Itinerary of Italy is it feasible?

I would fly into Venice and spend 3 nights Venice, 3 nights Florence and 3 nights Rome. I would skip the Cinque Terre. If you're up and out early you can see a lot in 2.5 days in each city. Make sure you figure out before you go what you want to see in each city and buy your tickets before you go. Have fun

A few suggestions:
You should check airfares and see if you can save money flying in and out of the same city. In the US, two cities would add $200 to $300 to each person's ticket.

There will be tons of tourists in June. If you want really romantic places, I'd go off the beaten path and consider this:

• Fly in and out of Florence
• Pick a hotel in Florence using TripAdvisor or check out the Palazzo Guadagni
• Take day trips from Florence to Lucca, Sienna and San Gimignano. This will get you into some beautiful small towns just filled with delightful little surprises.
• Take a trip to Rome and spend three to four nights. Rome and Florence aren't far apart, especially with the high speed trains.
• Book 60 days in advance on trains and save a ton. You must, however, take exactly the right train at the right time. See the Man in Seat 61 for detailed information on every train in the world.
• Return to Florence, stay at the same Hotel and fly out the next day.

Yeah, I know, you'll miss Venice. But, check out the variety of opinions on travel forums and you'll learn that some people are very disappointed with Venice since it is Italy's most perfect tourist trap. Your choice, of course, but consider what experience you want on this special anniversary.

Thank you. That might be how it all works out.

First of all, Happy Anniversary!!! Secondly, How are you counting your 10 days"? From day of departure to day of departure, or days on the ground? When you leave the U.S., you will arrive the next day, and the day of departure back to the U.S. won't count because flights back to t he U.S. generally leave in the AM. 8 days on the ground and I'd advise just two cities -- Florence and Rome. Trust me, you won't get bored, as both of those cities are trans hubs and you can do a day trip or two from them. If you have 10 days on the ground, you could add Venice.I agree with the previous poster about dropping Cinque Terre unless you are both hikers and hiking in Italy is a Top Priority! Since you sound like "newbies" I'd like to suggest that you take a look at roninrome.com This is really the very best website for all things Rome, and there's an ecellent tutorial with photos even, regarding using the trains which will come in handy for ALL of Italy, not just Rome. Also, pick up the Rick Steves Italy book ASAP! June is the most expensive month, however, so you may even want to celebrate the Big Anniversary a little earlier?

Go to Kayak.com and get the best rates for flights, and put a "watch" on them and jump on a flight with a good price (anything in Coach that is $1200 is a Very Good Price!) If you've got any miles on a U.S. carrier, you can pay part in miles and part in cash.
I have no idea what airport or area of the country you're going to be departing from, and that's also a factor. Sometimes from the East Coast Milan is less expensive to fly into/out of than Rome, however, keep in mind two facts: time is MONEY on vacation, and train travel eats up time, and is not free!

The most Cost Effective thing that I've found when traveling is sleeping near the sites I'd like to see -- I'm not fond of city busses usually, and taxis can add to the price of your trip -- so don't make the 'newbie mistake' of saving money by staying in the outskirts.

Start by choosing your Rome neighborhood, go to Trip Advisor (and the RS book) and define your location. Choose a hotel. Get the rates offered on line, and then you can call the hotel directly, or book via their website -- this can be less expensive than going through a third party. Check the reviews on Booking.com -- not TA, because Booking requires an actual Stay at the hotel to post a review! Int'l phone calls are not expensive at all any more. You may also consider a BnB, but I don't know if that's the best bet for a first timer. I'd be happy to help if you'd like to PM me.

Do you have to go in June? If you move it up to April or May, or even earlier, you will have fewer crowds, cooler weather, and probably lower airfare and probably somewhat lower hotel rates.

There are lots of ways to save money and still have a good time. Also, adding a couple of nights to the trip may not add that much to the overall cost since airfare is your biggest expense.

Happy anniversary!

Don't skip Venice, even two nights is worth it.

To correct Bodo's train info, you can buy tickets on Trenitalia up to 120 days in advance - by 60 days out, the most popular cheap tickets are gone. Is your itinerary tight enough that you can commit to a specific train? There is a €9 fare from Milano Centrale to Venezia Santa Lucia. If you can buy in advance, tickets for Venice-Florence and Florence-Rome can be as low as €19 or €29 each. Check the Trenitalia website regularly to see when the June-December 2015 schedule loads.

If you fly into Milano and want to go straight to avenice, I would allow enough time for delays when scheduling your train departure. Or spend the first night in Milano and take the train the next day. Lots of nice, inexpensive hotels near the station and the metro is very convenient for any sightseeing you want to do.

If you want inexpensive hotel recommendations, post again when your trip firms up or send me a PM.

Flying in and out of Venice or Florence will be the more expensive flights.

You have not stated where you are flying from so my advice may not help unless you happen to be flying out of JFK. If you are then check flight costs from JFK to Milan. There is intense competition now for that route and a flight on Emirates from May 15 - June 16, which I just checked out, is roughly $650. From there train to Venice, or Bologna, or Florence are all easy.

Yes, it would help to know where you would be flying from.

I just did the same exercise as jkc but used Chicago as a starting point. It turns out that is early June SAS is offering very attractive fares to Milan. Although not quite as low as the Emirates fares from JFK quoted above! still very good for summer travel. And it is much cheaper to at least fly into Milan to start; Florence is not a viable option, price-wise.

Using the ITA matrix, here is what I found for a 10-12 day trip in early June, all starting from Chicago:

Open-jaw, into Milan and back from Rome, $916 on SAS

Roundtrip ORD---Milan---ORD, $842 on SAS

Open-jaw, into Florence and back from Rome, $1642!!!

Open-jaw, into Venice and back from Rome, $1352 on SAS ( Turkish air has it cheaper but it is a ridiculously long flight via Istanbul! arriving 2 days after departing from ORD).

The difference in cost between the two Milan options ( RT versus open-jaw, flying back from Rome) is only $74, not enough to cover the cost of traveling back to Milan from Rome. And since the SAS flights leave in early afternoon, you would really need to head to Milan the day before and spend the night in a hotel there, completely wiping out any savings in the plane fare. So the open jaw is way the best option of the ones here.

Of course prices could be totally different from your home airport. But frankly I was surprised at how low the fares were, both on Emirates from JFK and on SAS from Chicago. They likely will not last. If I were doing this trip, I would jump on my computer right now and see if similar fares are offered from my home airport, or one I could reach easily.

And if they are, I would book now and figure out the rest of the trip afterward.

Breathe :-) You have time! But you need to get hotels booked ASAP for the best ones at the best prices. Also, you can get great deals on train fares if booked in advance, so try to get your itinerary nailed down. And that's where you are now...But first get those plane tickets.

"In the US, two cities would add $200 to $300 to each person's ticket."

It shouldn't be any more expensive to fly open-jaw/multi-city (into one city, and out of another), except for fare differences. By that, I mean if the round-trip Dallas-London-Dallas is $600 and Dallas-Rome-Dallas is $1000, then Dallas-London and Rome-Dallas should be $800 (1/2 of $600 + 1/2 of $1000). There shouldn't be any 'punitive' or extra charges on your ticket. Shop around...but that 'extra' $200 means an extra day doing things IN Europe and not a day spent backtracking to London to catch your flight home. Money well spent.

Have you ever been to Europe? What exactly do you think you'd like to do once there - lots of museums (paintings, sculpture, war, artifacts), OR: hiking, strolling through small villages, architecture, churches, or none of the above; you simply enjoy walking through towns and cities and absorbing 'the local flavor'? Or are the two of you more 'lie on the beach/I'm on vacation!' types? This will make a huge difference in where you should go. Also you were asked about exactly how many days IN Italy, not including travel days. I'm used to non-stop flights arriving in Europe around 7:00am so I have a full day on my arrival day, but a flight into Milan (for instance) may require a change of planes in Europe, so you may not arrive in your arrival town until 17:00-22:00. Once the flights are pinned down, you can start 'hanging' hotel nights and rail days on them.

Wow! It's amazing how many great responses I've received. In response to your comments/questions. We are flying out of Chicago and I just found out that my husband (who travels for work) has enough miles on United for both of us to fly for free!! That adds a huge chunk to our funds. We have been to Spain & France and have really enjoyed the history in both places. But, our favorite part was walking through small towns, enjoying local cuisine and taking in the scenery. We also enjoy any destination that has water I.e. coastline, beaches. The pictures I've seen of the Italian coastline are amazing ! So that's why I think we'd like to see the small towns and beautiful coastline in Cinque Terre. I know some of the previous posters kind of steered me away from there. What's your thoughts on that?

What a nice trip for your anniversary!
I think the inclination to steer you away from the Cinque Terre is because of your original number of days. Now that you have extra funds available, push those number of days as much as you can! As Chani mentioned, airfare is usually the largest singular expense, plus everyone handles jet lag differently so your first day - even two, if you don't acclimate quickly - could be lost in a fog.

Those extra days do not have to cost a fortune if you do your homework, and book the best deals as far in advance as possible.

In general, ALL of the hot spots in Italy are going to be very busy in high-season June - including the CT. Because the villages are so small, they are very easily overrun as you can only fit so many clowns in a Fiat! It's just the way it is, and if it's a place you really want to see, it's grin and bear it.

You mentioned that you husband travels for work, thus the miles to use for your trip? Might he also have hotel points that might be used at associated hotels in the larger cities (like Rome)?

I will check into the hotel points. Great idea. Now i have to commit to the flights and I have to figure out what trains/sights tickets should be bought ahead of time. As for accommodations, we are hoping my husband's business associates in Milan will point us in the right direction.

I believe the main reason anyone would discourage you from visiting Cinque Terre is that it is hard to fit into a 10- day trip. Bow that you have more funds available, can you stretch it to 12? Then I would highly encourage you to include Cinque Terre, especially since it is your anniversary. And specifically Inwould recommend La Torretta in Manarola, which is a lovely and very romantic small hotel.

http://www.torrettas.com/

We much preferred Manarola over Vernazza, which found to be over-crowded with day visitors and afflicted with short-tempered shopkeepers. We hiked there from Manarola and found the main street clogged with people and all available sitting space along the sides ( walls, benches, etc.) occupied. Everyone seemed stressed out. We couldn't wait to get back to peaceful Manarola. This was in June.

You need two nights there to make the trip there worthwhile. It fits well between Milan and Rome----there are direct trains from Milan to Monterosso, the northernmost of the five towns. There you change to a regional train that stops at all the villages (the InterCity trains do not). To get to Rome, you would take the regional train from you village south to La Spezia, where you can catch an InterCity to Rome ( or maybe a Frecce ("arrow") train; I did not check the schedules).

No need to figure out train tickets at this point. Decide how much time you have, figure out the best airports for flying in and out,* book your flights, then start building an itinerary and booking hotels. Tickets come last.

*Your original thought was to fly into Milan and out of Rome, and some of the advice above concurred with that, based on ticket prices. But that plan involves some backtracking and/or long travel days if you wish to include Cinque Terre. It is a long day from Venice. Since you will be using miles, consider flying into Venice instead of Milan, and out of Rome. The order of travel would then be Venice--Milan--Cinque Terre--Rome.

Do you need to spend time in Milan to see your husband's business associate? If not, you could also break up the journey between Venice and CT with a stop in Florence, or one of the smaller towns like Lucca.