Itinerary help - only two days left to plan!

To me that's a lot of traveling. Two nights in a location means one full day so you'll end up with 2 days in Rome, 2 days in Poistano, 3 days in Florence and 1 day in Venice. The rest you'll lost to changing hotels and train rides. I would cut out Positano and add days to the other locations.

You don't need a guide to get your through the lines. You can buy entry tickets to do that. Because your husband is legally blind he and a care giver will get free admission to the Vatican museums. If you're from the EU you will also get free admission to sites such as the colosseum and forum. If you want a tour of these sites you can book through the official websites. I know the Vatican offers special services for the blind. Here is the link:

http://mv.vatican.va/3_EN/pages/z-Info/MV_Info_Servizi.html

Your son will need a ticket to both places but you can book those online.

Donna

I agree with Donna: skip Positano and add nights to Rome and Venice.

Donna and I tend to disagree on the value of tour guides. If you have the resources, hire a guide everywhere you can. It does make for a more carefree trip. For the Colosseo/Palatino/Foro Romano complex, Sonia Tavoletta ([email protected]) is fabulous. Cost is €55 per hour. She also does the Vatican. As your husband is sight-impaired, I think a private tour that focuses on your family only is worth every centissimi! I do not have guide recommendations for Florence, specifically, nor for Venice, but I like Walks of Italy very much so you might check them out. My son and his family gave them high marks in Venice. Walks of Italy

We also had a great time with Tours by Roberto to see a bit of Chianti and "throw back some good wine." In Rome, you can do a lovely tasting with Vino Roma.

Buon viaggio!

I don't disagree that guides can be of benefit I just don't find the value in paying a lot more than you need to. You can get a great tour of the colosseum by using the official guides. They pass the same testing by the government that the private guides do so their information is just as good. The difference is you pay a lot less than you will for a private guide.

If you want to book directly you can use:

http://www.coopculture.it/en/colosseo-e-shop.cfm

for the colosseum, be sure to call to book the underground tour.

For the Vatican museums you can use:

http://biglietteriamusei.vatican.va/musei/tickets/do?weblang=en&do

Both tours are wonderful. The underground tour won't have more than 15 people on it due to space limitations and the Vatican museums tour only takes 25 people on it. You use headphones so you can clearly hear the guides over the noise inside the museums.

Donna

We have already trimmed the trip- we had Como in there also! Originally Rome - Positano -San Giammignano- Como - Venice. We took out Como but Florence was not on our itinerary. We had a RS consult who suggested using Florence as a base for day trips to Vineyards, and SG. A perfect day would be traveling to an area - seeing a few sites ( I think Rome is the only crazy place?) having a delicious bite to eat, wine and then doing it again! We know we are not going to relax, but I agree I don;t want to spend each day in a train.

Your train travel from Rome to Positano will take at least 2 full hours on the trains, and that doesn't include the time between the two trains so add another half hour at least. Then add on the time to pack, check out, get to the train station early, get off the train, get to the new hotel and get checked in. That's about an hour on each side of the actual trip so you're looking at almost 5 hours when you change from Rome to Positano.

From Positano to Florence you're looking at 4 hours train time, half hour transfer time and an hour on either end so that makes 6.5 hours lost to travel.

From Florence to Venice is another 2 hours on the train plus 2 hours on either side so 4 hours lost.

This may not seem like a lot but it does take it's toll on you.

With 12 days you really should visit no more than 3 cities if you want to have any chance of a relaxing visit. This doesn't mean you'll have time to sit around doing nothing but it does mean that you won't be running the marathon trying to fit in the sites you want to see.

Donna

So very many wonderful places to visit, so difficult to choose. My experience is fewer places, less time spent on the "transactional costs" of packing and unpacking, waiting at train stations, etc...all those hours add up and take away from the vacation rather than adding to it. So I am in the camp to advise you to pare down your itinerary. But to each his own,.... wishing you a lovely trip to beautiful Italy.

Since you mentioned Florence - we had a wonderful tour to Sienna, San Gimigna and Pisa with a great lunch at a Tuscan farm with Walkabout Tours.
I agree with the advice to add days to Rome and Venice .

Absolutely listen to Donna. I have nothing to add. 12 days looks like a lot on paper, but it's not. I've done those trips in the past, and was sorry.