Help! Italy Itinerary without Rome

Probably not. Take it by the numbers: Assume you get situated in Venice by mid-day, spend two nights and leave for Florence. That's only a day and a half in Venice. Do the same for Florence......a day and a half to look around and you burned a total of four nights. Do the same for the CT......another day and a half and six nights are gone. Do the same for Amalfi......another day and a half and eight nights are gone. You're not going to make the flight out of Naples the day you leave Sorrento or where ever, so you'll have to pre-position to Naples itself......that's nine nights and gets you gone on the tenth day. The crux of the problem is that a day and a half is not enough for any of the four stops. You're going to get dizzy since you no sooner arrive than you're pulling up stakes again. I'm not a train person, but the more direct routes would seem to be switching the order of Florence and the CT. I'm also betting that the run from Florence to Amalfi would take more than half a day - - maybe the bulk of a whole day. If you have to cut something, consider the CT. There's a thread running concurrently with varied opinions on the area. Optionally, you could stay to the north and save a good chunk of travel time. There's absolutely no time to add anything at all. I know nothing about wineries in Florence. If they're outside of town, that really complicates the time issue.

Ed is right: You cannot do it all in 10 or 11 days. Late March is not exactly a great time for the CT as the weather wll be "iffy." Why not Venice and Tuscany ? You could spend 4 nights in Venice giving you a nice full 3 days there (it's wonderful!), then transfer to Siena, in the heart of Tuscany, for your remaining nights (5 or 6?). From Siena you can daytrip to Florence, and wine country and the lovely hilltowns are ever so accessible. Alternately, you could do Tuscany adand the Amalfi Coast. Land in Florence, stay in Siena environs for 4 or 5 nights, then go to Sorrento for the rest of your time. Ed is right though: transferring to Sorrento from Tuscany will take most of a day. If you do this trip, fly out of Naples.

Third one to agree. Have only gone from Rome to Amalfi and it takes a good while just for that trip. The fast train from Rome to Naples about one and half hours, train from Naples to Sorrento another hour and then down to Amalfi, say Positano or Ravello another hour by bus. That is half day from Rome, not sure from Florence. Also, even if you leave from Naples airport you can't stay in Amalfi and leave from Naples airport the same day, you won't make it. Think you are trying to do too much in too little time.

What if we did: Venice Florence (Tuscany)
Cinque Terre If we did our trip in that order, where can we fly out of to get back home to Chicago? Or would you recommend another route? Thanks so much!!!!

Colleen, I agree with the others. Visiting four locations in 10 or 11 days is going to be difficult, for the reasons that Ed and Laurel mentioned. I'd suggest dropping the Amalfi coast on this trip as the travel time from Tuscany will be the better part of a day. Plan to visit that area on a future visit when you have more time. The Cinque Terre may be possible, and travel at that time of year should be good as crowds hopefully won't be a problem. One possibility you might consider is doing a "loop" consisting of Venice - Florence - CT and then fly home from Milan / MXP. That will keep you in a fairly limited geographical area, which will minimize travel times. Your time in Florence could included a day trip to Siena. With 11 days, something like this might work: > Day 1 - Flight to Venice > Day 2 - Arrive Venice, light touring & recover from jet lag > Day 3, 4 - Touring Venice > Day 5 to 7 - Train to Florence - touring Florence > Day 8, 9 - Train to C.T. - touring Cinque Terre > Day 10 Train to Milan - one night in Milan > Day 11 - Flight home. Putting the C.T. portion of the trip at the end is desirable, as the weather should be a bit better (but of course no guarantees) and the Hotels and other facilities should be dusting off the furniture to get ready for another season. Happy travels!

Colleen Agree with all of the PP on targeting 3 areas and ping Amalfi Coast. I love the CT but visited in mid April and just barely missed the cold wet weather. The trails between the towns have the most awesome views of the water and the towns. But some of the trails may be closed or incredibly muddy. Besides the trails, what did you have in mind to do? Mostly it is a great place to R & R unless you are an avid hiker. At that time of year, you should find good prices on rooms. Good luck. Bobbie

What if you fly into Venice, spend 3 days go to CT a few days then to a Tuscan location and get a car, do the wineries and spend the last day in Florence and fly out of there. (you can drop car at the airport before going into the city) I personally think Siena is difficult with a car and would pick someplace (maybe in the countryside) and you can easily visit lots of small villages and vineyards.