Val d Orcia - base

I am planning a 13-day trip to the Dolomites this Sept and will arrive from the East Tirol side of Austria (direction of Lienz) by car. So, naturally, my first stop is to visit Tre Cime, after which I will travel to see the Odle Group of the Dolomites. How many days shall I spend in this area? I am thinking of about 3-4 days, to account for likely rainy days that renders hiking along the Tre Cime di Lavaredo loop trail impossible. In this case, I can also enjoy some of the Alpine lakes and smaller towns. My questions:

1. It seems that Cortina is the most popular choice of a home base in this region. However, there is no accommodation choice that fulfills my requirements and budget (at a low level of about $170 per night max). Also, I am worried about potential construction noise and dust from construction for the future Olympics. Where else is a good base for 3-4 days? For example, is Padola too far? My next stop will be in the Val Gardena or Val di Funes area. I will have a rental car, but have not driven in Alpine mountains much.

2. Which cable car or gondola rides do you recommend in the Tre Cime area?

3. Beside the loop trail, what are the other easy and enjoyable Tre Cime trails?

4. What other nice places should i visit in this area? Lake Baies is one.

5. Will I need hiking poles for the Tre Cime loop trail? Should I buy some here in the US or buy them in Austria? I don't hike much, if at all, in the US. Even when I do, I won't need any poles.

Once this segment of my Dolomites trip is planned out, I will plan the Val Gardena/Val di Funes part. This is a bigger area and there appears to be more moderately priced lodging options.

Any further advice is appreciated. Thanks!!!

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!

Hello,

We are visiting the Dolomites next week and will be staying in campings with tent. I e-mailed 5-6 camping places, but they do not take reservations for tents. Anyway, we are only two people with a small tent and car so we should probably be fine with finding places.

In terms of itinerary, can you please share your thoughts and if we are missing something/should include something etc. Any advice will be useful.

Day 1: Driving up from Venice. We are going to base ourselves in a camping near Cofosco for 2-3 days (do not want to assemble/disassemble a tent each day) Probably will arrive around 13:00 - 14:00. Any ideas how to fill this day with some sights/short hikes in the region ? Seiser Alm ?

Day 2: Drive to Val di Funes - St. Magdalena - Adolf Munkel Trail, drive back to Colfosco. Should we include anything else for this day, or this is plenty ?

Day 3: Seceda with the cable car from Ortisei. Doing a loop hike to Pieralonga and Refugio Firenze.

Day 4: Drive to a camping near Cortina. Hike to lake Sorapsis in the afternoon. Should we include something else?

Day 5: Cinque Torri + Gaiu Pass + Falzarego Pass + Castello

Day 6: Tri Cime loop hike + Cadini di Misurina hike.

Day 7: Leaving the region and heading back to Bulgaria with 1 night in Croatia.

I would love to squeeze in Lago di Braies somewhere in the plan, so we are thinking of having 2 nights around Colfosco and 4 nights near Cortina.

Thanks in advance for your suggestions on how we can improve our trip! I am pretty sure that some of the days it will be raining so we have to accommodate and try to have back-up options for rainy weather.

We are coming to the east coast of sicily in August. Have been looking at Taormina as a base bit wondering if its too touristy as a base destination? Prefer smaller towns. Loved Cefalu 😍. Can anyone recommend a town to stay? Many thanks

My wife and I are seniors, and will be taking a bike trip in Italy this September We have been fortunate to have biked many times in Europe, and have typically opted to spend another week or ten days nearby in a more leisurely holiday after the bike portion of our trip. Ideally we would like a pleasant beach town where we could rent a small flat for a week, doing some touring by car in the region, and some lazing on the beach. Any suggestions, particularly from the Sicily experts, are very welcome. Thanks !

Hi all, we've booked our flight to Catania for August 2022 next year for an 8 night stay. As well as visiting the sights in the city itself, we'll be using it as a base to explore the rest of Sicily also via public transport. However, as yet, we've not booked our accommodation (budget hotel, B&B only - no hostels). So what would be the best area(s) in the city to base ourselves? And are there any that you would not particularly recommend? This is will our first visit here and we are a couple in our late 20's. Thanking you for your help.

Hello,

We will have 10 days in Sicily in August and we won´t rent a car. We don´t want to spend too much time traveling, and we prefer beach destinations (sandy than pebble), therefore I have Pozzallo and Avola on my list. Those are not the typical touristy locations - I chose the towns mainly based on some good accommodation options and proximity, but I am hoping it has also cosy astmosphere, good food options, nice beach etc - I will appreciate any apinion on that.

Do you think this itinerary is fine and what trips would you recommend on the go?

Catania - 2 nights (late night arrival, I was thinking Etna the next day, sleepover, short city tour and travel to Pozzallo)

Pozzallo - 4 nights

Avola - 4 night (last day travel to airport)

Thanks! :)

Hi there,

My family of 4 (kids aged 9 and nearly 5) are planning a trip to Sicily for 4-6 weeks in 2023 (and other parts of Italy too after the 4-6 weeks are up). We will rent a car for most of our stay.

We are planning to come in mid-June, which is the earliest we can arrive that spring.

My main question is: We aren't certain though if we should stay through to the end of July (6 weeks)?

We don't really know what its like in July, as we've been to Sicily in different periods befo

* early-mid June a few years ago (a bit north of Catania, Ortigia, Agriturismo Silitti near Caltanisetta, Marsala, Scopello); and

* a few days in early October for our honeymoon about 10 years ago (Ortigia and an agriturismo called Zottopera near Chiaramonte Gulfi).

We would ideally like to have a relaxing time with the kids in Sicily - and are hoping to avoid extreme heat (e.g. over 33 Celsius) during the middle of the day, crazy busy-ness and the worst of the Italian school holidays.

We are planning to stay in 2 or 3 spots as bases (about 10 days each): something like beachside near Noto/Ragusa, another near Palermo; and possibly an agriturismo in a central region or near a nice village (in a different region) as a third base. With possible weekend stays in Ortigia, Palermo, Cefalu and San Vito lo Capo.

Most places in Italy we'd like to visit mention September/October as ideal timing to visit, which I believe is also true for Sicily. But if we can visit Sicily at the start of our trip, we can leave September for areas like further north like Tuscany, Urbino, Ascoli Piceno.

Hi all,

I am in the beginning stages of making plans for my late May, early June trip to Rome. I have decided on two side trips from Rome, Naples and Florence. While I am sure Florence is beautiful, and I will spend time roaming, I am also using Florence as a base for a few days, to take some bus day trips., to enjoy the countryside of Tuscany, and smaller towns. The one that I really want to go on will include Cortona, and Arezzo.

is this a good tour group to research ? if not, any suggestions, and also is it ok just to wait until I get to Florence to book these, or better plan more ahead.

Thanks for any help....

https://www.viator.com//tours/Florence/Tuscany-in-One-Day-Sightseeing-Tour/d519-5070TUSCANY?mcid=61846

Hello all,

Planning a trip to gorgeous Positano. We understand stairs. We can and will do stairs. But we want to try and hit the sweet spot of a wonderful few and the fewest stairs possible. (surely such a thing exists?)

Looking for a very good+ hotel or rental without too much of a knee-busting vertical climb up hundreds stairs (for example - while the Miramare has great views, it must be accessed via 200 stairs, which just sounds too strenuous to be worth it). We are mostly interested in good restaurants, wine bars, a little shopping and maybe a little beach time. And breakfast / sunsets on a great balcony or terrace. Walking up and down Via Pasitea or Cristopher Columbo would not be a problem for us.

We would like to keep the cost at not much more than $1K per night. Therefore, Sirenuese is not an option, lol.

Not sure about Ancora, either - rooms look pretty dated and it appears only one room has a full terrace with a view. Also unsure about Buca di Bacco. (so close to the beach. Assume it is noisy - am I wrong?)

I’ve checked Summer in Italy for rentals, and, unsurprisingly, there are few options left for our dates in mid-September. ( I do love how this company’s transparency about the number of steps to reach lodgings. Wish there were more options for our dates).

Finally - how long is the staircase from Via Cristopher Columbo down to Piazza Mulini, for example?

I’ve tried research on google maps and have learned that much of Positano is not mapped. Unsurprising since auto traffic is blocked in the town. (Have they ever heard of GoPro, lol?)

Thanks for suggestions!