Scenic Route, Rome to Pienza

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!!

Hello,

My husband and I will be arriving in Florence on November 30 after 4 nights in Rome. On our trip booked for last September we were planning one night in Siena at an Agriturismo. Now that we are coming during late Fall would you recommend just staying 4 nights Rome/4 nights Florence and just taking a day trip to Siena/Tuscany? Is there anything still growing or in bloom in late November? I already have a voucher for 2 nights at San Firenze Suites but have not rebooked with them yet.

Thank you for sharing your travel wisdom. This will be our first trip to Italy.

Hey there. We are planning a trip to Italy (and Paris) next June. We are bringing our DDs, first timers to Europe, ages 21 and 16. I’ve been reading through itineraries, guide books, youtube videos of Italy and getting so excited. We have limited time (only 10 nights in Italy) and we are packing in A LOT I know. We are considering using Zicasso or another company to make the most of our time, especially since we are trying to do so much...Here’s our latest itinerary so far. (we like to see as much as possible/get a taste so we know where to spend more time the next time:)

. Summary. 2 nights, 1 1/2 full days in Venice,

4 nights in Florence with day trip to Cinque Terre, 5 nights in Rome with day trip to Pompeii and Amalfi

*We already bought our tickets flying into Venice

Day 1. Arrive Venice from Paris on the 13th. Half day in Venice

Day 2. Venice

Day 3. Take a late train from Venice to Florence.

Day 4. Florence

Day 5. Florence. (Day trip to Cinque Terre)

Day 6 Florence

Day 7. Train to Rome by 7pm. Stay near Piazza Novana

Day 8. Rome

Day 9 Rome

Day 10. LONG day with private guide to Pompeii/Amalfi

Day 11. Rome

Day 12. Departure day

Grazie!

First off- thanks in advance for any advice! (first time posting)

We are planning a ~2.5-3 week trip to Italy for May 2022 with our 2 kids (6 and 8).

My idea of a dream Italy vacay is cozy farms, beautiful scenery, amazing food, space for the kids to run and explore, bike rides, horse rides, and an authentic feel.

We also like to take our time in places vs trying to rush and see it all. I feel we have to see Rome and Venice but also know our kids will easily get overwhelmed and tired by the big cities.

Based on that, I have loosely come up with the following itinerary:

Fly into Rome (found a great points flight from our city); 3 nights here

5 nights in Umbria (agriturismo)

5 nights in Tuscany (agriturismo)

? 1-2 nights in Bergamo (my hubby has been and loves Citta Alta neighbourhood)

3 nights in Venice - fly home

Any thoughts on this? I love the idea of Cinque Terre but perhaps best to save it for another time (without the kids!).

Thank you!! Cait

Would you recommend flying from Venice to Naples, taking a train or driving and stopping 1/2 way for a few nights in Tuscany (our original plan).

We fly into Venice for a few nights and then out of Naples. Originally was planning on spending 1/3 of our trip in Venice, 1/3 in Tuscany area and 1/3 around Amalfi Coast. Now I'm leaning towards longer time in Venice to day trip and longer time in AC area.

Hi everyone!

My wife and I are traveling to Italy for two weeks. Do you have any suggestions on what to do or see? Here is our route with car and ferry:

1 night in Milano

1 night in Santa Margherita - visiting Portofino

2 nights in La Spezia - visiting Cinque Terre, Vernazza and Riomaggiore

1 night in Florence

5 nights in Amalfi - buss or scooter around the coast

3 nights in Capri - buss or scooter

1 night in Rome

So we were thinking about leaving the car somewhere in Amalfi because it seems that using car in the Amalfi Coast is unnecessary. Then we take a ferry from Amalfi to Capri.

Hey Everyone... Flying to Italy on Saturday, July 17th with my wife for our wedding anniversary. We are both fully vaccinated. I've been doing as much research as possible but can't find certain answers so any help is appreciated! Sounds like to get into Italy, we need our vaccination cards in hand and to fill out the digital passenger locator form. Is that all we need? No covid test required is what I am seeing.

Also - my understanding is we must test within 3 days of departure from Italy back to NYC. With that said, we are currently doing 2 nights in Positano and 1 night in Capri and then 2 nights in Rome (out flight is out of Rome). We wanted to do 2 nights in Positano, 2 in Capri and 1 in Rome but were worried it may be more difficult to find the right covid test in Capri vs Rome? If anyone could help provide info on exactly which covid test we need to get back to USA, that would be helpful. I checked the website and it was very vague. Also, do we just show our results when we check in at Rome airport or is there an online form?

Thanks in advance for your help!

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!

Just booked our first trip to Sicily and will spend 7 nights in mid-November 2021. I realize not enough time, so looking to probably focus on the eastern part of the island and fly into Catania. Have some questions to help with planning

1)Thinking of spending around 3 nights in the Syracuse, Noto, Modica area. Which city/town is the best place to stay and explore from there? Planning to most likely do local buses to explore during the day

2) We'd like to spend 2 to 3 nights in the Mount Etna area and possibly stay in Taormina for part of it. Thinking of renting a car from Catania for this part of our trip. If not, anyone have a tour group they recommend for tours of Mount Etna.

3) We hate to miss Palermo, but realize with only a week you need to make choices. Will there be get similar food markets in Catania to those you find in Palermo.

4) We would not to spend a day sampling wines and wondering which region to target in the areas we plan to visit.

Thanks much for any comments you can provide!

First off- this may be a bit of a 'bouncing around' post. Sorry! Trying to keep it clear...

I'm planning a trip for Spring 2022 Italy and France. So far, I have booked:

A) Flight into Rome and out of Paris

B) 3 nights in Rome and the following 4 nights in Cinque Terre (Riomaggiore).

This leaves 8 nights before my flight home.

I planned to get from Rome to Riomaggiore by train, via Florence, but this isn't booked yet.

I had thought after check out in the CT that I would go to Milan on an early bus or train, spend the day, and take a night/sleeper train from Milan to Paris, which I would then make my base, and do day trips here and there. I have been to Paris before, as well as Marseille and Nice. LOVE all three - want to see more of France, but also want to have a home base, to feel less nomadic.

I've found plenty of advice to take the Thello train for this. However, I also saw somewhere credible (of course...I can't find it again to quote here... it was on the Thello or Eurail website or something like that...), it looks like the Thello Paris-Milan/Venice is discontinued. Is this true? Are there any other sleeper train options Milan to Paris? I would really like to be able to do a few hours/day in Milan, but am completely open minded.

As a follow up question - I had thought it may be worth it to get the Eurail global 10 day pass. I believe it's good for 10 random days within a one or two month time period. Is this a better plan, to get me to my base camps, and use for the day trips from Paris, allowing me to do them solo rather than booking viator, or some such tour company?

Appreciate all friendly pieces of advice and responses!