Florence/Rome/Sorrento - Firming up the Itinerary - Suggestions needed

Posted by Melissa9 (Sudbury, ON) on 06/14/26 04:31 PM

Here my family of four's working itinerary (kids are 16 and 20) of our Italy leg of our summer trip (we are first timers) arrive from 5 days in Paris); initially I thought we should book tours of Vatican and Colosseum, but I am reconsidering just using Rick Steves audio tours instead; I am getting anxiety about balancing pre-booking (which seems to be required in the major tourist centres) and over-scheduling, please chime in:

August 5 - FLO - Fly Paris to Florence, land 2:25pm - settle in to AirBnB in Santo Spirito - wander and check things out - maybe try to see something this evening or just enjoy wandering around? Lots to see and appears very walkable.
August 6 - FLO - Considering Academia, Uffizi etc. need a bit of direction here...
August 7 - FLO - Thinking of doing semi-private - Walks of Italy - Tuscany Day Trip from Florence with Chianti, San Gimignano & Siena and then a refresh and have a nice dinner in Florence.
August 8 - FLO to ROM - Italo train to Roma Tiburtina arrives at 1pm - check in to AirBnB get settled wander for a snack and refreshments (maybe do some laundry) - Spanish Steps neighbourhood, 7:00pm Booked Rolling Rome Golf Cart Tour to get a sense of where things are etc. Pizza and Gelato
August 9 - ROM - Colosseum
August 10 - ROM - Vatican/St. Peter's (need to get tickets/decide about a tour or not)
August 11 - ROM to NAP - Italo Tiburtina to Naples (arrive at 12), private transfer to Sorrento, check in to Hotel Bristol, wander
August 12 - Enjoy Sorrento, relax, eat food, pool with a view, wander around shops etc
August 13 - Sorrento - day trip to Pompeii (get there super early) - looking for a good tour here - please suggest.
August 14 - maybe some type of boat tour of Amalfi and open to suggestions (Capri sounds nice, but maybe overhyped we don't feel like we have to but open to those who have experienced this coast).
August 15 - Sorrento private transfer to Naples airport and sadly back to Toronto...

Open to suggestions on things to do, not do, transit is all booked. Looking forward to your suggestions! Thanks in advance!

Posted by Pat

San Diego, California

06/14/26 04:41 PM

7102 posts

RS recommends Mondo Tours in the Guidebook. They offer a variety of shared and individual tours. We thought their shared tour of Pompeii was great, and they have boat tours. I would favor a boat tour of the AC over a car/van tour, as the latter is just too much time in a vehicle on curvey roads, and in congestion.
Have a great trip!

Posted by SandyO

San Franciso Bay Area, USA

06/14/26 05:37 PM

1197 posts

Sounds like an amazing trip for you and your family. The overall itinerary looks good. Here are a few suggestions based on my experience in taking college-aged kids in 2018, friends in 2023, and my upcoming trip here in 2026.

August 6: The Academia and Uffizi are both amazing. You can do both without a tour, the Rick Steves guides are excellent for the Uffizi. I would recommend going early to the Uffizi (first tickets) as it gets very crowded. Stop and enjoy along the way a coffee at the rooftop cafe at the Uffizi (directions in the Rick Steves guide). If you want to combine the Academia in one day, the book later in the day to minimize the mid-day crowds.
August 7: We have taken day trips from Tuscany with a guide we absolutely love and they have been memorable. An alternative since you have not been to Florence before is to stay in Florence and visit the Duomo and the excellent Duomo museum and maybe combine with a food tour or cooking class. Mama Florence has an excellent class that combines a market tour with a cooking class. We still make the recipes today in our kitchen.
August 9: Rome-Colosseum: you can certainly visit without a tour, however, if you plan on combining with the Roman Forum, I would recommend a tour. We have done without a tour of the Forum and it was a very hot and frustrating experience following the Rick Steve's guide. I wanted to go back with our friends and we took a tour and it was so much more enlightening and relaxing, even though it was still very hot.
August 10: Vatican/St. Peter's. I have visited without a tour mid-morning with my college-aged girls, husband, and friends. I have never had so many people angry with me. It was too hot, too crowded, and too much lack of context, even with the RS tour. When we visited with other friends in 2023, my husband was so upset about our last trip that he was not going to go. I booked the Walks of Italy early entry tour so that we were inside when it first opened. While it was still crowded, it was more manageable and the guide was excellent, even my husband who I dragged along reluctantly agreed that the tour was worthwhile and actually enjoyed the time. August 11: A suggestion for your private transfer to Sorrento, combine it with your visit to Pompeii. We booked a private transfer through Mondo tours and had about 2.5 hours in Pompeii with an excellent guide that they arranged. It is a efficient use of travel time and for a first visit 2.5 hours was enough for us. We are going back to Pompeii on this trip to explore more and if you feel so inclined, you ca do that on the 13th, otherwise, you have another free day to do something different. If you go on the 13th, Mondo has an excellent group tour. August 12: Highly recommend a food tour of Sorrento. We loved the Gourmet Girls food tour. These are local ladies you take your away from the tourist area to experience a taste of Sorrento. August 14: We did not take a boat tour on our last trip because all ferries and boats were cancelled due to bad weather, so I don't have any recommendations for that. however, we did take a wonderful tour of the Amalfi Coast by private driver with Wine Tours Amalfi Coast and are doing so again on the upcoming trip. Even if you don't like wine, they have experiences that combine the Amalfi Coast with cooking classes, lemon tours, etc. The owner Daniele is a sommelier and this was one of our most memorable experiences and meals in Italy.

Transit: On transit: train tickets are super easy to book, the Trenitalia app was easy to use. On the Amalfi coast, the local buses are often too crowded, a private driver is a better bet (although more expensive).