Italy-Florence, Tuscany, Cinque Terre, Vencie and Dolomites

Erica, Especially as this is your first trip to Italy, you might find it VERY HELPFUL to attend the "Curmudgeon group" Rick Steves meeting in Denver on Feb. 18th (check the "General Europe" section for a location and other information). To answer your question, YES, that is absolutely too ambitious for a two-week time frame. Visiting two cities and three regions in Italy in 14-days is going to be "difficult"! It's very important to allow for adequate travel time between locations, which will average about half a day each time. Whether your budget will be adequate will depend on how much of the $6000 you have "left over" after you've paid for air fare. Have you booked any flights yet? You might find it very helpful to pick up a copy of the RS Italy 2012 Guidebook, as that will be an enormously helpful resource to plan your trip, find inexpensive Hotels, transportation, sightseeing, etc. Good luck with your planning!

I agree with Ken, way too ambitious. When are you going to Italy? As far as your budget goes it would help to see what airfares are for your planned dates, where you will flying in and out of, how you plan to get from location to location and what your revised itinerary looks like. I would definitely recommend giving Florence and Venice more than 2 nights each.
What month you are travelling in may help with ideas for the rest of your itinerary.

We haven't booked flights yet. I've been tracking airfare rates for a while now. Not sure why but it seems that May and Sept are cheaper? I found a deal for the both of us for $1300 in Sept and in May both in the middle of the week. September would be ideal for us both. So that would leave us with roughly 4700. I was thinking of 2500 in lodging and 1500 in food and 700 for misc expenses like bus/train/car. We're not including money for gifts just yet, that will probably be decided before we go what to bring. So you think that two days would not be sufficient? That's what I was thinking of doing, darn. Here is what I mapped out; two and half days in Florence. THen a train/bus to a Agriturismo in Tuscany for 2 days. THen head over the Cinque Terre via train/bus 2 days. Then back up to through Verona for a night. THen to Venice for two days and lastly a rent a car to the Dolomites for 2 days. That uses up 11 days. I'm open to suggestions, so let me know.
Erica

I also forgot to say that the flight I'm looking at flies into Florence and then out of Venice.

Erica, did you really find roundtrip airfare for 2 people from Colorado to Italy for $1300 total? If so, I'd jump on it. I think you might enjoy the trip more if you eliminate Verona and the Dolomites, and give yourselves a little time to just soak in the atmosphere rather than rushing from place to place.

It's hard to comment on the budget portion. I'm also spending 14 days this summer in Italy for the 1st time. I've been making a spreadsheet of all of our expenses. Airfare, hotels, and travel expenses (italian trains, buses, subways ferry boats, etc) and I'm looking at a little over $5000.00 before we've set foot in a museum or have eaten anything. (for two travelers) Our hotels average $152/night for 14 nights. Airfare is from California. Keep in mind that's June. I'd advise you to start making a list. The price of almost everything is out there if you spend the time to find it. You biggest variables will be food and lodging. Your travel expenses will be pretty well set. If you add it up and find you're over budget, consider cutting some out of your itinerary or spending more time in cheaper areas. If you want to see all of those places, it's certainly doable. We're doing Lake Como, Venice, Florence, Cinque Terre, Siena (stopping in Pisa for a few hours en route), and Rome. Most on this board would say that's too aggressive and we'll get burned out. But I feel like seeing all of these places is more important to me than spending less time in transit or risking getting burnt out. Mainly we're looking at this first trip as a taste test for all of these different areas, so that we know where we'll want to spend extra time on our next trip.

FYI Erica -- we're paying $1400 each to fly in June. If that's really $650 each, that's an incredible deal. Fuel prices are on the rise.

I was on the Cheapo Air site and I did I chose the option of multiple city destination. With all the feedback of how cheap I'm starting to worry that it's not real?? The site: http://www.cheapoair.com/default.aspx?tabid=1683

Go onto the actual airline site and confirm

in general May and Sept are both good times to go to Italy, I'd suggest you shoot for Sept since you are still in early planning stages, this will give you more time Airfares to Italy are generally running $1000 and up per person, if you found something a lot cheaper you should check it out you should decide which areas are most important to you Cinque to Venice is about a 6 hour train ride, you loose a lot of time with that route if Dolomites are important to you than I would skip CT this trip, it would be way off the route from Florence, Verona, Venice and the Dolomites if you can live without the Dolomites this trip you could do Venice, Verona,Florence/Tuscany and CT
you can also look into flights to or from Milan depending on which route you choose

As to budget, we spend about $3000 per week, exclusive of airfare, in Italy. Food including wine runs an average for €80 per day for two. We eat well but not elegantly. B&Bs will be your friend as far as budget goes. The more you change location the more expensive your trip. As others have said, this is too many places in 2 weeks. Spend at least 3 nights in Venice! Ditto "Tuscany region" deserves more than 2 nights. If you have 13 nights, consider 3 or 4 in Venice, 3 in an agriturismo (car required) or small Tuscan town, 3 in Florence, and the rest in either the CT or the Dolomites. Cost of museums and tours is varies depending on what you like to do. We tend to do one fairly expensive activity each week: a private tour, a cooking class, a guided day trip, which usually runs about €200. You can find all admission and tour costs in RS books or online.

Erica: Italy is quite a culture shock for a first time visitor. It's a place that's better taken slowlyas you'll otherwise miss so much. September and October (April and May) are the best months to visit. I believe the wine harvest is in October. Have you considered starting in Venice (3 nights,) and then taking a train to Florence (3 nights)? Then, move 20 miles south to a hotel or agriturisimo in Chianti (4 nights) traveling by car rental. You can do day trips to Siena, San Gim., Volterra and other great hilltop towns. Winery tours are also available. With what time you have left, you can take a train out of Florence to Pisa, LaSpezia and the Cinque Terre. You can fly home from Pisa. The Dolomites are red in color, and very rough mountains. Skip them, as you can see mountains any time in Colorado. If I visit the Dolomites, I'll end up in Innsbruck, Austria. Accommodations are easily found on the internet, as there are just hundreds and hundreds of hotels, B&B's and agriturismos.
My April, 2012 reservations are through Venere.com, Booking.com and AirBnB.com. I also use TripAdvisor for guidance, and often will reserve direct with the hotel. I hold Rick's Graffiti Wall in high regard for rooms. The hunt is often half the fun of going. Have a great trip.

Thanks to everyone for your insightful feedback. I did learn a lot from everyone. I think the biggest thing is to go slow and not to move locations more than twice or three times max. After hearing everyone's comments it might make more sense to find a B&B or Agritursimo and stay there for 4-5 days and do day trips into the cities of interest. I would give up the Dolomite trip but I promised my husband we would go there. He is an avid photographer and is dying to explore that area. I think I can come up with somthing to make us both happy. Where can I go to look up the location for Rick Steves in Denver on Feb 18th? I would love to catch that if I can.

Erica, Here's the link to the info on the Denver area meeting. Denver Meeting

Actually, I don't think it's not doable - my husband and I had I think 10-11 days and did 5 Rome, 2 Cinque Terre, 1 in Genoa, Bologna and Venice...tho in hindsight, would have spent 2-3 in Venice (and did the next time we went)...3 days in each place is prob good - even 2 in CT was enough for us (tho we are revisiting there this year for another 2 days - but with a lot of the hiking trails damaged, things could be a little limited
(I would do, looking at your itinery - 2 Florence, 2 CT, 4-5 Tuscany, 2 Venice which still leaves 4 in Dolomites - but I'd be tempted to stay 3 in either Venice or Florence). I can't speak to the budgeting, but we were gone I think 19 days 1st trip (5 days in UK) and spent around $5000, but we had air miles for our flights, a sister to stay with in UK for a few days, and a few couchsurfing experiences. (This was 2008, so memory could be rusty.) In Venice, we stayed at a place called Al Campaniel, B&B, right off San Toma stop - have stayed both visits and am going to book there again. We were there late Sept, so prices may have been lower, but I think it was around 70euro for room with seperate but private bathroom, lovely big breakfast, very central and quiet (no views to speak off tho)

if the Dolomites and Tuscany are your priorities than I would skip the CT this trip, it is out of the way for a practical route
with 14 days you could do Florence, another tuscan town of your choice in an Agriturismo, the Dolomites and Venice with 3-4 nights in each place and not be too rushed. You can figure out best flight options, flying open jaw is a great idea if you can.