18 day Italy itinerary

If you want to see amalfi coast, I would consider train from Rome to Salerno and then a ferry to amalfi town. Amalfi town is transportation hub for coast and you can easily take bus or ferry to other locations as day trips. You then can return to Salerno and take a train to Florence.

Sorrento is pleasant but not really the amalfi coast. It requires two trains from Rome and then two trains to Florence .

If it's just the AC you want, then Amalfi makes sense, since it's easier to get to Ravello and Positano, and the ferries will still be running. But if you want to visit Capri and/or Pompeii, then Sorrento is easier.

With 5 nights in Florence, you could consider a couple of day trips, like Siena and Pisa/Lucca, or perhaps a hilltop villages or winery tour.

I think it is nice and agree with the advice from BethFL about using Salerno as your jumping off point as long as you do not plan to go to Pompeii.

Where will you stay in Lake Garda and what do plan to do there? We were underwhelmed by Lake Garda, preferring Lake Como by far. You could easily skip the Lake and add a night each to the Amalfi Coast and Venice.

Thanks for the suggestions I will look at staying at Amalfi as we can then visit Positano, Ravello. Will just work out logistics. We are having time in Athens and Santorini prior to Italy so will fly from Santorini to Rome. Still thinking about Lake Como verses Lake Garda. My first thoughts was Lake Como but as a few have suggested maybe take out Lakes all together and add extra day at Amalfi and Venus.

I’ve now revised my itinerary and taken out the Lakes.
Rome 5 nights
Amalfi 4 nights
Florence 5 nights
Venice 4 nights

Will start to work accommodation etc.

That sounds lovely! Stay in Amafi the whole time you are on the coast. We stayed 2 nights in Amalfi and two nights in positano. It seemed like a good idea. It wasn’t.

One of my Italian friends told me he and his wife stayed a week in amalfi and day tripped.

Itinerary looks wonderful. You're going to have a great trip.

Ferry timetables

https://www.travelmar.it/downloads/orari_travelmar.pdf

Thank you it’s a little way of but now I’ve worked that out will look at accommodation.

It looks like Volotea has flights from Santorini to Venice and Naples, though their website currently only has dates through
Sept 1. If you need to depart Italy from Venice, it's most efficient to fly into Naples and visit the AC first, then Rome, Florence and Venice. There are trains from Salerno to Rome that take 1.5-2 hours.

Whether you stay in Sorrento, Salerno or one of the AC towns depends mostly on what you want to see and do. I've stayed in Sorrento (good base for Pompeii, Herculaneum, Naples by train, Capri by ferry, AC by bus/ferry), and in Salerno (good base for Pompeii by train, Paestum by bus or train, the AC by bus and ferry). Staying in one of the AC towns limits what you can do other than enjoy the scenery and hiking, because of the travel time to go elsewhere. Salerno has an interesting historic center to explore.

We just flew Volotea, efficient, easy check in, on time,
, inexpensive.

hey james-dj
you'll love italy and have a great time. since you are traveling from santorini i would look into flying in naples, working your way north or into venice and working your way south, like chani has mentioned. when looking at flights out of venice most of them leave at dark thirty (early early am).
don't know where you're flying from (USA?) book a multi-city/open-jaw ticket. your airport -athens-rome-your airport. the santorini to italy just a one way ticket. we did something like that and the flight was cheaper as a one way then by adding onto our "big" flight.
everyone has different ideas about places, we stayed on lake garda in bardolino at hotel nettuno, for the annual wine festival. it's was fabulous, loved the area, small villages, the lake, took a ride up a ways, had lunch in peschiera del garda, drove back to venice and dropped off car.
how many are traveling and what kinda accomodations are you looking for? you may think it's a little way off but you'll have "pick of the litter" and not stress out at the end like people have done. your research pays off. come back for more info and the forum will give you feedback - good bad and ugly before you book something. when booking anything look at arrival and depatures times, too early or late to check in, if a storage for luggage. you don't want to be pulling/pushing across steps, bridges, stairs, uneven and cobblestone streets.
aloha

That sounds like a great trip!

I am not sure, but last time I was in Positano, they had ferries to Capri if you wanted to take a bus and then the boat over there, but other than that, Amalfi is a fantastic base as most of the buses start or end there.

My flights are already organised from Santorini to Rome as we were originally doing a tour which I cancelled so that’s why I’m working on my own itinerary can’t change anything now. We fly into Rome then depart Venice. We are flying from Australia which is a 23 hour flight but as were going to Santorini first we will be climatized. So once arriving in Rome which is lunchtime hopefully will just have a wonder before seeing everything we want to.

I think your new itinerary looks great. Rome is fantastic, there is just so much to do there.

The updated itinerary looks great! When I did the Amalfi Coast, I based out of Positano which I loved, and took a Ferry one day to Capri, and then spent a day exploring Amalfi and Ravello. I wish I could have had more time in Amalfi and especially Ravello- Ravello is so enchanting! You cannot go wrong with either. My one biggest regret was not staying for a night or 2 in Capri. There were so many day trippers during the day, and I know at night it is magical!

I did 3 full days in Florence with 2 dedicated to sights in the city, and 1 on a tour to see some highlights of Chianti. I have a great hotel in Florence if you want one, and they partner with the tour group. I think having an extra night in Florence would have meant more time to relax and take it all in.

I only needed 2 days in Venice. 1 more if you plan to go to Murano and Burano.

If visiting Capri was a priority, you could shave a day off Venice and a day off Florence. But it all depends on what you guys most want to do and also time of year.

Also, to get to the Amalfi Coast we took a train to Naples station, and then paid for a car service to our B&B in Positano. It was worth it, but there are also buses and ferries depending on where you base. To get up to Florence you would take a high speed train from Naples there en route back.

PM me for any more or my itin.

We have revised our itinerary so that we are including Lake Como.
Rome 4 nights. = 3.5 days
Almalfi. 3 nights = 2.5 days
Florence 4 nights = 3.5 days
Lake Como 3 nights =. 2 days
Venice 4 nights. =. 3.5 days
Rome we arrive 10.00 am then Venice we depart 3.40 pm. So have time to sight see then.
Still not sure about Almafi or Salerno. Looking at accommodation in Almafi seems like a lot of accommodation is up steep hills. We have just been st Airlie beach for a week staying at Peppers and that was up a quite a steep hill so not wanting to have to walk up to high a hill each day. Any suggestions for hotels that are not on steep incline or do we stay at Salerno and do a day visit to Amalfi, Ravello, Positano.