Please help with itinerary to Paris, Rome, Florence, Milan and Venice

You don't have time for the long, expensive trip to Paris for one jet-lagged day (see night train prices at www.thello.com or flights at www.skyscanner.com). Four big cities in Italy is still too much for one week; Venice-Verona-Florence would be more comfortable. Even on the fast trains, you have to allow 3-4 hours to connect any leg of the Milan-Venice-Rome triangle. Most of us would rather have more time for the art of Florence than the shopping of Milan. Florence's science museum is also better than Milan's.

If you have Rick's Italy book, as well as the map, then you have our best advice. You could also consider a paid trip consultation, since your planning time is short.

Gina
Don't know where you are from, but you are proposing the equivalent of a trip to New York City, Miami, Washington DC, Philadelphia, and back to NYC, each in ONE DAY. That doesn't sound like anyone's dream. You will mostly see trains and train stations and maybe a quick lunch and a postcard is all you'll have time for in any of those places. If you only have one week, two destinations at most. Heck first three days will be jet lagged anyway.

Many thanks for your inputs Laura and Stan! There are greatly appreciated, I'll eliminate Paris from the list. I definitely want my mom and I to get the most out of our upcoming trip

What a great thing to do!

Paris doesn't seem reasonable within your time limits. Shopping is just as good in Florence as it is in Milan; I love Milan but again, given your time limits, I would say skip it.

If possible. try to fly into Venice and out of Rome. Saves travel backtracking time.

You need to decide if this trip will be about memories being made in some great cities or on trains and planes.

Zoe you guys are definitely right, I don't know what I was thinking...our trip is too short to visit Paris especially considering the distance from the others. On train, it'll take 10+ and a little over an hour on plane www.skyscanner.com. But after 14+ flying, it'll definitely take a toll on my mom. Unfortunately when I purchased the tickets, prices were reasonable departing from Venice :( but on a plus side, we only have to deal with one connection as appose to 2-3.

Not to worry, there are places to shop all over Italy, so if you don't make it to Milan on this trip it really isn't that big of a deal.

With only one week to work with, pick 3 cities to visit if you want to rush around OR pick 2 cities and relax just a bit. It's a vacation, right? I'd personally suggest Venice and Florence. Or you could do Venice and Rome. If you do Venice and Milan, you might be able to squeeze in either lake Como or Verona (certainly not both).