Hi I'm tour director (Italy leg) for our marital party of two, while my better half is tour director (UK-Ireland) After looking hard at lots of suggestions here over the past few months, I come up with an itinerary as follows Rome, 6 days Train to Orvieto 1 day collect car, (I'm aware of the insurance etc) around Sienna or San Gemin 3 days drop car off at Pisa, Train to Cinque Terre 3 days Train to Florence 3 days Train to to Venice 3 days Train to Verona, Train to Salzburg , Hallstatt ??, Train to Vienna 3 days. Question I have is does it make sense to go Rome, Tuscany, CT, Florence then Venice, or Rome, Florence, Tuscany, CT , up to Genoa, Milan to Venice. I realise there's no right and wrong answer, I'm interested in whether it is more efficient one way or the other. To add an overnight in Milan means dropping somewhere else. Rome is really 5 days as I expect the 24hr travel from Australia will make the first day a blur. We going in April 2013, so there's is only 366 sleeps to go, and yes we are counting. Thanks in advance. I now have the RS Italy and Rome 2012 books kindle versions on pc an ipad.
kind regards Gerard
Posted by
Napa, CA
3580 posts
This may help. Yesterday I took trains from Venice to the CT. Venice to Florence=2 hours. Florence to CT (La Spezia) about two hours. This is an easy connection. It is possible to travel Venice-Milano, Milano-CT via Genoa. Since Florence is in Tuscany, you could take day trips from there. Lucca, Pisa, Arezzo, Siena, etc. From CT, Rome is about 4 hours by train. I wouldn't go out of my way to spend a night in Milano. It's ok, but the other places deserve more. The choices you have given makes it seem that you will start your Italian travel from Rome. Then I would go Rome, Florence (including places in Tuscany), then CT, Genoa, Milan, Venice. I personally would just pass thru Genoa and Milano.
Posted by
Seattle, WA
16333 posts
It is more efficient to to the way you have listed it. Once you drop the car in Pisa, you are most of the way to CT and it makes sense to go there next. Then to Florence, Venice, etc. We traveled the route from Ct via Genoa to Milan. Although it goes along the coast, much of it is in tunnels and you really do not see all that much of the coast itself. Since you do not plan to spend time in Milan, the other route to Venice, from Florence, is preferable and gives you more time in both Florence and Venice.