innsbruck or Bolzano.

Day 6 looks very busy, too. Is it worth it for only 2 days at Lake Garda? I guess only you can decide.

I agree with BethFL and Lin C that you should keep the cars for your entire trip. It will make everything that much easier.

And remember that train strikes in Italy are quite frequent. There were 2 when we were there this past May/June. We had to re-schedule one of our trains literally at the last minute.

We spent 5 weeks in Italy this past May/June, and we spent time in the Dolomites, Tuscany, Florence, Venice and Verona. The day we left Verona for Merano (Italian Alps, near the Dolomites), we had breakfast at our hotel, taxi to car rental, picked up car rental, stopped in Sirmione at Lake Garda for an hour or so, and then drove to Merano. Arrived in time to have dinner and then go to bed. And we started our day in Verona, not Venice.

Would you be willing to omit Lake Garda from your itinerary? If you chose to fly into Venice because the fares and airline schedules are better than Verona, Bolzano, etc., you could take the 2 nights from Riva del Garda and add them to Venice so that you will have 3 nights in Venice instead of 1 night. (You will be frustrated with just one night in Venice.) And then pick up your rental car in Venice after you check out of your hotel and drive to Ortisei. This way you also arrive in Ortisei much earlier than your original plan, by omitting Verona.

Or, if you still want to include Lake Garda, spend the one night in Venice as planned but pick up your rental car in Venice after you spend the morning there. Your hotel will hold your luggage for you until you are ready to get your rental car. Picking up the rental car in Verona doesn't make sense. It just makes Day 2 that much longer and stressful.

Your final (departure) day is too risky for me. Its a 2 hr train from Florence to Milan. Longer by car. And longer still to the Milan Airport. Keep in mind you need to be there 3 hrs before take off. Unless your flight is late in the day, I wouldn't want to be that far from my departure airport on the day. You could fly home from Florence, but it would require a connection at one of the European hubs.

I assumed they would drop the car in Florence and train to Milan the night before flying out.

I also agree that you have a bit more planned than I would be comfortable with. We have travelled with that number. before and you are only as fast as your slowest traveller. At any given moment, someone may be jetlagged, hungry, sick etc. Day 2 in particular sounds like a challenge.

It sounds like your flights are for sure to Venice and Milan? If so, I would drop Tuscany, give those 3 nights to Venice, and finish in Milan the night before your flight. I would be very nervous to not be at least close to the airport the last night. If you have the ability to change your flights and Tuscany is important than what about flying into Florence and starting there?

I have twice organized a trip for 7 to Europe. I agree with the idea of dropping some stops. We had the same length of time as you in northern Italy and had 3 stops. It worked out well. It just takes longer to do anything with a group of people and you will have a better time if you simplify.