Italy in 2 weeks

jasmine,

When is this trip taking place and where are you flying from? A few thoughts......

For a start, I'd change the order slightly. You might consider flying inbound Venice and outbound Rome. Using this order would be more efficient:

• Venice
• Florence
• Cinque Terre
• Positano
• Rome

You could also switch the order and travel Rome > Positano, flying outbound from Naples or Rome. One point to note is that Positano is a bit more "challenging" for transportation, as it doesn't have rail service. The easiest method is to take the train to Sorrento, and then Bus, Taxi or private car service from there to Positano.

Do you have access to Rick Steves guidebooks? I've found those are the best for planning hotels, sightseeing and transportation.

Regarding "travel to each destination", that's very easy in most cases as all the places you've mentioned are well served by trains. With a few more details on your trip, it will be easier to offer more specific suggestions.

I'm sure our Italy experts will chime in with better advice than I can, but I'll still throw in my 2 cents worth.

First, given the spread of the places you want to see, it would be a lot more efficient to fly into Venice and out of Rome. That way you aren't wasting a lot of time sitting on a train and backtracking. Have a look at multicity (open jaw) flights.

How much time have you planned for each place, and have you accounted for the time (at least half a day for each change) needed to get from one place to the next?

A logical order would be Venice (3 nights), Florence (3 nights), CT (2 nights), and Rome (4 or 5 nights). Of course this doesn't include your transatlantic flights, so you might need to reduce your stay in Rome. I've excluded Positano because I don't think it's doable within your time frame, and being so far south of Rome, it's the outlier.

All of your transits are easily done by train. The trenitalia site isn't too difficult to use. But if you aren't familiar with European trains, an excellent primer is https://www.seat61.com It will teach you everything you need to know about riding the rails.

Ah, yes, good point! I'm traveling 10 days from October 9th.
Is rain a concern here during that time?
I'm flexible where I come in and out of - will be flying standby, so coming in and out of larger airports are probably more favorable for us!

jasmine,

"Is rain a concern here during that time?"

Yes! I've encountered heavy rain even in September, so it will also be a concern in October. It's not frequent, but it does happen.

I'd suggest booking accommodations in the Cinque Terre as soon as you have your dates finalized. Which of the five towns are you planning to stay in?

I was looking for specific information on which country / city you'll be flying out of?

I do believe the duration of our trip should be something like what the poster above mentioned!
You're right, Positano is a bit out of the way. It's a "maybe" on the list right now, if we can swing some sort of day trip from Rome it might be worthwhile.

We have a maximum of 12 days to spend in Italy and right now we have these as our duration in each place:
Our days will be self guided but we're open to the suggestions of excellent short and/or walking tours too.
We're a couple in our late 20s and we'd like a nice combination of "go, go, go" touristy things as well as some downtime (hopefully CT). Both of us have never been so we really want to hit all the big touristy things (minus the vatican).

Venice - 2-3 days
Florence - 2 days
CT - 3 days
Rome - 3 days
Positano (optional) 1 day

Also taking suggestions on where in the city to stay in each area! My mind is absolutely boggled by all of this. I've always dreamed of staying in CT which is why I plan to stay there for a bit longer than people usually stay.

No problem flying in and out of anywhere we please; we're flying standby so as long as we can get to an airport, we are all good.

If possible, fly into Venice and out of Rome. Travel by trains -- no need for a car. Skip Positano as it is south of Rome and would require backtracking to fly out. In addition, even with dropping Positano, you have three relocations in a two week period and they almost always take more time than anticipated. Although you didn't specify, if your arrival and departure days are included in your two weeks, then those are days you really can't use to the fullest.

Keep in mind that changing cities takes a lot more time than just the time spent on the train. So 2 days in Florence becomes 1.5 days, etc. And your arrival day will likely be a blur due to jet lag, so don't short change your stay in Venice.

The reason Ken asked which town you wanted to stay in is at least partly because Oct is still pretty much high season in Italy. The CT towns are small, and can book up fully, or nearly so. You'll want to book your hotels soon.

I use a combination of TripAdvisor and booking.com to find hotels. You can add filters for preferred location and budget. You'll want to stay in Venice, proper, and not in Mestre or the Lido. Any of the Florence hotels in the old city (within a kilometer or so of the Duomo) would be a good location. Rome has lots of good locations. We have usually stayed near the Coliseum, but a lot of folks like the Trastevere area.

Hi Jasmine, We are doing the exact itinerary arriving in Rome on Sept 15 but we have 3 weeks time to enjoy. We are landing around 8am in Rome and will take our time getting to the Termini Station and from there take the hi-speed train to Venice. After 4 nights in Venice we will head to Cinque Terre for 3 nights. Yeah, I know it's at least a 6 hour train ride but it will be the last long train ride and we make 6 hour trips to Memphis quite frequently so no problem for us and we are in our 60's.

Need a place to stay in Cinque Terre? Go to www.cinqueterrehotels.com and fill out a request. You will get emails from anyone that has an opening and we got plenty of reponses. We have 3 nights there. Then we take the train to Florence for 5 nights. We take a hi- speed train to Naples around 2 1/2 to 3 hrs and on to Positano. We haven't finalized our transportaion from Naples to Positano but there was quite a few conversations recently on this subject. We have 5 nights in Positano and then head to Rome for 5 nights. We fly out of Rome. I realize you won't have as much time and I'm sure you cannot change your flight plans this late in the game. If there are any questions I can help you with I'll respond.

@TC - Definitely - thanks for the advice. We've just decided to drop Positano now and focus on the rest of the cities. It'll have to wait for next time!

@cjean - totally, that makes sense. Thanks for the recommendations on hotels! I'm going to have to check that out. So far we've only really considered Airbnb for some reason after hearing a lot of good reviews from friends who have travelled in Europe but I want to look at hotels, too. CT will be the highlight of my trip so I'll need to make sure I book that this week!!

@GloriaB - Your trip sounds amazing!! I am extremely envious of the extra time, I hope you enjoy your upcoming trip! Thanks for the advice, I will definitely look into the trains and the routes. Still trying to get acquainted to the train sites, names of stations, transportation in each city, etc. I'm putting in a request with Cinque Terre now! Would you consider Airbnb in that area at all?

Jasmine, The only hotel we are staying in is Cinque Terre. All the rest were booked through airbnb or VRBO. I always look at the beds and read the reviews on multiple sites. We have rooftop patios in Florence and Rome.

Here is the one in Venice we are staying in and she picks you up from the train station. There were a couple of days left in Sept.
https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/8222905

For Florence : https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/7087536?eluid=2&euid=357b3fb9-987f-ae81-cc72-d84a1f79dec0 Not much availability left in Sept more in Oct. We did not know this before booking but it is owned by a Count Sebastian who owns a winery and has alot of history in Florence. It has 3 outside patios. Also there is a post about the most memoriable things in Florence and one of the posters listed quite a few items that are right where we are staying. (this one is about a 15 or 20 min. walk to the train station.)

For Rome: https://www.vrbo.com/450395 This was the most priciest but we wanted the rooftop view and the hotels that were nice to finish our final stay that had a rooftop were just as much or just not what we wanted. We are celebrating out 40th anniversary.
There was one week left in Sept. and a couple left in Oct.

BTW, I would be careful about booking in Corneglia. While we don't mind stairs and in some of our bookings we will have to walk up many we found Corneglia had too many. There are around 380 steps up to the town. They do have a bus that makes trips to the train station but I have read of the bus not arriving and people having to use the stairs some with their luggage in tow. Someone scared me on this site about makeing my reservations there early which I did and it was in Corneglia. A couple of months later I found out about the stairs and we rethought out our stay and cancelled 5 month before we leave. I had booked with trip advisor and will never, never do that again for we lost our deposit. I had found the web site I gave you and received many responses about availablity.

Good Luck!

Forgot to add. I'm sure people have used airbnb in Cinque Terre but just make sure you read the reviews carefully and check multiple sites. You can also email the owners before you book. Also before committing take a look at the towns for convenience of walking the trails. Some of them are closed but you can take the train between towns. If the seas are calm we are hoping to rent a small fishing boat and spend an afternoon just going up and down along the coast. I read where another poster did this and she spoke of how much fun it was. I can't wait.

Are you going in October 2017?

We are going Sept/Oct 2017 and we have booked airbnb throughout the entire trip - If I remember I'll post the experience afterwards but the pictures and reviews seemed positive.

Good luck!

Jasmine,

Which town to choose as a home base in the Cinque Terre is important. Of the five towns, only Monterosso has conventional hotels with desk clerks and elevators. The other towns typically have just rooms, and many don't provide breakfast.

Monterosso is the largest of the towns and therefore has the greatest number of accommodations, restaurants and other amenities. It also has the best beaches.

As someone else mentioned, Corniglia is a bit more difficult to access so may not be the best choice.

If I'm reading your posts correctly, the visit to the CT will be one of the highlights of your trip, so choice of town and hotel will be important. If you need hotel recommendations, the group here can offer suggestions.

Rain is possible at any time, so you'll have to hope for the best.

Jasmine,

Which town to choose as a home base in the Cinque Terre is important. Of the five towns, only Monterosso has conventional hotels with desk clerks and elevators. The other towns typically have just rooms, and many don't provide breakfast.

Monterosso is the largest of the towns and therefore has the greatest number of accommodations, restaurants and other amenities. It also has the best beaches.

As someone else mentioned, Corniglia is a bit more difficult to access so may not be the best choice.

If I'm reading your posts correctly, the visit to the CT will be one of the highlights of your trip, so choice of town and hotel will be important. If you need hotel recommendations, the group here can offer suggestions.

Rain is possible in October, so you'll just have to hope for the best with that.

Hi Ken!

Thanks for the tips! I am looking at booking my accommodation in CT this week (as soon as possible, and am deciding between Vernazza or Monterosso. Would definitely love some recommendations on which hotels/bnbs to stay at! I'm on a tighter budget, (think 140 euros and under) so I know I can be a bit limited in terms of choice right now!

Thanks!

jasmine,

Would you prefer a "conventional" hotel or just a room? I can provide suggestions in Monterosso, but I'll have to leave Vernazza up to the others. Also, is the room for one person or two? Is breakfast important?

Hi Ken,

I'd love something private (no shared toilets, rooms, etc.) and I'd just like something with a small balcony with a view. No other preferences, really! I realize it'll be hard to find a place with a view on my budget as well as on shorter notice! 2 people sharing a room, any size bed will do just fine and breakfast is important only if the room doesn't have a small stove!

Thanks!

jasmine,

One of my favourite hotels in all of Europe is Hotel Villa Steno, which is in the "old town" area of Monterosso. Their quoted rates are €120-230 per night for a double, but you'd have to contact them to find out which rates apply at the time of your visit. Another that you could look at is Hotel Villa Adriana which is at the far end of the "new town". Their rates are €150-180 per night for a double. Finally, have a look at the places on this list (which looks like it's been updated recently) - http://rebuildmonterosso.com/visitors-information/

Forget the stove and take advantage of the good breakfasts provided by the hotels, which are included in the cost of the room in many cases.

Friends stayed here in Vernazza in the studio apt.
They really liked it.
Edit link didn't work, here it is.

http://www.manuela-vernazza.com/index_eng.htm

I'm usually not so dogmatic, but I can say that with such a short trip, and with the rest of your itinerary, a day in Positano is a complete waste. I saw Positano as a daytrip from Naples, and consider it one of my great travel "mistakes." It takes quite a bit of time to get to Positano from anywhere else, and it's not the kind of place you can enjoy in a short visit; the point is settling in, not blitzing through. Coming from Naples I felt it was a waste of a day; coming all the way from Rome, I would have been even more unhappy.

Then there's the fact that you're going to the Cinque Terre, so you'll get your seaside time. If you really want to see Positano, cut something else, and spend several days in the area (Sorrento, Amalfi, Capri, Naples - there's no shortage of things to see there).

In addition to flying into Venice and out of Rome saving time from a regular round trip flight, there's also the factor that flights out of Venice tend to leave VERY early in the morning. Getting to the Venice airport at that hour is time consuming, expensive, or both. It's easier to get a flight out of Rome leaving later, and even if you have an early flight out of Rome, it's easier and cheaper to get to the Rome airport early. Plus, Venice is a good place to get over jetlag. So, starting in Venice and ending in Rome works very well.

If you say which US airports are the ones you can depart from, we can help with flight options. To search yourself, use the "multi city" or "multiple destinations" function of airline search pages like Kayak, Skyscanner, Google Flights, etc, rather than the "one way" or "round trip" options.

To get between these cities, the trains will be cheaper if you buy in advance and can accept non-refundable and non-exchangeable tickets. On the other hand, if you don't mind full fare (which isn't too exorbitant on these routes), you can wait until you get to Italy to buy your train tickets. However, with a short trip like yours, you shouldn't have any difficulty knowing in advance which trains you'll want to take.