Help Required - First Visit to Italy

Rahulagandhi,

Regarding your itinerary:

1st Oct - Land in Venice at 2:00 PM.

2nd Oct - Day in Venice

3rd Oct - Travel by train to Florence

4th Oct - Day Trip to Cinque Terra

If you keep above itinerary, you will only have a few hours (3rd Oct) in Florence.

Keep in mind that it takes time to check-out of hotel, time to get to train station, wait for train, transit time, find hotel in new destination, check- in, unpack, get situated... and this is what you will do every time you change locations.

So if you are taking the train from Venice to Florence on 3rd of Oct, you will have a very limited time in Florence.

I'd skip Cinque Terre & add that day to Florence and even then, this only gives you one full day to see Florence.

Answer to question 3): Yes, train travel is very easy as long as you're traveling light.

You can check train schedules on this website: http://www.trenitalia.com

If you're arriving in Venice, you will need this website to check schedules for the Alilaguna Water Bus to take you from the airport to a stop near your hotel in Venice: http://www.alilaguna.it/?lang=en

I have not traveled to the Amalfi Coast but others will give you helpful information.

Happy Planning!

Edit : For weather, check this website: http://www.wunderground.com/travelplanner/index.asp

You are just checking off boxes with this itinerary. Not enough time in Venice, NO time in Florence, Tuscany has lots of nice Agritourismos. It's really not worth a day trip to Cinque Terre, so I'd add that to Florence and maybe even move one of the
days at the Agritourismo to Florence as well. There's a LOT to see in Florence.

I'll leave the question re Amalfi Coast to others. In Rome, I'd recommend staying in the following areas: Campo Fiore/Piazza Novana or Trastevere area. I like to stay in the Prati (Vatican neighborhood) because I'm Catholic and always go to St. Peters and I love the surrounding neighborhood/restaurants. In Venice I like Hotel Bel Sito & Berlino.

Make sure you have at least four days in Rome.

Skip Venice and Cinque Terre. Fly into Florence and spend the 3/4 night there maybe a day trip to Pisa. You need at lest 3-4 nights in Venice to do it any justice and 2 nights in the Cinque Terre. I would save them for another trip.

Couldn't agree more with the advice so far. There is no time at all here for Florence so why go there at all? The CT is way down the list of 'must sees' in Italy. It takes two nights to get a full day in a place. PLaces like Florence which are dense in things to see, need several nights. You could 'do' Venice in two nights/one day, but it would be a shame to give it so little time. I love staying in the countryside in Tuscany and have done it many times -- you need a car and several days to do that. Early October is a nice time to do this -- no one can predict precise weather but we have had good luck with pleasant weather that time of year.

I would cut this in half. YOu are wasting a lot of time on logistics and have no time in several wonderful spots. I'd skip the CT and Florence completely and add the days to Venice and Rome and then you might barely have time to experience these places. I'd not stay in either Amalfi or Capri (especially not Capri) but perhaps Sorrento which would give you easy transport to Pompeii and Capri and the Amalfi Coast.

We are doing a very similar trip at the exact same time as you to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary! But we are flying into Milan and spending 2 days in Lake Como (Still might be up in the air though) Then train to Venice and 2 days there. But then we are taking the train to Chiusi in Tuscany where we've rented a house for 5 days. Chiusi is right on the main train line (Or so we've been told) and is an hour or so commute to Florence or Rome. We plan to day trip to those places from Chiusi. Then we're taking the train to Sorrento where we've rented a house for 5 days where we will try to squeeze in Capri, Pompeii and the Amalfi coast. Instead of narrowing down the places we want to see, we're narrowing down what we want to see in each place. My husband has been to Italy before but this is my first trip. If we can't get everything in, then we'll just have to come back! I hope you have a wonderful anniversary!

It's much easier to work with nights. You have

• 1 Venice - landing at 2 p.m. will give you about enough time to walk around a little and have dinner before going to bed
• 2 Venice - full day to see the sights - will you be jetlagged and tired?
• 3 Florence - Allow 1 hour minimum to get from your hotel to the train platform, another 20 minutes if you have to buy tickets, then 2 hours on the train and 1/2 hour to your hotel (total 3.5-4 hours). 1/2 day to sightsee
• 4 Florence - sightseeing (it takes much to long to go to/from Cinque Terre for a day trip)
• 5 - 8 Agriturismo with car almost 4 full days
• 9 Sorrento - return the car (Florence?), train to Naples (minimum 3 hours), local train to Sorrento (minimum 1.25 hours), then 1/4 hour to hotel - total's probably around 6 hours. You have time to explore a little of Sorrento and have dinner.
• 10-12 Sorrento - 2 full days for day trips to Capri, Ravello, Positano, Pompeii . . .
• 13 Rome - allow 1.5 hours from hotel to Naples, then time to connect, 1 hour to Rome, 1/2 hour to hotel total 3-4 hours, 1/2 day for sightseeing.
• 14-15 Rome - 2 full days to see the sights

Comments:
I think you should stay one more day in Venice. It's a very different place and easy to soak up while you're adjusting to the time change.
There simply aren't Roman ruins to speak of in Florence. It's full of Renaissance art and architecture. If that doesn't really interest you, there's no crime in skipping it. Maybe you should go to the Cinque Terre (CT) for 2 nights instead. For Roman ruins, Pompeii and/or Herculaneum as day trips from Sorrento are much better. Then I'd try to spend one more night there. I suggest Sorrento because it has better connections to Pompeii/Herculaneum/Naples by train and the Amalfi Coast by bus and ferry. And it's a charming town. If you choose these changes, you could rent a car from the CT at LaSpezia, Pisa or Genoa and maybe drop it off in Rome. Others who've rented cars will be able to give you better information on that.

Fiesole, up the road from Florence, has well-excavated Etruscan and Roman ruins.

Thank you all for your help... really appreciate it.

I think i'll skip the 2 nights in Florence, add a night each in Venice and another one in Tuscany.

Could somebody help me with Tuscany vs Umbria choice. Really finding it difficult to choose.

I find Tuscany more picturesque than Umbria but frankly you are giving these places so little time that it doesn't matter -- it might matter if you were talking about several weeks but for a handful of days either will do fine -- there is plenty to see in both areas.

I find Tuscany more picturesque than Umbria but frankly you are giving these places so little time that it doesn't matter -- it might matter if you were talking about several weeks but for a handful of days either will do fine -- there is plenty to see in both areas.

From Venice, take the train to Arezzo. Rent your car. Kemwel.com. Taxi to their pick up office on Via

Florentina. Stay here. http://www.borgorapale.it/. Drive is 45k.

Places to see from here: Siena 33K. Montelpulcino 33k. Cortona 58K. Monteriggioni 53K.

Castellina in Chianti 63K. Castilione del Largo 63K

Train: Arezzo-Napoli. 4H27m. Should be able to return car in either city.
.Orvieto-Napoli. 3H19m

Maybe you can find a place that's somewhere near the "border" between Tuscany and Umbria. The driving distances aren't so far. From Siena to Orvieto is about 1.5 hours according to viamichelin.com