Northern Italy - Ideas for itinerary

wotnoshoeseh

Hi all,

I'm looking for some ideas for a travel itinerary for Northern Italy.

We are flying into Bergamo last week of July, and staying for two weeks and flying back out from Milan Bergamo. I have previously stayed in and around Lake Garda (Riva del Garda, Sirmione and Desenzano); so I didn't necessarily want to stay in the lakes this time around.
Hiring a car is a definite, but I don't want to spend the whole time in the car. I had had thoughts of going to the coast in the Genoa region; but would also like to see some of the cities.
We will also have our two kids with us a 17 year old and a 15 yo; so want to ensure they have enough to keep them interested.
Any ideas or thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
D

richardw

Have you booked and paid for the car yet?

If you haven't, perhaps get the train to Genoa, have 3 nights there, then get the train to somewhere like Santa Margherita Ligure http://www.visitsitaly.com/images/liguaria-im/santa_margherita_liguria-im/ligurien_levante_ferienhaus.jpg on the coast, stay there, then get the train back to Milan/Bergamo.

wotnoshoeseh

Thanks for that Richard W.

The Santa Margherita looks to be quite an expensive option.
I was thinking something along the lines of...

• Couple of nights in Bergamo (already booked for first two nights we arrive).
• Some time on Lake Como (or Maggiore).
• A couple of nights in Milan.
• Others....

Thoughts and ideas are most welcome. Maybe a car is not required at all, if it can all be covered on public transport - but with 4 tickets to buy every time those costs can mount up too...
I also like the freedom that having a car gives one....

Also in the spirit of this forum I'm looking for good value options - doesn't need to be bargain bucket, but good VFM.

Sorry, I know the questions are very open ended, but some ideas would really help to maybe narrow it down, so any and all ideas are welcome.

Max. budget would be 150 Euro per night, but anything less than that would be most welcome.

Thanks
D

richardw

The nearest lake to Bergamo is Iseo, so perhaps look at options around there.

Other places to consider are Lugano, Verona and Bolzano.
It all depends how much you want to do and how many travel days you want.
I generally prefer a minimum of 3 nights between travel days.

With car hire don't forget a weekly rate can sometimes be cheaper than a 5 or 6 day rental.

Www.bahn.de is good for train times. There might be a train from Milan to La Spezia via Parma.

There might be some family train ticket options, look at https://www.seat61.com for information.

Airbnb can have fantastic accommodation often with laundry facilities.

melb

Cinque Terre looks lovely though don't know if it would fit the vfm criteria.

benjus

melb wrote: »

Cinque Terre looks lovely though don't know if it would fit the vfm criteria.

The Cinque Terre national park is lovely in terms of the natural setting. I'm not sure about the villages themselves - they are quite cute but very full of tourists and the architecture isn't really very pretty (they are painted in nice colours though).

I'd make some time for Genoa itself - it's a lovely city and well worth spending a day or two in. Pesto and focaccia are the specialities of the region, so make sure you have some!

Portofino is also nice, but probably not worth spending more than a few hours there.

AlexMac

I know you say northern Italy, but, as you say you are planning to hire a car...
My suggestion would be a bit further south, but still well north of Rome to Passignano sul Trasimeno.

This would only be if you were up for a total drive of about six hours, (see ViaMichelin.com for drive times) perhaps spread over 2 or more days and punctuated by halfway city stopovers in Pisa one way, and Florence the other (we liked florenceapartmentscentral.com run by a fluent English speaker)

Or find apartments in the country nearby these three places and commute in (although staying in Passignano sul Trasimeno itself would be fun, for reasons below)

It is a small, lakeside town in Umbria, so massively cheaper than the over-crowded tourist hotspot of Cinque Terre or the upmarket Riviera towns like Portofino or Santa Margherita the suggestion above. You can even find affordable apartments or hotels in Florence and Pisa.

But the big attraction in Passignano (apart from beautiful surrounds and boat rides to sleepy Isola Maggiore for walks or lunch) is their very local festival - the Palio delle Barche- the racing of the boats - see their website paliodellebarche.it/

A week 23-31 July of raucous celebration of an obscure medieval battle involving nightly races through the town by teams of local lads carrying heavy boats (the barche), and then, on the lake at the weekend, public feasting & wine at tables in the streets (open to all - 10 -15 euro tickets from the Town Hall or tourist office), live music and fireworks... See the website above or
http://www.lagotrasimeno.co.uk/pg.dettaglio.php?id=8&cat=1&tab_item=6&tab_cat=68&lang=en
for a flavour.

And if not this year, maybe next?
We are going specifically for the Palio!