Italian Trains

For a primer on Italian trains, read this: https://www.seat61.com/Italy-trains.htm

By "pay one price" I guess you mean a rail pass. These are bad value in Italy, as it is cheaper to buy tickets for each train. See the page I mentioned above, especially the section "Do you need to buy in advance?".

Some stations have left luggage, smaller stations do not. You will have to research each station individually.

Sorry I can't give info on the places you ask about.

You say you will be "on our own" after checking out of the time share -- won't you have a place to stay each evening ? Hotels usually let you leave your bags before official check-in time in so you can see the city and come back.

For your Paestum trip, we did a similar one-nighter from Munich to Füssen, leaving bigger bags at the Munich hotel and carrying just a small nylon foldup. Bag storage available at Pompeii, and I have worn a Civita backpack there.

Regarding checking bags in general at stations, you really have to Google info for the station. Big stations (i.e., Milano Centrale) have a robust site that explains all services. You might try this guide from Why Go Italy for various other stations' services.

As to Paestum, Positano, Pompeii, and Herculaneum, you will need 3 full days to see all of these and probably two bases, i.e., Salerno for two nights to facilitate visiting Paestum and Sorrento for two nights to accommodate seeing Pompeii and Herculaneum. Salerno to Pompeii would be a challenge for a day trip. You can stop in Positano on the way between the two. All of this can be done by train (Arezzo to Salerno to Paestum) and bus (Salerno to Positano to Sorrento). I know you have Rick Steves' book so you can probably noodle it out.

The Paestum site info you need is only in Italian online. It says that It is forbidden to bring baggage, backpacks, and bulky bags into the site and they must be deposited in the bag check at the main entrance (Porta Principale) near the Temple of Neptune.

Why don't you ask the management of the timeshare about daily transportation to the train station? Seems silly to rent a car for that and they probably know a local driver that can help you out.

Thank you, thank you for these tips! I really like to the Man in Seat 61 site. There is a link explaining the whole baggage check process and which stations have it! I am glad the Paestum museum has bag check.. That will help with our overnight bag situation. I have been in contact with the time share already. The gal who owns it actually recommends renting a car citing the distance of the time share in the countryside and the sporadic service of local train service. I have also considered scrapping the whole time share idea and getting a regular hotel in a city on the main line (Florence or Arezzo). You are absolutely correct when you say we will have a hotel each night. My wife likes the idea of air bnb instead of a hotel. We've been looking at those instead, and, when dealing with individuals, who knows if they'll let us check in early or leave bags. That is certainly another option. I'm just trying to leave no stone unturned right now!

A vacation rental (Airbnb is only one of many options to find an apartment) is I’ll-advised for less than 3 nights. Hotels and B&Bs work better for shorter stays.

I am glad the Paestum museum has bag check.. That will help with our
overnight bag situation.

eljweb, please listen to Laurel's excellent advice about this "overnight"? As she wisely counseled, you need more than just an overnight to do Paestum, Positano, Pompei, and Herculaneum from Arrezzo. It's too many places and you'll need more than one base to do them from efficiently. Pompeii alone is a huge site that can easily eat up the better part of a day.

Booking a hotel or apartment in town may be a better plan than a timeshare in the countryside requiring a car you plan to drive only to access the trains.

We have basically solidified our itinerary with room to wiggle if
something comes up that we simply cannot pass up.

It would be interesting to know what your full itinerary looks like and who you're traveling with? You mention family members? Also time of year you'll be making this trip?

Sorry for the brief response - I’m on lunch break at work. Two days on the Amolfi Coast, two days in Rome, one day in Milan, one day in Florence, 1/2 day in Pisa, 1/2 day riding through Cinque Terre, two days in Venice.

If something is cut on the Amolfi coast, my wife wants to prioritize Paestum and Pompei. So, if time runs short, those are the two first stops (one each day if necessary). She knows it’ll be long days leaving early, eating on trains, with late night returns at times. We’ll have our two children as well with us. Our plan is a Christmas-time vacay. We are looking at an overnight stay in Amolfi, Rome, and Venice with the remainder of the night outside of Arezzo. Based on feedback you all have been so kind in providing, I am seriously considering dumping the idea of the time share and using it somewhere else on a different trip.

We understand a lot will be closed on Dec 25 & 26. I am emailing ahead as much as I can to confirm who is open and when.

Adding up your days, you appear to have only 9 days in Italy, total. This small window won't really work with your suggested itinerary. Amalfi Coast, Rome, Florence, Milan, CT/Pisa, Venice are not of equal weight, and you seem to be staying in at least 5 different places.

When I was much younger, such a pace would have been extremely uncomfortable. With a wife and 2 small children, this is borderline suicidal. Italy will be a blur to you, and the sights leave little time to experience Italy other than from a train window. Why such a frenetic pace?

With 9 days, most of us would visit 3 places, at most, and Rome, Florence, and Venice would benefit from 3 nights each, although that would be shorting Rome, IMHO. Why Milan at all? Doing the CT and Pisa on the same day will be unpleasant, although doable, but where are you overnighting? Eating on trains? Why? I guess it is okay if you like bags of chips and small cans of soda. Paestum is south of the Amalfi Coast, an outlier site that will cost you time traveling there and back to wherever. Pompeii is not on the Amalfi Coast, but is about an hour from Naples on the Circumvesuviana. You will have only about 9 hours of daylight each day to accomplish your goals.

I believe you are not taking into consideration the geography of Italy or the time necessary to get around by train or automobile. While I appreciate you are using the Rick Steves' guidebooks, you are missing the most fundamental of principles governing travel, which is to have a good time. This plan for Italy isn't practical, and it certainly won't be fun. Good luck.

Sorry, eljweb, but I must agree with wbfey1: yours is a suicidal itinerary for ADULTS let alone children. You're not factoring in the time it take to pack up, get to train stations, sit on trains, find your hotel, acclimate to new surroundings and then turn around a day or so later and do it again. I have a feeling you're also not factoring in arrival day, which is always a partial.

Either 9 or 8.5 days? No more than three locations (Venice> Florence> Rome is the classic first-timers trip for this amount of time) and I'd scrap the Amalfi Coast for another trip when you can give it the time it needs. As already mentioned, neither Paestum nor Pompeii are on the Amalfi Coast.

And yes, you're going to run into some attraction closures over the holidays/days of the week they're normally closed so longer stays in individual cities will allow to you to work around those. And yes, daylight will be short at end of December.

Your European itinerary is definitely a "first-timer" to Italy type. You've got too much crammed into each day. Cut out some traveling and instead spend some time actually walking around and seeing the places you say you'll be "driving" through...like the CT for example. That's not a place to "drive through".

...like the CT for example. That's not a place to "drive through".

Agree, Tim.
The CT is best enjoyed if you can stay there a day or two, and I'm not sure how great the weather is going to be in late December.

Still a lot of confusion as to exactly how long you will be in Italy. What date do you arrive, what date do you leave? Have you booked flights? Knowing where you arrive and depart from will help advising you. And how old are your kids?

The weather will be a factor. In December, depending where you are, you can expect anything from warmish sunny days to rain and/or snow. There is a lot to be said for larger cities with lots to do indoors if the weather turns on you - Rome and Florence are good choices here. Venice in winter can be miserable, very cold and damp, ditto Amalfi and the CT. In December much of the CT will be closed and you do realize that most of the towns are pedestrian only?

Hi.
While none of us here are trying to put a damper on your plans for a first trip to Italy; we ARE concerned that you will be wanting to go straight home after two days of this rushing-about -the-country plan you have in mind.
With two small kids, and only 9 full days in Italy: you will be better only having two bases to stay in at most.
Kids will be irritable and tired after being taken around one historical site, let alone all those you have planned.
If you have booked your flights already, it might be best to stay near those place, and see what is there.
If your kids are small, you can always return on other trips!