3 week intinerary...help!

I spent some time driving around Puglia. I may have some suggestions that might be on interest, depending on your tour route and your plans for getting to and from Puglia.

Yes the CT is a bit of trip from Rome, but you have enough time to do it. However, adding in Siena is a wrinkle. I'd pick either the CT or Siena. Here's an idea of how your itinerary could look: 9/24, Fly into Milan or Florence and transfer to the CT or Siena- 3 nights 9/27, Train to Rome. Leave as early as you can and arrive by Noon so you have a good half day in Rome this day - 4 nights Rome 10/1, Transfer to Bari. Leave Rome 08:45, arrive Bari 13:02 10/1-9, Bari/Puglia/Bike Trip 10/10-15, Transfer to Naples from Bari (if you are willing to leave at 07:12 you can arrive Naples by Noon). Transfer via Circumvesuviana and to Sorrento - 5 nights Fly out of Naples if possible on the 15th. Depending on where you stay on the AC and departure hour, you may have to stay closer to Naples the last night. It might seem like along time on the AC, but you can go to Pompeii, hike the Sorrentine Peninsula, go to Naples for a day, take the AC bus to Amalfi and Positano, and maybe even have time to RELAX.

October is a great time to visit Italy! With 3 weeks you should be able to visit all the locations on your list. Where will you land and depart? That will help set the route. You also need to decide soon and get accommodations lined up. It can be busy in October. 3 nights in the Cinque Terre is sufficient. 4 nights on the Amalfi Coast, including time for Pompeii, is a good stay. 5 nights in Rome gives you sufficient time, although it is easily worth a week. That's 12 nights if you are counting. If you can share your arrival and departure points, perhaps others will join in and can be more precise on order, duration and direction of travel. Do you have exactly 7 nights before your bike trip, 7 on it, and 7 after? That degree of detail is important in itinerary planning. (At least to this anal planner. LOL!)

Oh..good idea! Here are the dates I know so far: Arrive in Italy Sept. 24th, location not yet determined. We have reservations at Hotel Covo (near Bari) for Oct 1st & 2nd where we will meet our bike group on the morning of the 3rd. The bike trip will end Oct 10th in the morning. These are the only detailsthat are nailed down, so far. So, we have from Sept 24 to Oct 1st and then from Oct 10th to the 15th. I'd love to get Siena in there, too if possible! Thanks!!

Your itinerary was making sense to me until you threw in the CT. That's way north of where you'll be on this mostly southern trip, and not particularly quick to get to (at least 6 hrs from Naples). Also, the CT experience is similar in a lot of ways to the Amalfi/Sorrento experience. If you want to expand beyond the south, I suggest buying the RS Italy 2011 book to learn about all your options and then pick the ones that most interest you.

It's a 4 hour and 11 minute one way train trip from Rome to Venazza in Cinque Terre via La Spezia on the Eurostart City. I think that's do-able. Check out this website: http://orario.trenitalia.com/b2c/nppPriceTravelSolutions.do?car=0&stazin=roma&stazout=vernazza&datag=14&datam=09&dataa=2011&timsh=07&stazin_r=Staz_DA&stazout_r=Staz_A&timsm=34&timsm_r=34&lang=en&nreq=5&channel=tcom&npag=1&lang_r=it&nreq_r=5&channel_r=tcom&npag_r=1&x=34&y=7

Allison, I was in Italy the same time period two years ago. I went out of my way to see the CT, and it rained the entire time i was there, so there was nothing to do but sit in my hotel room. Apparently fall is rainy season. So you should factor that into your plans. If you don't think an extra long train trip is worth it with the possibility of bad weather, you should do Florence/Siena or maybe Bologna instead. Siena was my favorite place in Italy, and Bologna had the BEST food I've ever tasted. I'd spend the first week in the North (Venice and Florence/Siena) and then the third week in the South (Rome and the Amalfi Coast).
Have fun!

I hope that your bike tour will include the Castallena caves and the trulli territory in/near Alberobello

Yes! It does include them! What do we think of this: 1) Siena 2) Sorrento...Naples, Amalfi Coast, Pompeii 3) Puglia..bike tour
4) Rome The question is how may days for each. I've been to Rome but must say that I felt I could have spent many more days there. This looks a little less hectic and I'll just have to come back next year for the Cinque Terre! I'm getting conflicting reports on how many days the Amalfi Coast deserves. I'm told that if we aren't shoppers (we aren't) that 2 days is plenty. Any thoughts or suggestions appreciated. Thanks for all the help thus far!

Allison: I offer a few thoughts on the AC and how much time. Assuming you stay in Sorrento. - One day for Naples; Archeological Museum, Spaccanapoli Walk, Neapolitan Pizza. See Rick Steves' guide for how to spend this day. No shopping required. - One day for Pompeii. While that is not an entire day, you also have time to see a but of Sorrento, maybe do your laundry. (Always need time to do that). - One day to Amalfi from Sorrento. Stop in Positano, too. Maybe some beach time. Fall in love here http://www.ciaoamalfi.com/. That's 3 full days of experiences without shopping. If you are outdoors people (bike trip? I think so!) then hiking is a prime activity on the Sorrentine peninsula. The Path of the Gods (Il Sentiero degli Dei) is one of many options for an active outdoors day. There are hundreds of miles of trails. See also http://www.ricksteves.com/plan/destinations/italy/amalfi.htm. I haven't even touched on Vesuvius or Capri.

Aaaah...that sounds nice. So, perhaps: Siena: 4 days Sorrento/Amalfi Coast: 3 or 4 days Puglia: 8 days (biking)
Rome: 4 or 5 days Thanks, everyone for all the suggestions...wide open for more!

My highly opinionated recommendation: 1) Siena skip it 2) Rome 1 night 3) Sorrento: Naples pizza, Amalfi Coast, Mt Vesuvius, Pompeii, Capri. 1 week approx 3) Puglia bike tour. 1 week 4) Rome, day trip Orvieto (replaces Siena) 1 week approx I would fly into Rome and spend a night getting un jet lagged. Then train Rome-Naples fast train; then train Naples-Sorrento. There is plenty to do in Sorrento for 4-5 days or more. http://www.ricksteves.com/plan/destinations/italy/amalfi.htm On the Amalfi Coast there is a hike that surpasses Big Sur. Then train Sorrento-Naples then fast train Naples-Bari. Bike tour. Bari-Rome fast train. In Rome, I would take a day trip by train to Orvieto, a beautiful hill town with a spectacular views and an even more spectacular cathedral. Additional day trips that you could do are Ostia Antica, or Tivoli. But there is plenty to do, see and eat in Rome at a leisurely pace and even in the rain. In Pugliese restaurants, you will find food that you are not likely to see in the US. Check out Ciceri e Tria; Fave e Cicoria; Orata All'Uso di Bari; Orecchiette con Cime di Rapa; Taiedda di Patate, Riso, e Cozze (my favorite); Purcedduzzi dessert. You can Google all of them to see what they are. Puglia grows wheat, wine, olives and vegies and has two coastlines, so cannot go wrong with seafood, pasta and vegies, all drizzled with olive oil and washed down with local wine. If the tour gives you a night in Lecce, and if you want to get away from the group for dinner, I can provide a suggestion. Here is a video advert for Puglia. (turn up the sound) It worked on me. I went.
http://www.viddler.com/explore/Discoverpuglia/videos/1/

i LOVED Siena. i only had one night there, but i wished i had two. with the one day i had i leisurely walked through town and saw the sights there. with a second day i would have done a day-long Tuscan wine tasting tour or something in the countryside. the food there was fantastic too. i'd go back in a heartbeat.

re my suggestion to skip Siena. It was purely logistics. I loved my four day stay in Siena, but, for me, it is not a day trip from Rome, whereas Orvieto is. Rome-Siena is a 6+ hour round trip, not including time to/from stations and waiting at stations. For me, that would leave too little time for Siena, which is a pretty big place to roam around in. Orvieto is closer and smaller.

I think you should read up on Siena and the surrounding environs to determine if it "sings" to you. It really is quite different from the south. http://www.slowtrav.com/italy/tuscany/siena_perfect_day.htm Lots of hilltowns to visit (easy by bus or rent a car for a couple of days), or daytrip to Florence. You can get to Siena quickly after arriving Rome. Take a nap on the train, check in, talk a walk, have dinner, go to bed on local Italian time and you will be over jetlag by morning. Gives you a chance to see a different part of the country without rushing your itinerary.

Thanks so much! I think I'm getting close. Can I ask...has anyone been to Siena? It sounds so lovely to me but, if it's just a big snoozer I suppose I could skip it.

Siena has admirers and detractors, like any place. We stayed there 3 nights and were glad for the experience. It was our base for an escorted day tour (Tours by Roberto, highly recomment) and another day for a self-driving tour to Monteriggioni and Volterra. There are so many places you can drive or bus to from Siena (including Florence) it is difficult to pick. With 3 nights, not going to Florence, we had plenty of time to wander around Siena. It was not terribly crowded with tourists in October, the weather was mild, some fog and overcast. It seemed like a "real" city with business people and many university students in an historic and beautiful small city. Consider this B&B if you decide on Siena http://www.anticaresidenzacicogna.it/pages_eng/presentazione.asp. Fantastic hospitality and location, perhaps a 5 minute walk from il campo.

Keep Siena. It is lovely. You can do a day trip from there to Florence or to San Gimignano - or to both (separate days) if you can bear to leave Siena.

It seems that Siena is throwing a monkey wrench in the works...for this particular trip!! I think, in the interest of (reasonably) stress-free travel we'll skip Siena and begin in Rome. The last time we were there, our teenage children were with us and we had to pare things down to meet their attention span. Now, with everyone in college in the Fall, we'll be able to travel with just the 2 of us for the first time in 21 years!! So, I think we'll do the first full week in Rome, the next 10 days in Puglia area biking with friends and then end with 4 days in Sorrento to visit Ponpeii, Amalfi, etc. What do we all think of this plan?

How wonderful Allison! Your latest plan will cut transportation time quite a bit. I hesitated to suggest a week in Rome, but it is what I would do. In fact, we are spending more than a week there later this year. You will be able to go deeper than most visitors because you will have time. I recently read a book you might like, "Rome the Second Time." They also have a blog http://romethesecondtime.blogspot.com/ that I enjoy. Get an apartment in Rome and "live local" for a week! You will have a perfect trip!

You might want to start separate threads for things in Rome: maybe "romantic dinners in Rome", "sunsets in Rome", "places to sit and people watch in Rome" or whatever. This Board can definitely get you out of the guide books. Sounds like you will have a great time.

Thank you so much, everyone! This exchange of ideas has really been helpful. I'm now so excited and relieved that we won't be rushing around. Thanks, Laurel, for the blogspot recommendtion...I'll go on to it tonight. I actually love the planning phase of a trip so...let the games begin! And, yes, terrific idea to begin a new thread for hotel and restaurant recommendations. Will do that now! Many, many thanks to all.