8 days in Italy - guidance

Hello Shelby,

Given your time and the time of year I would say that Florence is probably the only realistic option from your list. The season is a bit early for CT and the time and travel involved to get to the either coast location is, in my opinion, too much to achieve and then back track and repeat to get to the next city.

If you go Venice > Rome then Sorrento might be doable - probably about 3 hours from Rome with a change in Naples - and then repeat those three hours to get back to Rome. If you want to stay in an actual Amalfi coast town add several more hours to that trip time.

The elephant in the room is that 8 nights is probably only long enough for 2 destinations realistically and adding a 3rd should be a considered process. Eight nights is 7 days and you have - I'm assuming - 2 flight days in that schedule and that is very tight. You will pass through Florence travelling between Venice and Rome so you can certainly add it. But keep in mind 2 nights in a location is only one full day on the ground with travel days on either side.
3 nights Venice
2 nights Florence
3 nights Rome
Seems like a reasonable schedule on paper but the actual time in each of these places I think will feel extremely short when you are actually there. Both Florence and Rome have enough world class sights to easily fill a week each so narrowing it down can be difficult.

I recommend a making a list of each day, marking off days you'll be traveling by train or airport and then adding your "must see/do" things in the full days you have and see what you can realistically get done. If you are fine with a few activities and then a brief overview of the rest of the city then I recommend Rome, Florence, Venice probably in that order which is from most to least hectic.

Italy is amazing, plan a great trip and then take it!
=Tod

Thanks for the reply! I should clarify - my husband and I traveled to Rome and the Amalfi Coast (stayed in Positano) for our honeymoon, so we're familiar with those areas/cities, sites, and transfer times. We'd like to take our daughter to Rome in particular (she just studied the Roman Empire extensively in school).

We will have 8 full days on the ground - arriving early on March 29 and leaving on April 6. Granted, March 29 will be gnarly after the overnight flight, but we've done a good bit in that first day on our past trips to Europe.

I agree with Todd. Of the three other locations, Florence is the only viable option. Amalfi coast would chew up a lot of time coming and going. Sure, CT is pretty at sunset but there's very little to actually see and do beyond that. Plus, cruise ship day trippers has made it very crowded and unpleasant during the day.

When you say 8 days, does that include arrival and departure? If so, you really only have 6 days. I don't know if your heart is set on Venice, but factor in it takes 4 hours to reach Venice from Rome and just 1 1/2 hours to reach Florence from Rome via high speed train. If you did open jaw, flying into Venice and out of Rome it would give you some extra time.

Again, as Todd said, sit down and write out a day by day itinerary. I think you'll be surprised at how little time you have.

I understand that you have to travel during spring break, but be forewarned that Italy will be very crowded that week, and that some businesses will be closed Easter Sunday and Monday. The sites should be open, however , and clogged with everyone else on spring break. We tried this once.
I agree that open jar for flying would be advisable, such as flying into Venice and out of Rome. How many nights will you actually be on the ground? If you could add a day or two it would be helpful.
I'd give up on CT and the Amalfi Coast . We just returned from AC and had so much unseasonable rain, and the area doesn't offer much to do in bad weather, and early April is will be prone to rain. Plus, I can't imagine fighting with the congestion in the AC during spring break.
Have a great family trip.

@Shleby - That's good background information and it does make things more doable.

I think the classic Rome > Florence > Venice "big three" trip is a classic for a reason and it would be my default recommendation but only you can determine what's most important to you because it's your trip. Given your connection to Amalfi I see the appeal, but I'd check the ferry schedule from Sorrento in early season and decide if the time is worth it or maybe stay in Sorrento and day trip to Amalfi towns to reminisce and share it with your daughter.

If I can throw a curve ball suggestion in there I would think about Verona as a possible third city. Old town Verona is charming and genteel but it also has a preserved Roman Arena, original Roman gates, Roman theater with a good archaeological museum which might interest your Roman empire focused daughter. It is a poor relation to Roman ruins of course, but if you're looking for a couple of days somewhere calmer than Florence and close to Venice with a Roman focus it's a thought.

Don't shortchange Venice, it's a unique and magical place.

Have a great trip,
=Tod

Fly into Venice and out of Rome. I’ve been to Venice in late March and had one afternoon of torrential rain but pleasantly warm rest of the time. Of course who knows what weather will do these days….
With the short amount of time you have, I’d stick to just Venice and Rome. The CT is too far out of your way, and a lot of the trails may still be closed and the ferries between towns not running yet.

While in Rome consider a trip to Ostia Antica, an extensive Roman city just outside of Rome. It was the ancient port for Rome and will give your daughter an insight as to how the everyday Romans lived and worked. It’s a short and easy journey from Rome by train. There is an excellent website ostiaantica.beniculturali.it with photos, maps and all the info you need for a visit.

CT is OK, but I liked the Amalfi Coast a lot more.

With 8 days, I would stick with Florence, perhaps a day trip to Siena, another day trip to Lucca and Pisa. Another option is to do Venice, it is not to be missed. Our kids just loved Venice.

With just 8 nights on the ground and wanting to include Venice and Rome the most reasonable/practical addition would be Florence- as it's on the way and doesn't really add more travel time.
Both CT and AC require a lot of travel time that will take at least a half day either way. Weather, time of year and crowds will be an issue in both locations.

Fly into Venice, out of Rome
Venice 2 or 3, Florence 2 or 3, Rome 3 or 4

If you can fly in to Venice- out of Naples-- then AC (better to stay in Sorrento)- might work but it's going to be a lot of train travel overall.
If you fly home from Naples you'll likely need to stay in Naples the night before departure so that takes 1 night away from AC right there.

If you don't want a big city in between Venice and Florence then Verona is a great suggestion, another would be Orvieto- nice small town break between 2 hectic places.

Technically you have "8 days" but the first day is really only a partial jet lag fog of a day. I think your mindset should be "7 days plus a part day", for planning purposes.

With Venice and Rome your priorities, getting to CT or AC will eat up an inordinate amount of your limited time

Your trip, so your choice

Thanks for the reply! I should clarify - my husband and I traveled to Rome and the Amalfi Coast (stayed in Positano) for our honeymoon, so we're familiar with those areas/cities, sites, and transfer times.

That was an important bit of information that would have been helpful in the original post. Lots of folks come here who have never traveled abroad and have no perspective. Nothing in your OP indicated you'd been to Italy before. I would have modified my response if I had that information.

I second the ideas of a smaller town. Orvieto would be my first choice, for something very different from both Rome and Venice. Its very quiet, but we had 2 nights there and could have found more to do with a 3rd. Has a fun funicular to take up from the train station, tons of little restaurants, beautiful church and you can also hike all the way around the hill town.

I was also going to suggest Orvieto.

I'd skip Florence with a 12 YO. The main deal in Florence are the art museums. Take those out, nothing much work visiting.

I'd also consider Siena. It's a really nice little town and gives the flavor of the hill towns of Tuscany and Umbria.

Another plausible stop might be Assisi.

I heartily endorse Lesley's recommendation for Ostia Antica while visiting Rome. It's a "must see" for anyone interested in Roman history.