# Italy & Greece Questions...



## Marcia3641 (Jun 22, 2008)

I have a friend who is planning a trip next year ad I thought I could give her some information from some of the Tug Guru's as she is trying to book her trip within the next couple of weeks. Thanks in advance! 

1.  We are planning a trip to Italy and Greece for May 2009 and we want to use our miles with American Airline.  What would be your suggestion -  should we do round trip tickets to Milan or Rome?  Or should we try for one-way ticket all the way?  Which is most affordable?

2.  Since we have American Airline miles, do you know which way is cheaper -purchase a full fare coach ticket and then use the mile to upgrade or use the mile to get a free coach ticket and then paid for the upgrade to business class?

3.  We are planning to spend 2 weeks at Italy visinting Rome, Florence/Tuscany, Venice and if possible Milan.  The travel guide book said that driving in Italy is dangerous and if we are going to drive, we need to have good insurance coverage.  Since we will be moving to at least 3 different cities in Italy, should we still consider driving by renting a car or should we take the train?  If we take the train, is it expensive and wouldn't it be cumbersome as we still need to get a taxi ride to the train station?  What would be the best way to move around?

4.  What are the must sees at Rome, Florence/Tuscany, and Venice?  If you have 2 weeks, how many days would you suggest that we spent at each location?

5. Where are good lodging places at Rome, Florence/Tuscany, and Venice that are reasonable, clean, quite, good service, and have private showers & bathroom?

6. If we have one week to spend at Greece, where would you recommend that we go and see?


marcia3641


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## Jimster (Jun 22, 2008)

*trip planning service?*

Literally all of these questions have been asked and answered recently.  Do a search and it will provide the answers.  It would take hours to provide this.  Also go to slowtrav.com which has probably answered this more completely and do a search.  I think your friend is not asking for information, he is asking for a complete trip plan.


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## x3 skier (Jun 22, 2008)

I would book the tickets using FF miles and then if you can't get what airport you want, use the LCC's to get where you are going.

Cheers


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## Linda74 (Jun 22, 2008)

For the one week in Greece, I would do a cruise.  They should be able to get one leaving from Athens for under $1000 which would allow them to see not only Athens but several Greek islands.  As for Italy, Rome, Florence, Venice and Tuscany are not to be missed.  No need for a car in any of those cities but it is nice to have if they can tour Tuscany.  We were there in May and found the driving to be quite easy.  Roads are in excellent condition.  A GPS is a godsend getting you in and out of small towns.  We have trained between Florence and Tuscany.  As I recall the fares were quite reasonable.  I am sure you can find the prices on a search.  As for reasonable accomodations (assuming no timeshare), check out TripAdviser.com


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## Linda74 (Jun 22, 2008)

Sorry, I meant we trained between Florence and Venice.


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## Carolinian (Jun 22, 2008)

With most ff programs, you can do a free stopover.  Since NW,CO, or DL is a partner with Alitalia, you could book a ff ticket RT to Athens, and route one direction through Rome or possibly Milan (although Alitalia is eliminating its hub there) and count that as the stopover.

You might find combinations with partners of other carriers that would also work to give you a free stopover enroute, although I don't think either Olympic or Aegean, Greece's two main airlines, are partners with any US airline.  Doing a stopover than involves backtracking or a convuluted routing is probably not going to be allowed as a stopover, although I got DL to do that once years ago with a London stopover on the way to Budapest.

Alternatively, I would look at an open jaws ticket, into Rome and out of Athens, which can be done on any airline and with paid or award tickets. To close the jaws, I would look at a one way ticket on Aegean, MyAir, or Air One.  To travel from Italy to Greece, you might also look at a cabin on one of the long distance ferries. See www.ferries.gr 

Traffic is Italy can be bad, especially in the cities, but it is much worse in Greece.  If you were only seeing cities, I would say stick to the trains in Italy.


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## Zac495 (Jun 22, 2008)

2 hours from Venice are the Italian Alps. We stayed in Cortina which we loved. It was much, much cooler than Venice. Just a thought.
My picture trail has pictures of the Alps - and the cable cars that go up. Oh, and we went to Austria from Cortina one day - really wonderful.


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