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2 weeks in Italy

Posted by (Whidbey Island, Washington State, USA) on

Hello, my wife and I are planning a trip either in April/May or Sept/Oct (shoulder season) of next year. I'm not averse to renting a car for part of that but staying with trains and cabs if that's a better plan is fine. We want to see Rome, Florence and Pompeii. I'm not sure which to see first and what's the best way to travel between them. I know that Pompeii is a long way from the other two but it's something that we don't want to miss. Is 2 weeks reasonable?

Also - in 2015 we hired a guide for time in Normandy and it was great. We got the recommendation from someone on this site. I would love to do that again if/where if makes sense.

Suggestions?

Thanks!

Kelly

Posted by
3645 posts

Just from a geographic standpoint, it would make sense to fly into Florence, then do Rome and Pompeii. Fly home from Rome. I think day tours with a guide are an excellent way to get oriented in foreign cities. There are many recommendations for such on this forum.

Posted by
67 posts

Thanks Rosalyn! That gets me the basic setup in terms of flights. So 2 weeks is reasonable?

Posted by
2151 posts

Two weeks is ample time for the three. You can take a high-speed “Frecciarosa “ or Italo train from Rome to Florence ( or Florence to Rome) in 90 minutes. Going south from Rome to Naples also takes as little as 55 minutes on a High-speed train. From Naples’ “Napoli Centrale” train station you transfer to a local commuter train, the “Circumvesuviano” train and can get to Pompeii in about 35 minutes. Discounted train tickets are released 120 days in advance of the date of travel on the Italian train websites: www.Trenitalia.com ; www.Italotreno.it For more info go to www.Seat61.com

Posted by
67 posts

Thanks Kenko! That helps a lot. I'll look into those trains. My wife backpacked through Europe in the early 80's and slept on the trains. Needless to say we'll be sleeping in hotels, b&bs, etc., this time around. We'll use Rick's Italy guidebook for recommendations but I don't remember if he had much on Pompeii but it's been a while since I read it. We'll get an updated version.

I'll take a look at the train schedules to familiarize myself with the timetables.

Kelly

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