Italy travel

[cirkus Member Find all posts View Profile Close cirkus]

My wife and I am thinking of going to Italy in a little over 2 years. We thought we'd stay in a TS for a week, and add a few days before and after to travel around the country. It'll be the first time we're going there. From what I'm reading on TUG, my timing for getting a TS exchange is right to get the best places, as many Europeans deposit their weeks 2 years out. My question is if staying in a TS for a week is the right way to see Italy. If we stayed in a TS in Tuscany, for example, is it realistic to make day trips from there to see that region, and still have time to see the Rome, Venice & Pompei in the days before and after the week. Thanks.
Bill

[bigfrank Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close bigfrank]

Bill, We just stayed a little over 3 weeks in Italy last year. It was our best vacation ever. I would recomend the 2 time shares that we stayed at. 1 is in the South which was in Posatano and the other was north in Assisi. Wen in Posatano you can see by boat Sorento, Capri, Naples, The Almalfi Coast. From Assisi you can drive about 2 hours or take a train to Rome. Also from Assisi you can drive to Pisa.

I copied this from my review of the resort we stayed at.



When you are driving up you can not believe the beauty of the city. Looking up you will see a city above that looks like a giant castle.

These are some of the trips we took from the resort.
From the resort you are about 2 hours from Rome by car or train. The train station is 10 minutes from the resort. The cost for 3 of us to take the train was about $150 Euros.
You are about an hour and a half from Sienna which we enjoyed very much. There are 2 main things to see in Sienna, This should take about 4-5 hours to do. There are also some nice shops there and wine I found to be very reasonable there.
From Sienna we went to Pisa and did an over night in Pisa. The ride was only about an hour from Sienna to Pisa. We stayed at the Hotel Bayamo which is a fairly new hotel. I paid about $150 for the night through Priceline. We got to Pisa early enough to see everything and went up to the top of the leaning tower at night. Dinner in Pisa, what can I say it is a tourist trap. We started out early the next day and went to Florance the next morning which is an hour from Pisa. Florance is huge compared to Pisa and Sienna. There is plenty to do and see. The flea markets had great deals on Leather goods. We had reserved a tour to pass the lines through Select Italy: museum, theater and train tickets. Guided tours and excursions. Hotels and villas in Italy. Travel with Select Italy! and went right in. From Florance the ride back is about two and a half hours. Be sure you bring your directions to get back so you know what exit to get off. We missed the exit and went 50 miles out of the way.
When we checked out we drove to Rome and then onto Positano. My two favorite places in Italy were Positano and Assisi.

We did not got to Venice from the resort since we flew two weeks later from Rome. I do feel you can make it there in under 3 hours by car.
Keep in mind that I do drive very fast , so if you are keeping up with traffic you may want to add some extra time to compensate. No matter what you decide to do. You must get an early start. By leaving early you will beat the traffic and get more done. Parking is an issue no matter where you go. Also I highly recommend buying rick Steves book on Italy. We could not have done half of what we did without it. Rick Steves Europe Through the Back Door

There are Pictures posted on this link below


http://www.timeshareforums.com/forum...-question.html

[cirkus Member Find all posts View Profile Close cirkus]

Frank,
Thanks very much for the input.
Bill

[jericap Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close jericap]

I too was there about a year and a half ago. We did not use timeshares however because we went with 2 other couples. We rented villas and a car. We arrived in Rome and spent one night on the front and 2 nights on the back end of our trip, this way we could see all the sites in Rome.
We then spent a week in Sienna at a 13th century villa, which was a converted church. Everyone had there own wing and we were able to transverse much of Tuscany from there. Sienna happens to be the sister city of the city where I was born and our clock tower is an exact duplicate of the one in Sienna. Orvieto, San Gmianganni (SP) and Arezzo were my favorites. They are walled Estruscan cities.

The next villa we stayed in was in Sorrento, actually Meta di Sorrento. The villa was a home built into the side of the mountain, really a cave, with solid rock walls. It was probably about 2000 sq ft. It overlooked the water. From there, we drove the entire Amalfi coast and stopped at every small town along the way. Great pottery down there! We also took the ferry to Capri and hiked around it.

I will probably go back again, and if I plan well enough, I could use a timeshare unit. But, if not, I would rent a villa again in a heart beat.

[cirkus Member Find all posts View Profile Close cirkus]

Coincidentally, there was just a 2 hr TV special on Public Broadcasting called La Dolce Vita, which was Rick Steve's tour of Naples, Pompei, Amalfi Coast & Tuscany. Very informative for someone like me just starting to look at where we might go.
Bill

[cirkus Member Find all posts View Profile Close cirkus]

Frank,
Which was the timeshare that you stayed at in Posatano?
Bill

[bigfrank Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close bigfrank]

Frank,
Which was the timeshare that you stayed at in Posatano?
Bill

http://www.timeshareforums.com/forum...hp?resort=3964

I really lucked out getting this Dominia Royal resort just about a little over a month of going to Italy. I had a 1 bedroom that sleeps 5. The view from resort was great. Pool and activities were fun. If you get this resort take it. The walk down the 600 steps was not fun to get into the town. You can forget about trying to go up those steps. We did it one night and took cabs the other nights. Walking up on the street is longer but was do able and was nice to do once.

[bigfrank Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close bigfrank]

Coincidentally, there was just a 2 hr TV special on Public Broadcasting called La Dolce Vita, which was Rick Steve's tour of Naples, Pompei, Amalfi Coast & Tuscany. Very informative for someone like me just starting to look at where we might go.
Bill

You can view it on youtube again if you like. I feel the book is better

YouTube - The Best of Italy, 2005 A Rick Steves Tour

[Pstreet1 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Pstreet1]

We, too, spent three weeks in Italy. We landed in Rome and stayed at the Hilton overnight. The next morning we drove to Assissi, where we had a timeshare for a week. From Assissi we did the hill towns. We took the train to Florence to see The David--and other sights--then returned by train by Assissi. Then we had a timeshare just on the outskirts of Rome for a week. From Rome, we took the train to Sorrento and stopped at Pompii on the way. We did a bus tour down the Amalfi coast, and returned to Rome. From Rome, we drove to Venice for 4 nights. We flew home from Venice. GREAT TRIP! Definitely spend as much time as you can in Italy.

[JimIg23 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close JimIg23]

I have gone there a few times, no TS. I have always stayed in the larger cities and took trains and buses to get around. I never rented a car.

In Europe I have a tendency to stay "pensions" which are the smaller hotels. They may not have all the amenities of big hotels, but I find them cheaper and much more attune to the local flavor. However, they are not for everyone. I have always bought Let's go books for pension reviews. (Let's Go Travel Guides | The Leader in Budget Travel This book may be geared to the younger crowd, but I have always found it dead on)


***
Although, according to ITALIA - Accommodation in Italy

Pensions (Pensioni)
The term pension, which describes a small hotel, is no longer used in Italy. Pensions are now called 1*, 2* and 3* hotels.

[Corinne Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Corinne]

More thoughts...

Bill,

I replied to your post on TUG (at least, I think it was your post) but I thought of a few more things to add. First, if it's at all possible, consider spending 3 weeks in Italy instead of 2. At least consider 2 1/2 weeks. Why? Well, it takes so much time and money to get there (especially from the west coast, US) that you want to make it worth your while financially. And when you get there, it may take a few days to recover from jet lag, which might mean you'll be able to do and see less at first. This will be exacerbated if you have a hard time sleeping on a plane. I remember one trip to Paris (only from Boston) where I was so tired I was physically ill. I go out of my way now to fly internationally during the day so I'm not junk when I arrive at my destination. For this trip to Italy, I was the designated driver, and we were picking up the car in Naples, known to be one of the worst cities in the world (well, at least Italy) to drive in. I insisted on an overnight in London so I could get some sleep first. Good thing, too. The first thing my husband (the navigator) did was get us on the highway heading in the wrong direction. We eventually got lost in the bowels of Naples, a driving experience like no other. Sure, I can laugh about it now...

But I digress.

The other thing you should be aware of is that the exchange rate is pretty ugly in Europe right now. Not nearly as bad as the dollar to the pound, but we dropped a pretty penny last summer. So...staying in central locations in the big cities like Rome might seem like pricier alternatives at first, but it will save you in gas money, parking fees, etc. Which reminds me, you should also be aware that you can't drive into Rome. You have to park on the outskirts of the city and take the train/public transportation in. It's not difficult to do, just timeconsuming. We stayed at Carpediem Roma Golf Club, a timeshare located about an hour or so outside the city. It was quite nice, but the driving (including rush hour traffic) got old quick. I swore I would never stay that far outside my destination city again.

Rome to Florence or to Venice might take the better part of a day, especially if you wander off the motorway to see some sights along the way. But oh, what wonderful sights.

Makes me want to plan another Italy trip.

-Corinne

[wombat Member Find all posts View Profile Close wombat]

Italy has so much to offer that you can't possibly cover anything in 1 trip. Concentrate on the main sights (Venice, Florence, Rome) first if it's your first time, but if you want to explore more thoroughly, try to spend at least a week in each region and take it in slowly.

There're plenty of day trip opportunities to surrounding towns from these bases, which incidentally were mini-city states in the past .. thus, every town has splendid duomos, palaces and museums.

From Venice, you can explore towns like Vincenza, Verona, Padua. Near Milan, you could go to Bergamo, Mantova, Lake Como. Near Florence, there's Lucca, Pisa, Bologna, Siena.

[manuelrodriguez Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close manuelrodriguez]

Italy travel and travel Spain

I have this experience to share, one instance when I'm on travel to spain I met this person whose travel is his past time activity. He always bring with him his camera and captures every moment only time can tell, but guess what, as I shown my shoot to he was very amaze. here's some of my shoots;