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Alright, so I'm having a little trouble trying to plan this trip. Only details I have are:
Date range: Mid to late August through Labor day weekend
Flying from: DC Area
We've been to Italy twice. I believe in 2015, we did one of those tours (first time in Europe) and we went to Rome for about 3 days. We saw the Colosseum, the Pantheon, Vatican, I believe the Trevi Fountain was closed.
In 2016, we went to Florence for about 4 days (but stayed in Florence, didn't venture to the countryside), and Venice for about a day b/c it was the cheapest city to fly out of to go to Greece (hated Venice).
My wife loves to shop and she loved the Outlets that are about a half hour from Florence, but we're not going there just for shopping, we do love the country very much.
A caveat: We would love to go to Mykonos for a few days but the connections directly out of JMK to anywhere in Italy are difficult to come by. It's either stay in Athens overnight (and pay an extra $100+ for a hotel) or do one of those multi-city itineraries where we fly out to Athens, grab our bag, and re-check in without leaving the airport.
Either way our trip has to end in Milan since we'll be using points to fly back home.
Thoughts? We would like to go to the Amalfi Coast but it sounds expensive and it sounds like a trek just to get there. I had a difficult time trying to figure out a good base for that area. So far I was thinking 1.5 days in Milan, half day in Pisa, but I'm stuck. I don't want to go the 'greatest hits' tour and just hit all the major sites again, we'd really like to venture out to the Tuscan countryside.
We would like to go to the Amalfi Coast but it sounds expensive and it sounds like a trek just to get there. I had a difficult time trying to figure out a good base for that area.
Sorrento would make a good base. And I didn't find the Amalfi Coast any more expensive than the rest of Italy (but then, I'm not a big shopper). You could fly into Naples, spend a few days on the Amalfi Coast, then head north to Tuscany and finally end your trip in Milan.
I would do a lot of research on Italian sites before you go on the things you decide to do since August is the month when a huge percentage of the country goes on holiday out of town & a lot of stuff is closed down due to deserting to the boonies.
I would do a lot of research on Italian sites before you go on the things you decide to do since August is the month when a huge percentage of the country goes on holiday out of town & a lot of stuff is closed down due to deserting to the boonies.
Only thing I've seen is August 15 is a major Catholic holiday but we're thinking of flying down the week after that.
What didn't you like about Venice? Just curious; we are going to Italy in the fall and considering several days there.
It's small, packed, expensive, inauthentic, and very touristy. Don't get me wrong, the city is beautiful but it felt like....you know how big cities in the US have places like Chinatown or Korea Town, Little Italy? This felt like it was a city in Italy trying to sell you on what Italy really is. It's completely different than Rome, Florence, etc. It was like Disney World on steroids.
If you're going to Italy, you might as well go but I wouldn't stay longer than 2 days.
It's small, packed, expensive, inauthentic, and very touristy. Don't get me wrong, the city is beautiful but it felt like....you know how big cities in the US have places like Chinatown or Korea Town, Little Italy? This felt like it was a city in Italy trying to sell you on what Italy really is. It's completely different than Rome, Florence, etc. It was like Disney World on steroids.
If you're going to Italy, you might as well go but I wouldn't stay longer than 2 days.
I think that's common to experience in both Florence and Venice--though even those small, heavily visited towns have other sides.
My favorite place to visit in Italy is Bologna. The food and wine are fantastic, it's a very pretty old city, and the colonnades offer a nice chance to walk the city comfortably shaded. It's not Rome or Florence when it comes to art and history, but it does have Europe's oldest university.
It's small, packed, expensive, inauthentic, and very touristy. Don't get me wrong, the city is beautiful but it felt like....you know how big cities in the US have places like Chinatown or Korea Town, Little Italy? This felt like it was a city in Italy trying to sell you on what Italy really is. It's completely different than Rome, Florence, etc. It was like Disney World on steroids.
If you're going to Italy, you might as well go but I wouldn't stay longer than 2 days.
Thanks! It's funny because I had thought the same thing from what I read on some of the forums, however, a good friend on mine has parents that go to Italy a few times a year. I had her ask them what they thought about Venice and she said that their eyes lit up and she could tell they loved it. That being said, they usually stay in the Tuscany countryside so I was thinking maybe it might be worth seeing after all. I'm going to have to ask if they did the tourist stuff or just stayed off the beaten path and explored the less traveled neighborhood areas?
The Amalfi part will add quit a bit of expense because of peak pricing for lodging and transportation costs. I strongly recommend it at some point though. It might be perhaps best to save it for a future trip, during shoulder season in September or May/June. Then you can rent a car and get around very easily and see everything. I have stayed there several times and its impossible to get around during July and August because of the extreme crowds.
I would fly into Rome maybe stay a day or 2 and see a bit more of it. Rent a car and head up to Siena. There are tons of smaller less traveled places and wine areas to see on the way. Then spend some time, using Siena as a base to see the Southern half of Tuscany like San Gimignano/Volterra and Chianti. Then just move up towards Milan, find lodging outside a major city (close to a train stop) and use the car to explore the area and the train to get into the city to see it. You can do head to Florence next then decide if you want to head west to Pisa/Genoa/Milan or continue up to Bologna/Modena/Parma/Milan. I recommend seeing Bologna, especially if you want some great food.
I did a similar trip in the opposite direction last September. It was amazing. We stumbled into a small town called Greve in Chianti in of course the Chianti wine region and they were having a wine festival. I ended up buying a case of some excellent chianti from a small winery and several other individual bottles. I think there were 50+ different wineries there, probably more.
You could easily bypass Milan and go see Como before heading into Milan and turning in your car also.
I think my favorite areas in Italy are Tuscany and Campania. I generally spend most of time in Italy in either Naples or Amalfi coast. I prefer going in May, June, September. Honestly though even March, April, October and November are good. I will be back again this year but in December for the first time. Staying for a month with some friends in Naples.
Rome is good city also, if your just there to relax and your not fighting the crowds to see the major attractions.
Venice on the other hand, I can find no redemption for. Its just a miserable overcrowded tourist trap with great scenery.
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