Madrid barcelona and Rome

I encourage you to get guide books to Spain and Italy and do some reading. I think you've got too many destinations for the amount of time you have. All that moving around is going to cut into your sightseeing time. Madrid has wonderful museums as well as some fabulous nearby day-trip destinations, and Barcelona has a great many (and varied) sights. You're apparently allowing less than 3 full days in each city; either one alone is worth all the time you've allotted to Spain. There will be a similar problem in Italy, aggravated by the fact that it takes time to get to the Amalfi Coast.

acraven is the traveler I (and I suspect many others on the board) aspire to be, so listen up. I've seen more European vacations spoiled by trying to pack in too much. You'll be back. You are in Spain, which is a great country to visit, with relatively low prices and much to see. Why not stick with one country and see Madrid, Barcelona, Sevilla, Granada? You can also consider an overnight in Toledo while in Madrid. Or, if Italy is your main focus, save Spain for another trip. By sticking with one country you get to be more of a part of it and save much precious time traveling.

I agree that you're trying to cram too many destinations into too few days. If you had 30 days instead of 15, then your itinerary would be reasonable. If you really want to get a taste of both Spain and Italy, then you should cut down the number of destinations in each country.

Your thread title names only Madrid, Barcelona, and Rome -- are those your top priorities? You could make that 3-city itinerary work fairly well in 15 days.

Four places in Italy is too many, for the time available.

Suggest you pick Florence and Rome or Amalfi Coast and Rome and whichever combo, do Rome last.

I'd cut out Milan unless it is an absolute must

Do one of the countries as a separate trip. Too much in too little time.

Thanks for all your suggestions. We have spent some time in Rome last year but would love to go back using Rome as our main destination. Would love to do a one day trip to either Milan or Venice not sure which city is closer Rome or Amalfi coast

Would love to do a one day trip to either Milan or Venice not sure which city is closer Rome or Amalfi coast

Not sure what you are saying about what it is you want to do. Suggest using google maps to see where all these locations are in relation to each other.

A day trip to Milan or Venice from Rome is a day spent traveling with maybe enough time to have lunch at the destination before heading back.

I'm not clear on your question. Are you asking whether Rome or the Amalfi Coast is closer to Milan or Venice? If so, the answer is "Rome", because it's farther north.

I can't imagine trying to see Venice on a day-trip from Rome. The train time alone will be 7-1/2 hours.

Milan is faster (6 hours round-trip), but again that's nowhere near day-trip distance to me. However, if you have a burning desire to see the Last Supper and/or the Milan Duomo, at least you could accomplish those goals on a short day-trip, whereas a few hours in Venice (fighting the crowds at all the highlight spots) is pretty much guaranteed to be massively disappointing.

But the thing is, there's tons to see so much closer to Rome (or to the Amalfi Coast). Why chew up so much of your vacation time, sitting on a train?

Neither Milan, Venice nor Amalfi Coast are "short" day trips from Rome. Expect a minimum of 6-8 hours round trip travel time, which means your time to explore those destinations will be limited even if you're OK with a VERY long day trip. Consider someplace closer to Rome.

• back to the drawing board . Would love few suggestion for 9 days trip in Italy . We have spent 5 days in Rome in 2015 so we really need to visit other places.

Are you still thinking about April and early May? My first thought was Venice-Padua-Vicenza-Verona-Lake District, but I'm not sure the first half of spring is the best time of year there.

Perhaps Florence and some small towns in Tuscany/Umbria? Or if you like sort off-the-beaten-path places, you could go to Puglia. Puglia tends to be unpleasantly hot in mid-summer.

Hey we were in Venice last week of April this year for 5 days and had some beautiful days there. We took 1 day trip to Verona and enjoyed an opera indoors. Of the two we liked Venice best. For a first visit to Venice we liked taking 5 days for it. We then went to Siena for 6 days with a car. We had spent 9 days in Florence the year before. These places are concentrated with many things to see and do and then there are all the people. Venice has this with the cruise ships coming and going. Italy is not a place for a fly by trip. It needs to be experience in longer stays at fewer locations, saving other locations for your return. And trust me, you will want to return. I am currently trying to plan next years trip and Spain is in the mix but Italy is pulling me back. May not make it to Spain after all.

Venice , Florence and Lucca? just a thought.....

Presumably still in your late April early May time frame?

If mid to late May or later, Venice Florence, Lake Como