5 week Italy Croatia trip

Have you abandoned your 95 day plan for April of next year?

At the end, why are you stopping in Roma for 1 night between Firenze and Amalfi? It's just one more hotel change. You could certainly make it to Amalfi in one day from Firenze, then put two nights at the end in Roma. I would also add a night to Venezia. Perhaps steal it from Manarola.

I would also skip Kotor and that 3rd night in Dubrovnik. Kotor was more-of-the-same to me: a walled city full of restaurants and shops. We spent an entire day going there-and-back and felt our time would have been better spent elsewhere. Like in Italy.

You are constrained by the Amalfi Coast tour, so it is necessary to stay in Rome directly before and after this trip.
However, you can reduce your Rome stopovers from 3 to 2 by travelling directly to Florence after your arrival in Italy. Continue north to Venice and then to Croatia from there. Your main time in Rome would then be when you return to Italy after Croatia. I think you will benefit from a more even pace with 3 nights in each of Cinque Terre, Lake Como and Venice.

Fly into Rome
5 – Florence (train)
3 – Manarola (Cinque Terre) (train)
3 – Menaggio (Lake Como) (train)
3 – Venice (train)
(fly Venice to Dubrovnik)
2 – Dubrovnik (hotel)
7 – Sailing Dalmation Islands with Sail Croatia
1 – Dubrovnik (hostel with day trip all day to Kotor)
(fly Dubrovnik to Rome)
5 – Rome
3 – Amalfi Coast tour with Italy on a Budget
1 – Rome
Fly home from Rome

I just came back from a trip that:

1. Arrive Dubrovnik
2. Dubrovnik sightseeing
3. Drive to Perast, Montenegro
4. Perast Montenegro
5. Drive to Kotor, to Titograd
6. Fly to Belgrade early morning
7. Fly to Budapest early morning 10 days in Budapest with a side trip to Vac.
   Trip home

Dubrovnik was beautiful but it is also a "dead town" Pure tourism. We heard that only about 200 people live within the walls now. Great for a day, but I wouldn't stay any longer.

Perast was a great choice. Beautiful village. Wonderful hotel on the bay. Great people, We could have stayed another day easily.

Kotor. This was going to be a full day but we enjoyed Perast so much we made a change in plans. When we got to Kotor we were glad we did. Again, beautiful but a tourist town; but somewhat less so than Dubrovnik. Think of a small Dubrovnik and you have it.

Titograd: A necessary evil to get to Budapest. It was everything I expected and less. But we got in late, spent the night and flew out the next morning. 1 hour and about $75 to Belgrade.

Belgrade was only because I needed to lay over to make a connection to Budapest. I should have planned another night. Pretty fascinating place but you need to dig a little under the surface.

Budapest. Well, what can I say........

We were so impressed with Montenegro and Belgrade that they are back on our list again for next year. I am afraid that the Croatian coast will be more dead towns so I am waiting until I can read more and talk to more people.

Yes, it is sad, but the big trip is off. It turns out I can't take as much time off work as I would like.
I will have to make do with a 3 week America trip in Dec/Jan, and a 5 week Europe trip in summer instead (I haven't cut back what I want to do, just doing only 5 weeks of the bigger trip). My other plans will hopefully happen in 2017.

Thanks for the great advice as always djp. This may sound crazy but Venice isn't high on my priority list, and was only included as a way to fly to Croatia. Also I could spend forever in the CT hence 4 nights which to some may seem unbalanced and too long. I really want to go to Switzerland, and in the previous itinerary I didn't think I'd have time, but cutting out Venice, and the extra two nights in Rome should add enough time, and makes sense for flights since I have discovered that Geneva to Split/Dubrovnik is a route serviced frequently by Easy Jet and they have just released their 2016 summer sale fares. To me it makes sense to do Italy, Switzerland and Croatia as they are close and I can train up through Italy then fly over to Croatia. No back tracking.

This is my updated itinerary, any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Fly return Sydney to Rome
5 – Rome
3 – Amalfi Coast tour ending in Florence
5 – Florence
4 – Manarola (CT)
2 – Mennagio (Lake Como)
3 – Lauterbrunnen
1 – Geneva (stay close to airport) fly Geneva to Dubrovnik Easy Jet $145 1h45min direct 6.00-7.45
2 – Dubrovnik
7 – Sailing with Sail Croatia: Dubrovnik to Split. Fly split to Rome Veuling 14.35-15.40 1h 5 min direct $106
1 – Rome
Fly home

I agree with James about Dubrovnik. Instead of staying there for the 2 nights prior to your cruise, I recommend you stay in the small town of Cavtat, just south of Dubrovnik, near the Dubrovnik airport.

It's a beautiful little place. You can easily take a bus or boat into Dubrovnik to see the city, and if you're still planning to visit Montenegro, tour buses can pick you up in Cavtat.

I too love picturesque places like Manarola and the Amalfi Coast, and Cavtat is one of my favorites. Look it up on Google or Trip Advisor.

That seems like a good utilisation of your time, taking advantage of cheap airfares without back tracking.
I have flown a number of times on both Vueling and easyjet without problem - just make sure you are up to speed with check-in times and luggage allowances.