Looking for ideas

Hello, we have been searching through articles online and guidebooks. When we think we have made a decision we read something else that peaks our interest. We were originally planning on staying somewhere near Cortona but now we're thinking maybe more centrally located might be better? This is our first trip to Italy, this stop will be around 5 nights. We will be renting a car and would ideally like to take in the scenery, drive around and stumble upon great views and small towns, we will probably go to a winery but food and just taking in the Tuscany countryside is our goal. Any suggestions?

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!

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!!

Any thoughts on our new itinerary, we have 9 nights and 10 full days, arriving and departing Palermo, we don’t have a car:

3 nights Cefalu

1 night Erice

2 nights Marettimo

3 nights Favignana

We don’t like overcrowded beaches, enjoy to see the real Sicily and romantic evenings, don’t want to visit the temples, want to be close to the sea.

Many thanks!

Hi Everyone,

We need some advice. I’ll try and fill in as many gaps so this won’t be painful. My family loves to travel and Italy has been our favorite destination. On multiple longer trips..and some shorter..we’ve hit Rome, A little of Umbria, a lot of Tuscany, Cinque Terre, Amalfi Coast, Lakes Como and Maggiore and Venice. We had the kids for 2 weeks on one of these. We planned to hit Sicily the last 2 Summers but it was not to be and had to cancel. We are now coming end of November now..Thanksgiving week..and are flying into Rome.

With all that laid out we are driving from Rome so we don’t want to go too far..maybe 3 hours any direction. That gives us really regions of Lazio, Tuscany, Umbria, parts of Campania, Abruzzo and Molise. I’m guessing on some. I know it’s rainy season and is chilly. We are fine with as our honeymoon there was in October.

So with all that said and where we’ve been what would be a beautiful area for that time of year where we can see midieval villages, maybe some leftover Fall colors, great food/wine vineyards? I’ve thought about going off script with Abruzzo or Le Marche but we love Tuscany so much. I know there are pros here. Appreciate y’all!

Chris

Hi. I am hoping to visit Italy next year and I’m currently on the lookout for reasonable airfare for the end of March/beginning of April. Is this a pretty good time to come weather wise? Rome is a must do and there are several other places I’d like to see and I have to figure out a reasonable itinerary for 14 nights. Florence, Venice, Bergamo, CinqueTerre, Burano, Lucca, Orvieto, Amalfi Coast, San Gimignano are all on my wish list. This will be my and my husbands first trip overseas. I like culture and my husband likes the outdoors and hiking. I would like to also stay in a agroturismo during part of our stay. I think three full days in Rome would be good and the rest divided up perhaps between Florence, Cinque Terra and Orvieto might work? Perhaps flying in and out of Rome/Florence. Does this sound doable?

My wife and I are visiting Italy for 9 days at the end of August/beginning of September (we're an active, foodie couple in our 40s). We'll spend the first few nights in Rome and then are looking at what to do for the last 6 nights of our trip. She's been to the North of Italy before, so tops on my list are going to Naples and the Amalfi Coast. A couple questions:

Should we expect lots of tourists along the coast from Aug Aug 30 - Sept 5? Or will summer crowds have receded by then?

And if it will be crowded, might it be better to base ourselves in Salerno instead of one of the smaller/more touristy spots? *I'm actually considering staying in Salerno regardless of crowd sizes, so we can experience a more 'real' Italy but still have access to the picturesque towns.

Any other suggestions appreciated! Thanks~

Thanks!

Hi people,

Planning on visiting both Lake Como and then going into northern Lombardy (Chiavenna as a base, maybe), but not sure how to arrange it or how to manage the car rental in the most efficient way. Our rough itinerary so far looks like this:

- Day 1: Coming from Tuscany, arriving at Lake Como around noon or 2/3 PM (overnight in Varenna)

- Day 2: Around Lake Como, maybe visiting Bellagio / Varenna / hiking around the area.

- Day 3: Around Lake Como, maybe visiting Bellagio / Varenna / hiking around the area.

- Day 4: Going from Varenna to Chiavenna, sightseeing around the area

- Day 5: Visiting Soglio (Switzerland) and maybe other small towns close to Chiavenna.

- Day 6: From Chiavenna to Tirano or Pontresina to take the Bernina Express up to Chur, so we might be able to visit some towns enroute to Pontresina/Tirano during the morning as the Bernina Express leaves Tirano at around 2 PM. We will probably go from Chur to Luzern which is our next step for a couple of nights instead of staying in Chur.

I am not worried about the Lake Como leg of the trip, but how would you arrange the trip from Day 4? We weren´t planning to have a car initially because we would do Lake Como and then move into the Ticino (based in Locarno) in Switzerland. However, we discovered how beautiful the area around Chiavenna is and we are now gravitating towards doing that instead of Ticino, before moving into Lucerne (Bernina Express seems to be an interesting option to connect northern tip of Italy (Tirano) with Chur and then going into Luzern for a long but relaxing day).

Big problem is that there doesn´t seem to be a rental car return place that would suit our itinerary without getting into astronomical fees or a lot of unnecessary driving (or returning in Switzerland which also increases fees), any advice on that and how our rough itinerary looks? We would like to keep unnecessary travel as much as possible and minimize super expensive costs for the car rental.

Thank you!

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

Just starting to plan 10 days in Tuscany for June 22 after two years of delays. Hoping we’ll be able to travel to Italy without issues by then.

Working backwards and had done a lot of research before but hadn’t got as far as looking at coastal areas in Tuscany and thought it would we good to finish up with a few days nears the beach. What are your favourite areas that you can recommend please.

Thanks