Itinerary for 6 days/7 nights in Italy

With only 6-7 days your really don't have time for Florence, Tuscany, Rome and the AC. I would pick two and split your time between them or lean more heavily towards Florence and do day trips from there, ending in Rome.

Donna

Agree 100% with Donna -- not more than two stops -- preferably just one with days trips from there. Otherwise you'll spend a great deal of time just getting from one place to another. For the short amount of time you have forget renting a car and just use the trains.

With 7 nights I'm sorry but you will need to choose between Florence and the Amalfi Coast to partner with Rome. No way could you do justice to all three.

We were thinking that was too ambitious. It sounds like Florence and Rome are the two. We'll save southern Italy for another trip. Thank you.

I think you'd get more out of it if you limit your range and number of stops yet further, for instance, two or three nights in Lucca, with day trip to Pisa, then four or five nights in Florence, with day trip to Siena and excursions into the Tuscan countryside. Usual cautions on car rental - get an International Drivers' Permit at AAA beforehand, and be careful not to drive in ZTLs.

Your itinerary needs to be planned as a whole. Where are you flying from? Where do you want to go in Spain. You may not have many options . . . or maybe you already have that worked out?

Because Rome has a major airport, there are lots of trans-Atlantic flights non-stop from the U.S. Florence's airport is too small for those planes, so you'll have to change somewhere. On the flip side, the smaller airport (or nearby ones like Pisa and Bologna) may offer better connections to Spain. You'll need less time in a small airport for an internal flight in Europe than going through the huge one in Rome.

Where are you going in Spain besides Barcelona? The two major aiports are Madrid and Barcelona. Flying out of any other airport has the same drawbacks as Florence. So if you are planning to visit Granada or Sevilla, you may be better off flying U.S. > Rome (train to Florence/Tuscany), Barcelona > U.S. and getting a short flight, say, Bologna-Sevilla and train to Barcelona.

Thank you, Chani. Excellent information about logistics. It sounds like Miami - Rome, train to Tuscany/Florence is better. I did check flights and there are no non-stops to Florence. Our thoughts were Rome to Barcelona, but maybe a smaller regional airline is better. I'll have to check the baggage rates. I flew Ryan Air from Dublin to London and ended up shipping some things home to save on their bag rate. haha We were thinking of flying into Barcelona, spend a few days there, maybe rent a car for a day trip to Valencia, then take the high-speed rail from Barcelona to Madrid, flying direct back to the States out of that city.

Marsha,

If this is your first trip to Italy, I would recommend picking one major city and sticking to it and doing day trips out into the surrounding areas a couple of days (to break things up). For example, if you stayed in Florence, you have enough to keep you occupied for a full 7 days without even leaving the city.

You can visit Pisa (morning) and Lucca (afternoon) in one day via the train very easily. (But, to be honest, I was underwhelmed by Pisa but we restricted ourselves to the Pisa San Rossore train station to the Cathedral and back.) Lucca, on the other hand was one of the quaintest cities we visited on our trip and I wish we had spent the night there. If you are plan to do a pass-through Pisa on an overnight in Lucca, be sure to check either of the train stations has a left-luggage because I don't remember seeing one at Pisa San Rossore.

We also did a small-group Chianti region winery tour out of Florence. This tour was the highlight of our Italy vacation. Three wineries with wine tastings. The winery where we stopped for lunch served a gourmet meal "family style" and it far exceeded my expectations.

Other possibilities for day trips include Bologna (1 hour by train) and Siena (1.5-2 hours by train).

At any rate, I would avoid the temptation to hop around every day or so to try to cram as much Italy into 7 days and just settle down for a nice relaxing stay. There is plenty to keep you occupied if you pick one city/region to explore.

Vueling, the low cost subsidiary of Iberia, offers a direct evening service from Florence to Barcelona.
Valencia is a little far for a day out from Barcelona. Tarragona is a better option for you.
Fly into Rome and then home from Madrid.
Lock in your dates and book your train connections as soon as tickets go on sale.

You all have been great resources! We want a relaxing vacation and I knew we were trying to cram in too much. I went to Ireland a few years ago on a group tour and did not enjoy it for that reason. As a international traveling novice, I/we didn't know what we were getting into with that tour. The schedule was grueling. Ugh. I've been watching Rick Steves for years on PBS and I knew one day I'd be using his expertise and guidance one day. His books, website and especially this forum have been a great help! I'm taking notes and will probably have more questions as the travel dates get closer. Thanks again!!!

Rome (3-4 days)
Florence (3-4 days) depending if you use one full day to visit Lucca or Siena.
However, both Rome and Florence would give you enough things to do, should you decide to do Lucca, Siena, Pisa another time.

Marsha, I know you didn't ask about Spain, but I'm going to opine anyway. Do you really want to spend time in Madrid? If you want to visit the great art museums, do go. Otherwise, I think there's more to see and do in Barcelona, then fly home from there.

Go to the wiki page for the Barcelona airport. Toward the bottom there's a chart with all the airlines that use it and all their destinations. That way you can easily find all your options from Italy. My gut says any airport closer than Rome will save you time and money. If Valencia has an airport, try that wiki page too. You may find a good flight there, then train to Barcelona. Otherwise, it's too far. There are other excellent day trips from Barcelona by train. And lots to see and do in the city as well.

Thanks again, everyone, for all your advice. After more consideration, here are our more (I think) doable plans for Italy. (We will tackle Spain after I get Italy generally tucked away.) Fly into Florence and stay 6 nights, 6 days there, making day trips into Rome, Pisa/Lucca and Tuscany. I was thinking of booking an apartment rental in Florence instead of a traditional hotel. Any thoughts on that?

I will chime in as we went to Rome and Florence this past October. I think you picked a great time to go.

I would do 3 nights in Florence and 4 in Rome. Too many day trips can be exhausting and you never see the city you are in.
In Florence we used the tour company Walkabout Florence and booked their "Best of Tuscany Tour" which included Sienna, San Gimignano and Pisa and included lunch at an organic farm and lots of gelato opportunities . The tour was 12 hours on an air-conditioned, comfortable bus and we had such a great time, met great people from all over and had some delicious food. We chose this because we were limited on time, next time (now that we have a lay of the land ) we will do it ourselves by taking a public bus.
In Rome, again since you have such limited time, you should consider booking do a walking tour to make the most of your time if you are interested in seeing the major monuments. We did this and a walking food tour (Italy Eats website) at night and we still talk about how much fun we had.
I think booking tours also gives you structure to your days and gives you plenty of time to still do your own thing.

I agree it can all be so overwhelming. The best thing to do is get a guidebook and start writing down what you want to see in each city, this is the eye opener on how much time you really need in each place and what you need to cut down on.

I agree with Lutizia, if you want to see Rome, you need to spend a couple of days there.

Here are what I see as the disadvantages to renting an apartment:

• housekeeping: taking out the garbage, making beds, washing dishes, cleaning the bathroom, no fresh towels
• maintenance: if something isn't working, even a burned out light bulb, there's no one on hand
• tourist information: there's no one on hand to answer questions, make suggestions, give walking directions, call for reservations, etc.
• kitchen: do you need it? are you going to spend time shopping for food and cooking? If you're taking day trips, you won't have time. There are so many great restaurants, don't you want to try them all?

I agree with Chani. You are on vacation, which for me means that someone else makes the bed, prepares the meals, and is available for questions on the fly. An apartment may sound like a good idea, but if you plan daytrips (and Roma should have 3-4 nights instead of a daytrip, roundtrip train fares add up), it seems easier to me to stay in hotels or B&Bs.