Need itinerary advice for Italy trip

I would forego Milan, flying into either Pisa or Venice(or reversing with Rome arrival and finishing in either one of these). The rest of the trip, although a bit hectic, is doable.

Okay, you have 10 days and you've listed 9 destinations ranging from the Amalfi in the south to Lake Como in the north. Let's start out with what you yourself already said in your original post, you realize you can't do all of these--a true statement if I ever heard one. Here's what I suggest as your homework assignment:1. Eliminate the destinations at the bottom of your priority list, after you've done some research on what each place offers that you're interested in. My list would have Milan at the bottom, of the 9 places you've mentioned. I'd also eliminate Lake Como because it's too far north, the travel time will eat up time you need for other destinations. That leaves 7 destinations to do in 10 days but you need a minimum of 2 full days in Rome, so that leaves 8 days for the other 6 destinations.2. The next homework assignment for you is: go to viamichelin.com, or do the free download of Google Earth, then start inputting the 7 destinations that are left on the list, and you'll quickly see what the reality is regarding non-compressible travel times between points A, B, etc--and that will tell you a lot about how much of this is physically possible. Your objective is what we call a blitz itinerary that stops short of what we call a death march to exhaustion itinerary (not fun). It doesn't matter how much energy your son has, he can't compress the travel times between these destinations (and you're along for the ride, too, right?).

Go to your local library and browse the guide books. You will find more information than you can asorb and lots of appealing pictures to help you decide where to go.

You have listed too many towns which are too far apart to be practical in 10-12 days.

Plan your itinerary on a page and consider the amount of time required to travel and see the sights.

You will be too rushed for your trip to be enjoyable. I have traveled for 20 years and into over 50 countries and learned that one cant cover the distances and see everything you expect to without diligent planning in advance.

Be flexible once you travel and change your travel plans as needed.

This is only my opinion. You would be very rushed to see all the cities you have listed. My itinerary advice would be to have your son meet you in Milan and go directly to Lake Como the first day to fight jet lag. I would skip Venice too much traveling for one city, Milan I personally don't care for and Pisa only has the one site. From Lake Como travel to Cinque Terre and from there go on to Florence and Tuscany. Allocating 6 nights for the above cities, I would take a long travel day to Sorrento and the Amalfi Coast for 3 nights and then finish in Rome for 3 nights. Keep in mind it could be very hot in August and with all the cities you listed you would be spending a great deal of time on trains.

We should have 10 days not including the 2 days of travel. I realize that not everyone likes to travel this way, but our son is 24 and likes to stay busy and see as much as possible.

This itinerary is doable unless you want to actually get off the train at any of your destinations. Each move will consume almost the entire day - checking in and out of hotels, getting to and from the train station, travel time to each location. I would cut this down to 2 or maybe 3 destinations - Venice and Rome would be plenty. Those cities need several days at a minimum. I have been to all of the locations you indicate and all are wonderful, but other than Pisa and Milan I have needed at least a week at each place.

My wife and flew into Venice and out Rome a couple of years ago. We also did southern Italy last year. You don't need a car till your done with Florence and you can turn it in when you reach Rome. We home based in Senia and found taped driving tours of Tuscany that started and ended in Senia. You can see pictures and details of our trip at our blog at http://gadtravel.blogspot.com

Randy,

As Kent and the others pointed out, trying to fit 9 cities into a 10 day trip would be very difficult, if not impossible (regardless of how "busy" your Son likes to be).

I'd suggest limiting the trip to four locations - Venice (3 days, although first day will be used for flight), Florence (2 days), possibly Cinque Terre (2 days - a fairly easy trip from Florence to the CT and an easy 4 hour trip from the CT to Rome) and Rome (3 days, which is a bare minimum - plan your touring carefully!). I would also place Milan at the bottom of the list.

Given the short time frame and reality of travel times, I'd drop the Amalfi coast this time. Travel from the north to Rome, then connecting to Naples and then the Circumvesuviana to Sorrento is going to use too much travel time.

You didn't indicate whether you were planning on renting a car, but I'd suggest using the "fast" trains where possible (reservations will be required). Buy P-P tickets when you reach Italy, as you'll only have a small number of rail journeys.

As you'll be travelling in August, which is both PEAK tourist season and also PEAK holiday time for many Europeans, I'd suggest pre-booking accomodations. You'll have to decide which of the 5 CT villages you want to stay in (I stayed in Riomaggiore last time and really enjoyed it, but many of Rick's readers seem to prefer Vernazza - Monterosso is the largest village and has the best beach - you'll probably be accessing the CT via La Spezia if you're using trains).

This plan will allow you to use open-jaw flights - fly into Venice and fly home from Rome. It would be great if you could squeeze in at least one or two extra days, as Rome really deserves at least five days.

For the trip from Roma Termini to Fiumicino airport, use the Leonardo Express (€11 per person, about a 40 minute trip - no traffic jams to worry about).

Hi Randy
Just returned from 10 days in Italy also visiting an adult child who was doing a university course in Siena. I agree with other posts that you may be trying to fit in too many stops. We had 10 days as well. Spent three in Rome, four in Florence with two day trips to Siena by train and three in Tuscany where we stayed at an winery near Greve. We had originally planned to go to Venice, the Amalfi Coast and Sorrento. Glad we scaled back as there is so much to see and do in all of the places we visited. We had no down time as each day was full. This site is very helpful. Not sure if you are thinking of renting a car? We rented a car in Rome and drove it to Florence via the two days in Tuscany but would not do that again. Would train from Rome to Florence and rent a car in Florence to tour Tuscany. The cost of parking in Florence was 26 Euro a day. It was a wonderful trip.

In the amount of time you have I would keep your plans toward the North.

Rome can consume 5 days easily and Sorento and the Amalfi coast are South of there. I'd save all of those for a future trip.

For this trip Venice, the Dolomites, Verona, Lake Como, Milan, CT, Pisa, Florence and maybe add Balogna for a Northern Italy circle back to Venice.

Even then 10-12 days will be busy.

If you can save money by flying in and out of Milan. I'd start there, go to Lake Como, Verona, the Dolomites... swing around that way to keep CT toward the end of your trip. CT is more of a low key relaxation alternative to the hustle and bustle of your vacation, you don't need it when you first arrive.