Greece and Italy travels

have about 2 weeks before the cruise. We would love to explore Southern Italy on the Adriatic Sea, places like Ancona, Rimini, Ravenna.. and possibly Salerno, and Bari. We have 9 days prior to the cruise

Hard for folks to offer useful suggestions when the time frame is seemingly variable

To get the most useful suggestions it would help to know when you arrive in Naples and when your cruise leaves Venice.

We plan on arriving in Italy September 6, the cruise starts September 15 and ends September 22, and we planned on visiting Venice for three nights and flying home September 25. But what I would really like to know is, if you had 3 weeks in Italy/Greece, and you have already been to the popular areas in Italy, (Rome, Florence, Sienna, Cinque Terra), and you wanted to see the Adriatic Sea side, were would you start and what port would you use for Greece cruise? If any.

Thank you!! for your help, our first trip was easy to plan because we had never been there, my husband loved Italy and wants to go back, and we both want to see Greece.

Stay in Polignano a Mare or Monopoli and use as a base to explore a Puglia. Take ferry or fly from Bari to Athens.
I would not want to cruise in Greece rather do it independently using ferries between islands so you get a real Greek experience not in a crowd
visiting them for a limited time.

Hi Conni, have you already purchased your flight, I.e. does the itinerary need to begin at Naples?

And, what is your preferred traveling style - beach or historical towns, leisure or active, time at locations to experience them or more just a 1-day stop to see highlights, etc.?

We took almost the same trip youre planning last September. Different being we had about a week on each end of the cruise. From Venice we took the flix bus to Croatia and then down to trieste Italy...from Trieste we took a side trip to Slovenia to see the caves. The whole area was amazing. Then the cruise, we enjoyed every port in Greece. On our return we took a flight out to Sicily, stayed in Taormina, saracusa and ortigia. Our flight home left from Venice but before leaving we had time 3nts in Morano. This was something we worked on for a year and it was one of our best trips. If you take your time you can plan a very memorable trip! Have fun researching!

Check out "Vacationstogo.com for Greece cruise out out of Venice

Joe32F, thank you for the advice for being more detailed, It obviously helped! I appreciated your feedback.

Thanks Suki, I am wondering if I went that route if it would be smarter to just fly into Athens and stay a week visiting all the Greek Islands, then from Athens fly to Italy for the remainder 2 weeks. Have you been to Sicily? How many days would you spend exploring Sicily?

Hi Jean, I have not purchased, I have not purchased tickets, and the cruise is totally refundable, I just put a small amount of $ down. As you can see I'm all over the map, can't seem to get a vision of what this trip will look like. Areas I know for sure I want to visit are Greece, Italy (Adriatic Sea side) and now possibly Sicily, all in about 3 weeks. Thanks for your ideas, very much appreciated.

Thanks Jo, your trip sounds amazing!! thanks for the input.

I've responded to the idea of adding Sicily in your other thread. (I actively discouraged it.)

Your comment about flying into Athens and spending a week "seeing all the Greek islands" suggests that you may not be clear on the logistical challenges involved in travel to Greece. I think you'll find that one week allows you to just about see two Greek islands (as long as one of them is not Corfu [I meant to say "Crete", because of its size, but Corfu is an issue as well because of its location] and you select a pair with decent transit connections), but only if you don't mind seeing basically nothing of Athens at all.

“As you can see I'm all over the map, can't seem to get a vision of what this trip will look like. Areas I know for sure I want to visit are Greece, Italy (Adriatic Sea side) and now possibly Sicily, all in about 3 weeks. “

Okay, you don’t need to start in Naples; that’s good. To narrow this down, can you describe (without naming towns) what it is that would make a great vacation day for you? Trying to decipher what’s important vs. just another location near the sea. The more specific, the better help we can give you. As others have mentioned, the more scattered the locations, the less fun you will have during your trip because of wasting time in transportation.

Also, I’ll ask why have you chosen the Adriatic coast of Italy?

Greece, Italy and Sicily in 3 weeks. You can 'go' to all those places, but making a satisfying vacation of it is questionable. This is where 'pick 2' is the best generic advice I can offer.

As for Sicily, RS has an 11 day tour ( https://www.ricksteves.com/tours/italy/sicily), This will give you an idea of what there is to see and how it is spread out. As a DIY, trip you would likely need more days.

I'm not at all trying to push our itinerary but just want to say that it was one of the most memorable trips because of the diversity-- 2 nts in Rovinj Croatia, 2 nts in Trieste Italy,(train to Slovenia to postal Jong caves) . Then to Venice for 7nt greece cruise. On returning we flew to Catania Sicily and took the bus to taormina 4nt, then saracusa/ortigia 3nt. Flew back to Venice and stayed in Murano 3nts instead of Venice this time. I'm 69 and my husband 74. We have always planned our own itinerary and never have rented a car. Thanks to tips from RS books