We have 19 days to spend in Italy. We arrive late August. We are flying into and out of Florence. The goal of this trip is to see a few sites but mostly soak up the space and visit small villages in Tuscany. We do want to see Positano and Venice however. We were thinking of spending two days in Florence after we fly in. Get acclamated and then travel up to Venice. Spend two days there. Should we take the train down to Positano for a few days then make our way back up to Tuscany? Should we have a "bases camp" so to speak somewhere in Tuscany and make day trips out to the surrounding towns? We dont want to have to haul our stuff everywhere but we also want to freedom to find a great village and stay.
HELP!
Posted by
Bay Area
3551 posts
We like Siena as a base then bus out to Pienza, Montepulciano and San Gimi from there all easily done.
Sounds like alot of train travel you might ck Florence to Venice by cheap air if avail. get your lodging reserved fast as Aug is peak season everywhere you are going.
Posted by
Wichita
831 posts
stephanie,
This may help http://www.slowtrav.com/italy/tuscany/hs_planning.htm
Posted by
Portland, Oregon, United States
907 posts
Siena is good. We did Lucca and Montecatini Terme as bases. We also did Umbria (San Gemini). Todi is nice. Train from Florence to Venice is easy and not that expensive. Getting to Positano is a bit more of a challenge. I have driven from Florence to Positano in two days spending one night around Rome (Tivoli and Hadrian's villa). Not a bad choice but a car in Positano is NOT advisable. I had to just park it as it was of little use to me there. I returned the car to Naples and took the hydrofoil to Positano, very cool. You say "two days there." Does that mean two nights or three nights? I would figure 3 nights (2 days) in both Florence and Venice to really get a feel for those cities.
Posted by
OP
walla walla, wa, usa
2 posts
thanks so much! I really appreciate the advise!
Posted by
roswell, ga, usa
1501 posts
Personally, I'd make Florence a "base." Siena is lovely, but I'd consider it more of a day trip city. I've been to both places a number of times, but there is so much more to do and see in Florence, and also the transportation in/out of Florence both by bus and train is much more convenient. You might want to try renting an apartment for a week, (I use VRBO. COM) because it's so much cheaper to rent an apartment for a week, and day-trip out of Florence. Another option is, if you're not locked into your air travel yet, is open-jaw, fly into Florence and return out of Venice.
Posted by
roswell, ga, usa
1501 posts
Personally, I'd make Florence a "base." Siena is lovely, but I'd consider it more of a day trip city. I've been to both places a number of times, but there is so much more to do and see in Florence, and also the transportation in/out of Florence both by bus and train is much more convenient. You might want to try renting an apartment for a week, (I use VRBO. COM) because it's so much cheaper to rent an apartment for a week, and day-trip out of Florence. Another option is, if you're not locked into your air travel yet, is open-jaw, fly into Florence and return out of Venice.