DIY tour of Italy after T/A into Rome

Has anyone done a bus/train/etc.,. tour of Italy from Rome. Don't want to drive or take a bus tour. Have already seen major cities Rome, Venice, Naples etc.,. and now looking for more of a little towns, lakes itinerary. Anybody HELP!!!

Just did 15 days land tour of Italy by train in June. Rome-Venice-Florence-Cinque Terre, back to Rome. Easy to do. We did it all with carry ons. Probably your biggest issue will be your larger luggage. Train service is excellent in Italy, you just need to research what little towns are served, and what is the best way to go there.

Has anyone done a bus/train/etc.,. tour of Italy from Rome. Don't want to drive or take a bus tour. Have already seen major cities Rome, Venice, Naples etc.,. and now looking for more of a little towns, lakes itinerary. Anybody HELP!!!

My husband and I do our travel to Italy as independent land travel -- not pre- or post-cruise. We've only rented a car once for a visit to many small towns in Umbria. That certainly gave us flexibility, but I found it stressful. I'm the only driver in our family and we did the car rental thing in the days before GPS. The presence of good GPS help would eliminate one of my objections, but parking a car in the small hill top towns of Umbria was often a challenge. Other than that lone trip, all our travel has been by train and, once, by train and bus from Ravenna to Urbino.

My best advice is to pack light. Relatively few train stations in smaller destinations have been renovated; you're unlikely to find elevators that will take you from ground level to the tunnels that connect multiple train tracks. I don't know your age or your health, but the one time we took a 24" suitcase, dragging them up and down the steps got very old very fast. After that experience, we've traveled with 22" roll-aboard suitcases.

Here's a link to a Rail Europe site which allows you to plug in a starting destination -- in your case Rome -- and an acceptable travel time. The site will then compute all the places you can reach using those two data points.

http://www.raileurope.com/europe-travel-guide/italy/map.html

This is only a starting point because the site does not tell you where you can go from your destination. For example, if you're willing to be on the train three hours from Rome, you can reach Verona. Verona -- definitely worth a visit -- is on an east-west train route that runs from Torino to Trieste. On this line, you'll be able to access two delightful smaller destinations, Vicenza and Padova.

The same east-west train line includes two stops at the southern end of Lake Garda (Desenzano and Peschiera). From either of these towns, you could zig-zag across the entire lake via the ferry system. (My husband's and my Venice to Bologna itinerary did not include Lake Garda.)

I know you've said you've visited Florence, but there are excellent train connections from Florence to each of the following appealing smaller places: Arezzo, Lucca, Pisa, Siena, and Viareggio.

If you're willing to relocate, you can reach additional lovely destinations:

Cortona from Arezzo (Chiusi from Cortona)

Grosseto from Siena

While it's fine to reach out to this board, the reality is that you'll have so many options that there will come a time when you just have to dig in and do your own research.

We have driven in Italy several times and it is not difficult at all. GPS is handy. So are good maps and learning the road signage. You can drive steadily and let the few crazy types dart around you. We avoid parking in large city centres but for smaller towns a car is great.

Thank you so much for this great info. You have given me lots to get on with. We are only one driver as well and have driven in Europe before and like you find it very stressful. My husband is having some fairly serious surgery in a few weeks time and on second thoughts I don't think he would be up to lugging around our luggage. I think I will put this trip off until further up the road. I will certainly file this info away though for future use. :o:o:o