Renting a car to visit rural Tuscany is a great idea. However, first you should decide how much time

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Flying into Milan on October 3 for a two week trip to Italy. The plan so far: upon arrival, take a train to Venice, where we will spend 2-3 days. Then train down to Florence. Hope to spend some time in Tuscany and see Florence at the same time (3-4 days, perhaps). Then down to Naples (again, by train). Use Naples as a base for day trips...Amalfi Coast, Pompeii, maybe Capri, then back up to Rome, where we are catching our flight back to the States. maine bed and breakfasts My questions:
It would be much cheaper to buy individual train tickets rather than get a pass. If you buy online well in advance, you can usually get good discounts on the tickets, but keep in mind that the discounted tickets can't be changed (unless you change them before the day of travel, with a large penalty) and can't be refunded. If you think you might change your mind about travel times, you'd usually be better off buying full price tickets.
Renting a car to visit rural Tuscany is a great idea. However, first you should maine bed and breakfasts decide how much time you'll spend in each place and choose which areas you want to visit. If you'll be spending only one day outside of Florence, and if the town you want to visit is Siena or Lucca, there wouldn't be any point in renting a car.
For a day trip to the Amalfi coast, Sorrento is a better base than Naples, and it's also a good base for Capri and Pompeii. To see all of those things, you should plan on spending four nights in the area. There would be no advantage to having a car for these visits.
How many actual nights maine bed and breakfasts on the ground will you have in Italy? Because I think it looks as though you're going to be short of nights if you also want to see Rome. I usually consider four nights to be a minimum for Rome, but three nights would be an absolute minimum unless you're willing to skip some of the biggies that everyone seems to want to see.
It's always best to count nights in a given location rather than days, and to keep in mind that two nights is only one full day, unless you travel by magic carpet. Traveling between maine bed and breakfasts destinations eats up a lot of time over and above the time you spend on the train. If you're short of time, it's best to cut out one destination altogether maine bed and breakfasts rather than trying to see everything and cram too much sightseeing into too little time.
If you have 3-4 days in Florence then you won't have time to rent a car and see much of the Tuscan countryside. Two days in Florence to see the main sights leaves only 1 to 2 days elsewhere. You can take buses or trains to many of the surrounding towns. maine bed and breakfasts This will be less expensive and less stressful. There are many streets in Florence that are not accessible to cars and you need to be careful to avoid these.
Anywhere near the water in October may be rainy, foggy, and colder than inland. There's no predicting the weather but these conditions are more realistic than sunny, warm days. That said, I would think about Capri and the Amalfi Coast as less desirable locations. If you do decide on visiting these locations then Sorrento is a lovely maine bed and breakfasts choice and closer to the Amalfi Coast. You can get a bus from in front of the Sorrento train station to take you to various towns along the coast. You can also get the boat to Capri from Sorrento.
When in Naples be sure to see the Archeological Museum that houses findings from Pompeii. It's fascinating. You can also visit Herculaneum from Naples (or Sorrento), a smaller site than Pompeii and less of a ruin. Both Pompeii and Herculaneum are interesting so consider seeing both - they're very different from each other.
Some people like to count the number of nights but that always maine bed and breakfasts confuses me as I sleep at night and sightseeing maine bed and breakfasts during the day so I like to know what I'm doing each day and count the number of days. Two nights means one day but if I see the number two then I'm more likely to think I have tow days someplace when I only have one day. There's no rule about this - do what you're comfortable with.
The problem with counting the days is that it's ambiguous. People tend to double count them and don't account for the travel days. If you count the nights, you can always determine the number of FULL days at destination by subtracting one.
For example, in amyash's maine bed and breakfasts original question, she mentioned flying into Venice and spending 2-3 days there. If 2 days means arriving on Wednesday and leaving on Thursday, she has almost no time in Venice. If it means arriving on Wednesday maine bed and breakfasts and leaving on Friday, she has one full day in Venice. It's not possible maine bed and breakfasts to know how amyash counts her days. If she had said, "two nights in Venice", there would be no possible confusion about how much time she was going to spend there.
There is one other thing to consider. Da Vinci's Last Supper is currently on display at a church in Milan. If your flight is arriving early, as most inbound flights do, you might want to get tickets to see it before you head to Venice.
It is simply not true that Naples and the Amalfi coast will be rainy and foggy in October. The weather in that area is usually maine bed and breakfasts sunny and dry most of the month. There are no guarantees but I wouldn't hesitate to go in that time frame. Since you are basing yourself in Naples you have no worries about running out of things to do if it rains.
If you would rather be in Naples and the Amalfi coast than Rome then your plan is good and don't let yourself be pressured into seeing Rome or switching your base from Naples to a tourist town if you would rather be in Naples. If you do want to spend time in Rome then unless you know you only want to see one or 2 easy things you don't appear to be leaving sufficient time to appreciate much of Rome.
Maybe I am misreading the above post but Da Vinci's Last Supper is always on display at a church in Milan. Da Vinci painted it onto the wall of Santa Maria delle Grazie. Perhaps maine bed and breakfasts sometimes the church is closed but the mural fresco never leaves Milan and since its restoration in the late 1990s it has generally been available to see. But you must reserve to enter.
Most people do not find in stressful to drive in Tuscany. You already know not to drive it in Florence. Many people find using the buses extremely limiting. maine bed and breakfasts They do not run frequently nor do they go the most interesting scenic places.
You can easily find organized tours in October maine bed and breakfasts to the most popular places: wineries and the famous small towns like San Gimignano. You have a much harder time finding public transporation to these places so if you want to go to the popular maine bed and breakfasts places and don't mind spending the money and don't mind the company that might be the best way to go.
However you could also see what you want to see in Florence maine bed and breakfasts and then either rent a car there and drive out to the countryside for a night or 2 --- or you could take the bus to Siena and see a bit of Siena and then rent a car in Siena and drive out to the countryside. This might be a better plan if you wanted to explore unusual maine bed and breakfasts and less popular places (many of which are in beautifully maine bed and breakfasts scenic areas and very tranquil.) Ultimately you could drop off the car in Chiusi or Orvieto and take the train to Naples.
Do NOT buy a Eurail pass, the tickets from point to point in Italy are cheaper. I would recommend buying your tickets as you go as this is a shorter maine bed and breakfasts trip in October. It's not really a hassle and it allows you to adjust the days based on the weather. I would also recommend driving in Tuscany but it depends on where you want to go. If you can't find any buses to take you there, then it's worth driving as it's not as stressful as it's made to seem.
Actually, da Vinci's Last Supper is on the wall of the refectory (dining hall) of the Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie. While the monks had their supper they could gaze on and contemplate the Last Supper.
It's not easy to get tickets to see it. The number maine bed and breakfasts of visitors is strictly limited and when tickets go on sale, they tend to be snapped up within hours. There are city tours that include a viewing of the Last Supper, and a lot of people who have no desire to take a city tour sign up just to get a chance to see the fresco. To take one of these tours, you'd need at least half a day. Otherwise, you'll need to read up on strategies to get the tickets in another way.
I tried hard to get tickets maine bed and breakfasts for one of the four days we were going to be in Milan visiting friends a few years ago. I finally gave up, and didn't want to take a city tour, because our friends had made plans for every day we were there. Then, when we were already in Milan, our friends happened to mention maine bed and breakfasts that you could see the Last Supper without a reservation if you waited in line on the Feast of Sant'Ambrogio (7th December), which happened to be the next day. We were waiting in line early the next morning maine bed and breakfasts (I think around 7 AM) and got in with about the third group to enter. When we left, the line was very long, but I still think most of those there would have eventually been able to enter.
Thanks to all for your suggestions. I was in Rome, Florence and Venice about 20 years ago, but my travel companion has never been, so the plan is to see some of the typical touristy sights. Re: counting days/nights, I'm inclined to count nights to be more accurate with the days we actually have in each city/town. We're have a grand total of 14 nights to see what I'm beginning to think is to much.
Which brings me to this morning's question...if we want to be somewhat spontaneous and play it day by day and not book B Bs, pensions, or hotels in advance, can we expect to make last minute reservations maine bed and breakfasts in the beginning of October at reasonably nice, moderately expensive lodgings? Ideally, we don't want to spend in more than $150-200 per night in any location.
"if we want to be somewhat spontaneous and play it day by day and not book B Bs, pensions, maine bed and breakfasts or ho