Can I do North and South Italy in One Trip?

I have been to Italy 4 times since December 2015. The last trip was May 2018 finally to Campania/Amali Coast area . You have too many cities for 14 days and your plan uses up too much time in transit. You have to think that you will have opportunities again to go to Italy. So to answer your question: no you can not do what you are planning in the limited amount of time you have.

That said based on your interest I recommend you cut and save Amalfi Coast for another trip and just do Venice, Florence (you could include 2 nights in Cinque Terre from here) and then Rome. You should fly into Venice and fly back out of Rome.

I spent two nights in Cinque Terre. My impression is that it is more romantic in the evening after dark spot pretty quiet. I did not notice a bar scene and I was there in peak season July. I liked the hike Monterosso to Vernazza. The days are not mellow with all the tourist and groups of tour operators. Monterosso has the biggest beach. It looked kind of cheesy mostly tourists

So settle the plane ticket first and then rewrite and post your new plan with questions.

Issue #1
Have you looked at a map to see the path you outline for yourself . It makes no sense.

Fly into Venice ( Milan if the saving is substantial to offset train fare and the loss of time in getting there.) Then Florence, CT end in Rome and fly back from there.

Issue #2 -Flying from Florence to Naples has to be the biggest waste of time I have seen proposed on this forum. The train is your friend for this trip

Issue#3 Ending your trip on the AC is a bad idea. If you do decide to do Venice, Florence, AC and Rome; do it in that order. Simplifies your travels for departure back home.

I suspect 2 nights in CT would be all you would be happy with. This would leave you more time for Venice, Florence and Rome (a good thing) .

Not sure what you are reading, but if you do not have a good tour book of Italy, get one. You need to do some deeper research and narrow your focus. Right now you look like a bomb explosion, going off in all directions

A lot depends on what your expectations are regarding nightlife. Of all the places you mentioned Rome would be regarded as having some of the best nightlife but even then it's tame in comparison to much of Europe. If you compare the bar scenes to Northern Europe for example you will notice a big difference. The Italians in general prefer to eat later and not drink to get drunk so you will find the nightlife to be a bit more muted than other places. That's not to say that it's dull, it's just not so lively.

I found the evenings in Florence to be very quiet, plenty of people out eating but the bars were a bit sober. I've not experienced the nightlife in Venice or CT and my time on the Amalfi coast was spent in quiet, romantic places so I can't speak for the nightlife there however I suspect it's not that different to the other places.

Summer is going to offer a more lively scene and I can think of one place in Rome that is going to be crammed full of 20 somethings and it'll likely be more lively than most places although not as lively as when it was full of English rugby supporters! https://www.romeing.it/tree-bar/

How many nights in Italy do you have? Think nights not days. So, do you have 14 nights and 2 travel days for a total of 16? Or, do you have 12 nights with 2 travel days for a total of 14? If you have 12 nights fly into Venice. 3 nights so 2.5 days. Train to the Cinque Terre for 2 nights so 1.5 days. Train to Florence for 3 nights so again, 2.5 days. If you and your friends are not big museum people then a half day trip to someplace from Florence is possible. Maybe Pisa or Lucca? Then the last 4 nights in Rome and fly home from Rome. Not sure if the reason you are flying into Milan is due to cost. However, on a vacation like this time is money. The time you spend to get from Milan to Venice is wasted if you are not visiting Milan. Unless it is a huge savings fly into Venice out of Rome and save the Amalfi coast for another time.

I have been to Italy several times and never been South of the Naples area.

Two weeks only, I would stick with Rome, Florence and Venice.

I agree that you would do best to confine the trip to Venice-Florence/Tuscany-Rome, but if you truly have 14 nights on the ground in Italy and don't mind being rushed to see those three areas, you could consider a couple of nights in the Cinque Terre. But three important points:

• "Fairly crowded" is a gross understatement as to the situation in the Cinque Terre during day-tripping hours.

• Two of the four segments of the most popular path connecting the Cinque Terre towns have been closed for at least two years due to storm damage. I haven't seen a definitive statement promising that there will be a change in that situation between now and June 2019. There are other paths in the area, but they're higher up and will involve more climbing and descending to reach the various towns, so if you wanted to see all five towns during a short visit, you'd probably need to use the (massively crowded) train. There's also boat service, but I believe that would be too slow for much use.

• Europe has relatively few sandy beaches. Most are rocky. The sandy beaches tend to be unbelievably crowded from the American perspective. If you're going somewhere with a plan for some beach time, Google for photos.

• If you're traveling earlyish in June, I think the Italian universities will still be in session (verify this!), so I wonder if your best place for nightlife might be a major university center. Bologna comes to mind, and it's a very interesting city in its own right. There's a large historic district, and the city is known for its food. Bologna is a stop on the trains running from Venice to Florence.

Great advice above, I will only add that Rick Steves covers nightlife by city or town in his guidebooks. Investing in his Italy guidebook would be a help.

Absolutely agree with Laurel. Rick is superb in helping you maximize your time and money in the major tourist destinations. There's always useful information about logistics, avoiding the busiest times at the most popular sights, etc.

Hi there, mbloodworth11, and welcome to the forum. :O)

Some good advice above: it's best to count the number of nights versus days you'll have on the ground in Italy for a realistic measure of time you'll have to work with.

The gang here tends to run a little older than you and your travel companions so activities/sightseeing interests/styles may vary! That said, the cities will definitely offer more in the way of nightlife, and I'd take a look at neighborhoods around universities, such as maybe the San Lorenzo area of Rome, for younger crowds. You don't have to STAY in those neighborhoods, necessarily, but you get the idea? A little googling will help you zero in one some places to take a gander at.

(Editing to add: take a look at The Beehive for accommodations in Rome? Very popular with younger and even some not-so-younger travelers. Books up fast, though, so don't dawdle if it looks like a winner for ya.)

'Fraid that trying to fit the Amalfi Coast into your two weeks would be biting off too much so I'd save it for another time. Venice, Florence, Rome and a couple nights in the CT might be plenty if your 14 days includes travel to and from Italy, and you don't want to spend a big chunk of time (and $) on transport. Every move eats TIME, and more of that than you might expect. Trains are going to be your best friends: use them.

Yep, the CT is going to be PLENTY busy but the trail system is extensive so you don't have to be nailed to the popular Sentiero Azzurro - or sections of it which will be open next season, anyway - if willing to take on alternate routes. If you haven't found the website yet, it has lots of good info:

http://www.parconazionale5terre.it/Eindex.php

And here's the trails page:
http://www.parconazionale5terre.it/Esentieri-outdoor.php

As mentioned previously, there's not much for beaches but the biggest is in Monterosso (which also has the largest amount of restaurants and tourist services) and you could do some fun swimming off the rocks or piers in some of the other villages: bring water shoes!!! A paddle in that ridiculously azure water sure looked tempting.... Anyway, if you have a solid 13 nights on the ground, you might be able to give that one 3 nights without boredom (we did). Nightlife? Pretty sure you can find at least some of that in Monterosso: try Fast Bar, for example. We had some nice craft beers in the tiny garden at Cantina di Miky one night although they're not open past 10 - 10:30 or so. You can also pick up some brews/wine at a shop and enjoy them at your hotel if it has a terrace or garden.

Venice>Florence> CT> Rome makes the most linear sense: you want to be close to your airport of departure on your last night. Venice and the CT will be your two most expensive locations, and accommodations in the CT fill EARLY so you'd want to put the giddiyup on reservations if you keep it in the plan.

Guidebooks? Absolutely. For starters, hit the library and see what you can check out and then buy whichever of them suits you. Or, can trade a variety amongst your group. There's useful stuff you're going to need to know in advance, such as which attractions to buy advance tickets for, so read and then read some more. More questions? We're here! :O)

Kathy speaks da truth when she states we forum-ites run a little older than twentysomething. But...that should not mean you should discount our advice. We like adventure but for the most part are compulsive planners. That being said, we plan so we can leave room for spontaneity, if that makes sense. Having a Plan B & Plan C at the ready doesn't cost anything and comes in mighty handy when the Italians throw you a curveball, which they are wont to do.

Let's say 14 nights is the reality, not 12. I'd start by scouring Google & Kayak for the best 'open-jaw" (into one place, out of another) itinerary, into Milan, out of Rome. If you find a way-cheap roundtrip ticket into Rome, that'll work too. But we just hate backtracking like the plague!

Cinque Terre will be anything but mellow in June, with tourists worldwide descending on the Five Towns. I'd avoid it because of the human gridlock, but that's me. You youngsters may like it. So Milan to C.T., 3 nights there. Then train to Florence. Before I go any further, your foursome may do better in an apartment at any of these venues rather than two hotel rooms, so search this forum for ways to navigate the VRBO and AirBnB world. It promises to be cheaper and more fun besides.

After 3 nights in Florence, I'm heading toward Rome by train for the rest of the trip, 7-8 nights, not going any further south than that. Why not? It's the Eternal City, and has a year's amount of attractions even if you didn't want to sit back like us fuddy-duddies, people-watch, sip on an espresso or granita, and enjoy la dolce far niente, loosely translated as 'the sweetness of doing nothing'. In Rome they have it down to an art form.

Enjoy your planning!

Welcome! You've gotten some good advice above.

If you are looking for nightlife for your age group, you might consider staying in Padova (Padua) and taking the 30 minute train to Venice. You could stay late in Venice one night and then enjoy the nightlife in Padova another night.

I'm not interested in nightlife, but I liked Padua a great deal. It's not a particularly touristy city, given its many attractions and very nice historic area, which is great for wandering around. There's a lively produce market, too. I was there mid-summer, so I didn't observe things with the full student population in place. If you happen to go there and want to see the Scrovegni Chapel, be advised that you must purchase the ticket in advance. They don't sell day-of tickets.

Tough for me because I like places that have no nightlife scene
If that is really he goal the cities that are not really the biggest tourists spots are better choices for the best nightlife.

As per above recommendations the bigger university cities like Bologna, Padua are going to be better for that. Rome would be good but the others I am not sure would ; probably Milan and Verona would have good nightlife.

Venice and Florence it did not seem like a big part of either town/city.

I don't recall much nightlife on the Amalfi Coast to be honest ; Positano had 1 or 2 late night bar kind of place and Amalfi the town I envision the same.
Cinque Terre similar if not less since smaller and not really the clientele. There are bars and you will find groups going out for drinks ; but probably not many in their 20's.

To me neither the CT or AC are really ideal places for relaxing on a beach. The beaches may be nice by European standards but don't seem like great beaches compared to much of the US, the Caribbean, Mexico, etc... ; everything else about them is better than those places but for beach relaxation and water fun they are far worse.

The crowds in the Cinque Terre did not bother me like they apparently do other forum members. I think the crowds are overblown for various reasons: 1.) the small town squares often have a small area that everyone is funneled into ; those areas do no doubt get overcrowded. If you can time your day so you are not in the center square area mid day you miss much of that.
2.) There are some horror pictures online and stories as well showing trains in a state of total chaos due to the crowds.
What I suspect is the case in each of those is a train had a mechanical issue and did not run, the system when every train comes does not get super crazy crowded from what I have seen and believe but if one does not come a big backlog happens fast and the small stations lack the capacity. That can lead to an out of hand situation but is not common. 3.) I expect anywhere beautiful to be crowded at least during normal 10 AM - 7 PM hours so not bothered by crowds in general. 4.) Venice the crowds are worse in my opinion but does not hardly get the same negative crowd attitude ; I think it is because some remember how the Cinque Terre was pre-crowds. Where Venice mid day was always a zoo.
To me the crowds were Florence like in the Cinque Terre and Venice was worse than anywhere else in Italy.
Amalfi Coast is crowded too , not the same because such a larger area but the crowds disrupt your travel as the local busses (main way of transport) fill up to standing room only or no room on the bus commonly and the main coastal road backs up with bad traffic.

You don't want to take any flights within Italy ; train is always better unless you were headed to Sicily.
If you want to use your time best though, you would want to fly into one city (Venice/Milan) and out of a different one (Rome/Naples)
try to work that into the plan and you will save a day of backtracking.

Of all the places you mention Rome needs the most time and if you decide on the Amalfi Coast, that does as well.
So if you build the trip around those 2 spots and limit Florence and Venice to just seeing the highlights I think your plan can work.
Something like Rome 4 nights, Amalfi Coast 4 nights, Florence 2 nights, Venice 3 nights regardless of order if you fly into one and out of another is a doable plan as long you limit your day trips.
Biggest difference subtracting the Amalfi Coast is you would not spend 4 nights on the Cinque Terre (3 at most so gives you more time elsewhere and less travel time, may not need that open jaw flight for the plan to work, etc...)

Plenty of good advice above - so much so that there's a good chance you may not read any of it (nothing personal, just what I've observed about age and patience and TLTR).

If you read nothing else, read this:

Your proposed plan would be a terrible mistake. You can not possibly cover all of that in the time you have.
With just 14 days or less, pick no more than 3 places. Otherwise, you'll be miserable.

You're getting lots of great advice here. Pay particular attention to the timing comments. And for all the train travel, pack light.

My personal opinion is to concentrate on Venice, Florence and Rome. If you are obsessed by the CT, do it, but spend little time there. The RS Village Italy tour actually stays in Levanto where there is a sandy beach. That tour in the summer skews toward a younger crowd. One of the nights there was a street dancing party that many went to and had a blast.

I'm going to provide some links that I think may be helpful in your planning. Noodle around with them to learn how they work. These are my favorites, but there are definitely other sources you can use.

Booking.com can help you find lodging of all kinds. With 4 of you, 2 rooms will often be required. That's by law or regulation. Try to put more people in the room than you signed up for and you could be kicked out. However, you can search for 4 adults using the filters they provide. The question for me would involve 4 women trying to get ready in the morning with only one, probably tiny, bathroom.

Google Flights is good for finding flights anywhere. Use the multi-city option to look for flights into Venice and out of Rome, as many have suggested.

Trenitalia is what I use for buying train tickets, especially when I want to go on the fast Frecce trains. I love going 250kph. Buying early saves a ton of money. You can't do that this far ahead, but you can check routes and times using DB Bahn. That will give you an idea why people said it's faster to take the train from Florence to Naples than to fly.

Those were all logistical links. Right here on this RS website you can find extensive information on the cities you want to visit, as well as general information on traveling in Europe for any of you who aren't experienced travelers.

For Italy go to Explore Europe: Italy. Click on your cities under places.

For more general travel information, go to Travel Tips. Be sure to thoroughly take in the Money, Packing Light and Theft & Scams advice there.

Since you will be moving around, I cannot recommend enough going carry-on only. Besides the Packing part of Travel Tips, here are some other very useful links.

Sarah Murdoch's Packing Light and Right. This is a video. Watch and learn.

The Packing Forum is great for luggage suggestions, testimonials from travelers who advocate packing light and from those who don't. As a person who packs for a week and travels usually for 4+, you can guess which side I'm on. Remember that you gotta lug what you bring everywhere yourself.

This is long, but keep in mind that any group travels at the speed of the slowest person in it. As a group, you all will probably need to set some expectations of each other on a number of things. You don't need to be joined at the hip, but you do need to have ways to communicate with each other and to make sure everyone is okay.

...but keep in mind that any group travels at the speed of the slowest
person in it. As a group, you all will probably need to set some
expectations of each other on a number of things.

Excellent advice here from Lo, especially if your group has not traveled together before!

But something we haven't asked? What are ya'll interested in doing/seeing in Italy? Heaven knows there are more fascinating things in some of the cities being discussed than you can cover in weeks, IMHO, but if they're not fascinating for YOU then maybe a Plan B is in order?

How do u plan to fly from Florence to Naples? On a drone?
The high speed train is what you need. There are many trains, sometimes multiple per hour. All will get you to Naples in less than 3 hours.
Once in Naples, the easiest way to Sorrento is the Circumvesuviana commuter train.

If you have 4 or more nights, the Naples/Sorrentino Peninsula area is good. Cinque Terre will probably get boring to kids in their 20s after 2 full days.

Wow!!! SO much great and helpful feedback. Thank you all for taking the time to share your insights and perspectives. I am taking all of this into account and reevaluating our trip by sticking to just the Northern Region and cutting down time in Cinque Terre. For clarity, I will be traveling 2 days and only have 12 days in Italy. Also, we are flying into Milan because the flight prices were so cheap. :)
Thanks again everyone!

Can you, yes. Should you, no. I see Italy like Spain; it must be seen in a number of trips to adequately cover everything it has to offer.

Wow! Get out a map and research Trenitalia railways, this will help you get a lay of the land and how to get from point A to point B. ;) Going thru airports will eat up an entire day. Just an idea going north to south would be: Fly into Venice 3 nights 2 days, train to Monterosso (has a beach) in Cinque Terre 3 nights 2 days, train to Florence 3 nights 2 days, train to Rome 4 nights 3 days stay in hip millenial loving Trastevere near Campo de Fiori (where my 22 y.o. twins would stay). Rome to Home. Save Southern Italy for another trip. Have a great trip!

Since you still have lots of time to plan, I'll throw in my ideas to confuse things. Sorry. If you wanted to go to Cinque Terre for hiking opportunities and can cut out Rome and parts south, then how about the Dolomites? I stayed 3 nights in Bolzano and took a bus to Siusi (I think) one day and Ortesei the other to take the gondolas up the hills and do some hiking. It's stunning and there are huts in the area to get a good lunch and a drink in the middle of your hike. It was maybe 40 minutes to an hour for each bus ride, which isn't great, but not too long either. And while Bolzano isn't Milan-style nightlife, there were plenty of bars and restaurants and hanging out at night, even in October. Between Milan and Venice, you'd stop at Verona to change trains and go north.

And speaking of Milan, there's probably lots of nightlife there. It's not the village charm that people like, but if you like city life, it's a good place for it. You'll need to be there the night before you go home anyway, so maybe spend a couple nights?

You could do this: Land in Milan and go to Bolzano for 3 nights. See Otzi the Iceman in his museum, hit the bars, go hike the next morning, bars at night. That should cure any lingering jetlag, and you're young enough so will probably be fine. Do this again. Then to Venice for 3 nights. Do Venice things. Check out Venice Kayak for something different. Do a cicchetti (tapas) crawl. Do this again. Then to Florence for 3 nights. (This assume you aren't super into art because I had 4 nights in Florence and missed stuff but I'm an art nerd). Two full days will give you time to see a couple arty things and leave plenty of time for gelato. Then to Milan for 3 nights. Get as fancy as tourists can and see an opera at La Scala, then take your fancy selves to the bars. See the Last Supper. Window shop. Have a negroni. Do city things.

I think I added the nights correctly, and since I'm can't go on my next trip yet, might as well plan yours. Happy travels!

Given your age range, you might check out Rick Steves' son Andy's website - he runs a tour company that is focused on college-aged folks, including Rome and other cities in Italy. Not suggesting you do a tour, just that you could use their info for ideas.

I'd also second the suggestion that you do less and map out your travels in a more logical way. Rome2Rio can help you plot out routes and have a better appreciation of travel time and distance. If you want night life, use the Time Out website for the cities you are considering for ideas of what is available.

Bolzano has a beautiful central historic district, and it is possible to get up into the Dolomites from there by public bus and alpine lifts. However, there is a potential problem: The budget hotels in Bolzano are mostly not air-conditioned. I guess they didn't need a/c years ago. But now there is a risk of quite hot weather in the summer. I know this because I experienced it in 2015. If you want to enjoy the Dolomites, I'd recommend staying at altitude, in a place like Ortisei. That way you can be virtually certain you won't be sweltering when you'd prefer to be sleeping.

I would avoid spending too much time in transit, during a trip of two weeks. Every time you move city/hotel, it ends up taking a half-day away from your enjoyment, more if the distance is long. This includes in and out of hotels, to and from bus or train stations, waiting times once there, etc. plus the actual time in transit.
I don't think anyone has mentioned Verona, which is a small-to-mid-sized city about mid-way between Milano and Venice. Of all the cities I have visited in Italy, it best combines a beautiful ancient city with a very modern lifestyle. Certainly the streets and piazzas were hopping in the evenings with people and families young and old, plenty of restaurants, inside and outside. I'm sure there are plenty of bars and likely clubs with music. There are also various close-by day trips you can make from Verona, to Vicenza, Padova, Bologna, Lake Garda, I even went to Ravenna for a day trip, with a dinner stop in Bologna on the return. I should mention that I went to Verona twice just for day trips over the years, and did not like it very much that way, too many other day-trippers. But on my last trip, I stayed for 4 nights and ended up loving it. While there are a variety of piazzas, towers, churches and museums, the only real "highlight" site is the ancient Arena in the middle of town, still used for performances. I think the famous opera season is later in the summer than June, but there are often more modern music concerts in the Arena, not sure just when the schedule would come out.

Florence has a lot of nightlife and mostly concentrated in the 2 square mile city center. People who say otherwise must probably go to bed by 8pm like chicken hens.

In addition to the 15 million tourists who visit the same city center every year, there are numerous universities. The University of Florence, has over 50,000 students, in addition there are scores of foreign academic institutions that have branch campuses in Florence, including the European University Institute and numerous universities from the US, including: Stanford, Harvard, Syracuse, Pepperdine, California State, Florida State, Michigan State, Gonzaga, James Madison, Kent State, Washington University, Tulane, Richmond University, just to name a few. Florence has in fact more American Universities than any city in the world, including American cities.

As a matter of fact I would say that of all Italian cities, between local residents, tourists and foreign tourists Florence and Rome have probably the most vibrant nightlife in Italy. No other place can compete, except for maybe the Romagna Coast (Rimini area) but only in August.

https://www.studentsville.it/foreign-universities-in-florence-italy.html
https://www.studentsville.it/entertainment-in-florence.html
https://www.studentsville.it/pubs-bars-wineries-in-florence.html

Not to say this can't happen anywhere (because I love Florence), but daughter of a friend of mine while on college semester abroad in Florence had her phone and wallet lifted late night at a club, and another friend of hers had her drink spiked. I thought if I were a college age girl in that situation, I'd just sip on a bottle of beer and keep my thumb on top, and if I put it down, not to pick it up again.

...in addition there are scores of foreign academic institutions that
have branch campuses in Florence

Yep. Friend of mine did a stint at a Florence UNI way back in the 70's.

Many years ago my girlfriend completed her MFA in Florence after we had met while we both attended Yale School of Art. My best memory is visiting her there during her studies and again for the 2-woman show she mounted in Florence afterwards. We now both have masters in art history and fine arts degrees and will always be interested in the sites associated with those pursuits.