Itinerary feedback for first timers

I'd skip Pisa and add a day to Florence. It is basically a church with a leaning tower in front of it. Florence and Rome and Venice need more time.

I would add an extra day up front before the wedding. There’s a chance flights could be messed up, delayed, etc. with that many people. And you don’t want to attend a special wedding with jet lag on your second day.

For that many people, give people some options. Everyone might not care about seeing Pisa, and having less people catching a train would be simpler while others just stay in Florence.

I wish you could add an extra day for Venice, so everyone could love it more than a quick walk through the busiest parts.

Trains tickets for the faster Frecciarossa trains are less expensive if purchased a month or so ahead. For your group, that would be a good savings!

Welcome to the Forum!

Your intro says “2 weeks” but you outline 9 days of activity. Would you please verify the length of your trip?

I agree with the person who suggested arriving 2 days before the wedding. What if your flight is late or cancelled? Best to have a buffer and it is also a great ide to explore a private transfer from Salerno instead of taking the ferry. Muc( less stressful..

A rule of thumb to bear in mind is that a group of people will only travel at the speed of the slowest member. If anyone tends to be easily waylaid, likes to sleep late, cannot move fast in a train station, it will slow everyone so be sure to set clear plans each day and allow some down time for those who need to rest/take a beat. You might plan on Pisa and then find that day you are all too tired to go. It’s OK to keep some flexibility and just chill for a day or part of a day.

@miuccia, thats a great suggestion about the private vans, will need to look into that. Any recommendations of reputable transportation companies? We haven’t booked anything yet. We’re still deciding whether to go to Paris after Italy before going home.

@chinalake67 I’ll check with my group to see how badly they want to see it.

@jean We’d love to but our school year ends that week and we have graduations that week. We’re staying in the same hotel the day of Pisa so that those that wish to stay back can do so. We’re still debating the last couple of days, we may stay longer in Venice or fly elsewhere.

Thanks everyone, your feedback is so helpful.

I agree that you should arrive one day earlier for the wedding. Attempting to travel a full day on arrival is going to be rough, especially with a three year old. Anything could happen - delayed flights, lost luggage, etc. And then there is jet lag and getting orientated to a new city.

You're covering a lot of ground in nine days. Trains can be delayed, strikes can happen, trains can be missed when trying to get 11 people to be on time, etc. Also you have to figure in your time to the station and then again to the hotel in a new city. Then there's meals and time to sit and relax to enjoy a coffee or do some people watching. And then there's the crowds of tourists.

Hopefully others will offer more specific advice.

Try not to be too ambitious so that you can really enjoy the trip.

For transportation in the AC area
www.topexcursionsorrento.com

Also note
Ravello is high up on a cliff so no ferry there
You would go down to Amalfi (town) to catch a ferry

Lots of info here
https://www.positano.com/

Do some searches here on the forum
Amalfi Coast is a common topic

Hi there, yep, agreed to allow an extra day in case of flight delays. I've been on some delayed flights with people in a panic over missing a cruise or wedding.

Ravello is up in the hills above the Amalfi Coast, so it's not just the ferry to Amalfi town, but then the schlepp up to Ravello (by bus), agreed a van transfer with this many people is a great idea. And Ravello is such a gem! Glad you're spending some time there.

Take a boat tour with stops in Capri & Positano - departs from and returns to Salerno;

Just checking if this is a boat tour pre-arranged? That would be best, June is high season and it can get very busy. What does it include on Capri? That might be a long day for the little ones.

I too would skip Pisa on this itinerary and spend the extra time in either Rome or Florence. Do you have any specific plans in Rome and where are you staying? Again, it's high season and having meal options / tours / plans for siesta with young ones would be a blessing. I look up specific restaurants and 'save' them in google maps so we can just choose something nearby, the more planning you can do ahead of time, the easier your trip may be. I hope you have a great time!
PS, apologies for repeating what others said, we were all basically posting similar things at the same time... well I guess we're agreed you may face delays, best to plan ahead as much as possible. And I see you replied you can only leave the US on a specific date, why not take the train to Salerno or perhaps Naples and get the van to take you directly to Ravello, so you have an extra night to relax?

@laurel We’re still figuring out the last portion of our trip so I only included what we know so far. Can’t go any earlier, but we’re traveling 14 hours and would arrive in Rome in the morning, that’s what I’m counting as day 1. The wedding is the following evening so hoping that is enough buffer for any delays. Will look into a private transfer, that’s a great idea! We’ve done extensive traveling with this group. We’ve experienced the slowest member theory lol, we have a framework for where we need to be each day and then go with the flow.

We’re still deciding whether to go to Paris after Italy before going home.

With this large of a group and a 3 year old, why not slow down and enjoy staying in Italy longer? You could add a few days to Rome, Florence & Venice.. You're really not allowing that much time on the ground, by the time you check in & out, get to train station, blah blah, no matter how efficiently you travel. Just a thought....

Please add an extra day at the beginning. In many cases when an international flight is canceled , you have to wait 24 hours to be rebooked. This happened to us a few years back. International flights don't leave every couple of hours, (like domestic flights often do), and many airlines only have a few flights a day. And if a flight gets canceled, chances are the next flight out can't handle an entire plane load of passengers. There was an angry young man on our canceled flight, saying his brother's wedding was the next day, and he was going to miss it as a result.

Even if your flight is just delayed, you may end up getting in past midnight, (this also happened to us on another trip,) which really impacts the next day in a negative manner.

I'm wishing you well, of course, and good luck!

Thanks everyone, lots to think about.

We’re arriving in Rome on Wednesday at 9am. The wedding is Thursday evening. Hopefully, nothing crazy happens and 30+ hours is enough time to get from Rome to Ravello. Thanks for the transfer company info, will definitely do that.

We will look into renting a place in Rome big enough for all of us. That’s how we usually travel. Any other sites besides airbnb to look at?

The boat tour is through Viator, will book in advance. It’s a 6-7 hr tour with stops in Capri and Positano to explore for a little bit.

Will need to revisit our stops after Rome. Will likely skip Pisa. Some say to add days to Florence and Venice and some say to skip them. Let’s see what my group wants to do with this feedback.

Anything else to think about? I love the planning phase of trips so this doesn’t stress me out.

Trains tickets for the faster Frecciarossa trains are less expensive if purchased a month or so ahead...

In addition, Trenitalia offers group discounts. The Insieme offer covers groups of 3-5 people - you could assemble 3 groups:

https://www.trenitalia.com/en/offers/insieme_offer.html

Information regarding other group discounts:

https://www.trenitalia.com/en/offers/travelling_in_groups.html

For the boat tour you mentioned, I would recommend booking directly with the tour operator instead of Viator which is just a third party consolidator. If you scroll through the details near the bottom, it should say who the tour is actually being operated by. Then you can go to their site and book direct. Sometimes this can save a few bucks, but it's also generally better to skip the middle man if possible.

Enjoy your trip!

PQ

With so little time, give Venice a miss.

Thanks for the group train discount info! Will definitely look into booking directly with boat tour company.

We’ll be in Rome Saturday morning through Monday afternoon. Will most of the spots be closed Sunday and Monday? We may need to add a day in Rome.

Vatican Museums are closed on Sunday
Colosseum is open 7 days a week
Borghese is closed on Monday

All of above require pre-booked timed entry

I recommend reducing the number of places on your itinerary. Three days in Rome is WAY NOT enough.

I recommend having a plan for what you will do if the flight to Rome is delayed or cancelled. Ask your airline when the next flight is after yours. And since it's a weekday, there might be some seats available but possibly not for everyone so have a plan for that too. My Friday night flight to Munich from Dulles was cancelled in September 2023, But United got me there about 24 hours later by sending me west to Houston the next morning. Will you miss the wedding if this happens to you?

It would be helpful to understand what you want to see in the 3 big cities, and what sorts of things your family really enjoys.

Now that I've looked closer, I see this is really only a 10-day trip, but looks like you have an option to 1) Skip Pisa, 2) Stay an extra day or two in Rome, Florence & Venice - Which is what I would strongly suggest, because you're already spending time, energy & money getting to Italy, and days of transit with 5 hotel changes! Some of these days will be at least partially taken up by checking out, transiting to transpo, getting to next destination & then to hotel, so you might want to consider dropping one of the destinations, or simply extending your trip without the 'fly somewhere else' mentioned in your thread. Do you have more kids than just the 3-year old? Maybe pick accommodations near parks so there's play time scheduled in as well? And have a close look at where you're staying in Venice, I recall a boat from the train and then walking on tiny pathways to reach our hotel. IMO, the small one (s) should do something else beside Vatican City if it's on your list. And St Peters has regular worshipers in addition to tourists on Sunday, so I'd skip Sunday. The Vatican Museum is closed Monday, but not St. Peters, if you'd just like to just go there. I hope that's helpful....

Where are you coming from?

If there is some glitch with the US-Rome flight, accommodating 11 is a much bigger challenge than a party of 2-4 people, on an alternate flight.

Are there enough adults that your group of 11 could be broken up into 2 or 3 smaller groups?

Not knowing the composition of the 3-50 yr old range makes it difficult to comment on whether your pace of movement is 'reasonable'. 10 adults and a 3yr old is not the same as 2 adults and 9 kids between 3 and 15yrs of age

Also consider that while a train ride may be 90 or 120 minutes, you need to factor in the time to get between the hotel to the train station at each end of the journey, and the checking in/out time.

You all are wonderful!
Took some of your suggestions and we modified our trip as follows:

Tuesday: Fly to Rome from Florida
Wednesday: Arrive in Rome at 7am, travel to Ravello
Thursday: Ravello (wedding)
Friday: Boat tour of Amalfi Coast - where do we stay overnight? Planning to take train to Rome in the morning.
Saturday: Rome
Sunday: Rome
Monday: Rome
Tuesday: Florence
Wednesday: Florence
Thursday: Florence
Friday: still up in the air

Regarding flight issues...we are fortunate to fly out of Miami International Airport so there are a lot of other flights to Rome should we have an issue with ours.

Ages: 3 couples ages 30-50. Kids: 3, 6, 11, 14, 15 - all well-behaved and great travelers.

We're going for the wedding and taking the opportunity to take in a sampling of Italy. Fully aware that we can't see it all.
Our must-sees are Rome and Florence plus we'll be in Ravello for the wedding. We'd love to see the main sites, but not fill up our days too much. The Vatican is not a must this time, especially with the Catholic pilgrimage happening, I'm sure it will be insane.

We'd like to do a boat tour in Amalfi (in/out of Sorrento), I've been looking for a hotel or Airbnb in Sorrento but they are pricey or don't have rooms for 4 (parents + 2 kids). Do we stay in Ravello that night too,? Worried about getting back up there with how difficult it is to travel to Ravello, would rather be in an easy to reach place close to train station to go to Rome the next morning. Advice?

Thank you!!