Rome Tuscany Lake Como

[Crystal4Moore]

Hello!
We arrive in Rome on May 25 and depart from Milan on June 3. A quick trip we know but want to make the best of it. Leaving Rome on May 27 traveling north with the goal of arriving in the Lake Como area on May 30 for two days and then to Milan.
What is the better option:
1. Train from Rome to Florence, rent car and have base accomadations with day trips and then back to Florence to train to Lake Como area. If this option
a. where do you recommend as base accomadations?
b. what are the top few highlights of that area to visit in our short time?

2. Rent car in Rome and drive to Florence spending three nights in three different towns/villages. Leave Florence for Lake Como area. If this option
a. what towns/villages do you recommend staying the night in?
b. what are the highlights or must sees along this road trip?

My husband and I rode a motorcycle in this region in 2009 over 17 days and it was incredible. My husband and 2 kids spent 7 days in Rome in 2012, kids were young. Now they are 24 and 27 so the experience will be different. Although we enjoy a home base we also like to explore different towns/villages and accomadations so a 3 night road trip is not a challenge if that is what would be recommended. If I have any preference it is to avoid back tracking.

Thank you for your suggestions.

Best,
Crystal

 

[Lourdes]

Ciao Crystal,

Here the question is this: do you want to spend time in Florence? If you do, with only three days, then I'd go for the solution of train to Florence + day trip maybe rent a car for a day (or not, you can also do train or guided tours to get out of the city, depends on where you want to go) and then train to Lake Como. You really have limited time and this would be simpler.

If you don't plan to spend much time in Florence per se, then you could rent the car in Rome and drive up so you spend more time in Tuscany. You could spend the night in Montepulciano or Pienza/San Quirico area, that way you drive in the smaller roads and see the countryside - should be lovely and green! Move up to Siena or to just outside, Castellina in Chianti would make a great base and spend some time driving around the Chianti towns + Monteriggioni + San Gimignano. That way, you end up in Florence on your last day, return the car, spend the evening/night in Florence and then take train to Lake Como. Train travel in that area and to Milan is super simple to do, so you don't need to plan to have a car in that area.

It doesn't seem like your kids saw much of Florence in the past, so maybe you might want to do the first option and plan to spend more time in the countryside on a future trip!

Sounds good? If you need suggestions once you've decided on one over the other, let me know!