1st Time Trip-Planning

I've only been to Venice, Florence and seen some of the Tuscany countryside. Venice should be on your list for sure. I haven't been to the Amalfi coast or Cinque Terre, but they are beautiful, and I assume they would be more relaxing than Florence and may be more to your liking. Florence is a bustling place and is a center of art, and if you aren't interested in visiting churches and museums, might be skippable for you -- though it has great restaurants and food!.

Look at your travel dates for next year carefully. Easter is March 27th next year and could impact

your plans.

Do your dates include travel days? How many nights on the ground will you have?

With only a very short eight days, you're not going to have time to see much and you'll need to prioritize. A few questions.....

• Does that time include your two flight days?
• Have you bought flight tickets yet, and if so which airports are you flying inbound & outbound? Using open-jaw flights would definitely be worthwhile.
• Which of the above locations appeals to you the most?
• How are you planning to get around?

And a few thoughts......

• I've been in Italy in April and the weather can sometimes be an issue with cold and rainy days. I spent some time on a photo workshop in Tuscany in April slogging through mud, which was no fun. There's no way to predict what the weather will be like next year, but something to think about.
• The Amalfi Coast area will likely be a bit warmer at that time of year (but of course no guarantees).
• March is not a good time to visit the Cinque Terre as many of the tourist-related businesses don't open for the season until 1 April. Some open earlier than 1 April, but things will be "quiet" at that time of year (which may be desirable), and again weather could be an issue. There won't be much to do if the weather is pouring rain, so your visit there could be a "washout".
• For 2-3 places to visit, you could consider Venice and Florence, with day trips to Siena, Lucca or other locations in Tuscany (a day trip to the Cinque Terre is also possible, so you can decide when you're there based on the weather). An alternative would be some place like Sorrento and other locations in the south. I'd be leaning more towards Florence and Venice, with the bulk of the time in Florence to allow time for day trips.

It will be easier to offer more detailed suggestions once you've decided where you want to visit.

Thanks everyone! As I mentioned we are very early planning stages and still have a lot of detail/research to fill in so we are flexible on dates (sounds like March is a no go and should plan definitely on April. Wanted "shoulder season for better rates and less crowds). We are thinking we will fly in 1 place and fly out another. The 8 days does not include travel. All of the above places seem to appeal to me which is why it has been overwhelming to even know where to start and where to narrow down. Thanks!

With only 8 days (how many nights do you actually spend in Italy?) you need to travel minimally so that you can devote more time to your interests and less time sitting on a train. You definitely should fly open jaw to avoid wasting time backtracking to your original destination.

Venice -> Florence - > Cinque Terre (fly home from Genoa)
Venice -> Cinque Terre -> Florence (fly home from Florence)
Venice -> Rome -> Naples (sleep in Sorrento, see Capri, see Pompeii, fly home from Naples)
Venice -> Florence -> Rome (fly home from Rome)
Venice -> Rome -> Florence (fly home from Florence)

I say this because you must must must include Venice on your itinerary because it ticks so many of your boxes and there's no other city like it. I did include Rome because "you've" never been there.

You must decide how many nights you're actually in Italy which is more helpful in planning rather than days.

Thanks Tim--we would be there 8 nights. Our thought is flying from Atlanta on a Friday (arrive Sat morning) and leaving (from different location) on a Sunday (arrive in US on Monday). Sounds like Venice should not be missed. Would you suggest 3 nights in Venice, 3 in Florence or Rome & 2 in Naples or Cinque Terre

Think with the limited amount of time you have I would fly into Venice, spend 3 nights then travel to Florence for the remainder of your time. Do day trips from here to Siena or Lucca then fly out of Florence.

Just wanted to clarify something you mentioned in your last post. When you fly from Atlanta to Italy you will likely leave in the evening and be on an overnight flight so leaving Friday as you mentioned and arriving Saturday AM. However, when you fly back to Atlanta you will be leaving in the AM from Italy and will arrive that same day back in Atlanta since you are traveling with the sun and gaining time as you go.

Mackenzie, My first choice would be 4 nights in Venice and 4 in Florence with some day trips out from each. That would cut down on "lost" travel time going from Point A to Point B. Second choice would be 3 nights in Venice, 2 in Florence, and 3 in Rome.

8 days is not much time so its a matter of choices for you, Whilst early spring is a good time for Italy I think it's too early to spend enjoyable time at beach areas of Amalfi or Cinque Terre. My parents just spent this 3-12 April in Italy post cruise and had good weather (crisp and sunny) except for one day in Naples. I would still include Rome for yourself - EVERYONE has to see Rome as they say.
Venice (3nts)
Florence (3nts)
Rome (2nts)
If Rome is a definite NO GO for you then consider
Venice (3nts)
Padua or Verona (1nt)
Florence (4nts) with day trip to Siena

mackenzie,

One thing that might help you narrow down your choice on where to visit might be to have a look at the Italy 2015 guidebook (you should able to find a copy at your local Library if you don't want to buy one). The book has good and detailed descriptions of the main sights, and you can determine which ones appeal to you the most.

The "usual" spring shoulder season is May / June, and it can be crowded in Italy then. Travelling mid-to-late April may be less crowded, but perhaps a bit cooler and with some rain.

I've been to Italy 3 times in February and loved it, even when the weather was unpleasant. As others have said, Venice to Florence is best for an 8-day trip. Getting to the Amalfi Coast or the Cinque Terre will eat up too much of your precious short time. Changing hotels more than twice will also eat up too much time.

Find out what your flight options are, so that you have an easy trip to the airport. If you'll have an early morning flight, you'll need to spend your last night somewhere that you can get to the airport early enough.

Since weather in April can be inclement, I wouldn't plan on scenic destinations. My ideal plan would be:

• 3 nights Venice. You'll have to adjust to the time change and make up for lack of sleep on the flight. Venice is the perfect place to relax and soak up the atmosphere. Wander the back canals, then ride the vaporetto and watch the city slip by.
• 3 nights Bologna. It's not a big tourist destination but it's an interesting city with great food and it is a perfect base to day trip to other cities to explore, like Ferrara, Padua, Ravenna
• 2 nights Florence.

April should be good weather-wise & from a 'shoulder-season' tourist standpoint, but that time of year the temperature differences can be quite stark from north to south. Therefore, I would spend 2 nights in Venice, then head south. 2 nights in Florence, preferably during the week to avoid attraction crowds, then (because we did it in March) the Trenitalia Fresciarossa to Salerno, to be utilized as a base for the rest of your trip.

Not only is Salerno a perfect logistical base for easy transport for daytrips to Naples, the Amalfi Coast, Pompei, Paestum, the town itself is charming & inexpensive, with an 11th century Duomo & the best food of our whole trip. In April, the Amalfi Coast should be just cranking up with beautiful weather, and Pompei not overrun yet with tourists should not be missed--it's stupendous even for non-archeologists.

And you would get a wide variety of cuisine, from the Venetian flavors to the carne-based Tuscan cuisine, to the seafood of Campania.

We had a short transport of 45 minutes from Salerno to Naples to fly out (our B&B hosts drove us), connection in Munich then home to the States.

Enjoy your planning!

Thanks everyone! So I think we've "narrowed" it down to either 4 in Venice and 4 in Florence w/ day trips. OR Jay's recommendation of 2 in Venice, 2 Florence and the rest of our time in Salerno/Amalfi Coast. Is Naples airport crazy to fly out of...in my research I saw one article that described Naples airport as the most "incompetent" airport in the world?!

I think your enjoyment of Naples/Amalfi is far more weather dependant than Venice and Florence, and for late March/early April remains a fair sized gamble.

I fly through Napoli fairly often, it's a small airport and easy to navigate. Sometimes gate changes are announced shortly before boarding begins, but I've had that problem at JFK as welL, with miles more corridors.

I don't know what article you found, but one person's rant is not research-worthy.

I think people like to 'bucket' on Naples, sometimes unnecessarily so, and to an exaggerated amount. For years the city has been dealing with this 'image problem' - garbage strikes aside.

So I think we've "narrowed" it down to either 4 in Venice and 4 in Florence w/ day trips. OR Jay's recommendation of 2 in Venice, 2 Florence and the rest of our time in Salerno/Amalfi Coast.

That gives you one (jetlagged) day, maybe 1.5 days, in Venice, another 1.5 days in Florence, then a long trip to Salerno, where you're enjoyment is likely to be curtailed if you get inclement weather. Consider how long it will really take you to go portal-to-portal. Allow for waiting time at train stations as well as packing/unpacking. Also, how long will it take you to get from your Amalfi Coast hotel to the airport and what time will you need to be at the airport? You may have to spend your last night in Naples to be sure to make your flight home. That's one more hotel change.

From personal experience, as long as Rome Fiumicino (even pre-fire) airport is operational, every other Italian airport will be at worst a distant second in the incompetency sweepstakes. Napoli Capodochino airport, even on a Saturday morning, was a pleasure in comparison. Fiumicino can be beyond awful.

Some misinformation upthread. First off, our Fresciarossa train from Florence SMN to Salerno station left at 12:04 and arrived in Salerno at 15:42, after stops at Roma Tiburtina, Roma Termini & Napoli Centrale--no train change, either. That's pretty efficient to my way of thinking--the train flies at speeds up to 270 km/hr, and smooth as silk. Weather-wise, after checking monthly averages (which really don't mean squat in the grand scheme of things) temperatures are 2 degrees warmer in Amalfi than Florence, and Amalfi averages 9 days of rain in April as opposed to Florence's 8. So pick your poison, as it were. It might rain a bit, in either area. Buy an umbrella.

So...it's really an issue of not running around like a chicken with your head cut off for eight days by lodging in too many places overall, three at the most. That's why daytrips are key for you, and why Florence is a great base, as well as Salerno or Amalfi. When we were in both places in March of this year, for 5 nights each, we had Siena, Pisa, Bologna & Fiesole planned for daytrips out of Florence, and did none of them, opting to groove at our VRBO apartment in town--what fun, not having anything we had to do! In Salerno, we stayed at a great, inexpensive B&B, planned daytrips to Naples, Paestum, Amalfi & Pompei--and did the last two, less than an hour each way in travel. And we'd return by 5:00 each night to Salerno, take a nap then a walk down the promenade by the sea, and go to dinner in Salerno's Old Town when the restaurants opened at 8:00. Quite nice, actually.

You cannot go wrong with this trip, but remember, variety is great & less is more sometimes. Enjoy!