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Week in Italy

SamH

SamH

TUG Member
Joined
Jun 9, 2005
Messages
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Location
Alpharetta, GA
We are going on our first trip to Italy this summer. We are flying in and out of Venice, arriving in the morning on July 15 and leaving in the morning on July 23. This trip is just me and my wife (no children) and those were the only days that we both could be away.

We plan on spending most of our time in Venice and Florence. There will be other trips for other areas. We are using Royal Holiday Club points for 3 days in Florence and Hilton Honor points for Venice. The Royal Holiday Club stay has to be either Wed-Sat (3 nights) or Sat-Wed (4 nights). We have, therefore, planned the following nightly stays:

July 15 - Venice
July 16 - Florence
July 17 - Florence
July 18 - Florence
July 19 - ????
July 20 - Venice
July 21 - Venice
July 22 - Venice

We are considering several options and would appreciate any recommendations.

1. Leave Florence on the 19th and take the train to the Cinque Terre, stay in the area on the 19th and 20th (leaving later on the 20th for Venice).

2. Same as 1 but spend an additional day in Cinque Terre region and one less day in Venice.

3. Skip Cinque Terre and stay another day in Florence or Venice.

4. Something else.

Thanks for your help.

Sam
 
To cut down on your time spent in transit, you might spend that extra night in the rural Chianti region, which is near Florence - but very different. Or maybe in Siena.

Cinque Terre and other points on the Ligurian coast such as Rapallo and Portofino are truly beautiful - we once went there for 1 night and loved it so much, we took an exchange into Rapallo. But 1 night on Cinque Terre isn't nearly enough, and it's the better part of a day to get from there to Venice. And IMO 3 consecutive nights in Venice are the minimum - we've spent 2 consecutive nights there - again, not enough.

On the other hand - we covered lots of miles on our first trip, and that way we identified our favorite spots for return trips. So you really can't go wrong with whatever you choose in those areas.
 
italy

You could also do a quick trip to Pisa (to see the tower) if that interests you. As suggested above, Sienna would be nice too.
 
Laurie said:
you might spend that extra night in the rural Chianti region, which is near Florence - but very different. Or maybe in Siena.
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Both are great ideas - Il Campo in Siena is especially magical at night.

Note that travel to Siena is more efficient by bus, rather than train.
 
I think there is more to see in Florence than in Venice but you are spending more nights in Venice. If you were renting a car or limo you might drive north to the Dolomites across to Milan (Last Supper) and down to Florence...then train it to Venice. Venice is the rip-off city of Italy, but a must see for sure. Florence is the centre of art and culture. JMHO.

Brian
 
Last Supper in Milano

If you are going to do this, you have to get reservations, probably before leaving, and they only let something like 20 people at a time for something like 15 minutes. It sells out sometimes months in advance. Google for info.

The worst day I ever spent in Italy was better than the best day a lot of other places.... Enjoy!

Jim Ricks
 
Passepartout said:
If you are going to do this, you have to get reservations, probably before leaving, and they only let something like 20 people at a time for something like 15 minutes. It sells out sometimes months in advance. Google for info.
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This is good advice.

If you're too late for a reservation, a city tour ( I forget the name - check at the TI) includes a visit to the Cenacolo (as it is known in Milan) as well as the Duomo and Brera gallery (among others).
 
Last edited:
You may want to consider a (partial-) day to Verona, the city of Romeo and Juliette.

The amphitheatre is still pretty impressive and if you enjoy opera, this is the place to go to during summer. www.veronaticket.com
If you do not enjoy opera, then it is still pretty impressive.

If I were you, I would rent a car to visit Pisa, Sienna and Lucca. Pisa is of course a must-see, but there is really not a lot more than the Tower. You could spend the rest of the day exploring the area, which is great - and the drive to Sienna and Lucca is really not that hard (but take a GPS).

Personally, I like Venice just as much as Florence - 2 completely different cities with completely different atmospheres.
 
A vote for Cinque Terre

We did our first Italy trip the summer before last (July). We were fortunate to have 3 weeks, so we visited many areas of the country - Pompeii, Rome, Umbria, Tuscany, Liguria, the Lakes Region - hitting many of the major cities and sights. Oh, the things we saw! Tragedy frozen for all time in Pompeii! The Sistine Chapel! The Pantheon! Acres of sunflowers! The David! World Cup revelers! Magnificent. Crowded. HOT. Meltingly, head-achingly HOT.

Of all the places we went and the things we did, Cinque Terre stands out vividly, a delicious break from the heat and madness that can be Italy in the summer. It was breathtakingly beautiful, but more than that it was refreshing. We hiked, we strolled, we swam, we ate, we tested every gelato we came across. We ate pine nuts straight from the tree. We marveled at the way the towns clung to the hillsides, gravity defiant. We took countless photos of the crumbling pastel buildings, the harbors, the flowers, the children, the old man selling lemons along the walking path between towns, the sunsets over the Mediterranean. I would not have missed a side trip to Cinque Terre for all the Renaissance art in the world.

If memory serves me, we spent two nights and the better part of three days there, using Monterroso as a base for exploring the five towns. I could have easily spent more time there, but even a side trip of a few days was well worth it.

Go. You'll not regret it.

Have a great trip,
Corinne

Oh...one more tip. If you haven't read The Agony and the Ectasy, it's a great book to read before a trip to Italy.
 
See Ravena

Former capital of the 5th century Roman empire Ravenna has more Byzantine mosaics than Rome or Istanbul. After you have seen St Marks get a day trip bus tour to nearby Ravenna. You won't be sorry.
 
Thanks everyone for your suggestions. It was difficult narrowing it down to one but it looks like we will spend the day and night in Siena. We will plan for a longer trip next time to include Cinque Terre, Rome and other areas of Tuscany.

If anyone has a hotel recommendation in Siena, please let us know.

Thanks.

Sam

pwrshift said:
Might be fun for you to order RickSteves dvd on Italy for $20.

http://travelstore.ricksteves.com/catalog/index.cfm?fuseaction=product&theParentId=15&id=338

Brian
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We have most (maybe all) the Rick Steves programs about Italy permanently saved on TIVO. They are great shows and his guide books are excellent.
 
JoeMid said:
Talk about an expensive RHC booking!
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That's true but it was one of the reasons my wife agreed to another timeshare. I told her that RHC could get us to Florence, Rome and New York. We will try to go to Rome (not prime time) on our next trip to Italy.

Sam
 
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