Italy in Sept - warm weather, nice beaches

Hello, my husband and I (both fully vaccinated) will be in Switzerland for one month (Sept. 21-October 21). We are thinking of extending our trip for 1-2 weeks and visiting Italy because we end up in Lugano, and would be able to take the train to Italy. (We will need to return to Zurich for our flight home, so as to avoid change fees.)

We have been to Italy several times, but have never done anything other than the main cities and tourist areas. We did visit Cinque Terre from Florence on one trip, and did the hike from village to village, and we have visited Lake Como twice, but only on day trips. We also did a vacation in Italy one time that included the Dolomites, Verona and Sienna. We love nature, hiking, quaint villages, pretty beaches, biking. We have never done the countryside in Italy (Tuscany area), seen Portofino or Genoa. Based on when we'd be there (late October), and the fact that we will need to get back to Zurich for our flight home, we don't want to travel as far south as the Amalfi Coast, so we'd appreciate any suggestions for places to visit for 1-2 weeks that are more north. We prefer being able to use public transportation, but are open to car rental, if need be. Really appreciator any advice/suggestions!

Hi! My partner and I would like to plan a trip to Italy for 2 weeks in mid September - very close to a sandy beach (we will book an Airbnb).

Neither of us travelled to Italy before and we don't have a drivers license, so we would like to pick a location easily accessible from an airport (such as Palermo, Catania, Napoli, Pisa, Venice) - meaning a commute of 2h~ from the airport to the destination location would be ideal.

We are looking for an affordable, relaxing, laid back vacation away from touristy stuff, where we can enjoy authentic food, nice coffee, quaint towns and most importantly - clean, nice beaches where we could swim safely.

A place with food markets (supermarkets or open-air) close by would also be amazing! We love walking but we would also like to rent bikes to go grocery shopping or just to enjoy the area.

We are not interested in any tourist attractions, boat trips, kayaking, sightseeing any famous landmarks.

So far, we looked at the coastal areas of the province of Palermo and Catania - but it's overwhelming how many beaches are there - and if we pick without any knowledge or advice, we are afraid we might miss out on a gem of a location.

Thank you in advance for your tips! I am forever grateful for forums!

Hello, I posted my question on the main Italy TA forum, but as I've been narrowing down our options, I wanted to ask people specifically knowledgeable of the Italian Riviera/Liguria.

My husband and I will be vacationing in Switzerland Sept. 20 - October 21, ending our trip in Lugano, and would like to extend our trip to include the Italian Riviera area. We have up to 2 weeks to spend, and will need to get back to Zurich for our flight back to the US. We would prefer using public transportation, rather than renting a car. We have been to Cinque Terre, and hiked between some of the villages, but only as a day trip from our stay in Florence. That is really the only part of the Ligurian coast that we have seen.

My specific questions a is 2 weeks to long to spend in this region? We want to hike, sightsee, visit Portofino for the day, and just wander around in the villages of note. We are not looking for a lot of nightlife; just mostly scenic beauty, or interesting towns/villages. If two weeks is not too long to spend in this area, then would the recommendation be that we divide our stay between one place along the Riviera di Levante (Santa Margherita Ligure was recommended), and one base in Riviera di Ponente? We could also spend one week in this area, then move elsewhere (still saying north for train from Milan back to Zurich), but knowing we will be ending our trip the end of October/early November, weather will need to be considered. Appreciate advice on my 2 week plan in this area. Thanks so much.

Hello!

We're headed on a month long trip to Italy mid July-August and could use any input / advice on the best places to stay. We're two musicians planning to do some music work and find an Airbnb to bunker down in for the month while we work on projects.

The current goal is to find a city near some water (lake or sea!), a small to medium sized city that doesn't feel overwhelmed by travelers or city bustle and has a small town more authentic feel to it. Since we'd be staying in and exploring the local area for a big part of our time, the local feeling is very important!

Ideally it'll be a place that we can get to from Rome without a car (we don't mind if its a long train ride) & it would be a place that could allow for little weekend trips to other cities and areas again without a car.

We've explored Como, Siena, Pisa, Bologna & Florence as possible options, but still having a bit of trouble sorting through the options. Hoping to get some advice from people with a bit more experience and knowledge than us!

Thanks so much !!

I will be arriving into Nice in the middle of September. I have a month and will spend 10-12 days in Northern Italy and the rest in France.

My plans are to go to Verona first and then the Dolomites as I think the weather should be better at the end of Sept. Thinking 1/2 nights in Verona, then 4 nights in the Dolomite area-suggestions welcome. Maybe an airbnb and do day hikes? We will have a car.

Then make our way back to Nice stopping in the Piedmont area-again suggestions of a location not in a busy town to make day trips? Maybe also a couple of days in Turin?

Our interests are hiking, history, food and wine.

Any tips would be appreciated.

My husband and I are planning to vacation in italy for our 25th wedding anniversary next year.

i am so overwhelmed with decision making and he is no help as he is very go with the flow and says yes to everything. which doesn't help me decide. lol.

we want to go to rome, pisa, florence, tuscany, amalfi coast

is it better to rent a car and travel this way or is it better to travel via train with all our luggage as we move from city to city?

or

could we be based out of one city for the entire vacation and travel to each place for the day trips?

if so, which city do you recommend to be based out of?

is renting a car a good idea?

i am planning a 14 day vacation to Italy, what is the best time of year to go?

thank you so much in advance for all of your help in planning this trip.

Buon Giorno, Advisors;

We scored a great round-trip fare to/from Firenze (kudos to Scott's), arriving on December 4th and departing on the 19th. We've been to Portugal, Netherlands, Belgium, and France (twice), but this is our first trip to Italia.

I know this is nearly an impossibly open-ended question, as one can easily spend 15 days in any one city or region. But we're thinking we'd like to maybe spend 3-5 days each in 3-4 places, traveling by rail. We don't want to spread ourselves too thin, but would like to feel like we got a good introduction to Italy.

Our general travel style is to find the authentic and local and avoid the mobs, but should we mainly hit the major buckety-list big city touristy things, given it will be Low Season? Given we're looking at 40s-50s-ish weather and probably a fair amount of rain, is there any point to go to any typically summery places, e.g. Amalfi coast?

Tell me, with the assumption of flying in/out of Florence, what you would do with your time, and in what order. Gratzi in advance for any and all wisdom!

Cheers,

Geoff and Mandy

We are a ‘mature’ couple traveling to Italy with 11 nights open between Rome & Florence so decided to visit Sardegna in early September. Probably flying into Olbia & departing from Cagliari.

Enjoy white sandy beaches, crystal clear water (who doesn't?), swimming, drinking local wine & local food. Also realize that beaches in Sardegna are rocky.

Prefer to stay at hotels in town to walk to dinner and stroll around town at night. Will rent a car to drive to close beaches during the day, perhaps stay at a beach hotel for 2 or 3 nights if on a beautiful beach.

Any suggestions on itinerary - where to stay & for how many nights? Perhaps 3 locations with 11 nights? The more I read on this helpful forum, the more overwhelmed I become on where to stay.

San Teodoro, Orosei, Villasimius, Isola Carloforte? Departing from Cagliari; how many nights would you recommend staying there?

Will reserve rental car prior to arrival, as well as hotel 1st and last night. Should I make hotel reservations in advance for the rest of trip? September is a busy month and may be more so this year.

TYIA!

We have planned out and booked most of a 2-week trip to Italy. We had to cancel this same itinerary in the fall of 2020.

We are set to arrive in Italy on August 29th, 2021 with a week in a villa just outside of Montepulciano then on to Sorrento and Rome for another week.

Does anyone have a sense of whether hoteliers and villa agents have cancellation mandates or guidelines now that Italy is back at Red Alert?

We want to take it all in while in Italy, and would not want to be restricted from restaurants, have to wear masks most of the time, etc.

After cancelling our 2020 Italy trip, I've just booked a trip for spring 2022. We fly into Venice in late April and will be in the country for 21 nights before leaving from Rome. I've booked accommodations online but everything is cancellable so I'd love to know you suggest any changes to my itinerary. And I have a few questions. Any input would be much appreciated as I've never been to Italy!

Here's what I've booked:

3 nights Venice - Wander, see Doge's palace & St. Mark's Square

3 nights in Sirmione, Lake Garda - explore Roman ruins, drive around lake, maybe boat trip to Isola del Garde

3 Nights in Florence - Museums & sights. Rent car when leaving & drive to Montepulciano via Chianti.

3 Nights in Montepulciano - Wine tasting, explore hill towns in Tuscany (& maybe hot springs?)

4 Nights in Sorrento (day trips to Capri & Amalfi Coast & maybe Pompeii, but that would be all the days and I want to just relax & wander in Sorrento too)

4 Nights in Rome - Colosseum, Vatican, and maybe day trip to Tivoli or Ninfa Gardens (though my husband won't be that excited about the latter so may skip it)

Does this look like a good number of days / nights in each place?

Also, I have a few other questions... From Venice to Sirmione - Would I be better off to simply take the train from Venice to Desenzano and rent a car there, meaning I could drop it at the end of my Sirmione stay and not pay one-way charge? Or rent a car in Venice and drive to Desenzano? And when we leave Montepulciano to go to Sorrento, am I better off dropping the car in Chiusi and taking train from there to Sorrento, or driving back to Florence & dropping it there, taking the high-speed traing?

Or should I re-order the whole trip, driving from Venice to Sirmione and then to Montepulciano, then take the car back to Florence, spend 3 nights there and then train to Sorrento?

I've noticed that a lot of accommodations are booking up already for next spring so if my itinerary isn't logical, I want to switch it around now while there's lots of options. I know there's plenty of time for booking cars & trains, but does the order make sense? Thanks in advance for any input!!