We arrive Sept 19 th in am in Rome . Planning on 2 night stay. Then our dilemma is off to Pisa for a night , two in Florence, off to Cingue Terra for a night, then to Verona for a night. Ending up September 26 in Venice for a cruise that sails the 27th. Please help with best route as we are traveling by trains. Can we pull this off. Should we day trip Pisa on way to FLorence etc. Thanks for any help....KAthy
Posted by
Forest Grove, OR
11364 posts
You can pull it off, the question is, should you? This is moving very fast and you will see and experience little. Most on this site would say to skip Pisa. If you only have one night for the CT, skip it, too. It's a long way to go there and come back: lot'sof train time. Really. One night stays mean check-in, few hours touring, sleep, check-out. IMHO one-night stays are a waste of time and money. 2 night stays are not much better because you only have one full day to do anything. Instead: -Rome 3 nights (19-20-21) -Florence 3 nights (22-23-24)
-See Verona on the way to Venice -Venice 2 nights (25-26) If you really want to see the tower in Pisa, do it as a daytrip from Florence. That's all it is worth.
Posted by
Bellevue, WA
257 posts
Kathy I think the train route should be. Rome to Pisa 3 hours Pisa to CT, one hour and 30 minutes. ( depend on which town of CT) ( Pisa - La Spezia - CT) CT to Florence. 3 hours ( CT - La Spezia - Pisa - Florence ) (May or may not have to change train in Pisa ) Florence - Verona 3 hours (Florence- Bologna- Verona) Verona - Venice 2 hours. The time it take is a estimate. The actual time depend on what kind of trains you take. Such as R ( Reginale ) IC ( intercity) ES ( euro star ) Go to trenitalia.com to check out the schedule.
Have a good trip!
Posted by
US Pacific Northwest
10344 posts
"One night stays mean check-in, few hours touring, sleep, check-out. IMHO one-night stays are a waste of time and money." Good advice. We've all done one-nighters in certain situations where it makes sense, but the above is a pretty good general guideline - if the traveler actually expects to see anything much in the place where she/he is staying one night, it's often not a wise use of time or money.
Posted by
Seattle, WA, USA
7737 posts
You're trying to cram waaaaaaay too much into your trip, imho. If you actually want to enjoy Italy, as opposed to just being able to check off places on a list, pick three places at most for the time that you have. That said, I'm guessing it's too late to change your itinerary. Good luck. You'll be seeing the inside of a train for a large percentage of your trip.
Posted by
Tel Aviv
15604 posts
Laurel's itinerary is perfect. Three nights in Rome. Keep in mind that you'll be tired and jetlagged when you arrive. Don't expect to be able to see much on your first day. There are fast trains from Rome to Florence. Pisa is out of the way, but nice as a day trip from Florence. Weigh that against the many things to see in Florence. If you want to climb the Leaning Tower, you have to reserve in advance. Don't do it if you have vertigo. It's a ramp all the way up and the tower leans considerably, remember. Take an early train from Florence to Verona, drop your bags at the train station's left luggage, take a bus into town and have a great time. Then a late train to Venice. Much as I love Verona, Venice needs 2 days, so if that only leaves you one day and 2 nights in Venice, I'd skip Verona. CT is just too remote for such a short time. It looks close on the map, but the trains are slow.