23/24 days Italy + Paris Zurich added in

You should always end your trip in the city you plan to fly out of. It makes no sense to split up Paris with some time at the beginning and some at the end.

Since you are spending most of your time in Italy have you looked at flying into Italy and out of Paris? This could save you a lot of time and money.

As for the Italy Itinerary, you're traveling way to much for the time you have in each area. Two nights in a location is one full day. Have you looked at the travel times involved in getting between the cities you list. Regardless of how long the train actually takes you must add at least an hour before and after the trip in order to get to/from the hotel, check in/out of the hotel and get to the station early for departure. All of this adds up to a lot of travel. I suggest cutting out a few of the stops where you have less than three nights listed. Add those nights to other areas so that you can have some time to explore and actually visit more than the train station.

Donna

If you have to include some place in Switzerland, Geneva makes more sense than Zurich on your route, and is more interesting. Just my opinion.

You are moving pretty quickly but I think it's doable. The only thing I see that I wonder about is your stay in Salerno for two nights with a day trip to Pompeii - that doesn't leave you any time to see Salerno really. You arrive in Salerno, spend the night, see Pompeii the next day, spend another night back in Salerno, and then leave the next day for Venice. Zurich isn't really all that interesting either...if you are going out of Italy via Milan, consider the Dolomites instead of Switzerland. It's relatively close to Milan, has amazing mountains and culture, and will have lots more to do.
I hate to say this but, looking at your itinerary, you would be better off spending your whole time in Italy rather than trekking back and forth from Paris - it's quite a distance and you are going to spend quite a bit of money doing so, either in gas, rail, or airfare. If you must see Paris then you should fly into Paris and out of Italy, or fly into Italy and out of Paris. Backtracking is a waste of time and money.
For the places you are visiting, having a car doesn't make sense. Parking can be a nightmare, driving in most of these cities isn't practical, and the car will just be parked most of the time anyway. The public transportation system is so incredibly good that it would make more sense for you use that, rather than a car.

Thanks for the great advice. We really appreciate it. We will look at flying into Milan or Rome & out of Paris. My niece really wants to see Paris while she can enjoy it. She has MS & this may be her last year not in a wheelchair. She was told that the ride from Milan to Zurich through the Alps was fantastic which is why we included that. We can add a couple nights in order to add a might or two to Salerno. Should we book a Rail Pass or pay as we go?

Regards,
Nancy
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You are moving pretty quickly but I think it's doable. The only thing I see that I wonder about is your stay in Salerno for two nights with a day trip to Pompeii - that doesn't leave you any time to see Salerno really. You arrive in Salerno, spend the night, see Pompeii the next day, spend another night back in Salerno, and then leave the next day for Venice. Zurich isn't really all that interesting either...if you are going out of Italy via Milan, consider the Dolomites instead of Switzerland. It's relatively close to Milan, has amazing mountains and culture, and will have lots more to do.
I hate to say this but, looking at your itinerary, you would be better off spending your whole time in Italy rather than trekking back and forth from Paris - it's quite a distance and you are going to spend quite a bit of money doing so, either in gas, rail, or airfare. If you must see Paris then you should fly into Paris and out of Italy, or fly into Italy and out of Paris. Backtracking is a waste of time and money.
For the places you are visiting, having a car doesn't make sense. Parking can be a nightmare, driving in most of these cities isn't practical, and the car will just be parked most of the time anyway. The public transportation system is so incredibly good that it would make more sense for you use that, rather than a car.

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Connecting Paris to anywhere in Italy usually is cheaper and easier to fly. You can find some great flight options at Skyscanner. For many of the places you mentioned in Italy rail would work well and you can find a lot more information on rail and how to look up schedules on Rick's rail page. Rick has his tips and trick in his Italy guidebook which could help you fine tune your itinerary and more tips on how to save some money and time during your trip.

Hello Nancy,

Here is a possible way to do your itinerary:
Fly into Zurich 2days and nights- lovely town with a river, lake and swans. There are beautiful buildings with flower boxes, lovely churches with Chagall glass, a modern art museum and some fun shopping. It is a lovely city to walk around in. I liked it better than Geneva.

Train to Milan two nights, one day -Day trip to Verona and back... you can do the sights of Milan in a half day then train or drive out to Alfieri Castle in the Piedmont for an overnight visit. I believe this is the link for the castle you speak of (seems to be near Alba): http://www.castellilangheroero.it/pagine/eng/castello.lasso?id=4E987AA20f6202060BrKL2120F62 If you want to you can add on a night and day in the Peidmont and look into cooking classes for your sister. Peidmont is a great area for cooking classes, it is the truffle region of Italy.
From Peidmont head to Monterosso (first town in Cinque Terre) and spend 2 nights and one full day in Cinque Terre to make the stop worth it. If you do not have the time to do this...skip it!

Take the train from La Spezia (southern end of Cinque Terre train line) to Rome 4 nights. Then head to Sorrento 2 full days (instead of Salerno). It is much easier to train to Pompeii and Herculaneum on the Circumvesuviana train for a day visit from Sorrento, then you could explore the Amalfi Coast on the 2nd day. The train ride from Naples to Sienna is 4h40. You could rent a car for the day, drive the Amalfi Coast and return the car to the Naples train station to catch an evening train to Sienna 2 nights. Rent a car to drive around Tuscany for 2 days. Drive to Florence airport drop the car and take the train into Florence 3-4 nights.
Pisa can be done as a 1/2 day trip from Florence, get up early get this done and have the rest of the day to explore somewhere else.
Train to Venice for 3 nights (you could do Verona as day trip from hear also and spend one less night in Milan FYI). Then book the private night train from Venice to Paris (not covered under rail pass, book your couchette early!) I recommend this option because it will save you transit time and it takes care of your hotel for one night. 4-5 nights in Paris. This whole Itinerary is actually 28 days to make it doable. If you want to save time consider cutting Zurich, Milan and Verona and you can accomplish this in 23-24 days.

Sara, that sounds like a good alternative & better use of our time. We are going to sit down tonite to look at Flights & trains. The night train from Venice to Paris sounds like fun. We will only get a rental car in the couple of instances where it makes more sense to be on our own schedule to explore, for instance The Alfieri Castle, Tuscany, the Amalfi coast. We are considering adding a few days so we can fit it all in. If not, we will leave Zurich for another year & drop Verona.
Thanks to everyone for steering us away from our original driving plans.

And that is why Sara is a Rick Steves Travel Advisor! Brava, Sara!

I was going to mention something similar, don't do the CT as a day trip and add a 2nd night there. You'll love the area