Help Me Plan Italy Trip - 10 days

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  sparkles on 28/10/2019 - 06:47

  Florence has way more to offer than Milan.

  Lucca is really good for a couple of days.

  The Cinque Terre was so much better than Bellagio.

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  GG57 on 28/10/2019 - 08:48

  Consider Sicily and Puglia.

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  jjjaar on 28/10/2019 - 08:48

  I would suggest Herculaneum as well as, or instead of Pompeii. It’s much smaller and can be seen completely in about 3-4 hours. Pompeii is massive and a with a full day there you will only see sour 1/4 of the site. In addition, Herculaneum is much more preserved, so you get a complete sense of the town.

  I would use Florence as a base for towns like Pisa, Siena, Lucca or even Bologna or Cinque Terre (this one is a LONG day). Using a base means you won’t have to move your luggage as often. Florence has some of the most amazing food I’ve ever eaten, but, annoyingly, many of these places are lunch only venues! So if you do do day trips, you will need an extra day or five for lunch in Florence 😂 (it’s a constant battle every time I go!)

  Trains in Italy are super easy. Have a look at the Trenitalia website. The only finicky thing will be the cities and stations will use their Italian name. (Also note most cities have several stations)

  Rome to Florence is about 90 mins. Florence to all those places is very doable on PT (that’s how I did them!) Cinque Terre involves a couple of trains each way, but the others are only one. Rome to Pompeii Or Herculaneum is a bit harder, but still easy. Rome to Naples, then a local train. The only issue is those local trains are slow and always delayed. My first trip to Pompeii from Rome, I found a shuttle bus company that was just transport from Rome and back. As I was a solo traveler I was a bit nervous about Naples, so I found this to be a perfect solution. I ended up having about 5 hours on my own in Pompeii (though I could have paid for a tour once there had I chosen to).

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  Arzak on 28/10/2019 - 08:49

  My suggestions:
  1 naples, pompei sorrento and amalfi coast,capri minimum 4 days
  2Rome minimum 2/3 days
  3Venice and your way to swizerand through lake como 3 days

  or
  3 Florence and cinque terre or tuscany: wine tour and free thermals( san girmignano/ siena/ terme di saturnia, terre del brunello di montalcino)

  It's really a lot to pack in, just Napoli in 2 days is a bit of a mission in itself, not mentioning the rest of the area.
  Considering the month and that it could be your only chance for some beach time, I'd do 1 and allow enough time for capri, 2 and 3 skipping lake como.

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  TheMindsetTraveller on 28/10/2019 - 10:15

  Spent 10 days eating in Bologna! Topped it off with a dining experience at Osteria Francescana in Modena!

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  Typical16-bitEnjoyer on 28/10/2019 - 10:34

  +1

  Cinque Terre is essential. One of the most beautiful places. Do not skip. Do as much of the Azure Trail as possible (some parts are closed TBD)

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    try2bhelpful on 28/10/2019 - 18:31

    +1

    We did this, before the trail was closed, and it was fantastic.Started in Monterosso and walked down to the last town; then caught the boat back. We stayed in Monterosso and that is how I would recommend people do it. The first two trails were goat tracks and the last two were a stroll. We stopped off at lunch in the third town. The boat back gives you a chance to see the towns from the water, apparently the train is not as scenic. You probably want to so some research to figure out what is open, what is closed and when it gets really busy.

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  JTTheMan on 28/10/2019 - 10:50

  I agree Cinque Terre is essential.

  If you drive in Italy you have to be a confident driver.

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  spiff on 28/10/2019 - 11:49

  Recently spent 2 weeks in Italy. 5 days in Rome, 2 days in Cinque Terre, 2 days in Florence, 3 days in Tuscany and 1 day in Umbria. Drove around Tuscany and Umbria, but wouldn't be game enough to drive in the other cities. Probably could have spent 1 less day in Rome and 1 more day exploring Florence. Umbria is like Tuscany but with less tourists so you could consider that a little more off the beaten path. But you have to enjoy wine and food for either of these regions :)

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  CMH on 28/10/2019 - 14:06

  The Cinque Terre was so much better than Bellagio.

  I agree Cinque Terre is essential.

  Cinque Terre is essential.

  Will look into it. Like in the OP, Bellagio wasn't a priority, whichever fits better into the itinerary would be preferred.

  Consider Sicily and Puglia.

  Doubt I have time to spare for Sicily, but happy to look at Puglia. What's interesting there?

  I would suggest Herculaneum

  Oh definitely. I think this is going straight into must-do.

  I would use Florence as a base

  Will look into it. I keep forgetting distances in Europe isn't like here in OzLand, so no need to keep packing and moving.

  Considering the month and that it could be your only chance for some beach time

  Not really a beach person. Plus we have some really good beaches here in OzLand.

  Spent 10 days eating in Bologna! Topped it off with a dining experience at Osteria Francescana in Modena!

  But you have to enjoy wine and food for either of these regions

  Very tempting, but not for a first trip. This trip will be about the sights, but will squeeze in as much fine dining where possible!

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  redpump on 28/10/2019 - 14:28

  We just came back from a 16 day trip to Italy (Rome, Florence, Milan, Naples with day trips to Lake Maggiore, Venice and Pisa/Livorno).

  My rank of activities are:
  1. Vatican Museums + St. Peter's Basilica (Rome/Vatican City) - walk up the duomo as well!
  2. Uffuzi Gallery + Boboli Gardens (Florence)
  3. Villa Borromeo and his garden (Isola Bella, Lake Maggiore)
  4. Herculanium Ruins (Naples)
  5. Mt. Vesuvius (Naples)
  4. Napoli Sotterranea (Naples)
  5. Villa Borghese park (Rome) - we drove around in those tandem bikes
  6. Loggia dei Lanzi (Florence)
  7. Chiostro Di Santa Chiara (Naples)
  8. Walking around in Venice
  9. Walking around Milan
  10. Colosseum + Roman Forums (Rome)
  11. Pisa/Livorno day trip (Florence)

  • 

    CMH on 28/10/2019 - 21:45

    This is really useful. Seems like your list matches my interest. Might have to cut a few things out to fit 10 days tho

    • 

      redpump on 29/10/2019 - 11:31

      Cut the ones further down my list then. Have fun!

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  try2bhelpful on 28/10/2019 - 18:44

  We've done a couple of trips to Italy.
  Our first was
  Rome,
  Amalfi,
  Pompeii
  Como - Menaggio
  Florence.

  Our second trip was
  Rome
  Sorrento
  Capri
  Pompeii
  Cinqe Terra
  Como - just behind Bellagio
  Florence
  Sienna
  Pisa
  Verona
  Vienna.

  My absolute must sees are:
  Rome
  Sorrento
  Pompeii
  Cinqe Terra (if the trails are open)
  Sienna (particularly if the floor is uncovered in the Duomo - we lucked out on this and it was magnificent).
  Florence

  If you base yourself just below Florence you can travel a lot of Tuscany by car. Often the more tourist oriented towns have parking on the outskirts and you wander through the town on foot.

  Como is great if you are coming off a "too many museums and art works" rush because you just travel the ferries and wander around the towns. There are also some pretty good mountain tracks to wander about.

  • 

    CMH on 28/10/2019 - 21:46

    Como is great if you are coming off a "too many museums and art works" rush because you just travel the ferries and wander around the towns.

    Sounds like I should've done Italy after France lol.

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  endolphin on 29/10/2019 - 22:11

  C'mon, a dozen comments in and no mention of the Dolomites. Poor form OZB! My favourite place in Europe.

  To be fair, I am constantly surprised that so few people even know about this place, let alone been there.

  Lake Como was quite lame in comparison. I did also really enjoy Cinque Terre though (better than Amalfi coast IMO).

  • 

    CMH on 30/10/2019 - 23:00

    Hmm… Dolomites sounds great for someone after a hike (for the time of year I'm going).

    Interested, would be in the shortlist for a ski destination in the future.

    Again, given the amount of times Cinque Terre came up, will definitely try to fit it in.

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  suti on 30/10/2019 - 08:43

  a few things off the beaten track:

  1) Arezzo (between Florence and Rome) has their bi-annual jousting event in the main square takes place on 20 June:
  https://giostradelsaracinoarezzo.it/en/

  2) Ravenna (a day trip from either Bologna or Venice) has beautiful mosaics in a lot of buildings.

  Other points:

  Milan's great attraction, the Last Supper painting, requires pre-booking in advance. Take note of when tickets are released and try to book straight away before the scalpers do. Otherwise if you don't get tickets it might be better to skip Milan altogether (despite the magnificent cathedral)

  Make sure you prebook things in Rome (Colosseum, Vatican) and Florence (Uffizi) otherwise you waste half your day lining up for tickets.

  Always aim/book for the earliest time at key attractions - there will be relatively less crowds at those times.

  The fast trains in Italy are great and cheap if you book in advance.

  • 

    CMH on 30/10/2019 - 23:02

    Jousting sounds like it could be fun. I'm guessing lots of medieval dress up and such. Will look into it.

    Ravenna sounds good too.

    As for the pre-booking, didn't know it'll make that much of a difference. Will definitely do that as soon as itineries are planned.

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  MatteCar on 02/11/2019 - 13:48

  If you're really interested to Pompei you can reach it from Napoli (start learning some Italian names!) with 40mins of Circumvesuviana train (Pompei scavi station) which you can take straight from Napoli station. Before coming back, you can reach Sorrento with the Circumvesuviana, a very picturesque town on the sea, hometown of Limoncello!

  You can reach Napoli with 1h high speed train from Rome and, while you're there, you've got plenty of things to do there to spend a day (Castel dell'Ovo, piazza del Plebiscito, via Chiaia, a real pizza da Michele, a real sfogliatella in Attanasio's bakery close to the train station, Quartieri spagnoli (avoid shining jewelry there!), Napoli underground tour and much more).

  Going North from Roma your next step is Firenze, 1,5h far by high speed train. Firenze is perfect to spend a day in a 1600 metropoli!
  From there you can explore the Tuscany: Lucca and Pisa are just 1,5h far by train from Florence and 40 min between them by bus. Nothing to say on Pisa, you probably knows everything about it and Lucca is maybe even better.
  Even Siena would be nice but bit more far from Firenze and the train which goes there is very picturesque (which means very slow!).

  Probably from Viareggio (you can reach it by train from Lucca) you can find a one day boat trip to reach the Cinque Terre but I've been there when I was a kid, I can't remember the details but, if you're interested, I can check for that.

  After the big Tuscany parentheses, you'll keep going North and, after only 40mins of high speed train, you must go through my hometown: Bologna! Why don't have a one day stop?! The first European university was in Bologna and it's still a famous university, which brings lot of young guys there from all around the world. The main attractives are Piazza Maggiore with his stunning Neptune statue, the romans rests in Sala Borsa library and the Asinelli's tower (Pisa's tower in not the only pendant tower in Italy!) but, mainly, Bologna is the capital of arcades (53km complessive) and FOOD.

  If you like mosaics Ravenna is just 1,5h far from Bologna but you'd need a day to reach and visit it, too much in my opinion for the first Italian trip.

  From Bologna, Venezia is just 1h far.

  Instead of Milano, which every Italian hates, I'd recommend Turin…honestly I've never been there but I'm sure is better than Milano!

  Recap:
  day 1: Roma
  day 2: Roma
  day 3: -> Pompei -> Sorrento -> Napoli
  day 4: Napoli -> Firenze
  day 5: Firenze -> Pisa
  day 6: Pisa -> Lucca
  day 7: Cinque terre
  day 8: -> Bologna -> Venezia
  day 9: Venezia
  day 10: Venezia -> Torino
  You can check all the trains on Trenitalia and the High Speed trains (links between Napoli, Roma, Firenze, Bologna, Venezia, Milano and Torino) also with Italo.

  Then why not Spain instead of the fancy France?!

  • 

    CMH on 04/11/2019 - 00:17

    Thanks for the reply. Thanks for the timing, was really helpful. We'll have a good look and see what we can fit in.

    Then why not Spain instead of the fancy France?!

    Easy. We're meeting up with another group, and this part of the trip is out of our hands. Technically we're just tagging along, and everything that happens post-Italy is set in stone.

    Except the stopover in Taipei on the way back, that part's still open.

    • 

      try2bhelpful on 04/11/2019 - 00:22

      Been to both and I would always pick France.