First time to Italy: Prosposed 3 week itinerary help

I'll answer your last question. Unless you're one of those "gotta see it to check it off my list" people, it's way too much to cram into those three weeks. Three night in Siena while cramming in four day trips is nuts. When are you going to see and enjoy Siena?

Also, I would suggest you re-do your itinerary in terms of how many nights in each place, as # of days is too confusing. Try to stay a minimum of 2 nights per place, with 3 nights being 100 times better. Remember to factor in jet lag, so your first destination is going to suffer no matter where it is.

Good luck.

Thanks for your input! Tuscan towns were just ideas- we don't plan to see 4 Tuscan towns in 2 days. Probably Siena one day, and 2 others? Still early in the planning process so I appreciate your advice.

Day 1-2: Venice ( Venice 2 nights)
Day 3-5: CT (CT 2 nights)
Day 6: Lucca (Pisa is meh) on way to Florence (Florence 1 nights)
Day 7-8: Florence (Rent car)
Day 9-11: I would just go to Sam Giamgiano/MOntelcino/Montepulciano and stay a night in each then take off.
Day 12-14: (Dump Car here)Sorrento with visits to Pompeii/Capri (Sorrento 3 nights)
Rent scooter/take bus ride Amalfi Coast, to Positano/Amalfi/Ravello...etc.

Train back to Rome

Day 15-18: Rome (4 nights)
Day 19: home

Many comments. Happy to see into Venice and out of Rome.

The first time we came to Italy we had three weeks and stayed in 6 places and it was too much too fast. You have 18 nights. Your itinerary and morvegil's ideas are too much too fast. SLOW DOWN. You are not giving any location (except the Cinque Terre) enough time. You only need a car for touring Tuscany, not to get from Florence to Siena nor to Sorrento. A car to Sorrento is a hassle and frustrating, IMO. Trains from Florence to Naples are FAST.

My suggestions for a more quality tour:

Venice - 3 nights. Get over jet lag and spend two FULL days in this miraculous city. Go to Florence next. It is a better routing. Skip Pisa and the CInque Terre. (Or skip Sorrento.)

Florence - 4 nights without a car to see Florence and take a day trip by bus or train to Siena, then rent a car for two or three days and go to

a Tuscan hill town like Montalcino - 3 nights. Drive to Pienza and Montepulciano. See the abbey at Sant'Antimo. Drop the car back in Florence and take the train(s) to

Sorrento - 4 nights. See Capri if you must, certainly Pompeii, maybe Herculaneum, and spend some time in Sorrento. Every trip this long needs some quiet time with no day trips or big events. (Alternatively, add in the Cinque Terre and skip Sorrento, and add another night in Tuscany)

Roma - 4 nights. There is SO MUCH in Roma, this is a short stay, but it will give you enough time for the big sites.

Your train routes would be:

High speed train from Venice to Florence

Florence to Sorrento via Roma and Napoli on high speed trains then Circumvesuviana to Sorrento

Sorrento to Roma on Circumvesuviana to Napoli and high speed train to Roma

Try Gemut.com for a car rental. I have not found anyone that can beat them.

I think you can do most of what you want in 3 weeks, with some tweaking. 2 nights for Venice will give you, at most, a day and a half, depending on your arrival time, - - with jet lag. Not enough. I'd cut a night from CT and add it to Venice, but then I'm not a fan of the CT. Imo, Venice is a world class site for history and art; the CT, some pretty but insignificant villages. Italy has many beautiful seaside towns, including those of the Amalfi Coast. Since you want to visit Sorrento, you'll be really close to them.

One thing you should do is to figure out transportation times between your destinations. Driving between Venice and CT might be cumbersome, and parking is likely to be a problem. If you want to give Siena, itself, just a day, it might be better to do it from Florence than change hotels. You can see as many Tuscan towns from Florence as you'll have time for and save the hassle of moving to another town. Florence (or Siena) to Sorrento is a long drive. A car is obviously useless for getting to Capri, and Pompeii is easily reached on the Circumvesuviana from Sorrento.
My proposed new itinerary for you is:

Venice 3 nights
Florence 6 nights, with 1 day for Siena, and 2 or 3 days for Tuscan hill towns
Sorrento 5 nights, with 1 or 2 days for the Amalfi Coast, 1 day for Capri, and 1 day for Pompeii
Rome 4 or 5 nights

We always check on AutoEurope.com and/or Kemwel for car rental, and almost always wind up renting through them. They'll show you lots of options, along with prices. You can look on viamichelin.com for driving times. Their figures are for the best of all possible worlds. In reality, you'll need up to 25% more time.

Thank you for your responses! I will definitely look into travel time as I don't want to spend our whole vacation in a car or train. Would you recommend CT or Sorrento if I were to take out a destination?

Why not fly into or out of Naples. You could fly into Naples see Sorrento then move north to Rome, Florence Cinque Terre and end in Venice or reverse it. Fly into venice and out of Naples with Sorrento your last stop. Just a thought.

I did something very similar in 2013 except instead of Sorrento and Capri that you put, we did Lake Como but only 2 nights. I didn't mind the traveling every 2nd-3rd day as that trip i wanted to see the most that I could and we enjoyed it. It's personal preference, if you don't mind changing hotels just when you start to get familar with one city go for it.

As fas as the car in Tuscany it would depend on what town you want to visit. From florence or Siena you can easily Bus to San Gimignano (Direct) or Train to Orvieto. If you want to see Pienza, Montepulciano and Chianti and some wineries it's best to have the car.

I never thought of flying in/out of Naples. I'm going to look into the train schedule and see what's feasible. We don't mind going town to town as long as we can have a few stops in between to catch our breath. So much to see and such little time!

Similar to Laurel's excellent suggestion. I think you get better value from your time choosing the Amalfi Coast (with the diverse sightseeing options) over Cinque Terre.

Venice - 3 nights
Florence - 3 nights with day trip to Pisa + Lucca (??)
Pick up hire car
Siena - 2 nights with day trip to San Gimignano (??)
Tuscan hill town like Montalcino - 2 nights with day trip to Pienza + Montepulciano
Return the hire car
Sorrento - 4 nights with day trips to Capri, Pompeii, Positano, Naples (??)
Roma - 4 nights

"Try Gemut.com for a car rental. I have not found anyone that can beat them. "

While you certainly should look at Gemut, I got a MUCH better rate in 2014 from Kemwel. You should also look at AutoEurope as well as the individual rental companies (Sixt, Europcar, Hertz, Avis, etc).

I'm going to be contrarian and tell you your original itinerary is fine and do-able but whatever you do, do not cut out a destination if you have interest in visiting.

If you look at Rick Steves' best three-week trip at the front of his Italy book, only twice does he stay in any place longer than two nights (three in Sorrento and three in Rome). And when compared to your itinerary, you aren't even going to Milan, the Lakes, Dolomites or Assisi. So you're actually going at a slower pace.

There are two ways of thinking. There's the gotta see it all in my limited time option. Or try to slow down and immerse yourself in each destination. The problem is that this is your first trip and you truly won't know what you like and don't like because you haven't experienced it yet. You may love Florence and hate Venice. Or vice versa. So I don't think there's anything wrong with trying to cram everything you have in. If you decide you love a destination, you can always come back.

Twelve years ago, my wife and I took our then nine-year-old on a two-and-a-half week Italy trip that hit all of your spots and also included Lake Como. We still consider that the best trip we've ever taken. There's so much to see in this beautiful country. You certainly want to experience La Dolce Vita, but there's nothing wrong with being on the go to see everything you want to see too.

Thank you for all your input and suggestions! I am going to sit down, and look at train maps and see what looks feasible. I did look at Rick Steve's 3 week trip, and it seemed do-able...on a map! I've gotten some poor reviews on Sorrento/Naples, but everyone on this thread has recommended it, so I'm going to go with you who have actually gone and visited these sites :) Thanks again! I have a lot of planning to do!

First be honest with yourselves about your travel style. Are you eager to move on quickly from place to place? Or will you leave with regrets? Are you well-organized? (pack quickly, know where you want to go, have the info ready, good sense of direction). Or will you need extra hours to get yourselves together? How's your stamina? Will you be bored if you plan a "quiet" day in the middle or will you be tired and cranky because you don't have a day to relax? Italy is hot in the summer. Is that going to sap your energy?

What you are proposing is fine if that's your style. You'll get a good introduction to Italy, seeing diverse places and their highlights. Most of us on the forum want a slower pace with time to linger over a beautiful painting or glass of wine at sunset and maybe to happen on a back door or two.

Use trenitalia.com to see train schedules and journey times. Remember that you have to get from your hotel to the train station with enough time to find your train, then you have to get from the train to your new hotel to drop your bags. In Venice it can easily take an hour to get to the train station. In Florence it may only be a 10 minute walk. Use viamichelin.com to estimate driving times. Note that they are optimum times, without pit stops, traffic delays (being stuck behind a slow truck), looking for parking, etc. For the CT, it depends on which town you stay in. You will probably need to take the local train to connect to a main line. The trains can be very crowded with day-trippers so if the CT stays in your itinerary, come back and ask about that. To get to Sorrento, the best way is by local Circumvesuviana train from Naples. The train takes 1 to 1.25 hours, runs about every 1/2 hour.

Lots of good ideas so far, but my suggestions are a bit different. Perhaps something like this would work......

• D1 - Depart Seattle
• D2/N1 - Arrive Venice; Alilaguna (boat) from airport to Venice; jet lag recovery
• D3/N2 - Venice
• D4/N3 - Venice
• D5/N1 - Train to Florence (via high speed Freccia or Italo trains - for travel by train you'll need to know specific stations you'll be going to using their Italian names, as most cities have more than one station).
• D6/N2 - Florence
• D7/N2 - Florence
• D8/N1 - Trains to Cinque Terre (which of the five towns are you planning to stay in?); skip Pisa unless you really want to see it, as you'll be hauling luggage so it will be a bit awkward, although there is a left luggage office at Pisa Centrale)
• D9/N2 - Cinque Terre
• D10/N3 - Cinque Terre
• D11/N1 - Trains to Siena (take Taxi from Siena station to town)
• D12/N2 - Siena (use hotel which offers parking as finding parking in Siena can be "challenging"); Rent car to tour hill towns (more on rental cars later)
• D13/N3 - Tuscany; return car at end of the day
• D14/N1 - Trains to Rome
• D15/N2 - Rome
• D16/N3 - Rome
• D17/N1 - Trains to Naples and then Circumvesuviana or private car service to Sorrento
• D18/N2 - Sorrento - Pompeii, Herculaneum
• D19/N3 - Sorrento - day trip to Capri
• D20 - Return flight from Naples or Rome (if using Naples, take Curreri Viaggi Bus to airport, about an hour)
• D21 - Recover from jet lag

There are many options and this is only one suggestion. This allows a few days in most of the places you listed, and the time in each place could be adjusted to suit your preferences (at the expense of somewhere else of course). I'd suggest buying a copy of the RS Italy 2017 guidebook as soon as it's released (September?), as that provides a lot of good information that will help plan efficient touring.

In many cases, train journeys will involve using several trains, so changes will be necessary. Changes are not difficult, but you'll have to get used to the procedure.

Note that there are some potentially expensive caveats to be aware of when using rental cars. Each driver on the rental form will require the compulsory International Driver's Permit, which is used in conjunction with your home D.L. These are easily obtained for a small fee at at AAA office, and are valid for one year. Have a look at http://italy.usembassy.gov/acs/general-driving.html for more information on I.D.P's and driving in Italy.

You'll also have to be vigilant to avoid the dreaded ZTL (limited traffic) zones which exist in many towns and cities. EACH pass through one will result in hefty fines! Do NOT drive in Florence as the city is just about saturated with automated ZTL cameras! There's also the issue of parking tickets, high fuel costs, tolls and automated speed cameras including the devious Traffic Tutor system which measures not only instantaneous speed but also average between two points. Violate either or both parameter and expensive tickets will follow. A GPS along with a good Map would also be prudent.

There are also some potentially expensive "caveats" to be aware of when using trains and other public transit in Italy. If you need more information on those, post another note.

Good luck with your planning!

Rick Steves' three-week itinerary is definitely do-able. I've basically done it, and it's a great and thorough intro to Italy.

I also think Sorrento/Naples is worth the visit. Although I've spent little time there, Naples is gritty but pure Italy. I'd love to spend more time on a future itinerary. As for Sorrento, it's beautiful and is an ideal jumping off point for both Pompeii and Capri (and the Amalfi Coast). The biggest drawback for Sorrento is that you'll probably hear more English there than Italian, almost an American outpost in Italy. It was like that 12 years ago and I imagine it's even more so now. Maybe that's why you've heard bad reviews?

As for pace of your trip, I don't think you'll have to sacrifice lingering and truly savoring your favorite experiences. Take the criticism for your Siena plans; I think actually seeing Siena and experiencing the four hill towns you've listed isn't crazy at all. For a first-timer, Siena itself really is only a half day stop. Let's say you arrive at noon from Florence. After enjoying a leisurely lunch, you spend the afternoon following Rick Steves city walk. Then spend a couple hours lounging and people watching in Il Campo in the late afternoon and early evening before dinner. What more would you really need to do? Sure, you could take more time and truly immerse yourself (and you'll have the flexibility to do so). But is it worth doing so at the expense of exploring the nearby Tuscan hill towns? In my opinion, probably not.

The next day you could rent a car and explore San Gimignano in the morning and then hit key wineries in Chianti in the afternoon. Then the next day you could drive down to Orvieto (although a bit of a trek) and then enjoy Pienza on the way back. Doesn't sound too crazy to me. In fact, I'd say that's a great combo of hitting great sites and experiences at a relatively relaxed pace.

I think the really good advice is to hit Rome first and then fly out of Naples if you can swing it. By doing so, you could hit Orvieto instead on the transit from Siena to Rome. That would allow you to combine Pienza with Montepulciano, Montalcino or another Tuscan town closer to Siena. You're still going to have four nights in Rome too, which should be just enough to see the city's key sites. I would maybe cut off one night from the Cinque Terre and add it Rome, but that's just me

Hi again,
There are definitely multiple options as to where to fly into. Maybe we could fly into Rome, go down to Naples/Sorrento, then trek north to fly out of Venice....just another idea. We were thinking Siena as a home base (maybe Agriturismo) to visit Tuscan towns outside Florence. I feel like I am constantly changing my mind. I'm going to take a look at train maps and see what's feasible.
As far as us and who we are- very flexible, not easily overwhelmed with a good plan and very organized! Hence, the planning over a year in advance! We want to visit as much as we can without being on a train all the time, so if that means taking out a destination, we'll look into it. Of course, we'd love to see as much as we can, but looks like if we were to cut something out, it'd be CT or AC. Maybe we can swing them both!
Also, thank you for the tips on transportation. We plan to use a rental car for Tuscan hill towns only. Are car rentals easily accessible to train stations?
Thanks again for all your input!

It is preferable to fly INTO Venice as it is a more relaxed city, and easier to get over jet lag. Flying OUT of Venice usually means a very early AM flight, and the airport is not close. You could be getting up at 2 or 3 AM to leave in time for your flight.

We're all kids in candy shops when it comes to planning our first trip to Europe.

Think of it as a tasting experience. You'll want more, but more like an all day sucker then a piece of candy.

Ken has given you the most efficient route for the places you wish to see.

Your family will have a great time and come home exhausted.

Are you planning on apartments? Check ... VRBO,
Sleep in Italy.com, Tuscany Accomodations, cross-pollinate.com Venere.com and Booking.com.

You might have a problem renting a car large enough for 6, best bet might be Pisa or Florence airports.

Have a great time.

I would add a day to Venice and drop one from CT. Consider skipping the car rental. We've been to Italy several times and always travel by train and an occasional bus. Check out www. Rome2rio for travel times and transportation options. We like to catch trains about 9:30am and are at our next destination by noon. We both can relax on the train, bring a light lunch, and be ready to explore our next location.