Planning help for 11-day itinerary

Posted by jeremyp969 on 01/28/15 06:32 PM

So, we've come up with the following itinerary, for early July, and are ready to start booking stuff so I wanted to get some advice from people here. Here is what we came up with:

Fly into Florence - 2 nights in Florence
3 nights in Cinque Terre
4 nights in Lake Maggiore(Stresa)
Fly out of MXP

In Florence we'd like to see some of the sights and probably do some winery tours and possibly a cooking class(although we might just push this to CT).
Cinque Terre - we'd like to hike the villages, beach, possibly cooking class
Stresa - we'd like to visit the islands, take the Lake Maggiore express, perhaps a gondola ride and/or the bobsled down the mountain.

Some questions I'm hoping to get answered:

For each of our stops do you have any additional suggestions of what to see or what to do? In Florence are we better off taking a guided tour to try and see everything or walking/driving around on our own?
Besides hotels, what do I need to book soon? With trains it sounds like I'd be ok waiting a while. What about winery tours or cooking classes? The ferry at the islands on Lake Maggiore?
For each of the places we're visiting(Florence, CT and Stresa) what is the best way to get around? Are we going to wish we had a car at Stresa or Florence or can we get by with a guided tour or taxis? Or is everything in walking distance?
Sort of driven by #3,but for each of the transitions between cities is the best way via train or renting a car?
Should we adjust our time at each place to give more to a certain place and less to another(we can't really extend our vacation at all)? Keep in mind our priorities is more the hiking, relaxing, winery stuff vs. walking through museums.
How difficult is it to book this stuff myself? Can I do a lot of it via e-mail in English? I see some hotels don't book through expedia or booking.com so I'm stuck calling or e-mailing.
Haven't booked flights yet, but looking at an 11am or 12pm flight out of MXP. Can we stay in Stresa the night before? What is the best way to get to the airport? Taxi? Can I get a taxi from my hotel in Stresa to the airport?
For booking hotels, are there certain areas in each of the places we should shoot for or avoid?
Regarding hotels and luggage - if we arrive at the hotel before check-in time, is there something we can do with our luggage? Is check-in time like it is here in the US where it's 3pm or 4pm and MAYBE your room is ready before that?

Thanks everyone! I'm sure I have 100 more questions, but that's a start.

Posted by Zoe

Toledo, Ohio, US

01/28/15 06:44 PM

11613 posts

I would stay in the departure city for your last night. Delays can happen. How long prior to your flight do you need to be at the airport? Factor in other transportation, waiting time, etc.
I do most booking myself, but I do use booking.com for hotel reservations. For private or small group tours, go to the company's website (RS guidebooks have recommendations, or you will get some from posters here). Even with trenitalia.com, you can click on the British flag icon and you will get the English language version. The only thing you need to know in Italian are the station names. Emails in English should work just fine for booking hotels if you prefer not to use a booking service. I would book the cooking class soon if there's a specific one you want.
Based on what you are interested in, allot the number of nights. I would spend more time in Florence and less in Cinque Terre but I am a museum person, hiking not so much.
Transitional transportation depends on whether you want the option of stopping when you see something interesting (rent a car), or just want to get to your destination. Rome2Rio.com gives you various options for transportation between cities, with links to transportation pages for schedules and prices.
You don't need a car in any of those places. A car is a liability in both Cinque Terre and Florence, unless you want to stay outside of Florence's historic center that has parking, or pay for public parking closer to the center. In Cinque Terre you will be paying to park your car while you are there and probably not using it much.
You can get good deals on train tickets for fast trains up to 120 days in advance of travel, but you cannot make changes to the cheapest fares. If you miss the train, you will have to buy a new ticket at full fare.
A guided walking tour for Florence would be fine, since you aren't interested much in museums, but the self-guided walking tours in the RS guidebooks are very good.