8 days in Italy - Suggestions

Venice/Florence/Rome/Naples high speed trains. Pompeii hire a car and driver and also go to Herculaneum while there.

Remember that 2 days for a city is only 1 night and thus less than a full day to see things. Arrive , check in, sight see, sleep, get up, pack, go to station and depart. So, you are really limiting yourself. If you can spend two nights (one full day) you might be better off, particularly in places you haven't been.

Don't forget that your first and last days in Europe are essentially wasted--getting to your hotel and to the airport. And every time you move, it's also a wasted day somewhat.
Have you thought about skipping the trip down to Naples/Pompeii and spending the time in Rome? There's just so much to see there.

I agree with the above posters...you've got too much here for too few days. I would get rid of Naples and Pompeii. You're stretched as it is with just one week and three cities.

Agree with David and Valerie. It seems to be a bit too much for the time you have. Perhaps it would be better to stay with Venice, Florence, and Rome and leave Naples for another trip. If memory serves correctly, there is (or was) a RS tour that did those three cities in 10 days.

Perhaps cut a couple of nights from London and add them to Italy; that would make your trip more feasible. Before you decide, check train timetables for travel within Italy, you may be surprised (happily or otherwise( at the time it takes from A to B.

Agree with the others, you'll be rushing from one city to the next and spending a large proportion of your time packing, unpacking, riding trains. You might do better spending the whole 2 weeks in the UK with focus on seeing your friends in London.

If you really want to include Italy, cut London short so you have at least 10 days in Italy: 3 nights in Venice (that's 2 days), 3 nights in Florence (2 days), 4 nights in Rome (3 days including a full day to see Pompeii & Herculaneum). Even this would be pretty rushed; you'll just see the highlights.

Yes, it's rushed but not terrible . . . if you are flying home from Naples. If you are traveling light and can pack/unpack efficiently. Stay near the train stations. In Venice (Santa Lucia stn), if you stay in the Dorsoduro (my fave) or around St. Mark's, it will take you too long to get to/from the station. It's easy to find a room in Florence (Santa Maria Novella stn) that's near the station (most of the sights and hotels are 15 minutes or less on foot), and there are decent places that are pretty close to Rome's Termini station. That way you won't lose a lot of time. The train rides are not long - most of the "moving time" is packing and getting to/from the train stns.

If you can add more days to Italy, all the better. If you have to fly home from Rome, then skip Pompeii. Here's the thing, once you've been to Italy, you'll go back.

Here is what your really looking at:
Day 1: Arrive in Venice at XX time, check into hotel and have X hours in the city that day
Day 2: Venice
Day 3: Train Venice to Florence (how many hours?..what time do you get into Florence, how much time left that day?)
Day 4: Florence
Day 5:Train Florence to Rome (I think this is like 1.5 hours?)
Day 6: Rome
Day 7: Train to Naples and hire a driver to take you to Pompeii-Spend the night in Naples?
Day 8: Home

So you have ONE full day in Venice, Florence and Rome...not enough time IMHO.
Start looking on the Trenetalia website to see the times the trains run for your days (just look at the day if it is too far out to see the schedule) and how much travel time your looking at, including packing, checking out of hotel, getting to the train station etc.