We are in the process of planning a trip to Italy (my husband and I's first time to Italy!) and we'd like some advice about our itinerary. Our plan is Venice, Florence and Rome in about 8.5 days realistically with our air travel. It will be late May of this year.
Here's a quick rundown of our goals and current expectations:
We are going to have some romantic, alone time exploring a new country after having our first child.
We are okay being busy and sightseeing, we're active people, but we don't want to feel over the top rushed ...
We have been told that more time could be devoted to Florence, and definitely Rome, but we wanted to at least see the "bigger 3" on our first trip since we aren't sure when or if we'll be back. And this is all the time we could get away for so we're making due with what we have.
Our original itinerary was 2 days in Venice, 4 in Florence (with the idea that we'd spend 2 of those days doing day trips outside of Florence) and 2.5 in Rome. After asking people who have gone to Italy and reading some other forums, we aren't so sure anymore.
We are wondering if we should:
-Drop a day from Florence and add a day to Rome. So 3 days in Florence, 3 days in Rome. If we see what we want in 2 days in Florence, maybe we'll do a day to Lucca or Siena. Keeping it mostly touristy and sightseeing. But allowing more time to see the sights.
-Keep Rome at a busy and well planned out 2 days, and spend a solid 2 days somewhere in the surrounding countryside or oceanside near Florence. Possibly allowing us to build in some beach/pool time or lazy winery hours. But making Rome (and Florence) busy and packed tight.
-(if we did option 2, then our question is Cinque Terre for beaches and hiking or wineries and small towns in Tuscany. We know that Cinque Terre is very crowded and touristy, we're okay with that, we love to hike. But we also love the idea of renting a car and exploring the smaller towns and estates in the country and staying at a B&B).
Now - I fully understand that these questions are completely subjective and that ultimately we should choose what we feel we'd like best. However, I just wanted to throw the questions out there to people who have been to these places before to hear what advice or opinions they may have in case anything sparks something for us.
Thank you!!