Italy travel advice

[Giselle]

Hello, GS friends!

In July, I will be in Europe for 3 and 1/2 weeks.
I will have to dedicate 1 week to visit family in England so I have approximately 17/18 days to dedicate to a vacation trip
I've looked around and I've decided to go to Italy and I thought this would be a good place to seek advice.

Here's my tentative itinerary :

Day 1 : Land in Milan from Paris
Day 2-8 : Based in Milan. During these days, take a day trip to Lake Como and another day trip to Monza (I'm an F1 fan ).
Day 8 : Take the train from Milan to Florence.
Day 8-17 : Based in Florence. During these days, take a day trip to Sienna and another to Pisa.
Day 17/18: either spend the night in Pisa to catch a flight to the UK or go back to Milan to catch a flight to the UK (flights from Florence are much more expensive and not direct to the city I want to go to).

Some doubts I have :
- I hear Pisa is entirely ordinary and underwhelming for an Italian city so I'm hesitating spending the night there.
- Is a week in Milan too much? Milan doesn't seem to get much love...if so, do you have any other suggestions for day trips from Milan? Are Verona or Bergame worth going for the day? Dare I say Venice for a day trip?
- Is 9/10 days in Florence too much? Any other suggestions for day trips from Florence (any seaside towns especially)? A friend of mine recommended Porto Ercole but it seems a bit far from Florence to me?


Some facts about me:
- I don't want to rent car in Italy so that's why I've chosen to be based in "bigger cities" with good train connections. Plus I'll have one big suitcase I have no interest in hauling around train stations, stairs, etc...so I've chose to take "day trips" reachable by public transportation instead.
- I'm pescetarian, so I sometimes struggle to find good food in "smaller" cities.
- I've already been to Rome (and loved it!).

 

[CoyoteChris]

Sounds like one heck of a trip! I am curious about one thing. Your flag says you are French? Where do you live?
I will get there some day but for now I have my friend's reports. I think depending on who you are inside, you can have fun and adventure just about in any historic city, but you are right to ask about what are in cities like Pisa FOR YOU. When ever I end up in a strange city at a skating event, I research it for things I might have time to do...when we went to Kansas city for nats, I found out about the WWI museum and loved it. I would like to tour the Ferrari factory https://www.ferrari.com/en-US but others here would be bored to tears....the web is your friend....

 

[heyang]

I took a 14 day tour of Italy many years ago. It started in Milan and we went (in no particular order) to Pisa, Capri, Rome, Venice, Sienna, San Giminano,Florence, Sorrento

Pisa was just a stop for a couple of hours enroute to our next destination. Other than the tower of Pisa, it didn't offer much. All other places involved at least an overnight. We were fortunate to be in Sienna when the Palio was being run. We really didn't spend much time in Milan, but that was because of when our flight arrived as compared to the itinerary of the tour. During our evening in Florence, we were walking to dinner and stumbled upon an orchestra performing in a square.

 

[CoyoteChris]

I took a 14 day tour of Italy many years ago. It started in Milan and we went (in no particular order) to Pisa, Capri, Rome, Venice, Sienna, San Giminano,Florence, Sorrento

Pisa was just a stop for a couple of hours enroute to our next destination. Other than the tower of Pisa, it didn't offer much. All other places involved at least an overnight. We were fortunate to be in Sienna when the Palio was being run. We really didn't spend much time in Milan, but that was because of when our flight arrived as compared to the itinerary of the tour. During our evening in Florence, we were walking to dinner and stumbled upon an orchestra performing in a square.

For me, a walker and a gawker, if I had to pick just five things to see and do in Pisa from this list of 30, it wold be a challange. But the national museum of the royal palace would be up there....
https://www.google.com/destination/...arch&dest_mid=/m/064xp&dest_mid=/m/064xp&tcfs

 

[luckyguy]

If you want to fly from Pisa to the UK, I would definitely recommend a 2-day trip to Cinque Terre. For Milan 4 days and for Florence 5 days are enough.

 

[Giselle]

Thank you for all of your answers!

I've decided to fly from Genoa instead and check out Portofino

And CoyoteChris, I currently live in Reunion.

 

[elbkup]

Have a lovely trip Giselle!!! It is true Pisa has the tower and little else but Florence is the city for museums and art and walking... lovely! Some little towns surrounding Florence have very good restaurants. You should be fine with the cuisine since Italy has wonderful vegetables, fruit and every city is fairly close to the coast. Small tours from your base might work. Venice is a totally unique experience; nothing like it anywhere else, if you can manage it... Capri and the Blue Grotto too.
Enjoy!!:yay: :dance2:

 

[luckyguy]

Thank you for all of your answers!

I've decided to fly from Genoa instead and check out Portofino

And CoyoteChris, I currently live in Reunion.

Oh, what a wunderful choice. If you can, stay there for three full days and visit not only Genoa and Portofino. The whole route between Genoa and Cinque Terre (only 90 minutes by train) is a dream. When I am there I love especially the walks on the Passeggiata di Nervi and the magical Sestri Levante.

 

[ancientpeas]

I can offer no advice as far as traveling to Italy goes but I can say I hope you have a great time.

Rick Steeves does dvds for PBS about traveling in Europe and he has done videos on all sorts of Italian spots. You might want to try out your library and see if they have any. There are some on youtube like this one on the cinque terre. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WP316ABiTt0 (this is the Italian Rivera)