Our son is doing a study abroad in Florence aug-dec. We want to go visit on his break - 3rd week in October. We want to fly to Florence (3-4 nights) which would include possible side trips for wine tour and cinqe terre(?), train to Venice for 2 nights, then we could chose Rome or stay in Sorrento with side trips to Pompeii and Capri for the rest of the trip. He said he would like to travel with us wherever we chose to visit. Have heard conflicting weather/ hotel/shop closings at that time of year for visiting the coast. We can fly home either from Rome or Florence and add an extra day also. Any suggestions?
Posted by
Tel Aviv
15582 posts
It wastes time to start in Florence, go north to Venice, then back south through Florence to Rome. Either start in Venice or drop it. Are you planning to travel by train or rent a car? If a car, there are other issues. Assuming train travel: The Cinque Terre are a long way from Florence, then almost as long to Rome. It's mostly slow trains and connections. Also, by then the weather is dicey - if you luck out with sunshine, it's really lovely and there won't be many other tourists. But if it is grey and rainy, it simply won't be fun. There are other day trips from Florence - Siena, San Giminagno . . . Sorrento again is a long way from Florence. There are fast trains, but they stop for a good while in Rome (20-30 minutes) before continuing to Naples. Then you have to take the local Circumvesuviani from Naples. The trains run about every 1/2 hour (or fewer), and it's at least an hour ride to Sorrento. If you are flying back from Rome, you would take the local train to Naples, then the fast train to Rome, then the Leonardo Express to the airport. Unless your flight is late afternoon or evening, you'll probably need to sleep in Rome the night before. So you'll have a lot more time for sightseeing if you limit yourselves to Rome. Pompeii could be a (very long) day trip from Rome. Or you could visit Ostia Antica instead.
Posted by
San Jose, CA
1994 posts
Sue, 3-4 nights in Florence means 2-3 days, some jet lagged. That's not much time for the city, particularly since you are planning day trips from there. I'd add more time for the city, with the amount depending on your interest (or lack of interest) in the art/architecture. My recommendation, if you have 10 days on the ground, would be to split it evenly between Florence and Venice, but only you know if that reflects your interests. Or as an alternative, maybe just do Rome and Sorrento with day trips from each. Orvieto is a lovely day trip from Rome, a 1 h train ride. And I'd certainly budget more time for Rome than Sorrento. Regardless, I'd suggest you spend less time traversing Italy, and just pick a couple of cities with easy connections. But that reflects my preference to get to know a few places, rather than cover lots of territory. And FYI, the Florence (or Venice) airports are far easier and calmer to navigate than Rome.