Italy, Greece and Poland?

Rome: Day 1: Trevi fountain, Pantheon, Roman Forum, Palatine Hill, Coliseum, Arch of Constantine, Basilica Clemente, possibly Piazza Venezia and/or Piazza Navona. Day 2: Vatican City, St. Peters cathedral, and the underground excavations. Day 3: Pompeii. Day 4: Anything we may not have seen and the possibility to add more activities.

Given the aggressive schedule you propose, I suggest you consider Ostia Antica rather than the trip to Pompeii.

The timing .

The Greek islands will not have beach weather in March ,
or even early April .

We go mid to late May and it’s just starting to get beachy but still no crazy crowds .

Best time for Greek islands is May , early June or September or early October .

Krakow will be cold still in March too - like rain and possibly even snow .

April in Rome would be nice though - it’s too hot in June July and August

A lot of people are saying stick with just Italy. Good advice, but I think you can pick 2. Not 3, that’s technically possible but probably too much. Italy and Santorini or Italy and Krakow.

I will say your plan in Rome is way, way too packed. Needs at least one more day. You can do the Vatican in a day. But all the stuff listed on Day 1 is like...3 days, and Day 1 is your arrival so not a full day anyway! You might not get there until afternoon on a flight from Poland! Also Rome is just not enjoyable when rushing around. It’s crowded and hectic, I love it, but it’s best enjoyed without stress of running all over the place.
Pompeii is not a good day trip from Rome. It can be done but you get there later and you miss the museum in Naples. Pompeii itself is only the site, all the artifacts are in Naples.

What I would do is skip Santorini (overdone!) and go to Krakow, Venice, Rome, and Sorrento. Sorrento gives you the seaside tourist town feel, you can day trip to isle of Capri or Amalfi, and Pompeii.

As to Istanbul and Ephesus...they aren’t close together so that’s 2 more hotel stops, probably flying between them . Yes, they are closer to Italy/Greece than Poland is but not so close that it matters. But Istanbul will have good flight connections to most cities, so that’s helpful.

More responses in the duplicate post in the Italy forum:

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/italy-greece-and-poland

Of all the places to visit in Greece with iconic houses with blue trim, Santorini would be my very very last choice! Look at Paros for those houses if you do go to Greece. This is a style of house found in the Cycladic Islands, one the six groups of islands plus Crete in the Aegean Sea. There are more in the Ionian Sea. But for a first trip to Europe, skip Greece and do it justice later when you can immerse yourselves in the Greek culture! Santorini is crowded and touristy, ruined by cruise ship crowds( maybe cruise ships will be a thing of the past?) The only authentic food we had there was down at Amoudi Harbor, fish taken right off a boat. When you do visit Greece give Santorini the least amount of time, two nights, in your itinerary. A “layover in Athens“ to see the wonders of Ancient Greece? No, you need three days! Your plan so far is totally unrealistic and would leave you with few good experiences and totally exhausted. I adore Greece but after two visits will never go back to Santorini again.
Krakow was so interesting with a lots to see and explore. A day trip to Auschwitz is a must though difficult emotionally. Add Krakow to another trip in Northern Europe. Although we prefer to stay in one country at a time, we combined Krakow with Berlin, two cities with WWII history .
London can easily be added to any European trip. We almost always fly into Heathrow from the US and connect the next day or stay a few days. We love London. It is perfect for a first trip to Europe for Americans.
However, with two weeks as a first trip, please stay in ONE country. Each time you cross borders you have to readjust to a new culture and way of doing things. Choose Italy! You plan to travel from Rome to Venice skipping Tuscany and Florence. Why? A classic first trip to Italy is Rome, Florence with some of rural Tuscany as well, finally Venice. You want to see authentic, eat authentic food, then go to Tuscany or nearby Umbria! Rent a car while in Tuscany, use trains for the rest of your trip. It is actually easier to start in Venice rather than departing from there by air. You also want to include Pompeii which is in southern Italy. We didn’t get there until our 8th trip to Italy when we visited the south. Lots to consider. Stay in Naples or Sorrento to
visit Pompeii.
You are young and will have many more trips to Europe. Don’t overdue your first trip with this itinerary which spreads everything so thin not yielding a very positive experience. Save money by staying in one country thus having fewer flights. Use that savings to eat out in small local restaurants which is a very very big part of foreign travel, especially in Italy.
September and October are perfect for Italy. We were cold in Krakow in September wearing sweaters.
March and April weather in Europe has risks of cold and rain. We have had much better weather in the fall.

If you still want to add to Krakow to Italy, Ryannair used to have a non stop from Krakow to Rome CIA, nearer to downtown than Rome FCO.

FYI: We roasted in Rome in mid to late September. October would be better!

A night train won’t really solve your international long-distance issues. There’s a night train between Krakow and Vienna or between Vienna and Venice, but the remainder of the train trip is still another 8 hours if trying to connect Poland to Italy in one day. Budget flights would normally be both faster and cheaper between any of your countries, with the caveat that Krakow doesn’t usually have as much service as Warsaw or bigger business hubs around Europe.

If you really really want to see Pompeii during your time in Rome, and are willing to give one full day for the experience, I suggest taking a later evening train (one hour) to Naples (leaving most of your luggage back in Rome), and spending the night in Naples at a hotel not far from the train station. This is not the most lovely part of Naples, but would be best for your purposes. Get up early the next morning and take the train straight to Pompeii. Other posts on this forum, plus Rick's "Rome" book will tell you how to negotiate the train from Naples to Pompeii and back. Return to Naples by train from Pompeii in mid-afternoon in time to spend at least 2-3 hours in the Archeological Museum in Naples, which has many of the mosaics and artifacts that were uncovered in Pompeii. Retrieve your overnight bag from your Naples hotel and take the train back to Rome that evening.
Edit to add: There is a direct train from Naples to Venice, leaving Naples 18:09, arriving Venice 23:34. This would be a very late arrival in Venice, and you would need to choose a hotel with 24-hour reception and get VERY clear directions from the hotel about how to get there, late at night, if you choose to go this route. Since it sounds like you all are young and not adverse to some long days of sight-seeing, this might be another way of including Pompeii.

Thank you all for your comments. They are very enlightening and I can definitely see we are stretching ourselves wanting to see everything. We did not choose Florence or Tuscany thinking it is overated and because we want to see Pompeii in the south. We thought it'd going in two different directions. Of we consider it, what places should we include? After or before Pompeii?

Now, about the Amalfi coast, is it best to stay in Naples or Salerno? I read Salerno has better train service to other cities than Naples. Is it a good base to stay in the area for two nights and three days? What about a nice not overly crowded beach in the area?

Rebeca O.

Florence is on the way from Rome (or Pompeii) to Venice.

You think Tuscany is overrated and Santorini is not? Tuscany is absolutely the best part of Italy, according to me and just about everyone. Beaches won’t be possible during the months you propose but that’s ok because you don’t go to Italy for the beaches...

Tuscany is amazing, don't miss it.

Again, I suggest you stick to Italy for your trip and do Krakow and Santorini on another trip.
Santorini is nice, but we did a tour of the entire island in one full day. The walk from Fira to Ola is good, but a bit overrated.

Naples isn’t a great place to stay for the Amalfi coast. It’s good for itself (lots to see in Naples!) and Pompeii/Herculaneum. It is kind of gritty, some people love the character others find it too rough. I am in the middle, I’m glad I stayed there for a few nights but didn’t love it. I would definitely go for a day at least - see the archaeology museum with the Pompeii artifacts, wander the historic center, eat the best pizza ever...

I’ve heard Salerno has the best train connections, but Sorrento or actual Amalfi coast towns like Positano are the most attractive. They have small beaches, but they aren’t really “beach destinations”. If I were you I’d go with Sorrento or Salerno (I haven’t been to Salerno, but I’d look into it because of the train connections).

I love Naples but it is not a place for the first-timer.

I recall our first overseas trip many years ago. We took a tour of Tuscany and Umbria. It was about 18 nights. We flew into Rome and took the train to Florence a couple days early to meet our tour group. We visited CT, and the hill towns, etc. We ended the tour in Rome & stayed 3 more nights. Ostia Antica is a good recommendation since it’s a short distance by rail. We saved Pompeii for our Southern Italy tour.

I would concur with others who recommend one country. We have been back to enjoy Rome again, Southern Italy & Eastern Sicily. Another time to stay in Venice for a week prior to visiting Slovenia & Croatia. We had plans to revisit Sicily this month, but unfortunately that got canceled in July. We still have hopes to visit more of Italy in the future.

Enjoy your planning!