Italy in 14 Days

If you're only going to those cities, then stick with the frequent, inexpensive, high speed trains. A car in any of those places is a royal PITA (and impossible in Venice, of course). The only time you might want a car is if you're going to some of the small, out of the way towns or villages that aren't served by trains or buses.

we were also thinking abiout seeing Manarola, Portofino, Sassi di Matera, Pompeii and maybe Pisa. what's the best way to plan this trip. Stop by stop as close to reality as possible

That’s a lot of travel for 14 days. That is, if you are counting 14 days on the ground in addition to your travel days. Venice, Milan, Florence and Rone are actually too many places to see in a two week period, considering the fact that travel from one city to the other will take away from your time sightseeing. There’s no way you could add extra cities to your proposed itinerary. You need to limit your trip to three cities at the absolute max in order to do justice to any of your venues,

Exactly how many nights will you have in Italy (not counting the night on the plane)? Or do you have a bit of flexibility?

Fourteen nights sounded OK for the four cities you originally listed, but now you're adding four or five additional places in mostly different directions and not accessible by express train. This is no longer a 14-day trip.

You can still get to all the proposed destinations by rail, but the first thing to do is figure out which of them you can reasonably include in your trip.

I do think you can do 4 cities in 14 days: fly into Milan and out of Rome to avoid wasting time backtracking. I'll agree, though, that adding any more locations would be too much. You'd spend too much of your valuable sightseeing time checking in and out of hotels, getting to and from stations and sitting on trains.

I'd do Milan>Venice>Florence> Rome, and yes, train is absolutely the fastest, most efficient method of travel between them. You definitely do not want a car to get around IN those cities. How long to spend in each of them depends on what you're personally interested in doing and seeing but you might consider an itinerary like this:

Day 1: Fly
Days 2-3: arrive in Milan, 2 nights/1.5 days
Days 4-6: transfer to Venice, 3 nights/2.5 days
Days 7-9: transfer to Florence, 3 nights/2.5 days
Days 10-13: transfer to Rome, 4 nights/3.5 days
Day 14: fly home

The 1/2 days missing are for time taken up in the arrival and transport process from airport to hotel in Milan, and for the relocation process between the other cities.

Wow, that was quite a bit of 'mission creep' in just 42 minutes.

As acraven says, you need to scale back or add lots more days

I agree with Kathy’s plan, we did Rome to Florence (a day trip by bus to Siena) to Venice in 14 days on the ground. We used a train between cities and it’s very convenient. You don’t need a car unless you’re doing small towns.

I know 14 days sounds like a lot if you're an American traveling to Italy for the first time, but the posts in this thread are good advice from people who have traveled a LOT.

If you're not flying out from the US, this may still be good advice.

Save the Sassi di Matera for a trip focused on Southern Italy, Puglia and Bascilata. Matera is interesting but there is so much to explore in Puglia.

Re:train travel. Do not take luggage over 21” both for putting it in overhead racks on trains and for getting on and off trains quickly.

To do everything on your list, you're going to have to add at least 5 days, 7 would be better.

Adding to the itinerary Kathy posted.

From Florence- Manarola. 2 nights.

Manarola-Pisa on your way to Rome.

Rome-Pompeii. 1 N. adding a nite or 2 would enable you to see some of Naples or the Amalfi Coast.

Rent car from Pompeii travel to Matera. 2 N

Return to Naples and fly home from there.

okkkkkkkk, I think I have a plan. For Itay, I guess i was wanting to do to much. Staying away from a car seems to be the way to go. So train it will be. Last year I drove Munich to Vennia to Budapest to Bucharest to Prauge to Berlin to Frankfurt; then home. Since I was stationed in Germany, years ago, I felt comfortable with the drive. I drive the crazy roads of Romania annually. But this will be my first to Italy that is not with an organized group. I truly thank you fro the advise. After Italy we paln to fly to Greece for a week. I could shorten that trip by a day or two to get the most out of Italy. We plan to be in Romania for teh Orthodox Easter before flying back to Paris and then home. Plan is to fly into Paris 27 March (friends birhtday); fly to Venice 29 March and out of Rome on the 13th of April to Greece, 20th Fly to Romania, 29th to Paris, May 1st Home.

Thanks Kathy. Seems like you've done this before. Any additional pointers will be welcomed, from anyone.

There seems to be many train line; any particulars?

There seems to be many train line; any particulars?

Trenitalia is the main train company. http://www.trenitalia.com/tcom-en

It offers the widest selection of both high speed Freccia and slower regional trains. Note when using this site you must use the proper Italian place names: Milano, Venezia, Firenze, Roma, etc. Advance bookings on Freccia trains can yield cost savings, but the tickets come with restrictions.

Another compamy, Italo Treno, runs only Freccia trains on some routes. They use the same tracks and stations as Trenitalia, and their prices are similar or slightly less. https://www.italotreno.it/en

If you aren't accustomed to European trains, this site is an education unto itself: https://www.seat61.com

Italian trains are great: we love 'em. Cjean has given you the websites for checking schedules and bookings. We only travel 2nd class as those carriages are comfortable enough not to need to spend any extra for pricier tiers, and you can get some nice price breaks for booking in advance. Do read the restrictions for the cheapest tickets, though: most are non-refundable and non-changeable without penalty.

If you use the Trenitalia website, the Italian names for the main stations in the 4 cities you list are these:
Milan: Milano Centrale
Venice: Venezia S. Lucia
Florence: Firenze S.M. Novella
Rome: Roma Termini

If coming from Paris, you may be flying into Linate in Milan versus Malpsensa? How to get to Centrale will depend on which one you're coming into. Rome has two as well: Fiumicino and Ciampino, and it's possible you'll be flying from Ciampino to Greece?

After Italy we paln to fly to Greece for a week. I could shorten that
trip by a day or two to get the most out of Italy.

If you can do that, I'd add a day, or even two, to Florence for taking couple of day trips easily done from there via public transit (e.g. Siena, Lucca, Pisa, Fiesole).

No need to go into great detail about it until you get a plan down but there will be attractions in both Rome and Florence that you'll want to order advance tickets for or buy a tourist pass, depending on how many things a pass covers that you have interest/time enough to see.

This is truly great information. Thank you so very much. It's now time for me to narrow down the nuts and bolts. What are your thoughts on staying in near by Padua and doing a day trip into Venice. Going in early morning on the train and coming out on the last train thereby seeing it day and night. With that, I was thinking that day trips could be made more cost effective from Padua.

With that, I was thinking that day trips could be made more cost effective from Padua.

Looking at Rome2rio.com, train fares are $5 one way for the ~ 1 hr train or ~$18 one way for the 30 min train ride.

So, $10 ( per person) r/t 2hrs travel time; $36 ( per person) r/t one hr travel time. So how much less is a hotel in Padua vs Venice? And what is your time worth?

For me a hotel in Padua would have to be at least $100 less per night to fit my definition of "cost effective" as a base to visit Venice.

You have to decide what works best for you

And don't forget the time it will take to get from your hotel in Padua to the Padua rail station.

For the trains, download the Trenitalia app on your phone. This app will give you all the info relate to your train. The proposed track and time, the times that the train left the previous stations and the actual time and track when the train arrives. Using the app you don't have to hover around the electronic reader boards. Just open the app and head down to the track is lists as proposed. The two trains we took a few weeks ago ended up arriving just one track over from the one listed in the app.

What are your thoughts on staying in near by Padua and doing a day
trip into Venice

My thoughts are that if you cannot afford to stay IN Venice then postpone your visit until you can. The true magic of Venice is best experienced early in the morning and late in the evening when the day trippers have left. Also read: https://europeforvisitors.com/venice/articles/top-tourist-mistakes-3.htm

For trains I use Loco2.com- it was recommended by a member on this forum- its user friendly- and will list all trains both Italo and Trenitalia with no markup- you can also create a free acct.

Happy Travels💫✨