2nd trip to Italy - Does this itinerary look ok?

This looks like a wonderful trip. We are going for the fourth time in May. We are 58 and 60 years old and the advice I can give you is make sure you have comfortable hotels so that your parents can get their rest. The walking is harder at our age even if you are in great shape and a good night sleep in a bed that wont cripple you is important. I think two nights in the little cities is enough. We are also more liberal now about taking taxi's when we have to haul our luggage. That is a pretty long trip, so pace yourself. My husband and I have been traveling like this since we were much younger and can see that we have had to modify a bit to stay healthy and happy on these trips. Have a wonderful time!

Rebeka,
You might want to reconsider your time in Verona. It is somewhat small, but has a lot to offer. The coliseum, the Roman theater, Piazzas Bra & Erb, and much more. Two and a half hours will really be pushing it time wise. Just a thought. TC

Thank you Judy and TC for your thoughtful advice!

Judy:
I definitely plan to take taxis and busses whenever possible to reduce our walking in the cities. Even though there's no comparison to seeing a city entirely on foot, I think we'll all be able to appreciate the sites better without the long walks from train stations etc.

I'm digging and doing lots of homework to find hotels that are comfortable and will provide a good night's rest. I definitely remember some rock hard italian beds from last trip and they can really destroy the next day's travel!

TC:
Thank you. I'm sure you are right! I've now added several more hours to my Verona itinerary so we can fully enjoy the city before we hop back on the train (and still arrive in Castelrotto before dark). I appreciate your help!

You are moving too fast and going to wear yourselves out trying to follow Hyper-Tourist RS itinerary to the letter. Toss out all one-nighters. You have an early morning flight into MXP, so it would be easy enough to go directly to Lake Como. Even Orvieto needs 2 nights if you are going to stay, IMHO, although the sights themselves can be done in half a day and thus would make a wonderful day trip from Rome if you have the time and energy. Siena is another place that could easily be done as a side trip, and there are plenty of one day wine tasting tours leaving from Florence as well.

There really is no need to see both Cinque Terre AND the Amalfi coast in the same trip. Pick one. There is enough to see around Sorrento and the Amalfi coast that you should add more days to that if you can. If you insist on CT, its a really long trip from Venice. Break it up with your days in Florence/Tuscany, then head down to Rome or Sorrento from there. Dolomites are another place where another night or two should be added if you can.

Thank you Angela.

I will definitely rearrange based on your suggestions. Your right. It would be so much nicer to have day trips from a home base and not have a new bed every other night....Florence and Rome are both ideal for day trips. Thank you.

Its a bit gut wrenching to remove CT from the list but as I re-arrange things I can see your wisdom. Having never been to CT or Sorrento I'm glad to hear they are both equally good! Since CT is quite a ways out of our way, we'll save it for another trip :)

I would suggest getting to your destination city and then doing a daytrip to other cities. For example, Pisa is an easy half-day trip from Florence; add Lucca and it's a full-day trip. Siena can also be a daytrip from Florence; by adding that time to Florence as a base, you can still enjoy daytrips. Verona is about an hour or so from Venice, I would consider daytripping to Verona.

By doing daytrips instead of stops along the way, you don't have to hassle with left-luggage (which can be more time-consuming than you might think). You also don't have the question of how late do you want to arrive at the destination city. And you can usually jump off the train with just your daybag and walk or get on a bus to the centro storico of each city. Hands-free instead of carrying luggage, checking luggage, retrieving luggage, carrying luggage back onto the train...

You might think about going directly from Venice to Vernazza and then doing Pisa on the WAY to Florence. Giving you more time the first day in the Cinque Terre and not having to backtrack. Pisa can be seen directly on the way to Florence.

You picked great cities and towns to visit. I would recommend reducing the number of towns that you visit, because you will be spending so much time traveling and relocating to new hotels. Personally I like to mix up visits to museums and historical sites with other activities such as wine tasting/vineyard visits, physical endeavors such as hiking or cycling, etc. Visiting a city or town festival like the Palio would be a wonderful experience.

I just returned from Italy last week and cannot say enough good things about Verona and Milan.

I would figure out which 2 or 3 stops that you absolutely have to visit and then research the others and try to eliminate so that you have 2-3 night visits. Rome and Naples/Sorrento could defintely be 4 nighters and you still will not do everything that you want.

Cinque Terre is maybe my favorite part of Italy (I love hiking and seafood), but everyone's preferences are different. Get RS or other travel show DVD's (Rudy Maxa, Samantha Brown, or Globe Trekker) and see which towns appeal to you most.

Make sure that you take your time and enjoy the towns and sites and do not just cross off something on list. Make time to have an espresso in the afternoon at a coffee shop near a piazza and read a book or just people watch.

Like previous posters have pointed out, as we get older, there is only so much we want to do in a day. Even though I have no walking issues, I, generally, want to see only one site per day. I want to enjoy it at a more relaxed pace and take it all in. Having a relaxed cup of coffee or lunch in between. Looking at your days, I think Day 4 has too much packed in. I would leave Day 15 just for Orvieto. Lots to see and do there and just relax. Day 17--pick which of the three sites is most important to you. Right now, you have 8 hrs to visit/walk around three sites and that doesn't even include getting (transportation) to the ones in between. I spent a full day in Pompeii itself. I think your itinerary is well thought thru, you will just have to adjust it while you are there. Please also take into consideration carrying your luggage around between trains and buses. Make sure each person has only one small rolling carry on and one personal piece (backpack, etc).

Thank you everyone for your advice!

Using your suggestions, I've managed to reduce the number of hotels we'll be staying in by nearly half!
We now have a home base for day trips and will be staying in the same hotels for longer spans of time.
I added one day on the ground to the itinerary, and eliminated the Cinque Terre for this trip.
We'll be traveling light with just a rollaboard or backpack each. (Is there any other way??)
I'm also trying to plan only 1 major sightseeing activity per day. (Challenging!)

I'm still working on it, but I believe the itinerary will look something like this:

Varenna (3 nights)
Castelrotto (3 nights)
Venice (2 nights)
Florence. (4 nights)
Sorrento. (4 nights)
Rome (6 nights)

This way my parents can take a day off and just rest at a cafe or our hotel if they're tired. We can also eliminate plans and do something entirely different on most days since we're not challenged with changing hotels so often.

Thank you again for all your thoughtful advice!

I usually plan two major sites a day, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. The exceptions are multiple sites that can be seen as one, like the Colosseum/Forum/Palatine and Vatican Museums/Saint Peter's Basilica. These take at least a full morning or afternoon, so I fill in with some other sights. Churches are particularly good for this because they offer a place to sit and are generally cool in temperature.

In Paestum, don't miss the museum. A good place for lunch is the restaurant/hotel, Hotel dei Templi, next to the temple ruins on the main street. You can actually enter the archeological zone from the restaurant (buy your ticket from the cashier), then end up at the museum entrance.

I think your new itinerary is about as perfect as can be! Great job! Enjoy Italy :-)

I was actually in Varenna in October of 2014. The area had started to slow down for the upcoming winter season and things were actually fairly quiet. The area is lovely and you can take the ferry to visit Bellagio, Menaggio and other places, but not really a lot to see in Varenna for 3 days. Maybe cut the stop back to 2, but that's up to you. While in Varenna make sure to eat at Vecchia Varenna, a lovely restaurant right on the waterfront.

I like your revised schedule much better. I would tweak it to add to Sorrento and take away from Rome.