Posted earlier in November and received some great ideas from the forum. I have put together a possible itinerary and need your thoughts - this is a big birthday trip ( mine) and we are taking our young adult sons.
Day 1 - fly to Rome- train to Florence. Should get there early afternoon. Settle in, walk around, eat gelato.
Day 2 - tour Florence
Day 3. - day trip to Cinque terre.
Day 4 - pick up car and move to an Agriturismo
Day 5,6 - tour region (Thinking Montepulciano, Volterra any other must sees?
Day 7-8 stay in Siena
Days 9-10 stay in or around Orvieto.
Head home on Day 11.
Q. Too ambitious? There is so much to see and I am overwhelmed with all the good choices!
Q. If you stay at an agriturismo do you need to be back by dark to avoid getting hopelessly lost?
Q. Is Cinque terre worth it for a day trip? Looking for Agriturismo recommendations -
Posted by
Gettysburg PA
7392 posts
Where are you flying home from?
I assume Rome and if so you will need to be IN Rome night before departure.
Where/when will you drop the car?
Haven’t been to CT and have no desire to but others will tell you it doesn’t work well as a day trip.
You don’t have much time at all IN Florence.
Posted by
Edmonds, WA 🌨 ☂
12151 posts
Days 9-10 stay in or around Orvieto.
Head home on Day 11.
Are you planning on traveling from Orvieto to FCO on the day of the flight? Leaving Orvieto less than 6 hours before flight time could provide more suspense and tension than your cardiologist would like
CT would be more enjoyable if you did an overnight there. Depending on how 'busy' you want the trip to be, a day trip in Sept. is not as bad as doing it in the middle of summer. You could spend the night in CT and pick up a rental car in La Spezia and drive to your agriturismo from there.
A GPS should be able to get you back in the dark. Some folks use their phone, others a device like Tom-Tom or Garmin
Happy Birthday!
Posted by
OP
New York, NY, USA
19 posts
We are flying back out of Rome. Thanks for the tip- guess Orvieto is too far away to stay pre- flight. And thank for the advice about staying in CT and getting a car there.
Posted by
872 posts
Itineraries are expressed in nights, according to hotel stays.
"Is Cinque terre worth it for a day trip?" [Terre]
Frankly no. People do it, but 5 hours in one of the villages requires 7.5 to 8 hours on trains and the 4 trips going to and from stations.
"If you stay at an agriturismo do you need to be back by dark to avoid getting hopelessly lost?"
You would want with a good restaurant; not running around after dark.
For a farmhouse, La Fonte near Pienza gets rave reviews [excellent restaurant]; plus this is a very scenic area:
https://www.wanderingitaly.com/maps/valdorcia.html
There is also the Agriturismo Marciano, outside Siena [basically a farmhouse], known for its elaborate dinners served on the big table in the kitchen; good breakfast also with homemade pastries. They have a pool.
You can pick up a Hertz rental at Via Palagio degli Spini, the complex near the Florence Airport [reached by taxi]; return it in Siena by the train station and travel to Rome by bus. So 3 nights in Florence and 3 on the road; that leaves 4; at least one night in Rome at the end. Siena you could return the car at the train station and take the bus to Rome later from downtown. However there would an argument to spend the 4 nights in Rome, returning the car downtown to the Via Sardegna location, thus saving a hotel change.
Arrival at FCO have the Trenitalia app, tickets after retrieving your luggage. Changing trains downtown, refer to the train number in locating the correct platform [binario] on the departure board.
Read this about driving in Italy and restrictions involved [ZTLs]; avoid leaving anything of value in a vehicle when parked:
http://driventoit.blogspot.com/
You will need an IDP [International Driving Permit] from your local AAA office.
Posted by
Irving
3329 posts
Day 3 – the Cinque Terre is not a day trip from Florence so skip it.
Montepulciano is also a convenient day trip from Siena by direct train (1h 15m) although you’ll need to take a taxi to the city center which is easier than trying to get their if driving.