Suggestions invited on a July holiday in Italy.

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newfarm

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We are a couple aged 30 with a 5 year old daughter, flying into and out of Milan in mid July with nothing else planned. We are thinking of hiring a car.

We would like to visit Venice and Florence and are trying to plan a holiday and we are entirely flexible in our plans.

We would appreciate suggestions on where to visit, places to stay, routes to follow, bearing in mind that we are on an ordinary budget.

Many thanks!
 
It'd definatly worth going out to the lakes out by Como. You can get a train from Milan and a cruise on Lake Maggiore is lovely. 5 yr old might be happy out on a boat for a day
 
+1 for Stresa

And bring some good insect repellent...
Consider staying in a 3-star hotel and paying a little extra for a room on a higher floor with a view of the water, rather than a 4-star if you're going to be staring at trees (which are full of flies).

Venice and Florence have tourist trap areas. If you eat on the main squares you will end up paying for the privilege, plus watch your change carefully! You might be expecting change and they might be thinking you are American and super generous\clueless with tipping.
The food will likely be cheaper and better down the side streets - and more authentic. It's worth checking lonely planet \ rough guide for their restaurant recommendations. You can sometimes pickup a copy in your local library, or in local charity shop.

Mid-July will be peak tourist season so the museums of Florence & Venice may get very busy - and probably not ideal places for a 5yo at best of times.
Try to hit them early or late in the day to avoid the crowds.

In Florence, visiting the Boboli Gardens is a nice day out.
But check the opening hours online before visiting anywhere... for example, the Boboli Gardens are closed on the 1st and the last Monday of each month. (Plus if Fiorentina lost Saturday's match by an uneven number of goals, or somesuch)

It's really worth trying to stay in Venice itself overnight so you can enjoy it in the dark, everything looks different illuminated.
Taking one of the water buses out to Murano is a nice trip on the water, and not expensive.
Again, you might have to go for very basic accomodation.

I've heard Verona is lovely but haven't been personally, think you could fit that in en route between Milan and Venice.

Finally, to get yourself in the mood, set your UPC\Skybox to record Italy Unpacked on BBC2, think it's being repeated in the week after Easter.
 
odyssey06 said:
+1 for Stresa

And bring some good insect repellent...
Consider staying in a 3-star hotel and paying a little extra for a room on a higher floor with a view of the water, rather than a 4-star if you're going to be staring at trees (which are full of flies).

Venice and Florence have tourist trap areas. If you eat on the main squares you will end up paying for the privilege, plus watch your change carefully! You might be expecting change and they might be thinking you are American and super generous\clueless with tipping.
The food will likely be cheaper and better down the side streets - and more authentic. It's worth checking lonely planet \ rough guide for their restaurant recommendations. You can sometimes pickup a copy in your local library, or in local charity shop.

Mid-July will be peak tourist season so the museums of Florence & Venice may get very busy - and probably not ideal places for a 5yo at best of times.
Try to hit them early or late in the day to avoid the crowds.

In Florence, visiting the Boboli Gardens is a nice day out.
But check the opening hours online before visiting anywhere... for example, the Boboli Gardens are closed on the 1st and the last Monday of each month. (Plus if Fiorentina lost Saturday's match by an uneven number of goals, or somesuch)

It's really worth trying to stay in Venice itself overnight so you can enjoy it in the dark, everything looks different illuminated.
Taking one of the water buses out to Murano is a nice trip on the water, and not expensive.
Again, you might have to go for very basic accomodation.

I've heard Verona is lovely but haven't been personally, think you could fit that in en route between Milan and Venice.

Finally, to get yourself in the mood, set your UPC\Skybox to record Italy Unpacked on BBC2, think it's being repeated in the week after Easter.
Click to expand...
Thank you for taking the time for a most comprehensive response and so many suggestions.

Do you think a car is necessary or is public transport a better option?
From your experience is there a logical way to approach this regarding where to base ourselves and make excursions to? We would probably get a slightly better rate staying a bit longer in an hotel?
Your idea of staying overnight in Venice to see the late night / early morning is great............any suggestion of where to start finding a place.

Thanks again for your help!
 
Re: public transport versus renting a car... I didn't rent a car, trip was actually fly into Rome for a few nights, then go via train to Florence, then onto Venice, and fly home from there (actually via Milan ironically enough).

I have heard Italian drivers can be a bit crazy from multiple friends, and you can't bring cars into Venice, so if you want to stay over in Venice I think you have a conflict there.

A car gives you a lot more freedom, if it's countryside and coast you like.
If you are focused on hitting the cities I would go with trains & public transport.
Perhaps you can do car on the way out, train on the way back (or vice versa) to hit both town and country.

ps I didn't handle the accomodation on this particular trip so I'm afraid can't help there with specific suggestions
 
odyssey06 said:
Re: public transport versus renting a car... I didn't rent a car, trip was actually fly into Rome for a few nights, then go via train to Florence, then onto Venice, and fly home from there (actually via Milan ironically enough).

I have heard Italian drivers can be a bit crazy from multiple friends, and you can't bring cars into Venice, so if you want to stay over in Venice I think you have a conflict there.

A car gives you a lot more freedom, if it's countryside and coast you like.
If you are focused on hitting the cities I would go with trains & public transport.
Perhaps you can do car on the way out, train on the way back (or vice versa) to hit both town and country.

ps I didn't handle the accomodation on this particular trip so I'm afraid can't help there with specific suggestions
Click to expand...

Thanks again! I am going to post a slightly different query about Lake Garda and Lake Maggiore!
 
Word of advice if hiring a car in Italy. Motorways are pretty much the same as anywhere, aggressive near cities and less so in the open road; the signs are Green for motorways and Blue for everywhere else and of course you have tolls. There are many areas in towns etc. where you have to be a confident driver to navigate successfully without becoming too stressed, the key drive safely to where you want to go and ignore and irate drivers you encounter. You definitely need a good up to date GPS. You absolutely should take out full insurance as the likelihood of even a minor scrape is increased in historic towns would normally result you getting a huge whack of a bill on return. Some larger cities places also have congestion charges.
All that said, you get great freedom having a car to explore.
 
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