We plan to fly into Florence (7/10-11) and fly out of Milan (7/25) for 13 days. It's more efficient to fly this routing, than reverse.
Plans are to visit Pisa & Lucca, Cinque Terre, Genoa and Turin as well as other small towns traveling by train. On previous trips we have visited Florence, Milan, Venice & Rome, all by train.
Can anyone provide itinerary help? RS Italy only covers Lucca, Pisa & Cinque Terre. I am consulting other travel guides.
Arr Florence mid-afternoon, take train to Lucca (2 nts) & Pisa or overnight in Florence
Cinque Terre (3 nts)
Riviera Towns near Cinque Terre ? Levanto or Carrara
Genoa (2-3 nts) - San Remo & Portofino ?
Turin (2-3 nts) - explore Piedmont ?
Can or should we include Lake Como for 2 nts before going to Milan?
Thanks in advance for your help!
Posted by
Charleston, SC, USA
922 posts
If you don't plan to see anything in Florence on this trip, i would just start in Lucca and spend 2 or 3 nights there. For the CT, I would recommend staying in Vernazza for the 3 nights. I am not familiar with Genoa or Turin so I can't help you there. I would suggest trying to find some wineries in Piedmont, though! I have been to Varenna on Lake Como and highly recommend it. If you could spend a couple of nights there, I think it would be worth your while. I would do that before ending the trip in Milan.
One other suggestion is to try to limit the number of times you cahnge hotels. It ends up wasting a significant part of each day that you move and you don't want to waste too much time. Maybe you can find a nice location between Genoa and Turin and base there to visit Genoa/Portofino and Turin.
Posted by
OP
Plymouth, MN, USA
17 posts
Stephen, thanks for you tips and we do plan to limit our hotel changes. Having a base in Genoa is problematic as RT on trains to/from Turin are 4 hrs and they are both very different & unique. It would work better to just spend time on Italian Riveria from Genoa and then go to Turin. Still time to work it out the details.
Posted by
Portland, Oregon, United States
906 posts
We have found the little town of Portovenere to be charming. It is on the southern end of the 5 Terre and you get there by bus if you don't drive. However, once there you can take the boat to any of the 5 Terre towns, which is a trip I highly recommend. Seeing the towns from the sea really adds to the experience. You can catch trains from any of the towns of course.
Consider Santa Margherita Ligure instead of Portofino if cost is a consideration.
Posted by
US Pacific Northwest
10344 posts
Opinion here is divided on Genoa. Some say there's not much to see there.
Others feel differently.
Rick omits Genoa from his book, as you've noticed.
That doesn't mean you can't go there? :)