HELP! 16 DAY ITALY TRIP IN OCTOBER

I think it does show a bit that you don't really know much about travel times. Oct 18 has me totally confused. You spend a full day on the train to get to Interlaken where you will just have enough time to fall into bed to get up the next morning and leave town again. Skip Switzerland this time and concentrate on Italy. Definitely add another day to Rome.

I personally would skip Sorrento/Positano and add those days to Rome. We loved the Amalfi Coast but I think this is too much for this trip. We went there by train from Rome and total travel was about four hours one way.

Mary - Resist the urge to go everywhere and pick the 3 or 4 places most important to you. Skip Switzerland and the Amalfi Coast and your trip becomes doable. Assuming the 18th is "fixed" as a meeting date? 2 nights in a place means 1 full day of sightseeing. 3 nights - 2 full days. I find 3 nights a minimum to actually get a feel for a place and not just check off a list of things to see. You need time to enjoy and experience. Oct 9-fly out of Minneapolis to Rome Oct 10-arrive in Rome in am; stay awake until at least 9PM so you get on local time. Do not book a museum; get outdoors and walk. Oct 11-Rome Oct 12-Rome (3 nights Rome) Oct 13-train to somewhere in Tuscany Oct 14-Tuscany Oct 15-Tuscany (3 nights Tuscany - pick ONE town) Oct 16-train to Cinque Terre(skip Portofino - it will take a almost a day to come-and-go from one of the CT towns) Oct 17-Cinque Terre (2 nights CT) Oct 18-train to Milan; meet our daughter in Milan and train to Venice (LONG travel day) Oct 19-Venice Oct 20-Venice (3 nights Venice) Oct 21-fly to Santorini Oct 22-Santorini Oct 23-Santorini (3 nights Santorini) Oct 24-am leave for Athens Oct 25-drop our daughter off in Athens
Oct 26-fly back home to Minneapolis (2 nights Athens)

Yes Mary, you do need help, lol. Way, way too ambitious. Definitely cut out south of Rome as it takes you out of the way. From a time consuming standpoint so does CT, so I would eliminate that as well. If you must go to either of those two, then something else has to go in its place.

Mary. I was so exhausted just looking at your itinerary that I had to ask my boss to give me two day off tomorrow and Monday. I need a long weekend to recover from your planned trip. I am not going to tell you what to leave out and what to leave in, since I don't know what your interests and aspirations are. But I will simply give you some general planning guidelines that have worked for me over a long time of traveling in 4 continents. When I plan a trip, I don't plan days, I plan nights, with the understanding that two nights in a city is actually just one full day in that city. Between nights at different destinations, are travel days. Travel days are days spent packing, checking out of a hotel, traveling to the next destination, checking in the hotel at the new destination, unpacking and putting things away, orienting myself with my new location. I don't plan sight seeing for travel days. Travel days are for the most part a waste. So limit hotel changes and transfers as much as you can. It's more time efficient to choose a central location (or hub) and do short day trips from there, than to constantly changing hotels. I abhor staying in the same hotel less than 2 nights. One nighters at the same hotel should be avoided as much as possible. Try to plan at least 2 nights in the same location (that is actually just one full day at that location. These are me suggested absolute minimums number of nights at the following locations Rome, just Rome 3 Tuscany (incl. Florence) 4 or 5 Venice 2 (incl Murano and Burano islands 3) C. Terre 2 Amalfi Coast/Sorrento 2 (or 3 or 4 if Pompeii and/or Capri are also included) Santorini 2
Athens 2, or better yet 3 These are absolute minimums to see something. I didn't include Switzerland. That would be a major distraction in your short time available.

Mary, I agree with the others that your proposed Itinerary is far too ambitious for the time you have available. Unfortunately, October isn't far away so you'll have to get this sorted very quickly. I can understand that you want to see as much as possible, but the reality is that you'll spend most of your time checking in and out of hotels and travelling between locations, without really having any time to see and appreciate the locations you're visiting. You'll spend a fair amount of your time seeing Europe through the windows of a train. A few thoughts on some of the places you listed.... > Sorrento & Positano - it may be prudent to skip those this time, given the transportation options in that area. Positano only has Bus service. > Switzerland - it would be a good idea to skip it this time and visit on a future trip, as the travel times won't be worth the short time you're spending there. Travelling from the C.T. to Interlaken will take the better part of a day, at least 6 - 7 hours (I know as I've taken that trip several times). > Santorini and Athens - the islands will likely be winding down for the season, so it could be somewhat quiet on Santorini at this time of year. I'm assuming you've already booked your flights so you'll have to include Athens? Travel there will also use time, so I would have suggested skipping Greece on this trip. I'll post a suggested Itinerary in another reply, since I don't have enough text space left in this one. One thing to keep in mind is Rick's often quoted advice - don't try to plan too much and "assume you will return". Good luck!

Mary, I don't have information on arrangements you've made so far, so this is only one suggestion...... > Oct. 9 - Depart Minneapolis > Oct. 10 - Arrive Rome ( Leonardo Express to Roma Termini - DON'T forget to validate your tickets! Try to stay awake as long as possible as Laurel suggested - you'll probably only have energy for brief touring. Have you booked a Hotel? > Oct. 11 - Rome > Oct. 12 - Rome - day trip to Orvieto? > Oct. 13 - Rome > Oct. 14 - Train to Florence - departure station will be Roma Termini and arrival station Firenze SMN (use Freccia high speed train, about 1H:30M). Hotel booked? > Oct. 15 - Florence > Oct. 16 - Florence - day trip to Siena? Travel by Bus. > Oct. 17 - Florence - day trip to Cinque Terre (it will be a long day, but certainly possible - I travelled that route in June) > Oct. 18 - Florence > Oct. 19 - Train to Venice - departure station will be Firenze SMN and arrival station will be Venezia Santa Lucia (again use Freccia train, 2H:05M). Hotel booked? > Oct. 20 - Venice > Oct. 21 - Venice > Oct. 22 - Flight to Santorini? Flight booked? > Oct. 23 - Santorini? > Oct. 24 - Flight to Athens (Flight booked?) > Oct. 25 - Athens > Oct. 26 - Return flight to Minneapolis There are many ways this could be arranged, and this is only one suggestion. As most of your time will be in Italy, I'd highly recommend picking up a copy of the RS Italy Guidebook, as it will be an excellent reference source during the trip. There are some potentially expensive "caveats" to be aware of when travelling by train or Bus in Italy. You may already be aware of these, but if you need details post another note. Happy travels!

I would suggest you just concentrate on Italy for this trip and do the other countries later; in fact, if you do only Italy, I would suggest that you cut down on a few of the places that you have on your list. Your present itinerary will exhaust you and you probably won't remember much of what you see.

Well, after my 21 day trip, I'll suggest the following: Stay in Rome for all 4 days. Pick one city in Tuscany see it and day trip to another one on your second day. Cinque Terre is good for two nights (Don't worry about getting to Portofino). Meet daughter and stay in her city a day or two - let her show you around. Venice for three nights. Athens early enough to help daughter to see her new town.
Then, visit Italy again...on your own schedule.