First time in Italy, Itinerary advice please

Kameel71, I'm a little concerned that you only plan to sleep 6 out of 16 days, but, while it seems a little rushed it's doable. You have a couple of long travel days, so your time in Venice and Florence will be brief. Still, you can get a sample of Italy with your itinerary. For myself, I would choose either Cinque Terre or Sorrento for a relatively short trip.

Are planning to actually see anything in Milan? If not, you can easily train to Venice on that first day. The travel day between Venice and CT is VERY long so that wont leave much time for CT with only 2 nights. Better to break it up by visiting Florence in between. So Milan to Venice, Florence, CT, Sorrento, Rome might be better. Overall, Id say you are trying to do/see a lot with very little time. Too many one & two nighters, and too much time spent on a train in between.

There is really no reason to see both CT and the Amalfi Coast in the same trip. I'd pick one, and add the extra nights to your other destinations.

Okay, I've broken it down

fly into MIlan
Next day train to Venice- half the day gone ( 2.5 hour train ride)
Venice - full day
Next day train to CT- most of the day gone (6 hour train ride)
CT- full day
train to Florence- half the day gone (2.5 hour train ride)
Florence- full day
train to Sorrento- most of the day gone (3 hours train ride to Naples, half hour for next train, 1 hour to Sorrento)
Sorrento- 2 full nights
train to Rome- half the day gone (1hour train to Naples, half hour for next train, 1.5 hours to Rome)
Rome- 3 nights

That's too much travel for me without any pay off. I doubt you can see more than 3 sites in each location with the single day you have planned for each. You only have 14 days and yet you're planning on visiting 6 different cities that span the length of the country. This is too much and should be pared way back.

Donna

HI Everyone

Thank you so much for your recommendations, this really help. If I drop Cinque Terre I will have two extra days and skip the rush, where should I spend more time on Venice, Florence or Rome ?

Thank you :-)

Give one more night each to Venice and Florence.

Well, since you only have one full day in each Florence and Venice is would probably be best to add them there but to be sure you really should make a list of what you want to see and do for each city. This way you'll be able to tell how long you really need. You may only need one full day in Venice or you might find that you need three. The only way to know for certain is to make that list.

donna

kamee,

There are many ways you could arrange this Itinerary, but I'd suggest a slightly more efficient order. Would something like this work....

• Sept. 11 - Flight to Italy
• Sept. 12 - Arrive Milan - travel directly to Cinque Terre (which of the five towns are you planning to stay in?)
• Sept. 13 - C.T. (three nights here would be good to allow you some time to get over jet lag, and this would be a great area to do that - where are you travelling from?)
• Sept. 14 - C.T.
• Sept. 15 - Train to Florence (your destination station will be Firenze SMN) (time ~2.5 - 3 hours)
• Sept. 16 - Florence (you could take a day trip to Siena, Pisa OR Lucca if desired)
• Sept. 17 - Florence
• Sept. 18 - Early train to Venice (your destination station will be Venezia S. Lucia)
• Sept. 19 - Venice
• Sept. 20 - Train to Naples and Sorrento (your destination station will be Napoli Centrale) (time ~5 - 5.5 hours)
• Sept. 21 - Sorrento
• Sept. 22 - Sorrento
• Sept. 23 - Train to Naples and Rome (your destination station will be Roma Termini) (time ~2.5 hours)
• Sept. 24 - Rome
• Sept. 25 - Rome
• Sept. 26 - Flight home

There are some potentially expensive "caveats" to be aware of when using trains and other public transit in Italy, which includes the Leonardo Express from Rome to FCO airport. You can do a search here or post another note if you need further information. Getting to Sorrento will involve a train change in Naples to the Circumvesuviana.

For travel this September, I would highly recommend getting hotel bookings ASAP (especially for the Cinque Terre). If you haven't yet chosen a town, I'd suggest starting in Monterosso as it's the largest of the five and therefore has the greatest number of hotels and other amenities.

I would recommend flying into Venice instead of Milan. Instead of airport transfers and riding a train, you're in Venice for an extra half day. I also recommend skipping Sorrento if you're going to Cinque Terre.

You say that you're "fast travelers". Italy is all about s-l-o-w-i-n-g down & experiencing the towns, the culture. A dinner will be a memorable experience instead of a quick meal. So, pick a few places and really spend the time enjoying being in Italy vs. checking off locations every 2 days.

Base on the excellent recommendation here is what I have so far:

Day 1 9/11/2014 Thursday Fly To Italy
Day 2 9/12/2014 Friday Arrive Milan - Sleep
Day 3 9/13/2014 Saturday Milan to Venice Sleep
Day 4 9/14/2014 Sunday Venice Sleep
Day 5 9/15/2014 Monday Venice Sleep
Day 6 9/16/2014 Tuesday Venice to Florence Sleep
Day 7 9/17/2014 Wednesday Florence Sleep
Day 8 9/18/2014 Thursday Florence Sleep
Day 9 9/19/2014 Friday Florence to Sorrento Sleep
Day 10 9/20/2014 Saturday Sorrento Sleep
Day 11 9/21/2014 Sunday Sorrento Sleep
Day 12 9/22/2014 Monday Sorrento to Rome Sleep
Day 13 9/23/2014 Tuesday Rome Sleep
Day 14 9/24/2014 Wednesday Rome Sleep
Day 15 9/25/2014 Thursday Rome Sleep
Day 16 9/26/2014 Friday fly back home

Will also use the home base location to explore areas around like:

• Florence: Pissa, Siena
• Sorrento: Naples, Pompeii

FYI, Planning to have a day tours at each city to maximized the experience :-)

Hey - I'll be in Venice (for the 4th time) the 13, 14 and 15 - maybe I'll wave when we pass by! :)

HI Nicole

I'm sure we could run into each other in the small lagoon, notice you are from Miami, I'm from Orlando FL. :-)

Nope - I'm from Nova Scotia Canada!

Thanks, all. Good luck to Kameel and Nicole seeing each other in Venice ;-)

I'll be the one out at 6am at St Marks Sq with my mom in tow to get some amazing pics! I cannot recommend enough (if you stay in Venice proper) to get up and go out by 7am - even for an hour - worry about breakfast when you get back. There is nothing like seeing St Marks with maybe a dozen people in it. To stand on the bridge facing the Bridge of Sighs and not have to fight the crowds for a view and photo. To stand on Rialto Bridge with maybe 3 other die hard photographers. When you go to these spots even by 9-10am, they are already getting crowded. Do yourself a favour and get out early at least one morning. I'm glad my mom is an early riser, since it's horrible trying to get hubby out of bed before 8am...lol. I will give him props - I got him out at 6:30 last time, and tho he grumped, he said later he was glad he went out...