travel advice.. italy or greece..?

x in the city

have not had a holiday for ages and looking at heading to italy for 2 weeks in october.

worked out costs of 2,000pounds or so for two weeks

this does a week in italy, arrive in venice from london, get car hire to florence, do pisa and tuscany

get train to rome and fly out of rome to london.

and then do london to edinburgh for good measure and spend a week in scotland.

does this seem resonable?

was looking also at a package deal for a week in greece, can be got for circa 500 pounds pp flights and accomodation? london to greece that is./

thoughts?

Agricola

If the package to Greece is to an island resort, then Id probably skip that when your talking about going in October. The weather may well be very nice, but it'll be cooler and may not be wall to wall sunshine. If I was doing Greece at any time, (but especially at that time of year) Id base myself in Athens and get in a few daytrips to some of the sights in that region of the country.

If your going on a sightseeing / culture type holiday then either country is a winner really. To do justice to Venice, Florence, Pisa, Tuscan countryside and finally Rome in one week is a big ask. If one of your 2 weeks is going to be spent in Scotland, then I think you'll burn out in the first week in Italy alone! It'll be a whistle stop tour. Maybe Scotland is a third week away?

rossie1977

there isn't really much in pisa outside the tower so a few hours there is plenty, its easy get there from florence on the train anyway, florence itself has loads of stuff to see and do, be sure to walk up to Piazzale Michelangelo for a fantastic view of the entire city

public transport in italy is excellent, high speed trains easily link the main cities, personally i would recommend go south past naples to take in the amalfi coast (sorrento, isle of capri, pompeii etc), its easy to do with the circumvesuviana train which stops all along that route leaving from naples main station

as far as greece goes public transport there isn't great outside of athens, trains are slow and take forever to link the major cities so you are kind of stuck in, the islands wouldn't be as busy in october

x in the city

thanks for advice.

Yes, I am aware Italy is pushing it for a week but I can get a hi speed train from florence to roma after dropping off a car hire.

I shudder to think what i would spend there but will stick to bed and breakfasts.

for greece I was indeed looking at athens for a week.

no where else...(too far).

is greece a lot cheaper than what you would spend in italy (for two).?

Agricola

Comparing Athens to Rome, Id say Athens is slightly cheaper in all the areas that matter to a tourist. You have the benefit of going in the off season too, which is a plus for hotel prices. Outside of the cities, Greece would be cheaper than Italy.
You wont make a killing going to one over the other though. If you want to see your euro go much further, head just outside the Eurozone. I opted for a trip to Istanbul over Athens in September. The cost of hotels and transport around Turkey is significantly lower.

talla

Have been to Florence, Venice, Rome and Istanbul.
Would go back to all 4 again but my personal preference was:
1. Venice
2. Instanbul
3. Florence
4. Rome

Istanbul would definitely be cheapest destination and so much to do. Easiest way to describe Istanbul is a much less expensive version of Rome(as it was the Capital of the Eastern Roman Empire). Plenty of trips to do from Istanbul to Galippoli, Princes island, bosphurus etc..