Rachmayantos

Hi, my family of 4 plan to travel to Italy with itinerary:
day 1 - arrive morning in Rome
day 2 - explore Rome
day 3 -Rome - Milan by train
day 4 - Milan - Castelrotto (drive rented car early morning), stay at Castelrotto
day 5 explore Castelrotto
day 6 - drive early to Venice, by evening drive and, stay at Parma
day 7 - drive early to Cinque Terre, by evening back to Milan
day 8 - end

Is the plan doable? Any inputs on the driving, traffic and road condition?
Thanks in advance,
Yanto

RonZ

Read this about driving, especially the part about about ZTL's:

http://driventoit.blogspot.com.au/

I don't understand Milan, as Castelrotto is very close to Verona. Maybe spend 3 days in Rome, take a train to Verona and get a car there. Rome to Verona takes under 3 hours as I recall.

Use viamichelin for driving routes and estimated times.

kybourbon

Unless Castelrotto is an absolute must see, I would drop it as it's not very convenient to reach. It's hard to see why you are including Venice on your list since you aren't even allowing any time to visit it. Ditto CT

The most efficient plan is stay Rome (you need an absolute minimum of three hotel nights which only gives you two sightseeing days). From Rome, take the train to Venice. Visit Venice. Pick your rental car up in Venice and travel to Castelrotto. Spend a couple of days, drive to CT. Drive to Milan and drop car.

With only 8 days, you will be spending more time driving than being places. It's more practical to pick two locations with such a short amount of time

Sassafrass

Sorry, no. You might be able to drive those distances from place to place, but will have no time to stop and see anything. You are zig zagging back and forth. You are going to Milan twice. Most of your time will be travel in car or train. You need to carefully calculate travel times and do not underestimate them.

You will need to cut something. When are you going? Time of year might affect your choices.

Where are you coming from and how old are family members? Kids? Elderly?

Personally, this is not a trip I would ever do, but if you really want to do Castelrotto, one way to make it better would be to fly home from Venice. Saves travel and gives an extra day to Rome.
Day 1, arrive Rome
Day 2, Rome
Day 3, Rome
Day 4, travel to Castelrotto via Verona
Day 5, Castelrotto
Day 6, travel to Venice, stay in Venice
Day 7, Venice, stay in Venice
Day 8, depart

It is really short changing Rome and an awful lot of travel time, but if Castelrotto is a must and if you have to fly out of Milan, this is about the best you can do.
Day 1, arrive Rome, get into city, check into hotel. Allow for jet lag. Perhaps a sightseeing walk.
Day 2, Rome
Day 3, Rome in the morning, mid-afternoon, take fast, 3 hour train to Venice. Stay in Venice
Day 4, Venice, stay in Venice
Day 5, travel to Castelrotto
Day 6, hiking, etc. Castelrotto
Day 7, travel to Milan
Day 8, depart for home.

If you keep Castelrotto, carefully consider route and transport.

StCirq

This isn't a visit to Italy. It's just one week sitting in a car hopping all over the place randomly. I would start over, pick two destinations, forget the car, and make a train trip somewhere.

nytraveler

StCirq has it exactly right.

Rachmayantos

Thank you for your responses and advices, they really help and open my minds...
@RonZ, thanks on the URL of driving in Italy

I wrote Castelrotto because it is often mentioned. What we want to explore (1-day walk) is Dolomites.
I try to look at another place in the area....