Italy Travel -- Recommendations

skip milan

The Traveller wrote:

Hi friends,

We are a group of three planning to travel to Italy from Denmark
during the second week of April. We would land in Milan from
Copehnagen on the evening of April 7 & would fly back on the night on
April 12.

We would like to seek your suggestions on how to plan the best trip.

We are planning to cover Milan, Venice, Rome & Pisa in this trip. I
would be gald to listen to your suggestions on any other cities that
might not be worth a miss. Maybe we can alter our travel schedule to
accomodate it.

1. What would be the best time distribution for these cities

2. Which would be the best mode to travel between these cities - by
cheap flights, or bus or rail ? If rail, will point-to-point tickets
be a better thing to go in for rather than a rail-pass ?

3. If we are to start & end our journey at Milan, what would the best
routing ?
(say: Milan - Venice - Rome - Pisa - Milan; or something better ?
)

4. We are on a slightly tight budget, so what would be the cheapest
accomodation available ? Hostels seem to be a good idea, but we did
some search on the internet, and could not find any hostels available
in Rome in this duration . Would someone be kind enough to provide
pointers to other places where we can try our luck ?

Else, how good are the Bread&Breakfast homes ?

5. Where can I get more information on "Ul elenco di affittacamere" or
or "Private Homes offering accomodations" , esp. in Rome ? Will these
be a better option ?

6. As I found out on some sight, there is a concept of "Albergi
Diurni" (Day Hotels) in Italy. Where can we know more about the
prices/locations of these in the cities we are covering ?


Thanks in advance.

Cheers,
Ron

On Tue, 23 Mar 2004 11:28:41 +0100, "Giacomo www.discover.it"
wrote:

skip milan

There speaks a Roman? grin

Seriously, I got so tired of people bad-mouthing Milan that I wrote an
article about it, with links about things to do and see - of which
there are plenty! Go to http://www.straughan.com/italy/milano.htm


best regards,
Deirdré Straughan

http://www.straughan.com

I agree to skip Milian. I would think about trying to get to Florence
and then Cique Terre as well. Florence is an overnight train trip ( I
think) but worth it and so is Cique Terre for the food and 5 small
cities along the water--great for hiking and so many cheap
hostels/pensions to stay at. I would skip Pisa as well....only the
leaning tower is cool to see and even that you are better off going to
other places...

The guy from Milan...are they any really cute small towns that they
can check out near that will give them a great gimpse at Italy?

wrote in message
...
On Tue, 23 Mar 2004 11:28:41 +0100, "Giacomo www.discover.it"
wrote:

skip milan

There speaks a Roman? grin

Seriously, I got so tired of people bad-mouthing Milan that I wrote an
article about it, with links about things to do and see - of which
there are plenty! Go to http://www.straughan.com/italy/milano.htm

I'm Italian, not from Rome and not from Milan (indeed I live nearer to Milan
than to Rome), and I agree with the above mentioned advice of skipping
Milan.

I also agree with you that there's plenty of things to do and see, in Milan,
but the point is that in Italy *everywhere* there's plenty of things to do
and see!!
Milan is interesting, of course, but I think that in Italy there are
hundreds of more interesting places to visit for anyone who has never been
in Italy.

Edoardo

In ,

typed:

On Tue, 23 Mar 2004 11:28:41 +0100, "Giacomo www.discover.it"
wrote:

skip milan

There speaks a Roman? grin

Seriously, I got so tired of people bad-mouthing Milan that I
wrote an
article about it, with links about things to do and see - of
which
there are plenty! Go to
http://www.straughan.com/italy/milano.htm


This is not a matter of bad-mouthing Milan at all. This is a
person who, with 4-1/2 to 5 days to spend in Italy, wants to
"*cover* Milan, Venice, Rome & Pisa." It's far too many places to
begin to see, let alone *cover*, in too little time, and will
probably result in more time spent travelling than seeing
anything in Italy.

I personally like Milan a lot, but I would never recommend to
someone on a first trip to Italy, with only 4-1/2 to 5 days to
spend, that any of it be spent there. Where he should go depends
on his personal interests, but it should be significantly fewer
than four cities in five days. With so little time, I recommend
going to only a single major city, and in my view, for almost
everyone, that city should be Rome.

The advice to skip Milan is good advice in this case. I also
recommend skipping Venice and Pisa--again, not because there's
nothing to see in those places (that's far from true), but
because the plate is far too full.

--
Ken Blake
Please reply to the newsgroup

"Edoardo Vancini" wrote in message
...

wrote in message
...
On Tue, 23 Mar 2004 11:28:41 +0100, "Giacomo www.discover.it"
wrote:

skip milan

There speaks a Roman? grin

Seriously, I got so tired of people bad-mouthing Milan that I wrote an
article about it, with links about things to do and see - of which
there are plenty! Go to http://www.straughan.com/italy/milano.htm

I'm Italian, not from Rome and not from Milan (indeed I live nearer to
Milan
than to Rome), and I agree with the above mentioned advice of skipping
Milan.

I also agree with you that there's plenty of things to do and see, in
Milan,
but the point is that in Italy *everywhere* there's plenty of things to do
and see!!
Milan is interesting, of course, but I think that in Italy there are
hundreds of more interesting places to visit for anyone who has never been
in Italy.

You don't bother to mention a few of them ?

On Tue, 23 Mar 2004 18:24:24 GMT, "Edoardo Vancini"
wrote:


wrote in message
...
On Tue, 23 Mar 2004 11:28:41 +0100, "Giacomo www.discover.it"
wrote:

skip milan

There speaks a Roman? grin

Seriously, I got so tired of people bad-mouthing Milan that I wrote an
article about it, with links about things to do and see - of which
there are plenty! Go to http://www.straughan.com/italy/milano.htm

I'm Italian, not from Rome and not from Milan (indeed I live nearer to Milan
than to Rome), and I agree with the above mentioned advice of skipping
Milan.

I also agree with you that there's plenty of things to do and see, in Milan,
but the point is that in Italy *everywhere* there's plenty of things to do
and see!!
Milan is interesting, of course, but I think that in Italy there are
hundreds of more interesting places to visit for anyone who has never been
in Italy.

Edoardo

Go to one place and plant yourselves there. Racing around to see all
of what is without doubt one of the most beautiful counties on planet
earth is a giant waste of your time and money. Go to Rome and stay, go
to Venice and do the same. They all deserve more time than you are
giving them.
Retired Teacher, Terrible Mechanic, Worse Plumber!
LPFM Page: http://home.att.net/~optcamel/fmradio.htm

Markku Grönroos wrote in message
...

You don't bother to mention a few of them ?

Any guide can do this job better than me.
However, I try.

A) 4-5 days.
See the rest of the thread.... (let's say Rome ..).

B) 11-12 days.
The classical "must": Rome, Siena, Florence, Venice.

C) 15 days or more.
Surely the above mentioned "classics". Plus something else.
For the choice of further places, it depends on your personal taste. I don't
know if you prefer the seaside, the mountains,
sites of historical and artistic interest (particularly medieval and
renaissance). If the latter option is the one that you prefer, there is
plenty of marvellous things to see in Tuscany and Umbria (I know them well
but I don't live there ...).

You can choose one or more of the following option:
1) the astonishing little villages and abbeys all around Siena (casual
order!): San Gimignano, Montalcino, Pienza, Monteriggioni, S.Antimo Abbey,
S. Galgano abbey, S. Quirico d'Orcia, Montepulciano, Volterra (nearer to
Pisa), etc. etc.;
2) some of the main cities in Tuscany (apart from Florence and Siena), which
are themselves really nice. The one I prefer is the wonderful Lucca, but
Pisa (with the worldwide famous
Campo dei Miracoli) and Arezzo are also worth a visit. From Arezzo you can
also take a little detour to the medieval Cortona;
3) the southern part of Tuscany (Maremma). Firstly visit the Golfo (Gulf) di
Baratti
and Populonia, then go towards the inlands and visit Pitigliano, Sorano and
Sovana (arrive in Pitigliano at night, if possible, from the road it's' an
unforgettable picture).
4) some of the main attraction in Umbria: Assisi, Perugia, Gubbio, Orvieto
and Spoleto. Plus Spello and Todi. Visit them all takes at least one week
(at least!!!!), so you have to choose.
If you prefer places not-so-famous, absolutely worth a visit are also
Bevagna and Montefalco, not far from Assisi, and Civita di Bagnoregio
(Lazio), south of Orvieto.

Edoardo

"Edoardo Vancini" wrote in message
...

Markku Grönroos wrote in message
...

You don't bother to mention a few of them ?

Any guide can do this job better than me.
However, I try.

Very good a list.

On Tue, 23 Mar 2004 wrote:

Seriously, I got so tired of people bad-mouthing Milan that I wrote an
article about it, with links about things to do and see - of which
there are plenty! Go to http://www.straughan.com/italy/milano.htm

Thanks from a Milanese. However to me your review looks more oriented
towards japanese tourists, or at least quoting some commonplaces. I
would never go to another city to do things like shopping in via
Montenapoleone (I don't do it even if I live in Milan).

Also the Castle museum holds some interesting stuff, but the building
itself is mainly a remake by Luca Beltrami after 1860.

You do not quote museums like Brera, the Ambrosiana, etc.

You do not quote churches like S.Ambrogio, S.Eustorgio, S.Lorenzo,
S.Maurizio, the Chiaravalle Abbey, etc.

I posted some extensive lists of Milan sights on this newsgroup, you can
google them (use "Milan" and "Drogo" as search keys), and are free to
take inspiration for your pages.

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