My First Italy Trip Itinerary - Thoughts?

Im excited for you. Is this also your first trip out of North America or just first to Italy? I ask because the Naples/Sorrento/Amalfi Coast region can be challenging to newbies with no experience. Well worth it though. Here's my Trip Report if it helps.

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/trip-report-2-weeks-of-day-trips-from-sorrento

I would try to tweak the order so you don't have that long journey from north to south (Venice to Naples).
You could do:
Rome--immediately depart on arrival to Venice, then Florence, then Naples area, then Rome/Orvieto. Saves you from a longer train ride.

It looks nicely paced. A couple of suggestions for Naples: the Archaeological Museum, and the Cappella Sansevero (the latter requires reservations). To my mind, Lake Garda is a bit far and a bit large for just a day trip from Venice; instead, you might want to spend that day exploring islands of the Venetian lagoon (Burano, Torcello, Mazzorbo, Murano if you’re into glasswork, and perhaps even San Michele, the cemetery island). This can all be done by vaporetto.

Hi Emily, you could fly into Venice and fly home from Naples or Rome. It’s all on one ticket - a multi-city option that will save you time.

I understand the draw to see Pisa. Expect it to be very touristy. While you’re in the vicinity, you might want to take the train to nearby Lucca for a nice lunch and a walk or bike ride along the top of the wide medieval wall.

I’m glad to see Orvieto in your list, so you’re not just staying in the larger cities.

Do you know about Paestum? It’s near Salerno and has wonderful Greek ruins. If you dropped a day of Rome & Naples, you could see the Amalfi Coast on the way to two nights in Salerno. Salerno back to Rome is an easy train ride.

Perhaps fly on a multicity, or open jaw ticket, into Venice (or Milan) and out of Rome. This would avoid backtracking, and not having two Rome visits. As Rome is hectic and busy, it's nice to be in country for awhile, and work your way to Rome, as you acclimatize. Also, avoid the week before and after Easter, because of the additional crowding throughout the country. Have a great trip!

Wow wasn’t expecting so many replies so quickly! Thank you! No this is not my first trip out of North America. My grandmother and I did a trip from London-Paris-Amsterdam-Munich in 2023 so I have some experience with trains though I understand that Italy has invested A LOT into their train systems so I’m sure it will be different. Staying near Naples would be less about seeing the Amalfi Coast (though if it’s worth going then maybe I’ll look into it) and more about seeing Naples and Pompeii/Vesuvius but in a ‘safer’ location I guess? Unless you think staying in Naples around Universita would be ok as that seems to be the only affordable area.

I guess I’m not super set on flying in and out of Rome just that a roundtrip from there seems to be cheapest, though with the price for the train from Venice to Naples and back to Rome I guess it would balance out plus save me from a 5+ hr train ride. Is it a big deal if I want to start in Rome? I guess in my head I’ve always imagined arriving in Rome first.

Nice suggestions for Naples. If you think Lake Garda is not doable in a day, is there a lot to see on the islands around Venice? I haven’t researched them much but if you have some suggestions that are more experience/walking tours and the like because at that point I think I will probably have a little museum fatigue.

I did consider doing both Pisa and Lucca as I’ve heard Lucca is not a very crowded destination as I am expecting Pisa to be. Also I did wonder about Salerno as an alternative to stay in instead of Naples. Does it have enough connections to be a good base for that area? Also I don’t think I have heard of Paestum but it sounds really cool! Might have to check it out.

I think the idea to only be in Rome for one stay is kind of the consensus here so I think I will alter that part as well as where Naples is in the itinerary. If I’m not going to be in Rome for 2 extra nights at the end, where should I tag those two nights on to? Another place in Tuscany or another small town somewhere else?

Thanks for all the feedback everyone, this is amazing!

Emily

Nice itinerary
See if you can fly in to Venice out of Naples

How nice to see a trip where you are staying in a place for more than a night or two! Having said that, I would think about spending less time in Naples itself, maybe just one night and heading to Sorrento or Salerno if you might be interested in Paestum…..which happens to be one of my favourite sites. It’s huge, and because it is off the main tourist route it’s not as busy. Herculaneum and Pompeii are easily reached from Sorrento. I am assuming your travel in Italy will be by train? The suggestion to fly into Venice and out of Rome is a good one and you could end up gaining a couple of extra days somewhere, maybe allowing for a couple of nights at the Lakes?

Should note that flights into Venice probably will not be direct but may require a stop en route - London, Paris, Frankfurt or Rome seem to be the usual stopovers.

Hello Emily, and welcome to the forum!

Your trip looks well planned and has generous timing in important places so great job overall. Usually people have schedules of 9 days and want to go 15 places that are at opposite ends of the country.

Visiting Orvieto will mean taking the slow train from Rome to the there and then onto Florence but since you're spending two nights I think the trade off is worth it. It's a lovely little town with an amazingly oversized church and will be welcome quiet place after Rome.

For a single day trip from Florence I would suggest Siena over Pisa as a more interesting town overall and more to see and do. I know some people love Pisa but for most there's not much beyond the Tower and the Field of Miracles buildings. Siena is reachable by both bus and train but many people prefer the bus because it drops you more in town. I think a spritz on del Campo - especially in a balcony seat if you can wrangle one - as the sun sets is one of the great low key Italian moments.

I would look to buy your tickets ahead of time for the things you really want to see in Florence - Accademia, Uffizi, whatever - because depending on what you mean by Spring you may end up wasting time in line for tickets. The Duomo museum is excellent but there are so many excellent museums and sights in Florence it will eat up as much time as you can throw at it.

Venice to Lake Garda is pretty easy by train but the train only services the lowest part of the lake. To reach further up on the lake you need to get off in Verona and take a bus from there. But this would probably start to make it too long and complicated for a day trip. Probably the train to Peschiera del Garda - an interesting little town but also has a lot tourist stuff built into it now - and take the ferry to another lake town to explore and see a circuit it the lower lake.

Naples is a lot. That's part of it's charm but it's a lot. Sorrento is a very upscale resorty town and is an option for Pompeii as well as visiting Naples as a daytrip as well. If you want to dip your toe in the chaos of the south you might look to Salerno. It offers access to Naples, Pompeii, Paestum by train as well as the Amalfi coast by ferry and bus. But the core of the city is walkable and super manageable compared to Naples with a wide pedestrian only shopping street corridor spilling into bars and restaurants towards the old town section. Salerno feels a lot like being a tourist in Italy in the 80s where you were never quite sure what you ordered and things were never quite how you expected but you just have to roll with it. I like that experience and little more of the southern chaos but not everyone does.

There many day trip and "you're close to" suggestions to be made but you've done a really good with a well paced schedule that I hesitate to add much to it.

Hope this helps, have an amazing trip,
=Tod

You've got more than a year to play around with all of the various orders your trip could take--I just know I would avoid a long train trip like that if I could, no matter whether you fly open jar or round trip.
Naples has come a long way in recent years--no reason to avoid it. But Salerno is fine as an alternative. It lacks the excitement of Naples but would put you close to the Amalfi Coast if you decide to include that. Just keep researching to see what exactly works for you.

I did consider doing both Pisa and Lucca as I’ve heard Lucca is not a
very crowded destination as I am expecting Pisa to be.
I think you may find that Pisa is crowded around the tower with day trippers, but the city overall probably has a much more "regular, workaday" feel versus Lucca, which is very small and popular.

If you like art and architecture and churches, there is WAY more to Pisa than the leaning tower, even if you don't leave the field of miracles. It is crowded with people doing silly poses around the tower and also walking on the street from the train station to the tower, but when we were staying in Pisa for a week or so, we noticed that hardly anybody was in any other museum etc. that we were in. My favorites were the Camposanto and the Baptistery.

I don’t know that you’d really need a formal tour for visiting the islands of the Venetian lagoon that I mentioned earlier - you could just go from one to the next on the vaporetto, and explore on your own. Your preference, of course. I also wanted to mention that the vaporetto can also take you to the island San Giorgio Maggiore, with the church of the same name, designed by Palladio. It hosts exhibits of modern art by the Cini Foundation. Also, you can go up in the church’s bell tower (there is an elevator). You get a magnificent view of the Piazza San Marco, across the way.