Help with itinerary

Hello TravelinMom4, and welcome to the boards!

Florence, Rome, Venice is the classic Italian trip but even doing these with 10 nights is going to be tight. I think the travel logistics of getting to and from Amalfi will eat up a couple of days and you should put that aside for this trip.

With 10 nights you're probably looking at something like R-4, F-3, V-3 is probably your best plan. Where and how are you arriving in Italy? Flying into Rome would make the most sense and then travel north to south. If you're flying from the states plan on being jet-lagged and suffering from culture shock for the first day. That - and the fact that Rome is the largest city - is why I have the extra day scheduled for Rome.

The classic Tuscan hilltown experience is a day trip to Siena from Florence by train or bus. With six you might consider a tour but that's down to your preferences. There's lots to see in Florence so some may want to see something locally and others might be more interested in the Tuscan countryside.

This is my take on scheduling - others will have their opinions as well. Ultimately you need to determine what interests your group the most and start blocking out "must sees" for each place and budget your time that way.

There are fast trains for all of these routes. There are two fast train companies in Italy - the state run Trenitalia https://www.trenitalia.com/en.html and the private .italo https://www.italotreno.it/en

Fast trains have classes that come with better amenities but all tickets come with assigned seats for the duration of your trip. The earlier you buy you tickets the cheaper they will be so avoid buying "day of" if you can. Because they have assigned seats it is possible for these trains to sell out but that would probably only be on the busiest days of the year. Check the details of the different tickets - the cheaper the tickets the more restrictions about changing them later so you're trading price for flexibility.
It's really pretty straightforward just check the schedules.

Remember to search using the Italian names - Firenze for Florence, Roma for Rome and Venezia for Venice on Italian sites.
Trenitalia has an app for your phone and I'd be surprised if .Italo didn't have one as well.

Think seriously about whether everyone is going to stay together the whole time or whether pairs of people - probably determined by age - may split off and do different things. Making sure everyone can communicate is crucial if anyone is going to go off on their own so think about cell phone SIM cards for at least some of the group. Apps like WhatsApp work with WiFi so your phone from home can work with cellular turned off and WiFi but you can't always guarantee WiFi access when you need it.

Have a great trip,
=Tod

I've not been to Switzerland, but just based on the map/logistics I can't imagine you can fit in (or even appreciate) the listed cities in 4 nights. Bucket list aside, it just doesn't seem practical given your short time and long list in Italy.

A possible option is to fly to Rome and back from Zurich. Work your way north from Rome to Florence/Tuscany then to Venice. Fly from Venice to Zurich and then take train to Lucerne and back to Zurich to fly home. Each time you change cities or locations it will eat up a chunk of your day in travel time, so moving around comes at a real cost to your two weeks. It might be helpful to write out your planned itinerary in more detail so you can see where travel time makes a dent in your available time to see things. Just because you're sleeping in a particular city doesn't mean you've had a full day there.

Good luck!

Wow, you have a huge task to keep six people happy with all of these requests!

Right away I would take the Amalfi Coast off of your list unless you decide to take Switzerland off the list.

Are any of these an option for your group?

Have your group in two subgroups: the Swiss-bound group begins in Switzerland and meets the second group in Florence who started in the AC. Then you all do the Tuscany region together and end in Rome and fly home from there.

Or there’s an overlap of time. The Amalfi Coast group begins a half week earlier and takes the train to Rome. The Swiss group begins in Rome where all of you enjoy regions of Italy. The AC group flies home from Milan while the Swiss group finished their trip in Switzerland and flies home from Zurich or similar.

Here’s a trip report to give you an idea of what you can cover in 14 days in only Italy (not Switzerland) with your exact request if you substituted a bit of the Tuscan countryside for Ferrara. A few caveats: there were only two of us, I’m a very experienced, organized traveler and know my way around Italy, we both packed very light so we were up & moving early, we both enjoy walking and rarely were tired until our last day.

It might be a good idea to show this to your group, so they can discuss what they actually would be able to cover. It would be a shame to begin such a potentially great time at a disadvantage of unmeetable expectations. I think that’s a new word! ; )

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/mother-adult-daughter-italy-trip-aug-sept-2022

And here’s Switzerland and Italy (16 days) without the Amalfi Coast. No way would I try all of those trains on arrival day with your size group, though.

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/trip-report-switzerland-italy

I have not yet been to Italy, but will be going for my first time in October.

In 2018, my 22 year old daughter and I were planning a two week trip to include Italy and Switzerland. Once we began planning we knew there was no way that we could do both as there was so much we wanted to see in each country. We opted for an entire two weeks in Switzerland, beginning with a week stay in Wengen, 4 nights in Lucerne, 2 nights in Zurich and one night in Basel.
It was one of the best experiences ever and Switzerland was never on my bucket list, but Italy was.

IMO you would need more than 4 days in Switzerland. I guarantee the younger ones would be interested in Switzerland with further research. If I were crossing a place off of my bucket list, I would definitely need more than 4 days to do so.

It's tough to please everyone and come up with the perfect itinerary, but what a wonderful opportunity to be able to travel.

Hi. We’ve been to all of the places you list. So here are my thoughts about locations and connecting them even though you’ve gotten a bunch of excellent suggestions already.

As has been suggested, skip Amalfi for now. As RS says, plan like you are going to return. In Italy from south to north it makes sense to me to visit Rome, Florence, and Venice. And yes, Italy and Switzerland share a border, but it would take +/-7 hours by train to get from Florence to Zermatt. That’s an entire day considering from hotel to train station, travel, and station to hotel. With six people yet.

If its mountains you want to see, maybe you skip the Matterhorn and travel from Venice to Interlaken. It’ll still take almost a day. But don’t sleep in Interlaken, travel a bit south to Lauterbrunnen for beautiful Alps views and the possibility of cablecar or train rides up the mountains. Then to Lucern and Zurich for the flight home.

That’s still a lot for 14 nights. Have a wonderful trip!

I’m sure you’re already getting this, but it’s going to be extremely difficult to satisfy everyone’s wants on a trip like this. I think you’ll be well served by scaling back your plans as much as possible. Six people, even setting aside the age gap, are likely to be on very different schedules. Getting folks to and fro, arranging meals (even deciding which ones you might have together versus not) is guaranteed to be herding cats. Your primary objective should be spending this time together with as little stress as possible. This goes double for you, because even with the most agreeable travel companions being the point person for them is naturally stressful.

With that in mind, I’d try to keep yourselves to two bases in Italy. Rome and Venice are the best candidates: beautiful places, plenty to do, plenty of tourist infrastructure, and neither really requires you setting foot in a museum to enjoy it. Both have a lot of day trip options around them as well. In short, they offer max flexibility. With five nights in each, you’ll have plenty of time to let people find their feet, plan activities together, and afford time apart. You can even establish a bit of a routine “meet for breakfast here at 9am everyday” and such so you’re not constantly in a state of figuring these things out. Another option is to start in Venice, you can spend a lot of time exploring the underrated towns of the Veneto region, then train to Milan for a couple days before further train to Switzerland. This is much more of a straight line and makes sense logistically. Switzerland is another bag I’ll get to in a moment.

Amalfi Coast should just be off the table completely. It’s the most complicated place to get around, and not easily accessible. You simply don’t have time. Since you’re not art/museum focused I would also just leave Florence off this itinerary. I’m kind of in the minority, but I don’t find the city of Florence particularly attractive. It’s quite tight, and landmarks aside the architecture can be bland. Basically, if you’re not negotiating the artistic treasures of Florence, then you can leave it out.

Now, Switzerland. I think there’s some sacrifices that need to be made. And Switzerland forum may have better thoughts on how manage this, but right now this is the toughest leg. Zermatt probably needs to go. Lucerne and Lauterbrunnen are close enough to Zurich (and Milan) that you could pull them off. But it’s still a jam, and is kind of assuming you’re flying out of Zurich. You may want to pull a day or two from Italy to give this some breathing room. I also can’t help thinking that May can be a little early for the Alps. It may be downright cold when you’re there. Is that what folks are envisioning? Do y’all want to pack jackets for that? I think there’s a great deal to consider here. While no one wants to let down your elders, if there’s one thing on the itinerary that should maybe get the axe this may be it. Either that or lean a little further into it.

I agree with everyone that this is ambitious for 14 nights. Is it possible for the 70 year old and anyone else to add on an extra week to go on to Switzerland?
You haven't said if you have any flights booked. As this will be a large part of your cost, I would start looking at those. Do you have easy access to direct flights, as this gives you more time on the ground? Ideally you would fly in to one place ( maybe Rome, and out of another ? Milan, Venice Switzerland).
Personally, I would drop Florence, as you are not wanting to do art museums. Save it for another trip.
You could do a very nice trip with Rome, Tuscany ( maybe Orvieto and Siena) go on to Cinque Terre instead of Amalfi, then a long day to Venice and finish there. ( Or add in a couple of days in Florence on your way if that is important to you)

Hi and welcome to the forum gang, TravelinMom4 -
So much great info has already be contributed that I'll agree that you're trying to do too much, and in doing so will actually experience less.

Specifically regarding this:

We’re most interested in just experiencing the culture and seeing the
major sights and architecture. None of us are very interested in art
museums.

Some of the "major sights" are all about the art/architecture, and the art/architecture is very much part of the culture! This is especially true of Florence: the cradle of the Italian Renaissance and a veritable feast of fabulous art and architecture. It's a very museum-heavy city but I understand that you don't want to spend days seeing one after another. Still, if you keep Florence on the itinerary, I might suggest at least enjoying some nibbles - such as at some of the better churches - vs the full-out gorge that's the Uffizi and Pitti Palace? We can make some good suggestions if willing to take a peek. Honestly, seeing something that's still in place many hundreds of years after it was sculpted or painted puts things into a completely different context than viewing the same in a vacuum, the more sterile white-walled museums you might be used to.

I am one who would argue to delete Rome and the AC. I would fly into Venice and out of Milan. Stay in Venice for 5 nights- lots of things to do and see or just wander and enjoy. Vaparetto trips to other islands, or the great beach on Lido, easy day trips to Padua or other places. BUT, it is a city where you need to walk or take the vaparetto to get around. Some people find the city too difficult to navigate but if you just like to wander, this is a great place to start. And YES, go to Florians or another cafe and spend the money on drinks, etc.

I would then spend 5 nights in Florence. My one exception to art museums is absolutely go see the David and M's other unfinished works. The unfinished works line the hall to David. Take a walking tour of the city. Again, day trip out of Florence to Lucca or Pisa. Again, walking will be your primary mode of transport. Take a cooking class or go on a tour of a local vineyard. Go to the central market.

For your non-city fix, go to one of the Lakes in Italy.