****REVISION**** First Visit to Italy, ~3 week itinerary feedback. Thank you!

You’ve chosen fantastic destinations. However, even if you took high-speed trains rather than renting a car— the itinerary packs in way too much for when you’re going during the heat of the summer. ( ie In Florence tomorrow on 8/16 it will be 101 degrees and it’s been more than 100 degrees for the entire past week). With a car, you’ll have the added stress of avoiding the ZTL’s in city centers potentially without knowing where they are. That means racking up traffic tickets. And parking near the medieval city centers is difficult and expensive.

Anyone who’s been to the Cinque Terre or the Amalfi Coast knows cars are not of much use.

Where a car would work is after leaving Venice from Bolzano through the Dolomites, Lake Garda and Tuscany. From Florence onward, a car makes no sense and will be a burden.

I would drop Puglia and add the time elsewhere. Consider going to places just outside of the Cinque Terre such as Sestri Levante, Rapallo, Camogli, and Santa Margherite Ligure— all beach towns accessible by train where your family can swim and cool off during the sizzling Italian summertime.

Can you please edit your post so that the two options are clearly shared? I don't follow this, and you are going to get a dozen question asking for clarification before we even get started on the itinerary.

Keep in mind that 2 nights equals just one full day of sightseeing or 'just being there.' This schedule looks way too packed, especially with the stress of driving and have to keep two children entertained. I think you need to really consider travel time in to your itinerary and then take another stab at trying to refine it with less changes of location. All those changes of hotels and packing/unpacking, checking in/checking out & travel time to next destination will really eat up the time you have to enjoy where you are. Take a look at some of Rick's tours to see how he divides up a 10 or 14 day visit. It will give you some idea how to focus your visit. And remember your first couple days you will all be jet lagged. Just one question: what do you mean by 'shuttle' for Venice transportation. Are you referring to the vaparettos (water buses)? Also in Venice, walking is the best way to enjoy your stay.

I also think you are trying to go to too many places. I just did part of your trip going to Venice 3 nights, Ortisei 5 nights and Lake Garda 3 nights.

You currently have 2 nights Venice which is only one full day. I have previously been to Venice and we spent 4 nights, I think your kids would really enjoy being there and would spend at least 3 nights.

It takes quite awhile to get to Ortisei from Venice. We liked our 5 night stay but I would spend at least 4 nights there. Ortisei is a very pleasant town-looks like Austria which is different than most of Italy. Do you like to hike? You can buy passes and pop all over.

You have only two nights (one full day in Lake Garda. We would have enjoyed another day and we spent 3 nights. We were there in June and went swimming which I would think your children would enjoy. The ferries are also fun.

Personally, I would then add Tuscany, Florence and Rome and stop there. Maybe Orvieto for a smaller town. Maybe Cinque Terre.

But Puglia and Amalfi coast are really far and really are separate trips.

You’ve chosen some very nice locations but IMO you have too many locations! You will spend an awful lot of time traveling, checking in, checking out, getting oriented and not much time actually being anywhere.
A 2 night stay is just one full day. Each location change takes at least a half a day and some of yours are definitely more than that.

I would drop Puglia for starters- the heat is just not worth it for such a short stay. Puglia itself could use 1 or 2 weeks.

Most of your trip can easily be done by train- other than Tuscany where a car is needed. We can help you figure out transportation options once you settle on itinerary.

I would add a night to Venice, a night to Dolomites, a night to Lake Garda, a night to Florence for sure.
Rome needs all the time you care to give it.
Amalfi takes a lot of time and effort to get there- make it worthwhile and stay longer. Choose a town with ferry access.- Praiano does not have a ferry,

but some nice slow paces during certain sections.>

TBH- not seeing any slow paces. Even 3 nights in Tuscany is only 2.5 days- coming from Lake Garda is a long travel day so you hardly have that half day

Travel Naples Private transport to Naples Airport

What time is your flight? If before noon you should be staying IN Naples the night before- maybe plan a driver with a stop in Pompeii before pizza/overnight in Naples.
I do like that you plan to fly multi city rather than backtracking.

With your budget and 4 people you may want to look at apartments- we wouldn’t bother with an apartment and all that entails for any stay less than 4 nights.

It’s a good start but needs lots of fine tuning.

Take a look at some of Rick's tours to see how he divides up a 10 or
14 day visit. It will give you some idea how to focus your visit.

I have to disagree with this. Rick's itineraries are very fast paced- full of 1 and 2 night stays- all of the above comments are telling you not to do that! ;)

Thanks for some of the initial feedback.

We are going to review and have some conversations about what to cut and factor in some of these comments about travel days.

I'll update post when my wife and I have a new revise plan!

Thanks!

I agree, start with four nights in Venice. It's a great location for jet lag , and the kids should love it.

Once you're organized, check out Row Venice, which is group rowing lessons on the quiet back canals. It's so much more fun than a 30 minute gondola ride. Cost total for your family should be about 100 euros, for all of you, and is 90 minutes. See who gets the hang of it first! Rowing is harder than it looks. It's also in the Cannaregio area, which is our fav lodging area, never any crowds, yet so convenient.

What is a hotel shuttle in Venice? Do you mean private water taxi?

The congestion on the Amalfi Coast is legendary, and the public transportation has been sadly neglected. You need more days in the AC, as moving about takes so much time and patience.

I'm confused- your kids are 13 and 10 months, or male?

Keep posting on your revisions- there's lots of experience here to help your adventure.

https://www.ricksteves.com/europe/italy/itinerary

I find the pacing outlined by Rick Steves on this website to be very good. Older and more experienced travelers on this forum tend to uniformly criticize them as being too fast. And I find these criticisms to be thoughtful and their points of view reflect their many travels to Europe. They make very good points! I've learned a lot from these seasoned travelers.

With that said, for younger people (and by that I am guessing that you are a couple decades younger than many of the old hands on this forum) a more lively pace seems more appropriate to me. Either way, you'll have great trip!

Our first trip to Italy we went faster and further than Rick recommends. We did rental cars and trains and planes and buses. It was a fantastic trip. (At my current age--66-- I'd go slower.) We didn't mind long days back then and bumps is the road, well, that's all part of the fun!

Happy travels!

I'm in the camp that finds RS suggested pacing WAY too fast, and especially so for first-timers with children. I'm having a really difficult time trying to figure out the itinerary you posted (What is "Venice Hotel Shuttle"?) and if you're spending any time at all in some prime locations, such as Florence:

Night 9 Tuscany Agriturismo Rental Car
Night 10 Florence
Night 11 Rome Train from Florence to Rome

Too many places for too short a time but, ah, I see that you're working on a new plan: good for you, and we'll be looking forward to seeing that!

Editing to add: Praiano does have ferry services now (a recent development) but it's limited enough that I'd personally choose a different base with more frequent service. Travelmar seems to be the only one of the ferries that services Praiano, departs from there only 3 times daily - and the first one isn't until noon - and a change of boats in Amalfi is required for most of the coastal destinations ferried to from there.

https://www.travelmar.it/en/timetable
(Scroll down to the end of the page for Praiano)

With that said, for younger people (and by that I am guessing that you are a couple decades younger than many of the old hands on this forum) a more lively pace seems more appropriate to me.

"Lively pace" does not translate into trying to go everywhere and spending more time on trains than on the spots you are supposed to visit. When I was a child, my late grandfather brought me a week in Venice. In spite of being there a full week, his pace of visiting was relentless and I believe we visited all the important sites and some less so, not a stone of Venice was left unturned. On the contrary, I am just back from a concert tour of China. Well, this is a job so I cannot dictate the pace: in 14 days we visited 6 cities (only 6 as there were multiple concerts in a couple of cities and our agreement dictates a rest day every seven). I bring back pleasant memories of exceptionally imposing railway stations and beautiful trains.

Good points!

I'd mention I am only passing along that the most successful, respected--- dare-I-say greatest-- traveler writer of our generation has a suggested itinerary that tens of thousands of have taken. That his tours -- 30,000 people or so year-- also take. That all his suggestions and tours get rave reviews.

And given that, it is still clear his ideas are not the only ideas. His pace is not the only pace. The folks on this forum who have thousands of posts and have dozens of trips to Europe and Italy have great comments and insights too.

While I observe that new travelers often want to do faster, more sweeping surveys than experienced travelers and that age is often a consideration, there are of course many other considerations. When we traveled with our kids, they got bored easily and wanted to do more than us each day. They had more energy and interest so we'd do that extra thing every day. Also, seasoned travelers find repositioning a burden while new travelers may find the driving in Italy or taking the train or even the bus to be fun in and of itself too. Airports too are an experience!

Happy travels.

Need more time in Rome and Florence.
Skip CT and enjoy The Amalfi Coast. They are similar, but I liked AC better.
Don't miss Pompeii, Sorrento and Capri.

Your new itinerary is much better. The only thing I would say is that the Amalfi coast is surprisingly difficult and time consuming to travel to. I am not sure I would do it for 3 nights. But if you do, I would not try to go to Pompeii from Praiano. Even by private transport.
If you have two days on the Amalfi coast, I would spend it on the Amalfi coast- not traveling to other places.

If you really want to go to Pompeii, you could stay in Naples a few nights and day trip to Pompeii and Capri from there. Or spend 3 nights in Sorrento and go to both of them from there.

I would take one day off Tuscany and add it to Rome.

Agree with Beth, above.

Amalfi Coast is a bit of an outlier (geographically). You will be spending a high ratio of time getting there/getting back to time actually being there for this part of the trip. You will have 2 days there, including your side trips to Pompei and Capri (each of which will consume most of a day).

The "private transport" bits between/around Naples and the AC locations might be spendy, you'll want to take a look at those costs before your plans harden (if you haven't already). What you're proposing is doable, but that jaunt out from Rome to the AC and back will be costly, both in time and also in money (I always figure that time is the most constrained commodity - you can always find more money, finding more time is harder). Whether or not it's worth it to you is your call, but it's worth a hard look at those costs.

I think you've received some pretty good advice above.

My main concern is that you'll have such a great time that it will hard to top this trip in the future!

Happy travels

OK so this is itinerary now:

Arrive VCE
Venice 3 nights
Pick up car
Dolomites 3 nights
Lake Garda 3 nights
Tuscany 4 nights
Drop car
Rome 3 nights
AC 3 nights
Naples 1 night
Depart NAP

Much better- a few comments-

NC airport to Venice. Hotel shuttle from airport to Venice.

Venice hotels don’t really have “shuttles”. They can book a water taxi for you (about 150 euros) or you can book yourself. Or there are other less expensive ways to get into Venice (Bus/Vaporetto, alilaguna, shared water taxi) When you get to the details of this part be sure you understand transportation in Venice.

Tuscany 4 nights. We are planning 1 full day trip to Florence.

This is fine- you will be parking in a lot outside of the center and taking public transportation in (can’t drive in due to ZTLs)- there are directions on this forum to parking lots outside of Florence.

Rome 3 nights. We plan to drop off rental car in Florence and take
train to Rome.

You may not have to go into Florence-(if you do be sure you find the directions for dropping car safely without incurring ZTL/traffic violations)- or you could drop at airport then tram to train station. Or drop car on the way to Rome- Chiusi works well (Avis/Budget) as does Orvieto (Hertz only). Both on train line, agencies close to train station.
Rental agencies are closed on Sunday, close mid day during the week and close around noon on Saturday

Amalfi 3 nights. Take train from Rome to Naples. And private transport
from Naples to hotel. Probably in Praiano. Take a day trip to Pompeii.
Hotel we are looking at has a free boat ride to Capri..

Driver from Naples to Praiano will be about 200 euros. Not sure how /where a boat tour from Praiano works as there is no port there. Might want to get details on this.
Is there a reason you are choosing Praiano? It’s not the best location- transportation wise. Your options are bus (hot, overcrowded, chaotic if you can actually get a seat!) or expensive private driver.
Not the best location to day trip to Pompeii either.
I would visit Pompeii on the way to Naples- if you are paying for a driver anyway might as well make it worthwhile.

If so, we would probably cut Lake Garda down to a day trip

Not sure where you would day trip to Garda from? You aren’t staying anywhere close to Garda- Venice is too far (3 hr fast train) and you hardly have enough time in Venice as it is.

Regarding the Revised plan.

Have you considered going to Amalfi from Florence(Tuscany) and finishing in Rome.

Saves one hotel transfer and Rome likely has more choices/cheaper fares to head for home.

Thanks for the continued feedback.

In Amalfi, the reason we were thinking Praiano is we were wanting to stay at the Grand Hotel Tritone. It’s gorgeous. And probably more quiet than Positano. I think they have a boat to shuttle guests to Positano and also a boat to take guests to Capri. It was going to be our splurge lodging during the trip.

And yes, maybe going into Pompeii on way from Naples would make sense instead of day trip from Amalfi. I didn’t realize it was basically on the way.

And no, I had not considered that Amalfi before Rome but that could help.

I’ll keep that in mind and be flexible when we are starting to look at flights.