14 days in Italy!

Any chance you can go open jaw - into Rome and out of Venice, for example? It helps to try to lay out your trip in as close to a straight line as possible.

Jill,

With only 14-days in Italy, I don't think you'll have time for Sicily. I'd suggest concentrating on Rome and the northern part of Italy. If you haven't booked your flights yet, using open jaw would be a really good idea (Rome/Venice or Rome/Milan would be good combinations).

Does the 14-day limit include your travel day? You'll normally arrive in Europe the day after you depart the U.S. You'll need to get over jet lag, so you likely won't be up to full "touring speed" for a day or two.

Which other locations in Tuscany are you considering (besides Florence, which is in Tuscany)? There are LOTS of possiblilities for place to see between Rome and Venice! You might want to have a look at a copy of the Italy 2010 Guidebook as that will give you ideas on places you might like to visit.

Good luck with your planning!

Jill I agree with Michael. We always fly open jaw. It can be more expensive with dropping off a rental car but we figure it is so worth it. When checking fares just click on multi-city and you can check the prices. Have a great trip!

Do you plan to go back ? If not I would recommend Venice Florence and Rome in that order. Flying into Venice and out of Rome. Three days Venice five days Florence/Tuscany and Rome four days each. If you go in and out of Rome you may want to leave out Venice and go to Amalfi and/or Cinque Terra.

IMHO, RS's 14 day itinerary is way too ambitious. Seriously: Florence, Venice, Rome, CT, Civita, Siena, Sorrento, Naples, Pompeii, Amalfi Coast, Paestum, is just crazy. That's 12 locations in 14 days.

One of the joys for me of being in Italy is to be able to relax and drink in the atmosphere.

We had 14 days (well, 12 including travel days) in Italy in May. We travel fast, but we did 3 nights in COsenza (visiting family, wouldn't recommend it as a tourist place), 1 night in Naples, 1 night on Capri, 2 nights in Florence and Venice, 3 nights in Rome. We also saw Pisa, Sorrento, POsitano, Murano, Burano and Lido! It was a great trip! I wouldn't have left out any of these cities except I wouldn't have go to Cosenza if it wasn't for family. I think you should do the amalfi coast area (capri, sorrento, positano, amalfi, pompeii) insterad of sicily because it took us a LONG time to get to cosenza and that isn't even as far south as sicily. that would be alot of time wasted traveling. or consider the cingue terra instead of amalfi coast, which we didn't get to but I heard it is great!

molly

Jill

We typically fly open jaw. Even though the airfare may be a little bit higher, the time and money you save by not back-tracking to the original airport is well worth it. I have reserched a similar trip and flying into Venice and out of Rome gives you later departure times on your return trip.

Jill, don't stretch yourself to thin. Think about flying out of Milano, it would save you mucho train time. Stop in Manteluciano, and stay at Le Caggiaole, B&B. We just spent 6 nights there, and it was wonderful. Tuscany is a great place to just drive. No maps, just look for a hilltown, and drive till you find it. We found allot of wonderful places doing that. Good luck, Jeff

Jill, we did 14 nights this past May - June, flying in and out of Rome. We did 3 nights Rome, 2 nights Florence, 3 nights Venice, 3 nights Sorrento, 3 nights Rome. By the time we got back to Rome the second time we were really, really tired.

Initially I had planned just 12 nights for Rome, Florence, Venice with extra nights in Rome but I couldn't see taking my daughter all the way there and skipping Sorrento, the Amalfi coast and Capri. So I added a couple of nights, took one away from Florence, and squeezed them in. I'm glad I did, because as it turns out this was her favorite part of the trip. But we paid the price.

If I had it to do over I'd probably add another night for Florence and think of going open jaw Rome\Venice or Venice\Rome. That would be a tough decision because I really like the idea of both Venice and Sorrento\Amalfi coast\Capri at the end of the trip.