Italy Itinerary for 17 days

If you are in 2 hill towns, I don't see why it is more expensive to get to Florence (oh, from Nice I guess)? Trains to the smaller towns usually stop in Florence.

Can't you fly into Naples and then train to Florence and go from there? I see trains from Naples- Florence in mid June for 34 euro... you can do one smaller hill town and Florence...

Not to throw a wrench in it, but Venice was amazing... I may do Amalfi, Hill town, Venice, Rome...

I think 5 nights in Amalfi coast is too much time. Also, you may want to go to the Cinque Terra instead of Amalfi. Similar coastal areas but I prefer C.T. I feel that Amalfi may be more crowded and C.T. is closer to France and you would cut down on some of your travel time. 9 nights in Tuscany would also be a lot for me. I would recommend some time spent in Venice and Florence - two very special places. Don't be afraid to drive there and the Autostrada makes travel between major cities fast and not difficult. You can drive from C.T. to Venice in half a day and back to Florence in another half day. I also recommend Orvieto for a night or two on the way to Rome.

Actually, 5 nights along the Amalfi coast should be quite nice! I spent 4 nights in Sorrento, and found there is plenty of things to keep a person busy (and probably why it is so popular). I agree that Orvieto is a lovely place in Umbria to visit and I enjoyed the time I spent there (plus the train is very convenient to get there from Naples). Another great place I enjoyed visiting is Assisi. I would recommend a 2 night stay in either town. Siena would be another ideal place.

Have you checked how expensive it might be to fly into Pisa from Nice instead of Florence?

Are you planning the hill town connections by car or public transport or undecided? Towns that are less busy may be so partly because they are less convenient home bases.

Kim - Yes, for some reason it's more expensive to fly from Nice to Florence than it is to Naples, which is farther away. Maybe I'm just naive, so perhaps Naples is larger than Florence. Venice looks amazing, but I read that it's not meant for as much foot traffic as it gets during the summer. We're tourists as well, but would prefer to steer away from overly crowded towns when possible. I'll add to the list for next time, which we can then check out the North side of Italy/Alps.

Geoff - thank you for the tips! Do you by chance know if CT has all the trails functioning/accessible? I can look into it as well. For some reason, Sorrento is just calling our name so we really would like to go down there, despite it being so darn far! I didn't realize how close CT is from Florence though, so I'll look back into it.

Laura - we definitely want a rental car, but of course since we're only six weeks out, we're finding it difficult to get our hands on an automatic vehicle that's small (just two of us) and not $1500. I did see one in Genoa...don't know much about Genoa, but it's along the way so we can make the most of that instead of going to Florence where it seems as if all the rental cars are sold out. It's crazy!

Florence is a much smaller airport and not a gateway for international flights into Italy. Instead try looking at Pisa, Milan or even Venice.
I would look at an apartment for 7 nights each in both Tuscany (Chianti) and Amalfi Coast (Positano).
Perhaps one night each in Florence and Naples for transit & hire car arrangements. A car is virtually a necessity to get around Tuscany.

Angela,

Thanks for the tips! I'm really excited about Sorrento/Amalfi Coast. It looks absolutely stunning and appears there are many day trips/outdoorsy activities we can do. Since we'll be traveling a long way that day (likely from Siena) that first night is really just that - one night to crash out when we arrive, then enjoy the next 4 days/4 nights before making our way to Rome for our return flight. Appreciate the advice (RE: 2 nights in one or the other).

I had not looked into Pisa, nope. BUt just did and they're about the same price/duration. Some of them are cheap ($155!) but they are overnight trips to Amsterdam. That could be cool, but it's a bit out of the way and don't feel like we could really take in Amsterdam in a few hours.

So, I think we are sticking to our original plan after all, with slight revisions based on all of your comments and given the situation/lack of rental car availability in Florence. I'd like to note that there ARE in fact rental cars left in Florence, but they're mostly manual or expensive for an automatic. And, while my fiance can drive manual, I'd prefer to have access to the automatic to help out with some of the driving and/or be able to drive myself into town while he's on a bike ride or what not.

Since we were able to reserve a car (automatic) in Genoa for a reasonable price ($400 for one-way to Sorrento!), should we stay in Nice one night (where we have to transfer on a train anyway) and then Genoa the second night?

OR just pass through Nice and stay/enjoy Genoa for 2 nights before heading to Greve in Chianti?

Revised Plan:
(2 nights) Either Nice (1) and Genoa (1) OR Genoa (2)...by train or bus
(4 nights): Greve (Chianti region)
(3 nights): Siena (1 hr drive from Greve)
(5 nights): Sorrento (stop in Orvieto on the way to Sorrento; return car on the 4th day so we're not stressed out having to return it same day as catching the bus to Naples and then train to Rome)
(2 nights): Rome (no car, thank God! It sounds/looks scary to drive, or even walk for that matter ha!)
(last day) fly home

Last Q (I hope): Should we stop in Orvieto while en route to Sorrento or should we adjust our itinerary to shave off some days from other towns in order to do two nights in Orvieto? I am trying to avoid "one-night stands" in towns, as Rick Steve's travel tips suggest..makes sense.

Thanks again all!!

Perhaps this. I think your ideas work well. Car hire Genoa-Sorrento seems a very good deal.

(2 nights) Genoa...by train or bus
(4 nights): Greve (Chianti region)
(2 nights): Siena (1 hr drive from Greve)
(2 nights): Orvieto
(4 nights): Sorrento (return car on the 4th day so we're not stressed out having to return it same day as catching the bus to Naples and then train to Rome)
(2 nights): Rome

Or substiute La Spezia (between Genoa and Greve) instead of Orvieto, and visit Cinque Terre.

Have you actually researched La Spezia or Genoa? Is there anything there that you find you want to see/do? If you want to visit CT but not actually stay in one of the 5 towns, I would suggest Levanto.

Otherwise, I must say I dont care for your most recent itinerary. It seems like you are zig zagging all over the place! Also, CT and Amalfi Coast are "similar" enough that if it were me, I would choose just one of those areas, and go enjoy some other area of the country. Also, keep in mind that frequent moving about eats up time and money. With 17 days (assuming 16 nights) you should average a hotel change no more than every 3 days, with a 2 night stay being a minimum... so a good plan would have you change locations no more than 5 times during your trip. Your original "current" plan was quite good, actually, if a bit vague on where you planned to stay in Tuscany/Umbria.

Spend time in Amalfi and avoid the overcrowded Rick Steves destination of Cinque Terre. I'm sure it was a horribly nice area before RS began promoting it heavily. Now it's packed to the gills with tourists, and I couldn't wait to leave.

Thanks, Angela. I don't know why, but Sorrento just seems to be more charming, captivating and less congested than CT, but I've never been to either so I know I'll be blown away either way.

I think you're right about us zig-zagging all around and can revert back to the original itinerary. We were able to find an automatic car rental in Genoa, so perhaps we take the train from Nice to Genoa, scoop up the car and then head to stay in a nearby town for two nights? I looked into Genoa, and it seems like a very industrial town so surely there are more scenic/enjoyable nearby towns that are easily accessible by car and en route to Greve (see below).

But, this skips out on Umbria, which I hear is more captivating (visually) and green than Chianti.

(2 nights): TBD (near Genoa-CT, Santa Margherita? )
(5 nights): Greve (Chianti region + day-trips to nearby towns)
(3 nights): Siena (1 hr drive from Greve)
(5 nights): Sorrento (5 hr drive/6 hour train from Siena-->Florence-->Naples-->Sorento)
(2 nights): Rome (1 hr bus to Naples--> 1 hr-speed train to Rome)

Thanks, Tim. That's what I was thinking too, so appreciate you confirming that assumption. I'm sure it still has it's own charm - for sure. But all the pics look so packed and I THINK one of the trails may still be under construction; so we can visit it next time, when we want to check out more north Italy/Alps.

If those first 2 nights TBD are just a "break" on the way to Greve and you don't have much sight seeing in mind, why not just make it one night? Then you have an extra night to play with. You could change Siena to just 2 nights, then add in Orvieto for 2 nights (a great place to return the car BTW) before you hop on the train to Naples/Sorrento.

I haven't been to CT, so I can't honestly compare it with the Amalfi coast... I chose to visit Sorrento because it seemed like there was just so much more to see and do there, plus I was visiting mid October and figured the weather would be more pleasant further south. Both are extremely popular with tourists, but the area between Naples and Salerno is a much larger area than CT so it can probably handle the crowds much better.

I don't see "zig zagging", only unavoidable backtracking, returning to Rome for your flight out.

We had 3 nights on the Amalfi Coast last year (staying in Atrani so we went to Amalfi both evenings to wander around) and barely scratched the surface. We had a private tour one day (Ravello, Sorrento, Positano), and the second day spent mostly in Ravello and doing the hike down to Atrani. I would absolutely go back for 5-6 more nights.

Have you checked the budget airline http://www.easyjet.com/en/ ?

They have flights Nice to Naples on Tu, Th, and Sat. Flight time 1 1/2 hrs. Fares

as low as E 38,00.

Arrive Naples...http://www.curreriviaggi.it/autolinee.html from airport to Sorrento. E 10.

This is my take on the itinerary.

5 Sorrento.

Rent car as you are leaving Sorrento

3 Umbria (Orvieto makes a good base for this area)

4 Greve in Chianti

2 Siena

Drive to Rome, Drop car at the Tiburtina Station

2 Rome