11 days from Venice to Rome by car

[tmcm]

Hi!

We will have 11 days to drive from Venice to Rome by car leaving Venice on November 25th and needing to be in Civitavecchia, Rome by mid afternoon on December 5th.

We currently would like to visit Bologna, Modena and Parma before heading onto La Spezia to vist Cinque Terra. From there we want to take in Pisa, Lucca, Florence, San Gimignano, Siena, Chianti as well as enjoy a visit to a thermal area. My husband is also keen to try his hand at fishing in one of the lakes on our way to Civitavecchia.

Any suggestions for an itinerary that will accommodate our ideas or any better ideas for us? We're happy to take onboard all ideas as we have never embarked on a road adventure through this area. Naturally, we're hoping to see and experience all we can in this time without overdoing it. We also want to be sure to have time to savour all the wonderful food and wine along the way.

Thanks in advance for your help.

[DonnaDenise]

Wow - you have planned a busy itin.

That is a lot of time on the road. You might enjoy the sights more if you had a home base for a couple of nights and can leave the driving to someone else so you can enjoy the scenery (and the wine.)

Since the area of Venice / Bologna can get a bit stressful to drive due to the weather and busy roads, you might want to consider taking the train for the first half of your travels. Venice - Bologna - Parma & Modena are very well connected with the train service, my suggestion would be train it to Bologna settle in and visit - enjoy the nightlife and small cafes in this University town then the next day you can take a train to Modena and Parma...quick and convenient... and return to Bologna for the night.

You can do the same thing in Florence, make it your home base for two nights - one day Florence and then the next day train it to Pisa a Lucca. Actually even Cinque Terre is very do-able on the trains from Florence.

Then in Florence pick up a car for the second half of your journey...Chianti, Fishing and Civitavecchia.

Buon Viaggio

[tmcm]

Wow - you have planned a busy itin.

That is a lot of time on the road. You might enjoy the sights more if you had a home base for a couple of nights and can leave the driving to someone else so you can enjoy the scenery (and the wine.)

Since the area of Venice / Bologna can get a bit stressful to drive due to the weather and busy roads, you might want to consider taking the train for the first half of your travels. Venice - Bologna - Parma & Modena are very well connected with the train service, my suggestion would be train it to Bologna settle in and visit - enjoy the nightlife and small cafes in this University town then the next day you can take a train to Modena and Parma...quick and convenient... and return to Bologna for the night.

You can do the same thing in Florence, make it your home base for two nights - one day Florence and then the next day train it to Pisa a Lucca. Actually even Cinque Terre is very do-able on the trains from Florence.

Then in Florence pick up a car for the second half of your journey...Chianti, Fishing and Civitavecchia.

Buon Viaggio

Thanks for your ideas. We certainly will consider you suggestions. The train for the first half of the trip is appealing.