First time Italy Itinerary

You are planning way to much in such a short amount of time. With only 10, including travel days I assume, you should stick with 2 cities and maybe one day trip. I would suggest Rome and Florence with a day trip to Pompeii. Leave the Cinque Terre and Tuscany areas for a future trip when you have more time. I would split the 10 days with 4 in Florence and 6 in Rome. Donna

Sam, As Donna mentioned, your proposal is FAR too ambitious for the time you have available. You're planning to visit five locations in 10-days is an average of two days each, with no allowances for travel times between them. Each time you change location, you'll need to allow at least four hours. Therefore, you have two logical choices: > Increase the time of your trip. > Drop some of the destinations you have listed. If this is your first trip to Europe, I'd highly recommend reading Europe Through The Back Door before you get too far in your planning. It provides a lot of good information on "how" to travel in Europe. The Italy Guidebook would also be a good resource to check. As you're "young, college age guys", you may be able to find the books in your local Library. I'd suggest using open-jaw flights, perhaps inbound Milan and outbound Rome. Keep in mind that you'll need to allow a day on either end of your trip for travel. You'll arrive in Europe the day AFTER you depart the U.S. It is possible to visit Pompeii on a day trip from Rome, but it will be a LONG day. It's difficult to suggest "How many nights" in each location, as there's not much time to work with. Good luck with your planning!

Some colleges send small study groups to Rome and to Florence for a semester. If your college has groups in those cities you should definitely ask past and present members for tips. Sometimes, the students in such groups put up a Facebook page for the group. Reading some of those might give you a sense of what they liked, where they ate, hung out etc; and you could post a question asking for tips; and maybe try to contact the members directly on FB. My first trip to Italy was to Rome, while in college. I did not return to Italy for many years and, when I did, it was to Rome. My introduction to Rome as a 19 year old was an utterly different experience (in every way) than my re-introduction to Rome as a 40 something. fyi during my most recent visit to Florence, every night around 2 a.m. I was awakened by groups of college aged folks down in the street wending their ways back to their rooms after the bars closed. You might want to find those bars.

My rule of thumb is that you have to spend at least two nights somewhere before you can begin to appreciate it. You need to recalculate based on the advice given by the posters above. Also, do look at a map (or use Google maps) to see the distances between these places. It's farther than you think. Try to maximize the time in each place, and minimize the time traveling between them. Have a great time.

For a 10 day trip I would omit Pompeii. Stay in Florence longer and visit one or two towns in Tuscany from there. Rome deserves a minimum of 3 nights. If you want to hike, go to the Cinque Terre. Otherwise, spend more time in Florence or Rome.

OK, I know college age people like to move faster than many of us, but as others have pointed out, this is a bit fast. You'll have no time to develop a sense of each place if you try to do it all. I'd suggest staying in no more than 3 different places in 10 days. Are you really into art? If so, Florence is a good pick. If you are not totally into museums, consider Siena as a base in Tuscany instead of Florence. It is very much a young people's town, and less congested. The Cinque Terre is quite far out of the way for such a short trip. If you can stretch your 10 days to 14, then you can add in the CT for 2 or 3 nights. For 9 nights consider the following and fly open jaw to save time: Day 1 - Arrive Milan, transfer to Siena; Sleep Siena Day 2 - Siena, possible daytrip to Volterra, Cortona or other hilltowns of interest; Sleep Siena Day 3 - Daytrip to Florence (via bus); Sleep Siena (You can also make these 3 nights Florence as an alternative) Day 4 - Train to Naples then on to Sorrento; Sleep Sorrento (Get your beach/ocean fix here) Day 5 - Sorrento/Pompeii; Sleep Sorrento Day 6 - Amalfi Coast/Hike the Sentiero Degli Dei; Sleep Sorrento Day 7 - Trains to Rome; leave early so you can arrive by Noon Day 8 - Rome Day 9 - Rome Day 10 - Rome
Day 11 - Depart from Rome If you can carve out 3 more nights, then by all means add one more location, like the Cinque Terre or a Tuscan hilltown, or add nights to one of the three places above. You can do some great hiking on the Sorrentine Peninsula, by the way.

I agree with Laurel, but I'd fly in to Florence for a stay in Siena.

Yes, fly to Florence if the schedule and price work out for you. But if you can get a good deal to Milan, take it; the train to Florence is only 53 euros, so if you can save $200 flying into Milan, it's worth it.

thanks everyone! I think we'll cut out Pompeii and the CT. Both of us enjoy art but aren't enthusiasts. We'd like to see the main things in Florence and get out of there. How many days should we spend there? We'd rather spend more time up in the smaller towns...

This was the first half of my most recent Italian trip, it might work for you if you are able to get the open jaw tickets. My wife isn't into art either so she was satisfied with Florence as a day trip from Siena. Personally, I could spend days and days in Florence. Il Campo also provided an excellent relaxation point after a day trip and Siena doesn't require a full day of sightseeing for itself. With plenty of bus options, it's perfect Tuscan home base in my opinion. Day 1: Land in Milan to CT Day 2: CT Day 3: CT to Pisa to Siena Day 4: day trip to Florence Day 5: day trip to hill town of your choice Day 6: Siena to Rome Day 7: Rome Day 8: Rome Day 9: Rome
Day 10: Fly home

Since you aren't looking for art so much, Siena makes more sense than Florence. You can do a day trip to Florence - there are some pretty amazing art works worth seeing. Cinque Terra is so lovely, tiny villages clinging to the steep, rugged coast. Nice beaches during the day and lots of "Italian atmosphere" in the evenings. I'd keep that on my itinerary. Instead of a day trip to Pompeii, consider going to Ostia Antica. It is closer to Rome - it used to be the Roman harbor - a couple thousand years ago.