First trip to Italy. 11 days enough?

First, you need to buy a good guidebook or two, then check out the travel DVDs from your local library. In the limited response space it difficult to write a guidebook for you. Asking specific questions works a lot better. Look at a map. With eleven days, Sicily is out. Generally three nights (two days) in a city is min. Stick to Rome and Venice and maybe a quick hit at Florence on the way to Rome. You could spend a week in Venice. Over the years we have spent a nearly a month in Rome and still haven't seen everything. For you with very limited time, the train probably is your best option.

11 days is enough to beat a well-trod path from rome to venice via Florence and Siena. Fly open jaw into one and out the other. Rick's guide book and Frommers do a great job of outlining itineraries of various lengths. I'd say that while many people want to do the "off the beaten path", in my experience that shouldn't be a major goal on your first trip. However you will have the chance in each city to get off the beaten path if you leave enough time and move slowly.

I agree with Frank.

Count nights rather than days. You may want to consider flying into Venice and out of Rome.

Three nights Venice, three nights Florence, three nights Rome would leave you one, perhaps two nights to stop in a hill town in Tuscany or add a night to Rome or Florence and daytrip somewhere.

+1

But I might suggest starting in Rome, since Venice could make a delightful send-off. (Not that Rome wouldn't... just a matter of taste!)

Start in Venezia (fly in there) and head to Roma for departure. Flights out of Venezia to the U.S. tend to leave earlier and make for a rushed end to a nice trip. Eleven days is not "enough." If you can carve out two full weeks, do it. But if all you have is 11 days, do it! You'll be planning your next trip on the way home!

I'm in Frank's corner too. A guidebook is a much better idea for choosing your must-sees as someone else's interests may not be your own. Counting nights also makes more sense as your first day will probably be a partial so you have closer to 10.5 days or less. Sicily is a no-go. Yes, take the trains.

The less moving around, the better: every time you have to pack up and check out, get to a train station, get to the next destination, get to a hotel and get settled will kill half a day. An itinerary which involves unpacking at no more than three destinations probably makes the most sense with the days that you have, and give you wiggle room to get your bearings on the first day in all of them.

I'd go with the classic first-timer's trip of Rome, Florence and Venice with a day trip or two from Florence. If you have 11 nights, you could do 4 in Rome, 4 in Florence (including two day trips) and 3 in Venice. Even in the cities, "local life" will be all around you if you keep your eyes open and spare some hours to wander away from the top attractions. How many of those hours you will have will depend on your list of must-sees but citizens worship in the churches, shop at the markets, go to work, meet friends for coffee or dinner, take the kids to the park, run errands, and pretty much do everything we all do when not on vacation!

First trip abroad 5 years ago was not the best-laid plan from a logistical standpoint, but worked with three main destinations in 11 days. Flew Chicago/Rome, then immediately Rome/Catania (Sicily). Transport north about 30 km to Taormina, 4 nights there. Sicily is beautiful & exotic. Then flew Catania/Florence (through Rome). 4 nights Florence--magnificent--then took the Fresciarossa train 90 minutes to Rome. Two nights in Rome, where because of time constraints we utilized the 'Hop-On-Hop-Off' bus to see the sights & visit the Vatican, then flew home.

Jamie, Travel between point A and point B almost always eats up more time than anticipated. Since your time is limited, just split the time between Venice and Rome. MAYBE a swipe at Florence. Definitely fly into Venice and out of Rome. We've spent a great deal of time in both Venice and Rome and still haven't done / seen it all. Once you get you plan laid out, let us know if you need specifics about either city. TC

We had a 3 week trip last summer, of which the last week was in Italy.

We did 3 nights Rome, 2 nights Lucca (with a day trip to Pisa), and ended with 3 nights in Venice. Of course I wanted more time in each place, but I did not feel rushed and we had a great time, and got to see most of the big highlights.

Kim

You've already got your flights booked, and I have no problem with flying into Rome and home from Venice! Don't spent money changing the tickets. I'd do 4 nights Rome (because your first day will be a jet lagged day), then 4 nights in Florence and end with Venice. Take day-trips from Florence to see Siena, and you can also get a wine tour from Florence which will leave at 9am and bring you home in the evening. These wine tours will give you the opportunity to see the Tuscan Countryside and a lovely meal at a vineyard. Florence is beautiful, in itself, and this itinerary will allow you to enjoy her.

I've travelled all over Italy and absolutely love it, but a few years ago we ventured into Sicily and she stole my heart. You will need a minimum of a week for just Sicily, so either just do Sicily on this trip or save for later. There are many daily flights from Rome to either Catania or Palermo out of Rome.

I'm doing a similar trip with my wife in mid-April. Flying into Venice, 3 nights there, 3 nights Florence (with day tour in Chianti), 2 nights Siena (with day tour in Montalcino area) and 4 nights Rome, flying home from Rome. We were originally going to have only 4 nights in Tuscany, but our flight got bumped back a day (the horror), giving us a little more leeway. With one less night we would have stayed 4 nights in Florence and just done Siena as a day trip.

Thank you all for the quick responses. Your suggestions have been most helpful and much appreciated.
I'm so excited! Come on September :)
Thanks again,
Jamie

3 nights in a place is two days; and you lose most of a day every time you make a big change. IMHO there is no room at all for Sicily in a trip this short where you want to cover the big three. For me it would be too rushed to do the big three -- but you can do that -- maybe 3 nights for Venice, and 4 each for Florence and Rome. That gives you one day to do a sidetrip to Siena although then you only have 2 days for the amazing art heritage of Florence.