Can Rome to Florence to Venice to Milan be done in 8 days?

Oh and we will be there the last week of June

You can do it, although most of the relaxing your friend is looking for will be happening on trains and in train stations. Travel times are somewhat deceptive; the schedule says 2 hours by fast train to go from Florence to Venice, but its not the case that you'll be touring Florence until mid-morning and be touring Venice by lunchtime. You need to pack, check out of your hotel, get to the train station in time to get on the train, and then on arrival find a new hotel. Even with reservations you still need to find the new hotel and check in, drop off your bags, etc. which itself is easily an hour.

My personal experience is that even a 2-hour train trip really takes all your time from waking in the morning until around noon or 1pm. So your trip may consist of arrival in a city in the afternoon, the rest of that day and the next full day in the city, then repeat. If you're ok with that then the trip is doable. If it was me, I'd drop one of the cities.

June is a nice month to travel in Italy, but it means lots of other tourists will be there too. I've traveled without reservations and with them; the advantage of going without is that if you want an extra day somewhere you just do it, if you decide to move on then you can go. The price is twofold; the cheaper accomodations may be taken, and you spend your valuable time looking for a place to stay. Given the short time you have, I'd suggest reservations.

Lastly, as RS says cars are an expensive headache in major cities. Each of the places you mention is well served by rail, and a car won't work that well in Venice unless it floats :-) You don't want to be driving a car around Rome, and in Florence you may end up getting a few of the expensive traffic tickets for driving in resident-only zones (see http://www.bella-toscana.com/traffic_violations_italy.htm)

Given the cities you have selected, the key to keeping costs low is to reserve accomodations ahead of time. They best are gone well ahead of time.

Also, finding a room after you are already in Italy is time consuming and you will have very little time in each city as it stands. I think it's stressful, but others are OK with it. The compromise position is don't try it on your first trip or at least not too early in your trip.

Personally, I think your schedule is far too rushed. Too many countries in too short of a time, too many cities within Italy in far too, too short of a time. You will spend too much time and money shuttling about, too little time and money enjoying the country you traveled so far to visit.

It's hard to give you more advice since I'm unclear of why you have chosen this particular itinterary if you are intent on relaxation and night life? Maybe with a little more info others can help with that.

Holy mackerel. Not my idea of a relaxing trip, but since you've seen the major attractions and she's not interested, I suppose it would work...I'm assuming the idea is to just wander around during the day & party at night, and not worry about visiting the standards (Vatican, Uffizi, St. Mark's, etc.)

Neither am I 100% certain why you would want to run to 4 cities in 8 days if NOT to see the attractions.

As the other poster said, for the places you are going, take the train. Late June may be pushing it for going without hotel reservations, but since I don't travel at that time of year, other people probably have a better idea. You may want to have your first hotel booked so you aren't wandering around looking for a place to stay when jet-lagged.

One last note--I assume you will fly into Rome and then out of whichever city is your last stop (likely Venice or Milan). If you have to backtrack down to Rome, this schedule is even nuttier.

Does anyone have any other ideas for those first 8 days? We were also considering Barcelona/Madrid instead of Italy. I'm hoping for suggestions, we are trying to keep the costs down as much as possible.

I would definately rather go to less places and have more time in each, but this is her first time to Europe and of course she insists on the rookie idea of going to as many places as possible since she cant afford to go back anytime soon. I've taken on the planning of the trip since I'm a more experienced traveler and dont really trust anyone but myself to do this lol, so trying to compromise with as much as possible in the first week and the last 5-6 days getting an apartment and just chilling until we fly out.

one other thing - take a look at the travel guides by MTV. I know people who have used them and they say the recommendations are good, and the books are geared towards a younger audience than most other travel books.

Ah, I see the compromise now in the Italy vs. Amsterdam itinerary.

I would suggest that you tell your friend that if she can't afford to go back anytime soon then she definitely can't afford to waste the precious little time she will have in Europe by by spending all of it on trains/buses and in train stations. It will just waste money too. See if that helps. We all want to do and see more than we have the time and money for, but ultimately you have to choose.

A university/college town may have the kind of nightlife you are looking for? I'll try to remember which ones I've heard of and post later...

At a minimum drop one of these cities and you will still have a fast-moving trip. (Not sure why you picked them, so can't really advice which one.) Then fly open jaws into one of these cities-- probably Rome, then fly out of different city to Amsterdam.

The more you move, the more it costs--transportation costs, lodging costs, plus time costs. If you're trying to keep costs down, it's even more important you don't try to jam so much in.

Given the interests you've expressed, and the fact that you have already been to Rome and Florence, I actually think you would be better off to go to Spain (which is also a little bit cheaper). I haven't been myself, but it seems to be a little more focused on relaxation & nightlife, and less so on history & art, like Italy.

If you still want to do Italy, keep in mind that Florence & Venice in particular are among the most expensive destinations. Florence doesn't really strike me as having much nightlife, so unless you or your friend is interested in Renaissance art, churches, or shopping, I would cut that. Rome - Venice - Milan in 8 days is still busy but much more reasonable.

Thanks for all the replies, I'm definately considering Spain more now after what you wrote, going to research that possibility more. And thanks for the advice on how to make my case :)

I, too, back the alternative of Spain fror those eight days. Great nightlife for young people, and lots to do during the day. Accomodations are cheap...two people in a twin private in a hostel for, say $30 per person, or possibly even cheaper in a "hostal," a class of two-star hotels in Spain that are great value for money. You might also want to consider the Formule 1 and Etap hotels, from the Accor chain....modern, basic, clean, at cheap prices for two....Madrid for as low as 45 Euro per night for 2, for example.
Madrid-Barcelona is less than three hours away on the fast AVE train. By booking 62 1/2 days in advance at www.renfe.es you can get one way tickets for up to 60% off...as low as 44 Euro per person.

Hi Michelle,

Last spring, my sister, my friends and I (all girls in our 20s as well) did Sorrento-Rome-Venice-Milan in 7 days and we had a fantastic time. You really have to sit down and schedule out MUST sees and make reservations if applicable, but it can definately be done. Not very relaxing (as mentioned by others) but totally do-able.

Michelle --

There are 2 other Italy Itineraries that come to mind for me, depending on what your friend likes to do. I have done something strikingly similar to both, so know they work. These are just a couple of ideas --

If she likes history / art / food more:

Day 1-4 base city in Rome
Side trip to Pompeii on one of the days.
Day 5-7 base city in Florence
Day 8 Fly Florence to Amsterdam (FLR to AMS, 2 hrs, $200)

If she likes being outside / countryside / variety more:

Day 1-3 Rome
Day 4 morning train to Venice, afternoon in Venice, night train to Basel, Switzerland
Day 5-7 Base in Basel, side trips to Interlaken for the Alps and Freiburg for cottage-cute Germany
Day 8 Fast train Basel to Amsterdam
Day 8 Fast train Basel - Amsterdam

Were you aware that Venice has virtually no nightlife? The city starts pretty much shutting down by 10 pm. You might have more fun doing Rome - Florence - Bologna - Milan and bypass Venice altogether. You'll find much more nightlife in Bologna than in Venice (it's a HUUGE university town) and you'll save yourself a good chunk of traveling.

Hi Michelle, On the RS home page there is a blog site which includes Jackie Steves's (Rick's daughter's) blog on Spain and Portugal in summer 2009. You might find her insights helpful in planning the Spain part of your itinerary. Best of luck on planning a wonderful trip.

Thanks all! We've decided to fly into Madrid and do 3 nights there and 4 nights in Barcelona before flying out to Amsterdam. Guess its time to check out the Spain forums now!