I've done a lot of reading, a lot of research and it still doesn't feel like enough. The SlowTrav resources have been invaluable to my wife and myself in getting this trip planned. We also read the Karen Brown books, and used a lot of family resources.

The following is the trip flow. I'm looking for a sanity check and maybe any recommendations along the route.

Trip, May 31 - Jun 10, 2005

We decided to stay on trains and buses for simplicity sake.

In at Milan, stay the night.
Train to Monterosso, stay two nights.
Train to Florence, stay four nights.
During Florence, bus day trip to San Gimignano.
Train to Venice, two nights.
Back to Milan for a night then fly out.

We've booked a smattering of Hotels & B&B's, also got our reservations for the Accademia in Florence.

My wife & I are packing 5d of clothing that fits in a back-pack able duffle & and backpack that has a detachable daypack. Trying to stay quick and nimble.

Sound good? Things to watch out for with this in mind?

Thanks for the mindshare!

-a

With only ten days I would drop at elast one destination and all daytrips. You bassically have 8 days of holiday, therefore IMHO, two destinations should be your goal, if not even one destination only (which would be my own choice). Each trip to a new location takes one day (or the best of one day) off your holiday time. Pick for instance the Monterosso-Florene trip: you have to pack, check out, get to the station = 1 hour; travel from Monterosso to La Spezia, from La spezia to Viareggio, from Viareggio to Florence = 3 hours; walk from the station to the new hotel, check in, have a shower and unpack a bit = 1 more hour. This means five (5) hours of holidya missed. I would not consider going throught this kind of hassle more than once in the holiday, not counting the trips from Malpensa to the first destination and back.

Yep, gotta go with Alice on this one. I'd either skip Monterosso and add the time to Venice or skip Venice and add the time to Monterosso (probably the former).

Welcome to the Board.

Just so I'm clear, I'm assuming that the Monterosso you referenced is the Monterosso al Mare in Cinqueterre, yes?

Your order makes sense and breaks your travel time up into relatively even sections (about two and a half to three hours from each point to the next). However, all the moving around takes away from the amount and, IMHO, the quality of the time you enjoy in each place.

Taking out the travel time, you wind up with a day and a half in Monterosso, three and a half in Florence, and one full and two half days in Venice. Personally, I'd cut back to two of the three locations and enjoy each more fully.

In the same vein, with only three and a half days in Florence, I'd assume there is a significant draw pulling you out of town for an entire day. Granted, San Gimignano is only about 1 - 1.5 hours away from Florence, but that's three hours in transit, plus some time to see the town.

I usuall see trip making in one of two ways. Hub and Spoke or Forward Moving. We opt'd for forward moving so we could consume more area. This is also not strictly holiday for me. I'm opening a caffe soon and I want to consume as many styles of eatery/bar/coffee designs as I can. If I were to relax and just tour I generally like to pack everything, and pick a home base and go to and fro from that location. So for this trip I've taken the mindset of the travel is just as much a tour as the destinations.

I just wish I had a month to sit and marinate heheh. I'll do that once we're a success!

-a

quote:

This is also not strictly holiday for me. I'm opening a caffe soon and I want to consume as many styles of eatery/bar/coffee designs as I can.

Ah - see now it makes more sense. Have you seen Dean's current trip plan - yikes - but like you his goal was to experience many different eateries. With that in mind, I'd say go for it. But one question though, why San Gimignano as a day trip as opposed to another Tuscan town - just curious?

quote:

Originally posted by Kim:
With that in mind, I'd say go for it. But one question though, why San Gimignano as a day trip as opposed to another Tuscan town - just curious?

Can't sit still? hehe. A lot of our durations were given to us on how long it would take us to consume on a schedule by a friend that was raised in Italy. He recommended we get down to SG or Sienna, looking at both it looked like we could deal with seeing San Gimignano in an excursion but to scratch the surface of Sienna would be painful.

Here was the list of priorities. My wife wanted to see Cinque Terre/coastal and Venice. I want to evaluate more food base structures, and we both enjoy historical artifacts. Put that on a treadmill of people willing to move around, tie that into a bunch of relatives or friends that have italian experience sided with a boat load of just research and here we are. hehe.

I do realize its messy, and maybe we should axe San Gimignano. Need to look at the trip plan you mentioned by Dean.

-a

If you are thinking on opening a cafe , you should add at least a couple of days in milano proper. This is a kind of capital city of bars andcafes in Italy and here you an find lots of different styles and types of places, from rustic microbrewery that sells its own beer all the way up to extraluxury.