First time help - 12 days

I think your instinct is good. Staying in fewer places and visiting others as day trips makes a lot of sense.

However, I think some of your day trips are too ambitious. I think it might make sense to consider a third base. Instead of six nights in Bologna, I think I would do three nights each in Florence and Venice. And I think there is enough to see in those two cities that you won't have time for many day trips, if any at all. (You could maybe do a day trip to Verona from Venice, but that's about it.) If you are in Florence and feel the need to get away, you can plan a spontaneous day trip to Siena (my top choice for a day trip from Venice) or Lucca (second choice). I would eliminate any thoughts of Bologna, Pisa, and Milan.

This is just my opinion. I think whatever you decide will be okay. But I would want more than day trips to Florence and Venice.

Understand the desire to 'see as much as possible', but your schedule has 7 days ( excluding your arrival/departure days) where traveling is a significant part of the day.

If the days cannot be expanded, the number of destinations needs to shrink. Your trip looks too much like a "I was there" rather than actually being there and spending time to enjoy being there.

If nothing else, drop the idea to go to Pompeii and do Ostia Antica for the experience of the ruins of a Roman city.

"less is more", is true

I have been to Italy many times arriving at FCO. We took the bus to Rome's main train station, Termini, from the airport. Cost was 10 euros. Once at the Termini, take a taxi to your hotel, if not walkable. First ask how much before getting into the taxi. Your hotel should store your luggage, after you check in, even if it is 10am, until your room is ready. No reason to drag your luggage around and not check in. We always travel light with a carry-on and a backpack. In doing so, you have on worries shlepping big, heavy luggage on and off the train. If Bologna is your base, the travel distances to the other major cities is 4 hours round trip, too far, for too many days in a row! Not necessary! Make the wisest use of precious time. Keep train travel to a minimum. Traveling all the day trips will be tiring and rushed through the cities. Train travel time to Florence is 2 hrs from Rome. Florence, should be your base, 2 days. One day for Florence, one day for Pisa/Siena for Tuscany. Lots of hotels near the train station. Aside from Pisa, a short day trip to Siena would be great also. A wonderful small town to consider adding to your itinerary. Milan is a big city in itself, aside from their big train station! To experience true beauty, I would skip Milan and travel north to Stresa, on Lake Maggiore. Visit the 3 islands on the lake, for one day or two. All accessible by water taxi...easy! And not to be missed. It would be nice to break from the busy cities and enjoy God's country. Train travel time from Milan to Venice is up to 3 hours. Look up Rail Europe to plot the train routes from the cities, and time travel. You may want to stay in Padua as a base for Venice and Verona. Worked out great for us. After visiting the Venice area, head south to Bologna for a day. Then stay in Rome the last two days. I routed a circle for you to consider. It is not a hassle to check into 5 hotels if you travel light, and you are organized. I do understand you are thinking logistics and efficiency. Once in a city, you need time get your bearings, to absorb and take in the surroundings, and relax. Do you plan on taking tours in each city? Or will you be super organized and know where to go and what to see, before your train departs back to Bologna? Each city takes time to figure out. Your itinerary seems too rushed, stressful, tiring, and crazy, and "barely scratch the surface", for a first timer to Italy. Give yourself a chance to enjoy the time spent touring the cities, and enjoy an evening glass of wine or cappuccino. I hope I shed a realistic perspective. I consider myself a well seasoned traveler for the past 40 years, with numerous trips to everywhere, plus Europe. Do enjoy your vacation!

Have to agree with others. Way too many long day trips.

Skip Naples/Pompeii. Go to Ostia Antica instead.

Venice needs more than a day trip, you need to see it in the mornings and evenings when the day trippers are gone. Verona can be done as a day trip from Venice.

Florence also needs more than a day trip. Spend a few nights. Bologna is an easy day trip from Florence, as are Pisa and Lucca ( I know you didn't mention Lucca, but it has much more to offer than Pisa. People sometimes do the 2 cities together in one day).

Lastly, skip Milan. It is out of your way.

Agree with Charlotte's comment "Venice needs more than a day trip...". It is a truly unique and deserves several days just for it alone. Strongly suggest you skip Naples / Pompeii as it will be a looong and tiring day. Consider using three base cities. Rome, Florence, and Venice.

I understand the desire to hit a variety of places, and some people really like the 'tapas' tour pace (just a taste of a place, rather than some depth to it). If that is your style, then it could work. Others have mentioned the time involved so hopefully you are cool with some cheapy place near the train stations to minimize travel time in-city. I do wonder, however, have you considered the train costs for all those day trips? 2nd class tickets from Bologna to Florence on the fast train one way can be $30 each - or more. I understand the desire for having a home base, but I find day trips to be false economy - both of time and money. If you cannot pack light and organized, then I get it, but this just seems too ambitious and costly.

It also depends on what you like to do. If history, art or architecture is of strong interest, then 3 major cities as sleep hubs give you the option to get some depth in the iconic cities with options of a day trip or two. If you are someone who really prefers secondary cities, then use Bologna as your base, but forego Milan and Venice for the other great secondary cities only an hour or so away - Padua, Vicenza, Ravenna, Ferrara, Parma.....the list goes on.
Just for interest's sake, consider plotting your plan as is into a website like Rome2Rio for transport options, time and costs. I plotted it and your trains between all these places could be 18 hours and costs from $258 - 596Cdn, so $194 - 449US. It depends on whether you can buy tickets in advance, or if they are the super high speed trains or regional (as in slow) trains.

Your first day is likely to be spent in a fog, as you deal with the jet lag and time adjustment. I, like many, prefer to use that first day to get to the FARTHEST location in my itinerary, and work my way back to Rome (or wherever you are flying out of). This would mean taking the train from the airport to Termini station in Rome, and then a fast train to Venice, which will take approx. 3 1/2 hours ("freccia" train - book it on trenitalia.com, ahead of time to save $, or if you don't want to risk missing the pre-paid, pre-booked train if your flight is late, book your train ticket upon arrival at the airport train booth). Grab some food at Termini station to take with you on the train for lunch. You'd arrive in Venice early/mid-afternoon, all ready to check into your hotel. (One plus re. taking train to Venice vs. flying there: the train station is smack dab right on the Grand Canal; from there you can take the vaporetto to the stop closest to your hotel. The airport is another 45" of travel to the islands of Venice.) Then spend 3-4 nights in Venice, with one day a day trip to Verona, some nights in Florence (with day trips to Pisa, Siena, San Gigmignano, Milan, etc.), and then 4-5 nights in Rome (with day trip to Pompeii/Naples - which would be a VERY long day). This schedule would save you one hotel/location change, which is a good part of an entire day. You would be already in Rome, and able to leave for the airport easily on your departure morning. For your first trip to Italy, I'd drop Bologna - but that's just me.

Whew so much to take in. So on one end, I've always been enamored with Pompeii so that is one I can't skip, but the feedback regarding more hotels and skipping Milan does resonate with me. Based on the feedback, I'm strongly looking at Staying multiple nights in Venice and Florence and making some day trips from there.

I do also like the workback idea based on the amount of travel etc just to get to Italy. It seems like it could be better to immediately head to Venice after arriving since we will already be tired from the jet lag and slowly work out way back to Rome staying the last leg of our journey in Rome before flying out. That does sound like a great idea!

I just want to say I love it when this forum works so well for providing good, straightforward advice and helping a less experienced traveler figure things out.

Nadkins, you did a great job of asking your original question by providing all the necessary detail, not requiring those who replied to guess about anything. Well done all around!

It seems like it could be better to immediately head to Venice after arriving since we will already be tired from the jet lag and slowly work out way back to Rome staying the last leg of our journey in Rome before flying out.

We have done this and also advised friends to do it. It is great relaxing on the train, taking a little nap, getting to Venice about time for lunch (or you can eat on the train) and more likely that your hotel will be ready.

13 nights: 4 Venice (time for a day trip), 3 or 4 Florence (maybe a day trip but please do not waste time on Pisa), and 5 or 6 in Rome. Perfect!

Laurel - That is how I am leaning. The wife is more or less insisting on visiting Milan so I might have to include a long trip there one of the days we are staying in Florence. We did book a Scavi tour in Rome already but I'm reaching out to see if we can move it the following week so we can start in Venice and work our way back to Rome.

Lane - I agree. Most message boards are filled with quick arguing about opinions but this has been awesome! The more I plan the more I will definitely gather information straight from this website.

Why does your wife want to go to Milan? Most skip it until a later trip unless it is to see the Last Supper (advanced tickets mandatory). If it is for shopping be sure she scopes out where she might shop. Nothing there you won’t find in Rome.

"BECAUSE I WANT TO SEE IT. I'M GOING TO ITALY, I WANT TO SEE MILAN." was her reaction lol

Not a great reason for Milan. Perhaps she should read a guidebook chapter on it first.

Okay, so one has to factor in Milan. Then if you haven't bought flight tickets, consider flying into Milan and out of Rome (or Milan return). I have always generally found open jaw tickets within $100 of return tickets which to me is worth the 'returning to point A' hassle.
If you have to start in Rome, then add Milan between Venice and Florence. Maybe lesve Venice early, train to Milan, leave luggage at train luggage drop. See Milan (maybe a ho ho bus) then head on to Florence for bedtime.

Flying into Milan and out of Rome does make sense. The idea of leaving Venice early, seeing Milan during the day, and then heading on to Florence is also a good option.

The Duomo is Milan is definitely worthwhile. My mother (not Catholic; not even religious) loved it. She made it up to the roof with not-yet-diagnosed emphysema. I hadn't had Milan on our itinerary but didn't regret that stop at all. However, it's true that it takes a certain amount of time away from some other city you're visiting. There are always trade-offs.

I am booking the flight through credit card rewards. I can check if they have the option of flying in through one city and out another but I'm not sure.

I think one thing to keep in mind with recommendations though. This is our first trip and we have no clue if and when we would return. Obviously it would be in the plans to go back at some point, but we would want to make sure we see the big spots verses regretting missing Pompeii or Milano because of worry of being a little tired.

Do be careful though in scheduling yourself . We have friends who made their first trip to Italy last year. It was a hectic pace. When they got to area near Pompeii they decided they were too exhausted to enjoy it. So they did not go.

It is a balance I think between seeing lots of things and pace.

So just returned from Italy...AMAZING. We ended up staying three nights in Venice, 4 in Florence, and 7 in Rome. We took day trips to Verona, Milan, Pisa/Lucca, Amalfi, and Pompeii. Thank you for all the advice on the trip. I am glad I didn't go with using Bologna as a home base as well as the advice to go the furthest location first and work our way back as the jet lag was a bit rough.

We ended up flying in and out of Rome but day 1 we took a four hour train ride from Rome to Venice to relax some.

Day 1 - Train from Rome to Venice and a little bit of walking around Venice

Day 2- Explored Venice

Day 3 - Verona

Day 4 - Train ride to Florence and explored Florence

Day 5 - Florence

Day 6 - Pisa and Lucca

Day 7 - Milan (Only miss on the trip is we didn't get tickets in time for Last Supper)

Day 8 - Train to Rome and explored some Rome

Day 9 - Pompeii

Day 10 - Rome

Day 11 - Rome

Day 13 - Amalfi

Day 14 - Rome

Day 15 - Flew home

Some days we were exhausted so next Italy trip might be less about seeing the big sites and more about relaxation but I wouldn't change a thing. We got to see soooo much in a two week period. On to France 2021!

Nick, so glad that you all had an amazing trip! Thanks for reporting back and letting us know how your final itinerary worked out. Sounds like you ticked off 95% of what you hoped to see. Isn't this forum amazing for the really helpful info that folks share with one another? I look forward to learning about your France trip in 2021!

Day 8 - Train to Rome and explored some Rome

Day 9 - Pompeii

Day 10 - Rome

Day 11 - Rome

Day 13 - Amalfi

Day 14 - Rome

I am a bit confused about this part. Were you staying in Rome ( days 8-14) and went to Pompeii one day ( day 9) and then make another trip to Amalfi (day 13) That seems like a a lot of back and forth travel.

You are correct. We stayed the night in Rome but took a train to and from those locations. On paper I can see why it would seem like a lot but if you really think about their trains, it is an hour or so to and from so relaxing on a air conditioned train for a little over an hour really was worth not missing out on those locations

I agree that exploring an open jaw airline ticket would save you some travel time, and if booked early enough, I have found the cost to be the same as a same-city round trip. In fact, I just booked an open jaw trip for the Christmas markets, and was very happy with the price.
Just start a search on Google Flights, set up alerts, and you'll get regular price-change notifications.

I think flying into Milan is a good idea, and then out of Rome - [OR - the reverse .] You'd be coming into Milan jet lagged, stay a day or two, then onto to Venice, [ a two hour train ride]. You could then plan day trips from Venice.
Rome is pretty overwhelming, so sometimes it's advisable to acclimate to Italy initially in the smaller cities.
Just offering a few options I've tried. Have a great trip and safe travels!
PS
Don't stay in Venice in the St. Mark's Square area- it's so much nicer and more peaceful to stay a bit further away from the crowds. We really like the Cannaregio area.

So sorry- didn't read the dates of your original posts. Glad you had a great time!

No problem Pat. I just randomly came back to these boards to start looking up info on France and thought I would respond back.

When I'm wandering around these Forums, I like to Bookmark interesting posts- never know when I might be visiting that area and can use the info!

3 nights per hotel is (sort of) relaxing
2 nights per hotel is OK
1 night is only when under duress

If you do 3ish nights per hotel and just do stuff local to that hotel you will probably have more fun.

The "round trip" required for a day trip that's a long distance away is a heavy cost in time.

It wasn't though. A relaxing hour long train ride was actually fairly easy and after spending hours walking around a city, a welcome return trip.