More Italy Advice Please

Florence/Tuscany seems like a popular destination among WB’ers. The Mrs. and I are planning a trip to Italy next fall for our 10th anniversary. Thinking about Florence, Tuscany (Pienza perhaps) and Venice. I’ve heard getting in and out of Venice with luggage can be a bear, so I am hoping for some advice as to the best way to structure the trip logistically.

I was thinking along these lines. Is this the ideal timeline or would I be better off rearranging?

-Fly to FLR
-Rent car at FLR and drive to Pienza (or other village)
-2 or 3 nights in Tuscan countryside
-Drive back to Florence and return car at airport
-Take cab to hotel in Florence
-2 nights in Florence
-Take train to Venice
-2 or 3 nights in Venice
-Fly out from VCE

Thank you!

That works.

When we were there, we had a car to do Tuscany, then drove to Venice airport to return the car. From the airport, there are multiple ways to get to ‘Venice’.

  • Bus/valporetto (boat taxi)
  • Water taxi - expensive
  • Water ‘bus’

Only a water taxi will take you to the dock of your hotel (if that’s where you’re going to stay). Otherwise, you’ll still have to drag your luggage to the hotel. We were 2 blocks away from our hotel, so not a big deal. There are guys with carts that you can pay to do this.

Read this a couple of times. Venice: Arriving & Departing - Tripadvisor
Getting from Venice Marco Polo Airport to Venice (and Vice Versa): Italy Logue

We took a Water taxi to the hotel in Venice from the airport. Definitely worth it and a nice start to Venice.

George

I don’t remember the details so research it, but there are two types of water taxis: express and slow boat, literally. We somehow got on the slow boat and it took an hour airport to hotel while we were being passed by the express boats. Painful.

Hi David
Though I prefer the smaller truffle festivals, this one in San Miniato is well established and might appeal? The 2016 dates were 2nd, 3rd and 4th weekends of November. A nice option if that coincides with having the car.
http://www.truffleintuscany.it/news_truffle_in_tuscany_mostra_mercato_tartufo_san_miniato.html

A thought on logistics. As your bags should be lightest on arrival, what about reversing the order and starting with Venice? From there to Florence by train. Finally hire a car when leaving Florence to hit the countryside, allowing you to drop the car at the airport when your bags will be heaviest. Also if jet-lagged, would you rather be walking around for the 1st couple of days or driving - many prefer the former.

Personally I’d drop one of the locations (because I’m into slower travel), but I do recognise the challenge people have coming from the States and there is less time / opportunity to get to Italy. As far as a split goes, it feels sensible but a little rushed. Do factor in the time lost travelling, checking in, unpacking, getting your bearings and then packing, checking out, travelling. It could easily lose you a whole day within Italy on such a trip. If you could keep it within a single region you’ll save a bit of time, but also might find it easier to settle on 2 locations, which converts hassle time into more relaxing/rewarding time. Is one of those locations an absolute ‘must’? I’m guessing Venice might be, but if so places such as Ferrara, Padova, Bassana del Grappa and Verona could pair up to give you a nice contrast and less travelling.

regards
Ian

David:
We have recommended a guide in Florence for either a full or 1/2 day. His name is Frank Peters and a number of other Berserkers have used him. It is a great intro specifically to the art in Florence - especially if this is your first time there. Let me know if you are interested and I will give you his contact info.

2-3 nights in Venice seems like too long to me. There isn’t that much stuff to do once you’ve seen a few of the landmarks.

It depends whether your aims are to see the famous sights, or get a wider feel for a place. St Marks square and Rialto bridge could be seen in a morning if that was the aim. It is something we all need to have clear in our minds - or rather in this case - David needs to have the aim clear!

Less than 2-3 nights is what… 1-2 nights? This means factoring in travel time there & to next destination (including the unique logistical challenges of Venice), finding the hotel or other lodging, checking in, checking out, packing & unpacking. Lots of crappy time, for what might end up as 10-20 hours of time to appreciate the place including meals. 1-2 nights only really works for us if it fits a specific itinerary constraint e.g. it’s close to entry or exit point and it’s close enough to the airport to coincide with a really early departure, or really late arrival. Without that reason, a day trip starts to look more practical if someone wants to cut the time down to the bare minimum - and sometimes this is fine.

We find 2-3 days is too short for most of the places we want to visit (and some are small and very untouristy). We’ll often compromise at 2 x four day stays and a 7 day stay covering 2 weeks plus a bit from the bookending weekends, hence ~15 days in total (or 3 x five days but that rarely happens for one reason or another). There is still a lot of wasted time in that, but we’ve found that it works well for us, especially if we’re smart on picking places close together.

This reminds me of a post I made on a travel forum a few years ago, on the morning of the 1st day in April.

I have 7 days to see Italy and wonder what you think of this itinerary
Day 1 (Rome): Arrive 11:30, check into Hotel, then see the Vatican and the Colosseum.
Day 2 (Venice/Ravenna): Get 04:45 train from Rome, arrive & see St Mark’s square, take gondola back to railway station, then catch 15:47 train to Ravenna. Check into Hotel and grab bite to eat.
Day 3 (Ravenna/Verona): See church/basilica mosaics in morning, then check out of hotel and take 10:39 train to Verona. Check into Hotel, see balcony, go to opera.
Day 4 (Milan/Lake Como): Check out of hotel and take 03:58 train from Ravenna, drop bags at train station, take taxi to Duomo, return taxi journey to station, picking up bags and taking 14:35 train to Como. Check into hotel and take romantic boat trip & meal.
Day 5 (Lake Como / Florence / Tuscany): See sunrise on lake, then check out of hotel and catch 06:32 train to Florence. Arrive Florence, see David. Hire car, drive to Siena taking in the countryside. Check into hotel
Day 6 (Cinque Terre/Pisa): Check out of hotel & drive to Riomaggiore, walk the lovers walk, take boat back to Riomaggiore, pick up car and drive to Pisa. Check into hotel and see leaning tower.
Day 7 (Rome): Check out of hotel at 01:50. Drive to Rome along the coast, drop car off, see Forum. Catch 16:57 flight back home.

My problem is I really want to see Amalfi Coast and Sicily – any suggestions of how to fit these in. Are there any other must see sights or side trips I should add? I hear Puglia and Sardinia are nice.

I did get one person who said “I think you’re trying to fit too much in” [basic-smile.gif]

regards
Ian

I can remember trying to do 3 cities in 12 days. As were grew smarter, the 12 day trip was spent in 2 places. We were so busy running around that we didn’t have time to smell the roses. When we returned from Paris, someone asked if we sat in an outdoor cafe all afternoon? What, and waste an afternoon? Well, on our second trip, we wasted that afternoon and really enjoyed ourselves. On a trip to Prague, it was suggested we not blow through town in 4 days and 3 nights, and were we glad we took the advice. We spent 6 nights there (one night too long), but we got to see Prague (the right way). You can always go back, and probably will.

For our trip a couple of years ago, we flew into Venice in the morning, and caught the train to Florence the following afternoon. While I recommend this order of travel, we should have definitely stayed another night in Venice, as day 1 was mostly a zombie-like shuffle around town (although my wife and her friend managed to summon up the energy to make some major glass purchases [snort.gif] ). We used the water taxis to the hotel and the train station and I highly recommend them for stress-free travel.
For what its worth, you can rent/return cars in Florence itself - no need to go to airport.
However you arrange it, you will have a wonderful experience. champagne.gif

Hi Phil
I probably didn’t express that clearly - the benefit of dropping the hire car at the airport, means no worries about lugging round the bags on the trip to the airport, nor being subject to someone else’s timetable.
regards
Ian