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2 week trip to Italy, is it possible to cover all these places?

My wife and I are going to Italy for 2 weeks (can push to around 3 if needed). Do you think it would be possible to visit the following places within this time frame?

  • Como, Bologna, Undecided Tuscan village, Florence, Sardinia, Rome

The above is the tentative order of places we will visit.

She really wants to visit Como (Star Wars fan) briefly (maybe a day and a half? We are entering from Milan), spend a couple days in Tuscany, and visit Sardinia for the beaches.

We’ve both been to Rome for about a week in the past but would like to spend a few chill days there as well.

Overall for the trip, we want a relaxing laid back holiday with visits to a couple but not all of the landmarks. Please give me your thoughts and any suggestions. We’d be so grateful

Posted by
4855 posts

What month?
Determine how much time you want to spend in Sardinia (happy wife, happy life--that appears to be the priority if I am understanding you), THEN determine what of the rest can be included. It is the wild card because of transport.
But no, there is no way you can fit all of that into two weeks. I have been planning a trip to Sardinia for years (can never get the flight I want) and I intend to spend 10-12 days there. I would not spend the time on a flight or ferry for anything less than a week, but that is just me. Certainly you would want three full days to make up for the travel time.
There are some fantastic beaches in Tuscany if you decide your mainland list is more of a priority. Not like Sardinia's to be sure, but I am a beach/sea lover and I can attest to their beauty.

Posted by
15939 posts

Lake Como (the city of Como itself would not be my first choice) needs a minimum of 2 nights but 3 are better.
Bologna needs a minimum of a full day. Being only 35 min from Florence it could be visited by train in a day trip from Florence.
Florence only needs a minimum of 3 nights. If you want to use Florence to see other Tuscan towns (or Bologna) on a day trip, then add one additional night for each day trip you intent do take.
I can’t help you on the Tuscan town until you know which one, however it might be best to visit from Florence. Potentially you could stay in Siena a few nights a visit the towns in the Siena province from Siena.
Rome needs a minimum of 4 nights.
Sardinia needs a round trip flight and a rental car. I wouldn’t go there for less than about a week. If you are not willing to rent a car or willing to stay at least a week, then skip it.

Posted by
17284 posts

Sardinia is definitely a challenge. There are some beautiful beaches on the Adriatic coast in Puglia, Molise, Abruzzo and Marche that would be a lot easier to reach from Florence and then travel to Rome. Both white sand beaches dotted with the typical IOtalian array of of sun lounges and umbrellas, and smaller, more secluded spots in rocky coves. Maybe your wife would find one of these as appealing as Sardinia.

Look on Google maps, satellite view for the turquoise-blue water, starting at Pescara and working your way down to Monopoli and Polignano a Mare. Consider in particular the Tremiti Islands, reached by boat from Termoli on the train line down the coast.

I have seen Vasto mentioned on numerous websites as among the most beautiful Adriatic villages in Italy. There are numerous blogs on this subject, such as this:

https://www.marthasitaly.com/articles/190/italy-s-east-coast

And a lively discussion on this forum mentions lots of possibilities:

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/must-see-towns-along-the-adriatic

Posted by
331 posts

Possible? Sure!

I saw this movie where this guy travelled around the whole world in 80 days. 14 days to cover a tiny fraction of that? No problem.

This is always about how you like to travel, how much do really want to see on a given trip, whether you want to relax or fill your cup to the brim! Do you need to see all the top spots and the secondary ones too? Or just the highlights.

Lots of folks will tell you need X days to do such and such city right and Y city deserves Z days too. Me? I could do Florence in a couple days and be quite happy! (I know this to be true since I did it. And did again too!) You may find that to be nuts. And you could be right about that too!

The item in your trip that seems like the outlier to me is Sardinia-- but that may be the very thing you really, really want to see. So my advice is this: go for it! Or, if this seems like too much, cut it back!

Either way, you'll have a great time! It's Italy! Wow!

Good luck!

Posted by
1026 posts

You had me until Sardinia. As close as it is, going there and coming back means flying, which brings all the fun things that come with that. Consider that both the departure and return days for a Sardinia side trip will be mostly lost to travel. Then, in order to make those two “lost days” worth the effort you’ll want to spend at least three nights there. Suddenly, that’s getting close to a week out of your itinerary.

I’d say there’s more convenient options on the mainland. There’s some interesting, off beat suggestions above. Cinque Terre is also an option, and relatively close to the regions you’ll be visiting.

Posted by
8 posts

I think possible, especially if you can push to closer to 18 days. As many have mentioned, it really really depends on the month. If you're trying to stick to 14 days, I'd personally cut Como (gasp, I know). I was there in mid October, which I was hoping would help to avoid the crowds but my god was it incredibly crowded. I truly couldn't imagine the place in August - what a nightmare. If you're trying to hop on the ferries to bop around to different towns during peak season, you may need to plan a 1-2 hour wait in line each way. It's definitely an 'instagram vs reality' spot. For reference, we probably had to wait 45 mins each time, and this was nearing the off season. Thankfully Italy is open container so one of us was able to grab drinks from a local restaurant and bring them back to the line while we waited.

Another Como warning, if you are in fact driving, be advised Como will likely have a good amount of cliffside driving reminiscent of the amalfi coast. We came down from the Dolomites and I was candidly not prepared. We survived unscratched somehow, but that was about 90 minutes of pure adrenaline we didn't plan on. It all depends on your route. If you're actually staying in the town of Como and driving from Milan, you'll be fine.

One more tip, because while possible, you're losing a lot of time in transit with that itinerary. Why don't you try combining Florence and 'tuscany' by finding a nice agriturismo just outside of the city? You should be able to easily hire a driver if you find something within 45 minutes.