My husband and I are planning a trip to Italy and Greece in Dec/Jan., any suggestions?

Question

We are flying into Venice December 19th and flying out of Greece on January 9th. We are planning on going to Trento for 5 days, to see friends and maybe go to Milan, but after that Florence, Rome and Naples are the major stops until January 1st. Then we're going to Greece Jan 2 - but we're not too sure about the itinerary yet.

Also, we are trying to figure out Eurorail passes/renting a car/trains. Any help would be much appreciated.

Answer 1

I just wanted to tell you that the you can go from Italy to Greece by taking the boat at Ancona. One of the most important companies is Minoan.

www.minoan.gr

Ancona is  better than the southern italian ports like Brindisi.

So, you could stop at Milan, Florence, then Naples, Rome and Ancona.

Answer 2

Hi

I have recently returned from Tuscany for my honeymoon. We loved Florence and highly recommend you visit there. If you have time it's also worth visiting Lucca which is a gorgeous little city with great atmosphere, architecture, restaurants and of course, medieval history.

For more information why not check out the site i created specially to tell you all about what we saw, where we visited and where we stayed:

http://www.samlancasterweb.com/

Answer 3

I think the trip sounds wonderful!!!

A couple of thoughts/suggestions:

-If you go to Milan, consider a side trip to one of the lakes

lake como is beautiful and less than an hour away from Milan with a cheap train ride, it's even better to stay around lake como (cheaper, quieter, wonderful) and day trip to Milan before you move on instead of day tripping to the lake.  I recommend Varenna and you can take a boat to Bellagio -it's lovely.

-the only place where i would rent a car is if you're driving through tuscany, otherwise the train is better going through italy.  

-you don't need a railpass through italy, individual tickets will come out cheaper for your itinerary, buy them on arrival, at the train station or in a travel agency, and buy them once you get there for the rest of your trip if you know your dates and preferred times, that way you don't have to worry about it anymore for the rest of the trip.

-as far as getting to greece - i would definitely fly from rome or naples to for example athens to save time and because it's cheap!!! check out airberlin.com and easyjet and ryanair for super cheap intereuropean flights.

we only paid 19 euros per person in the summer (booking early is helpful)

-as far as itinerary in greece - i would browse through a travel guide to figure out what you would like to see, and I think by plane and by boat is the way to go within greece.

athens for culture and the acropolis and one or two of the greek islands would be a possibility!  

-the island of Crete ( you can arrive at the island through two international airports in Heraklion and Hania, or by boat to the ports of Heraklion, Hania, Rethimno and Agios Nikolaos) also has a lot of culture and nice beaches!  

-then there is Rhodes, Mykonos (the nightlife of Mykonos is considered to be among the best in Europe, and often rated among the top clubbing destinations in the Mediterranean), Santorini, ..

depending on your budget you could take a trip by boat around the islands as well...

It will be fantastic!!!  Best of luck!

Answer 4

Bring an umbrella and raincoat!

And just get train tickets as you go-it allows for more flexibility.

Answer 5

Go to www.frommers.com and look up the countries you plan to visit.  Also check out the message boards for each country and ask questions there.  I've gained tremendous knowledge from those boards and use them whenever I'm planning a trip.