Questioning itinerary

It feels too rushed, to me, as a whole. I’d suggest three nights each in Venice and Florence, especially as your friends hadn’t been before, keep the four nights in either Siena or Montepulciano (Siena would be much easier to get to and to do day trips from), and keep the three nights in Ortisei.

Agree that it sounds a bit rushed. There are three stops listed as two nights. That means only one full day in each of those places. Depending on arrival and departure times, perhaps another half day. And don't forget the amount of time "lost" when relocating. Perhaps consider only three places, and do day trips from those. Just food for thought.

Agree with TC that only three locations would be even better. How about 6 or 7 nights in Florence, which would allow for some day tripping around Tuscany?

I would drop Malcesine as an overnight and just stop at Lake Garda for lunch and an hour of exploring on the way to your Tuscany location. For those two extra nights, I would give at least one to Florence and personally I feel like Venice is too rushed. It’s currently just one full day, and they will still be dealing with a bit of jet lag that morning.

Another option is to have lodging in Venice for three nights. You two plan to take a day-trip to Cortina d’Ampezzo (there’s day tours so wouldn’t need a car) on the second or third day while they see some of the main sites in Venice.

That opens up options to just travel by train until you want to rent a car in Tuscany. And it gives you an extra day to give to one of your other locations.

Hi Stacie, I just read your other post. So it sounds like Venice isn’t your preference. So keep the time in Ortesei. You also mentioned that you’ve been to Tuscany. Is there the chance that this could begin to feel like you are stepping into a “tour guide” expectation by your friends? Have you been to the Umbria region? There’s a lot of interesting smaller towns, and hopefully something new for all of you to explore together.

I’ve stayed in many cities (30+) in Italy. When my adult daughter came with me last year, we purposely picked three cities out of our six that were new to me, so that we were exploring the wonder of them fresh together, and I wasn’t just showing her cities I knew.

Thanks for your input. We have traveled enough to know that 3 nights is always a better choice than two, but it is always so hard to not want to squeeze in one more place! It looks like I got my answer to skip Malcesine and stopping in a small lakeside town for lunch sounds like a good idea. I think we are going to add a night to Venice and consider Umbria rather than Tuscany (but we really do love Tuscany). The drive from Ortisei to that part of the trip is long and we still need to figure it out. I appreciate the help.

I’m intrigued by the idea of flying out of Florence. Never thought of that so this opens up some options… can you share what airline you are using? Are you going Florence to London to Cincinnati? Or some other connection?
Thank you. So great to hear new ideas.

Yes, Florence to London to Cincinnati on British Airlines. Florence in an easy airport, small and very close to Florence central.

SuzieQQ, one thing you need to take into consideration about flying into/out of Florence is the airport runway. The airport at Florence has a short runway and arrivals and departures can be affected by weather, especially wind.