Italy in 22 Days

If you have not attempted his itinerary what can you say other than I have not? It would be difficult if not possible to follow his itinerary with the same degree of efficiency. Independent travelers lose time or efficiency because we have to check in and out of hotels, find the hotel, find the train station, wait for the train, get oriented at new location, find guides, etc. With his tours most of the nitty gritty is handled for you. Get up, eat breakfast, get on his bus and go. My guess is that 20 to 30% of your time is lost in these activities. That is the great advantage to a tour but there is a price associated with the conveniences provided. While you could follow one of his itinerary you will not be able to do it as fast.

I haven't tried his itinerary on any of my trips, but I'd caution you against trying to cover too much territory by train; transfers to get to some smaller towns can be tiring, as well as time consuming. If there's not something specific you "must" see in Milan, I'd suggest skipping it; it's far away and other parts of Italy can be more intriguing.

Elle, Rick's "suggested Itineraries" are a bit ambitious (IMO) and not realistic for most people. They might allow a quick glimpse of many locations, but my preference would be a more relaxed and enjoyable trip rather than a "blitz" Itinerary where one spends a lot of time seeing the sights through the windows of a train. It would help if you could list the places you most want to see. With that information, I'm sure the very helpful group here would be able to help you organize your trip. Regarding the places you mentioned, Varenna is definitely worth at least a couple of days. I'd skip Milan unless there's something particular you want to see (ie: The Last Supper). I believe Castelrotto would be worth a stop, but not sure about Bolzano. I'll be there in early September, so will be able to provide more information then. Have you worked out flight options yet? Good luck with your planning!

What are your main interests? If you are art lovers, Florence is a mecca. If you are museum lovers, Rome itself can entertain you for 22 days. History buffs? More into rural scenery, hiking, picturesque coastal towns? Do you travel really light? If you do, then changing hotels every night or two won't be a problem. If not, or if you like to "settle in" then you will want to avoid one-night stays and really plan on 3 or 4 nights per stop. Changing locations means packing and schlepping your luggage to the train, then from the train to the new hotel, unpacking, etc. That eats up lots of time. Are you energetic, on-the-go from early till late or more relaxed, soaking up atmosphere and exploring some of the back streets? Anyway, if you come back with answers, you will get lots of help tailoring an itinerary that is best for you. I've been to Italy 3 times, for a total of about 7 weeks, and except for Milan (just because I flew there) I haven't been to any of the towns you asked about. And I STILL have a list of things to see and do in all of the places (except Milan) that I have been to - and the list of place yet to visit grows with every trip.

I love Rick's books, but I hate his "favorite itineraries." They are MUCH too busy, and don't allow nearly enough time to enjoy the place you are in, or enough time to recover from getting between places. I like moving around on a trip, to a point, but I try to have a mix of 1-2 nighters and 3-4 nighters. His "suggested itineraries" are better, especially when he adds the phrase, "and slow down." The question of "what is a must see" is always a contentious one. For some, Venice is a must see, unique and wondrous; for others it's "Venice the Menace" - overpriced, hot, crowded, and miserable. You won't know how you feel about it, or any place, until you go. Since you can't see everything, I'd start by eliminating any place you're on the fence about, and, as you wisely suggested, using that time to spend more nights in places that do draw you. That said, here are my personal takes on the places you asked about. I haven't been to Castelrotto. I liked Milan a lot, but many don't. I enjoyed Bolzano, particularly the museum with the Iceman and its biculturalism (Austrian/Italian), but it's quite out of the way for most itineraries. And I loved Varenna, but unless you can spend at least 2 nights there, don't bother - it's all about relaxing, not about "sightseeing" in the standard sense. You can't go wrong adding more time to Rome, Florence, and/or Venice - they're called The Big Three for a reason. If you find that you don't like them, each has plenty of daytrips for escape (something I factor into how long I want to spend in a place; if I don't see appealing daytrips, I might shorten my stay there, just in case I don't like the place itself).

My wife and I did the 22 day Itinerary last October with a few modifications. I did a rather lengthy reply before this one and was told I had to split up the post, even thouigh iot was less that the characters allowed. So a brief explanation. We eliminated the Dolamites and added the days to Tuscany. We took the train except we rented a car at the Florence airport and drove to CT and then traveld around Tuscany, spending three days in Siena, one each in Volterra, Cortona, Assisi, and Orvieto. I know, we were in Umbria as well. Rather than using a base, other than Sienna, we liked the idea of spending the nights in the towns mentioned. We saw the highlights of the major cities, and added an additional day to Rome and felt that was plenty for Rome. It all depends how immersed you want to get. Our check-in,out alway took less than 10 min. We do not unpack our carry-on luggage, just sort of pull out what we need for the day. Therefore, we feel the time checking in, packing, unpacking is minimal for us. We usually ended the "touring" around 5PM and rested for a couple of hours before going out for dinner. In for the night around 10PM for a good nights sleep. We were able to go the Accadamia, Bargello, Uffizzzi, in Florence. As well as walk up to the top of the Duomo and the Piazza Michaelangelo. No museums in Venice, but we did the secret tour, took a gondola ride, rode a vaporetto up the grand canal to our hotel, attended a Vivaldi concert, and just wondered around Venice. We may have taken a day out of Tuscany and added a day to Venice. I think it is a great way to see a great deal of Italy, and makes you want to come back for more. We were able to have leisurely lunches and dinners most days. We are in out late sixties. You sound much younger, as the say at Nike, just do it! P.S. We had advance reservations for everything, trains, hotels, museums, so no wasted time in lines.

Thank you all for your kind and insightful responses. Our reasons for choosing to holiday in Italy are threefold, an innate love of history, a fervent interest in art/architecture and, of course, the food! I have visited Italy once before (at the age of 16) and vividly remember loving Venice and Rome. This will be my fiance's first time in Europe. Taking everyone's advice into account, I have eliminated an overnight in Milan and two days in the Dolomites which seem somewhat out of the way. To stay in Castelrotto (without a car) we would have to take a train to Bolzano and a connecting bus ride (50 min.) to Castelrotto. My itinerary still needs a bit of tweaking. I now have two extra days but I'm not sure where to add them. We would both like to visit San Gimignano (perhaps a day trip from Siena). Day/Plan/Sleep In 1 Fly into Milan/Varenna 2 Varenna/Varenna 3 To Venice/Venice 4 Venice/Venice 5 To Cinque Terre/Vernazza 6 Cinque Terre/Vernazza 7 Pisa to Florence/Florence 8 Florence/Florence 9 Florence to Siena/Siena 10 Siena/Siena 11 To Assisi/Assisi 12 To Orvieto/Civita/Orvieto 13 To Sorrento/Sorrento 14 Naples/Pompeii/Sorrento 15 Capri/Amalfi Coast/Sorrento 16 To Rome/Rome 17 Rome/Rome 18 Rome/Rome 19 ? ? 20 ? ?
21 Fly home

Looks pretty good. As I said above, you can't go wrong adding time to Venice, Florence, or Rome (particularly since you only have two days in the first two). Start calculating your own personal "must sees" for each of these; if any place is starting to feel rushed or stressful, add a day or two there. If that method fails, apply the tie-breaker: since you'll be running around a fair amount even with the revised itinerary, where will you want a rest? Both Florence (in the middle of the trip) and Rome (at the end) are natural spots to add days without having a plan on how you'll spend them, so you can get some down time. Of course, any of the places you are going can be used for down time; Siena should work well, too. And even though you have 3 nights in Sorrento, each day is already allocated for some pretty intense moving around and sightseeing; you may want to add a day for just relaxing in Sorrento itself. You see the problem, and here I am contributing to it. There's just too much to see and not enough time to do it. You will simply have to return. I've been to Italy 6 times, and have a long list of places to either return to for more a in-depth visit, or see for the first time. And between sightseeing and resting, one needs months for a proper "22 day trip."

Elle, Your revised Itinerary is better, but still too "busy" (IMHO), with a lot of moving from location-to-location. It's important to allow adequate travel time between places. My suggestion would be to skip a few of the locations and add time to others to make this a more relaxing (and probably more enjoyable) trip. I would definitely add at least one day to Varenna at the start, as you'll be recovering from jet lag so you won't be up to full "touring speed" for a few days. Which of the locations listed would you be willing to skip? There are lots of possibilities. Would something like this work.... > Day 1: Depart U.S. > Day 2: Arrive Milano / MXP - travel to Varenna > Day 3: Varenna > Day 4: Varenna > Day 5: Train to Venice > Day 6: Venice > Day 7: Train to Florence > Day 8: Florence > Day 9: Train to C.T. - stop in Pisa (although I'd skip that) > Day 10: C.T. > Day 11: C.T. > Day 12: Train to Siena > Day 13: Siena (day trips?) > Day 14: Train to Orvieto > Day 15: Orvieto (day trip to Civita) > Day 16: Train to Sorrento via Napoli Centrale / Circumvesuviana > Day 17: Sorrento - Pompeii, Herculaneum > Day 18: Sorrento - Capri day trip (you likely won't have time for "Amalfi Coast/Sorrento" that day) > Day 19: Train to Rome via Napoli > Day 20: Rome > Day 21: Rome > Day 22: Flight home This is still "busy" but should be a bit more relaxing. One option would be to skip Sorrento this time, and add days in other locations, perhaps Assisi, Siena and Orvieto. That would allow more time to explore the hill towns and sample the Vino. Good luck with your planning!

Elle, I agree with Ken that your revised itinerary is still too busy & involves too many changes. It's easy to underestimate the amount of time it takes to pack everything up, change hotels, and get from place to place. I agree that you should consider omitting the Amalfi Coast from your trip and instead visit it another time when you can devote a few more days to it. I also agree with adding another day to Varenna/Lake Como. I personally would cut the Amalfi Coast/Pompeii/Sorrento plans from your itinerary & add more days to the other places. On Day 5 you go from Venice to Vernazza. This will eat up a big chunk of time (5-6 hours on the train plus transit time to/from the train statoin, to/from the hotels, etc.). So, you'll really only be left with one full day in the Cinque Terre; that's a long way to travel for just one day. We travelled at a slower pace than your itinerary in 2009 & still felt that we hopped around too much & didn't get time to stay in one place & really see it...thus we are returning this year & going to a lot of the same places again. It's hard to resist the impulse to cram as many places as we can into our precious vacation days but if you resist the urge & go at a more leisurely pace, I think you'll enjoy it more. Just my two cents!

Day/Plan/Sleep In 1 Depart US 2 Arrive in Venice/Venice 3 Venice/Venice 4 Venice/Venice 5 To Florence/Florence (2 hours by train) 6 Florence/Florence 7 To Cinque Terre/Vernazza (3.5 hours by train) 8 Vernazza/Vernazza 9 Vernazza/Vernazza 10 To Siena/Siena (4.5 hours by train) 11 Siena/Siena 12 To Assisi/Assisi (2 hours by train) 13 To Orvieto/Civita /Orvieto (1.5 hours by train) 14 To Sorrento/Sorrento (3-3.5 hours by train) 15 Naples/Pompeii/Sorrento 16 Capri/Amalfi Coast/Sorrento 17 Paestum/Sorrento 18 To Rome/Rome (3-4.5 hours by train) 19 Rome/Rome 20 Rome/Rome 21 Rome/Rome
22 Flight home Ken, I followed your advice and pared down my itinerary even further. I have completely eliminated Milan/Varenna and added a full day to Venice, Sorrento and Rome. I have also added (per your advice) an extra day to the Cinque Terre. I notice I lose almost 1 full day to train travel but I am okay with this.

Your trip would be my ideal trip.....if only 1 more day was added to Florence and Assisi (IMO, though). I think 3 days in Florence is a perfect way to take in the city; 2 days, I feel that would be a bit rushed. And I really loved Assisi. Yes, it is small enough to see in 1 day but when you factor in travel time, you have 1/2 a day, and that is not enough time for me to take in Assisi.

Your new itinerary is much better. You have to keep in mind travel time. Also it is good to remember that 2 nights in a place is equal to only one day there, 3 nights equals two days, etc. You mentioned a day trip to San Gimignano from Florence before. You only have one full day in Florence, so I don't know when you would have time for a day trip. I think your new itinerary is definitely doable! Have a great trip!!!

The other option would be to go from Venice to CT/Vernazza. I know it's a long day on the train but if you're okay with that then it will work out better for other locations. Doing it this way you can base out of Florence for your trips to Siena and Assisi. You won't need to change hotels as often. Also, you can visit Orvieto as a day trip from Rome and spend much less time on the train. You can go directly from Florence to Naples and on to Sorrento and visit Orvieto when you get back to Rome. This will eliminate some hotel stays and long train journeys. Donna

When I first started off planning on my 21 day honeymoon in Italy, I used RS suggested itinerary as the backbone and after doing much research decided to cut out a substantial part of it. Here's the link to my itinerary (was in Italy back in Sept/Oct last year): http://www.ricksteves.com/graffiti/helpline/index.cfm/rurl/topic/66061/itinerary-advice21-days.html Ran into trouble on the first day with the train strike in Milan - but I was well aware of the strike before I even left Singapore. Got into Bellagio later than anticipated due to this. Overall, for my trip, I would have added a day to Assisi in place of Rome. 1/2 day is just not enough time to fully appreciate Assisi. We also skipped the daytrips from Rome as there's just too much to see in Rome. For your itinerary, I think that you have to be careful with Florence as some sights are closed on certain days. Depending on when you arrive into Florence, you might have to add a day or two just so that you can cover all the main sights. I would also add a day or two to Orvieto and Assisi and just save Sorrento/Capri/Naples for another trip. Bear in mind you are travelling from Orvieto to Sorrento, bypassing Rome and then you'll have to backtrack again to Rome. I feel that it's time wasted in the train. My advice: resist the urge to cramp everything in. I told myself I'll come back to Italy and I'm already mapping out the itinerary in my head (From Sorrento - Sicily).