First time to Italy...need help!

We are in the midst of planning our trip to Italy. Just one comment, as I am novice. We are staying in air bnb in Padua, much cheaper than a hotel and good ratings. So we are looking at airbnb's in other places. the Kitchen is a plus as we can fix a lunch during the day. (only staying 2 days) Some places provide a breakfast.

not sure if you have them already but you should start by buying the plane tickets first and then work itinerary from there.
telling the forum what ports you are flying in and out of it makes easier to sort out plans

If the concert is a "must do" then I suggest it be at the beginning or the end of the trip.

Flying out of Milan at the end of trip is probably easier than trying to fly home from Venice. ( If you read the comments about flying Venice to USA, you will find most flights leave Venice at 0'dark ugly early)

If you do your concert first, flying into Milan and working your way south after seeing Venice and then out of Rome at the end of your trip is easy.

If the concert is at the end then make Milan your last stop, after working your way north from Rome.

I suggest you save Sicily ( and Pompeii) for another trip. ( It seems you live in the Portland area, so you have seen Mt St Helens, which is visually more stunning than Vesuvius, so while it is interesting, its not like you are missing something big if you forgo it this trip)

As an alternative to Pompeii, I would suggest you go to Ostia Antica, an easy day trip from Rome.

Here is a basic idea
Rome 5 nights
Florence 3 nights
Venice 3 nights
Cinque Terra 2 night
Milan 2 nights
Depending where your concert fits in will dictate your route..... straight lines and one basic direction are your friends, to give you the most time "seeing" and the least amount of time traveling

Do some research on what looks of interest to YOU and adjust the number of nights accordingly. or substitute as you like.

Thank you all for the advice/suggestions. I have not bought our plane tickets yet but will be hopefully by the end of this week. Trying to find the right airline, best price. Harder than I thought LOL I think we will fly into Rome and out of Milan. And we will look into AirBnB for sure. Thanks everyone!

vintage,

As this is your first trip abroad, my first suggestion would be to read Europe Through The Back Door as that provides a lot of good information on how to travel in Europe, and the things you'll encounter there. After that use the RS Italy guidebook to plan hotels, sightseeing, transportation, etc.

With a very short time frame of only 2.5 weeks, you won't be able to see all the places on your list. To begin with, I'd suggest dropping Sicily as you simply don't have time for that. Using open jaw flights inbound to Rome and outbound from Milan will certainly work. You could also use a slightly different approach and fly inbound to Venice and outbound from Rome. Be sure to allow for your two fight days in your planning. You'll arrive in Europe the day after you leave home, and the last day will be spent on the flight home.

What are your dates of travel and what day is your concert? With more information, it would be easier to suggest an Itinerary.

One thing to keep in mind when using AirBnB or similar services, is that it's important to choose places that are in a somewhat central location with easy access to transit.

One comment to add regarding a previous reply...... I would not recommend visiting the Cinque Terre in November. That's about the time many of the local tourist businesses start to shut down for the season. The weather may also not be the best and there's virtually nothing to do in the towns on a rainy day.

Regarding your 9 year old, you might ask him to start reading about the destinations you'll be visiting. With that and watching some of Rick's YouTube videos might reveal sights that would interest him.

Good luck with your planning!

Hi

Ken makes a useful point about CT. ( I had blanked out on just when you were going)

I looked at weather.com and for Nov 2016, the temps in Vernazza had a hi/lo range for the 1st two weeks of 70/52 to 63/48 by mid month. It showed there was one day that had rain in the entire month. Actually very similar to their records for Portland in Nov 2016 ( Given a choice I would rather be in CT in Nov than Portland or Seattle :-) )

The other issue of whats open is something you will need to research for the time you will actually be there

Thank you for more help... I have not booked travel as of yet but hoping to this weekend when I can sit down and really figure it out. The only thing I have that is a definite is a concert in Milan on Saturday, November 11th. I need to figure out if I should fly into Milan just before the concert and work my way down and fly home from Rome (it would end up on Thanksgiving weekend so I think it would be too expensive) so will probably fly out around October 30th or so into Rome and fly home from Milan a day or two after the concert.
Thoughts?

I would avoid Naples on your first trip. If you fall in love with Italy, visit on your second trip. Sicily is an entire 2 week vacation in itself. You could daytrip to Pompeii from Rome, but it will be a long trip. Maybe stay in Sorrento instead of Naples. It's beautiful.

With a 9 year old, I would think the funnest cities would be Rome (the ancient ruins), Siena and the Cinque Terre. Lots of fun fascinating things for a kid. Florence is art, museums and great food. I'm not a big fan of Florence, because I've always been there in the summer when the place is slammed with tourists. I prefer the ancient streets of Siena.

Venice is fantastic. Anyone of any age would love Venice. It too can be busy in the summer, but not so much in the late fall.

Not alot for a kid to do in Milan.
Also...with 4 people you might prefer appartments to hotels. We've had great success with Airbnb. But it requires some planning.

How about this...
Rome 3 nights,
Sorrento 3 nights
Florence or Siena for 3 nights
Cinque Tere 3 nights
Milan 2 nights
Venice 3 nights
Buon viaggo! Have a great time.

When booking flights, be sure to look at mult-destination flights not two one way flights. Into Milan and out of
Rome.

Please listen to Ken, he knows what he is talking about. Save CT for another trip when you will be traveling in a season where everything is open.

I think your 9 year old will be happiest in Venice and Rome. Pompeii is doable from Rome but a very long day. If you do it at the very beginning of your trip, you may all still be trying to get over jet lag and to see the ruins is a lot of walking on cobblestones.

The information about flying out of Venice is very important. I made the rookie mistake our first trip to Italy and planned the flights out of Venice. (Years ago I hadn't found the RS website!) Into Venice is fine and I find it's a good place to get over jet lag. Lots of walking if you choose and the vaporetto is always there for when you are tired and want to head to a different island. Your 9 year old might enjoy the glass blower demonstrations and a trip to some outer islands.

Have a Great Trip!
Mimi

I think your into Rome, out of Milan ( your latest post) is an excellent plan.

With the days you indicate for start/end dates 6 places is at least one if not two too many

Its easier to fly out of Milan than Venice. There are numerous posts about the fact most flights to the US out of Venice leave at 0'dark ugly, and creates issues of getting to the airport at 5 AM from Venice.

I'd try for something like this ...

Rome (3 or 4)
Sorrento / Amalfi Coast (4)
Florence (3 or 4)
Venice (3)
Milan (2)

If Pompeii is a high priority, see if you can fly into Naples. Then you could take the bus or private transfer from the airport to Sorrento. Spend 3 nights which gives you one easy day to get over the worst of jetlag and one full day to see Pompeii and either Herculaneum or the Naples Archaeology Museum. Staying one more night allows another day - visit the Amalfi Coast and/or Capri. Then on to Rome. From there your trip flows easily: Rome > Florence > Venice > Milan.

You could also do that if you fly into Rome, but it means a little more hassle and travel time. Another possibility is to day trip to Pompeii from Rome by train (about 2.5 hours each way). As someone suggested, Ostia Antica is a good substitute, only a short train ride from central Rome.

I was in Italy during November 2016 and had beautiful weather for the most part. It rained during our time in Florence. Venice, where it predicted the most rain, didn't have any rain at all and we had amazing sunlight. It did get dark and COLD very early in Venice. Airbnb is the best way to go. I did airbnbs everywhere except Florence due to the fact that I was only there for 2 nights and heard that hotels are much better. I am in the process of planning/booking for the summer with a family of 9. I am not getting amazing prices on airbnb like I did for November and for that reason might look into hotels for some legs of the trip. I have Venice left to book and the prices for 9 people are close to 500-800 a night. So am considering 2 smaller apartments or hotels in lui of Airbnb. Hopefully we can keep each other posted!

This is all great information and has helped immensely. Thank you all for taking your own time to help out! I feel confident that I can figure this out now. If you think of anything else, PLEASE don't hesitate to respond :)

I agree with Chani that it makes sense to fly into Naples, and stay in Sorrento for three nights. Hiring a private driver would be somewhat economical for your group of four, and would make the trip more hassle-free. I also agree with Ray that your 9-year old might like staying in Siena rather than Florence. Your 9-year old will also love the boats in Venice, so make sure you get vaporetto passes if the weather permits. And also, daily stops for gelato.

Here are a couple other things that may be of interest to a 9-year-old. Pisa can be done in an easy day trip from Florence. What kid hasn't seen pictures of the Leaning Tower of Pisa? And Bologna is between Florence and Venice. There are car museums outside of Bologna (Ferrari and Lambourghini). We're doing a day trip on our way to Venice from Florence - having a car service pick us up and drive us to the museums from the Bologna train station.

The gargoyles on top of the Milan cathedral are fascinating to anyone of any age, but would be particularly interesting to a nine-year-old.

When I was 9, I love climbing things (or taking elevators) to get way up high for the views. So, be sure to do this in Rome, Florence, and Venice, as well as the Milan cathedral.

(It is also our first time out of the United States.)

Maybe you would be better flying to Milan first for your concert and easing in to Italy than starting in the manic and overwhelming Rome. I would leave Sicily and Naples as others have said as they are to far out the way and eat a lot of time out of your trip.

Enjoy in whatever you decide to do

Okay, we have taken all thoughts and advice into consideration and have booked our flights! We will be leaving the U.S. October 30th, landing in Venice on October 31st and leaving from Rome on November 16th. We changed our concert tickets to Rome instead of Milan since that was one place that wasn't a priority anyhow and we gave ourselves a couple of extra days. Our thoughts are to spend 4 nights each in Venice, Florence, Sorrento, and Rome exploring the cities and some surrounding areas. Thank you all for your contributing factors that helped with this planning. Always open to more suggestions... :)