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21 Days in Italy - need help with itinerary!

Please help me with my itinerary for Italy:

I will be backpacking from October 25th to November 16th, 2008. Yes I know I could see several other countries in that time but I wanted to concentrate on Italy for this trip!
I am flying into Rome and out of Milan.
I plan to travel by train and stay in hostels (or with family). I am traveling alone.

Thanks in advance!

Posted by
10344 posts

What a great idea, to spend your entire 3 weeks in Italy. Here are some destinations for you to consider: Rome; then south to Pompeii, Herculaneum, and Vesuvius; Sorrento and Capri; the Amalfi Coast and Paestum; then north to the hill towns of central Italy; Siena; Florence; Pisa and Lucca; the Cinque Terre; Venice; Lake Como; and to Milan Malpensa airport to fly out (but probably not spending time in the city of Milan or just part of a day, because some would say that given the other destinations Milan has a lower priority). I'm not saying you will be able to do all of these in your 3 weeks, you will have to do further research on that. To further detail out your itinerary and estimate travel times by train, this website is a good resource for you:Click Here

Posted by
486 posts

Lauren,

Kent gave you a good suggestion. Let me add a comment.

You are obviously young enough to go back again. Don't try to do everything. Be flexible. Want to stop somewhere and stay a day or two longer? Do it!. Better to skip areas and go back on another trip than to do one of those "If it is Tuesday, it must be Belgium".

So start where you think you would enjoy the most, and if you enjoy it so much, skip the back half and go back again. When we first traveled, we thought we'd never again go back to Europe. Thirteen trips later, we are planning another one possibly next year.

You can never spend too much time in a small place. Three weeks could do Italy. We did it in that time but skipped Venice, Lake Como and Milan as we had done them on a previous trip. We also visited relatives so that used a few days.

Have fun!

Posted by
38 posts

Thanks for the help.

I actually was not planning on going to Milan but I was able to fly Rome/Milan for $100 less than Rome/Rome so I figured that was a better deal.

After I head south, do you recommend heading back through Rome on my way to Florence or should I head across Italy and up the east coast?

Posted by
32173 posts

Lauren,

My preference for a route on the way up to Florence, would be to backtrack through Rome and visit sites in Umbria or Tuscany. Two great towns to consider would be Orvieto (with a side trip to Rick's favourite Civita di Bagnoregio) and Siena.

Ciao e Buon Viaggio!

Posted by
38 posts

Thanks for the suggestions...

This is a possible itinerary I put together. I love the idea of the Italy Farm Stay (and it's gotten great reviews) but I'm wondering if the travel to/from Sora via the bus is going to be too much of a waste of time.

Any thoughts?

Day Overnight
4:00 Arrive at FCO Rome
Rome Day 1 Rome
Rome Day 2 Rome
Rome Day 3 Rome
6:45 Depart to Pompeii Sorrento
Sorrento, Amalfi Coast Sorrento
Capri Sorrento
Travel to Sora Italy Farm Stay
Farm Italy Farm Stay
Travel Siena vi Orvieto Siena
Siena, surrounding Siena
Florence Florence
Florence Florence
Florence Florence
Travel to Pisa, CT Cinque Terre
Cinque Terre Cinque Terre
Cinque Terre Overnight Train
Venice Venice
Venice Venice
Lake Como Lake Como
Lake Como Milan