Italy and Greece

[spotty]

Hi, i think i posted in the wrong place earlier...

Can anyone suggest and itinerary for seeing Italy and Greece in Apirl-May? We plan for about three weeks.

Start off in Italy, probably flying into Rome or Florence (if there is an international airport there). We are travelling in a group of 4. Would like to see Florence, Rome, siena, cinque terra, sorrento, capri and sicily then move on to greece and back to italy

Don't know much about greece, is athens worth taking time off for? with the olympics around the corner it probably will be a little mad?

helplessly,
spotted cow

[Kim]

I would give Athens a miss or maybe just spend a day there then head straight to the Greek Islands, they are gorgeous.

I would recommend flying from Italy to Greece though as you're dealing with limited time and the ferry is LONG.

If you don't want to backtrack, maybe you should fly into Milan-although I don't recommend staying there for long. If not, your best route would be something like this:

Florence
Cinque Terre
Siena
Rome
Capri
Sorrento

Are you definate about Sicily? It's just out of the way for a short trip, esp. if you are hitting Greece as well.

Try to get an open jaw ticket where you fly into one city and out of Athens so you don't have to backtrack.

Kim

[spotty]

;D Hi Kim,

Thanks for replying..btw, glad you're back safe from Bali.

I have thought of flying into Italy and out from Greece..but i think its more expensive from where i am (Malaysia). But will check it out.

Thanks for the suggested route...its really useful cos my geography sucks and i thot Cinque Terra was south of Rome...What are the travel times like, by train? We were thinking of doing sicily cos well, thot it might be a nice place to go, but if isnt worth the travel (um..how long?)...

i read somewhere that its possible to do the ferry crossing in over 6 hours on a catamaran? where do we take ferries from?

whilst i would love to take the flight, the budget may be a little tight...in which case if we did take a ferry from Italy, which region/islands would you suggest?

thanks so much for your help...so glad i saw your link from the LP site! ;D

[Kim]

Thanks for your concern, while I had a spectacular time in Bali, I am glad to be home.

As far as the hydrofoil from Italy to Athens, I've never heard of one. The ferry takes 20-24 hours, which is a LONG time on a boat! (The reason we flew..)

Check out www.europebyair.com, I think you can fly that route for $99, although it might be double that and require two tickets but still, it's worth it!

The reason I was a little hesitant on Sicily is that I've heard it's a bit awkward to get to.. You take the train then the train gets on the ferry.. Haven't done it myself but it's a bit out of the way.

Here are the rest of the times: (approx.)

Florence to Cinque Terre
3.5-4 hrs. You take the the train to La Spezia-might have to change somehwere-then a local train to which ever town you want to stay in (15 min.) I recommend Manarola or Vernazza.

La Spezia to Siena
You will have to transfer somewhere-but around 3.5 hrs.

Siena to Rome
3 hrs.

Rome to Naples (1 hr. 45 min.)-you then take a hydrofoil to Capri (45 min.) Don't recommend staying in Naples, head straight for Capri.

Naples to Sorrento
(I believe you can take a ferry from Capri to Sorrento without coming back to Naples, will look into that for you)

As far as the islands, well-you can't really go wrong.
I didn't get to Santorini but I've heard it's wonderful.

Mykonos-white washed houses with blue doors, loads of restaurants and shops, apparently the most expensive but we didn't find it bad. Definately the place for nightlight, although not on a huge scale. Didn't realize it was a huge gay destination-I think we were the only straight couple at our hotel. Nice beaches, we loved Mykonos.

Naxos-Quieter, nice town. Probably our 2nd favorite.

Paros-The quietest we visited but very nice still.

Ios-In the summer months, big party place for students. If I had to pick one to be the least favorite, it would probably be this one.

Didn't get to Crete either. Honestly, you can't go wrong-the islands are everything Athens isn't. We loved them.

Kim

[Kim]

Just thought of something.. April 27th is Easter in 2003 and everything will be VERY busy that weekend in Greece and Italy. Make sure to have reservations well in advance for that weekend and maybe a day or two on each end.

K

[nitsansh]

GREEK Easter Sunday is on April 27th, and you can expect everything virtually shut down from Friday 25th till Monday 28th.
Easter in Italy and most of Europe is on April 20th. Easter Monday is a public holiday too. Thousands of pilgrims gather in Rome for the Pope's Easter mass.
Please note also that April 25th is Italy national day.
Both Italy and Greece celebrate Labour Day on May 1st.

[Kim]

That's right, thanks for clarifying that Nitsansh!

[monique]

Have you already been to Venice? The route I took for my 3 week honeymoon in Italy in August 2001:

Venice
Florence
Pisa
Cinque Terre
Siena
San Gimignano
Orvieto
Sorrento and Amalfi Coast
Pompeii
Rome

I loved every part of it! Would be happy to answer any questions. Have a great trip!

[spotty]

thanks for the info guys, esp on the times and local holidays...

monique, your honeymoon must haf been perfect, from the looks of the route alone!

haven't been to venice, but some in my party have, i guess the planning at this stage is pretty much depending on what's along the way, with minimal back tracking...i think all international flights arrive in rome? hence that would be the starting point...

hmmm..maybe spain would be a more convenient destination after italy (doing a circuit south then north starting from rome, head down, skip sicily, back up and into spain), instead of greece....thoughts?

incidentally, its quite funny how everyone seems to say avoid naples...just read Bill Bryson's book on Europe and he was pretty depressed with Naples...especially after Sorrento!

spots

[KML8459]

From everything I heard on Naples, you either love Naples or hate it, and I hated it (read my report on travelers). Wish I could have gotten down to the Amalfi Coast, but was pouring rain when I was there . You can read my reports on Italy when I was there. Can't wait to go back!

[nitsansh]

spotty said:

hmmm..maybe spain would be a more convenient destination after italy (doing a circuit south then north starting from rome, head down, skip sicily, back up and into spain), instead of greece....thoughts?

Spain isn't any closer to Italy than Greece, and it's a big country with many places to see...