Planning a 10 Day Trip Around Italy

10 days is not a lot of time. Staying in Milan at both the start and end of your trip is a waste. As long as you get in to Milan at a reasonable time, you should be able to reach another destination that afternoon, such as Verona or Venice which are both an easy train ride away. Plan to stay in each destination 2-4 nights minimum, for example: 2 nights Venice, 3 nights Florence, 3 nights Rome, 1 night Milan. You can easily day trip to other places from these cities if you dont find enough to entertain yourself there. Such as a day trip to Bologna from Florence, or done on route from Venice to Florence.

I agree with whoever told you that 10 days wasn't enough time. You want to visit 6 cities in 10 days. It's possible...but you won't actually see much of each place.

Are you flying out of Milan as well? You depart on the 23rd so you have 10 travel/sightseeing days, including the 13th. Nine full days in Italy. Are you staying in Milan the night of the 13th?

With 9 full days, ending in Milan, I'd stick to the northern part of the country. Visit Verona for a day or two and spend the rest of the time in Venice; take a couple day trips from there. You might be interested in Padua (Padova) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Padua) and/or Mantua (Mantova) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mantua). Spend your last day and night in Milan, if you're flying out of there.

I was planning on staying in Milan the first night because I will probably be tired but now I'm thinking maybe I will just go to Venice like I was suggested.

Six cities in 10 days in unrealistic. You'll spend the majority of your time checking out of hotels, waiting in train stations, riding trains, getting to the new hotel and checking in with very little time to explore.

I recommend no more than 3 cities in 10 days. This will give you a little bit of time in each city and allow you to do a bit of exploring while still seeing some of the more popular sites. Which 3 you choose it up to you but remember that you lose about half a day when you change cities. If you change cities 6 times in a 10 day trip you lose 3 days to travel.

Donna

I agree, cut out Milan. I would take a look at the 10 day Rick Steves Italy tour ( not to do on but to see what they do every day as they go to Venice, Florence and Rome). 10 days is a nice amount of time, but not a lot of time to do all the cities you mentioned. You may be able to do the three cities but in order to see a small portion, that's it. Each city has so much to see and do and places to eat, museums, churches ( that is where all the amazing art is, in churches) that you could stay a week in each city and not get bored! I would cut out Verona and Bologna for this trip too. You can take the train from Florence to Rome easily. I would do open jaw, fly into Venice and fly home from Rome. I would also suggest you read the Rick Steves tour on Rome as that will give you an idea of what to see and do. ( I have been to Italy several times now and been on the Rome and Florence tours (when he had the week long Florence tours) twice. You could spend a day just in the Vatican. You may want to look at all the Rick Steve videos he has for free on this website and all the free videos there are on YouTube that Rick Steves has along with other travel shows all for free. You may also want to look at the Rick Steves on line scrapbooks of people that took the tours of Italy to see what they saw and did and the hotels they stayed in. We stayed at the Hotel Aberdeen in Rome which is in a good location and very reasonable prices. Nothing fancy but you are not there all day and they have a good breakfast. If you want to pm me that is fine by me. I will give you more infor.

I gave a detailed answer earlier that somehow failed to post.

10 days is not enough time for this trip. You need two nights to get one full day in a place. A major stop like Rome, Florence etc should not be attempted in fewer than 4 nights/3 days -- 3 nights/2 days at the least. Three stops is one too many for 10 nights; any more than that is madness.

I would bag Milan -- but if Milan is a must for you, then drop either Rome or Florence or Venice.

I assume you are stuck with a round trip ticket into Milan. It would have been better to fly open jaw into Rome and out of Milan or vice verse so remember that for next time. It doesn't cost more and it saves you backtracking. But since this is what you have, on arrival train immediately to your farthest point and stay there 3 or 4 nights, the train to your next stop for 3 or 4 nights and then back to Milan for the final nights and to be there for your flight home. The arrival day after a flight overseas is a waste due to weariness and jet lag so use that day to travel on to your furthest destination. Then you don't waste a day traveling back at the end. Every time you chance cities you waste much of a day.

So one trip might be: 3-4 nights Rome; 3-4 nights Florence; two nights Venice; return to Milan for last night.

If you want to have a couple of days in Milan then 3-4 nights Florence (or Rome); 3 nights Venice; 3 nights Milan

Or something like that. By traveling to Bologne and Verona as well you end up 'seeing' things for photo ops and that is about it. The fun part of the trip is being there not getting there so try to spend less time packing and unpacking, rushing to trains, checking in and out of hotels and more time experiencing the places you are visiting.

You're picking a wonderful place for a European vacation! Yes, too many locations for 10 days (or 1 jetlag day + 9 days)

We can give you better advice if you can tell us if you have already purchased your airline tickets, i.e. are you stuck flying into/out of Milan or are there options when giving you advice of start/stop location?

Everybody has different ideas of what is an ideal vacation in Italy. Can you give us a little more info on these topics, so we can provide the best ideas & possible other locations tailored to what you desire:
- What about Bologna appeals to you?
- What about Verona appeals to you?
- If you had to choose Florence, Milan OR Rome which one would you pick & why?

We are definitely stuck flying in and out of Milan, it was the cheapest airport. My main focuses are seeing the really historical sites, etc. I would love to see just really old truly authentic italian locations. I also want to have some fun and meet locals and go to a vineyard and eat some good food. We wanted to see the canals and some famous art and things along those lines. I definitely want to go to Rome. In terms of Milan, I dont really care, it was just that we were going to be flying in there and I thought we would be tired but traveling that day and taking a little nap on the train/plane would work. We just wanted to do a little thrift store shopping and thought Milan would be a good place for that.

Any recommendations on nice cheap places to stay? Cool bars/restaurants? I am wide open to suggestions and I have gotten a lot of good ones here.

I get that Milan is cheapest, but its only a good deal if that is where you want to go since now you are wasting time and money to get elsewhere. But I totally get it since my next trip has me flying into Rome and out of Milan. Its not highest on my wish list of places to see, but I think I can manage to entertain myself there very well for 2 nights. As far as thrift shopping goes, I think Milan is better known for its high end shopping.

If you want old and authentic stuff, then my suggestion would be Venice, Verona, and Rome. Verona would be a great stop for 2 nights (leaving more time for elsewhere), it has a Roman arena, castlevecchio, and is just a delight even with the fakey "Juliets balcony".

I totally get that it would have been easier for me to fly in/out of somewhere that I wanted to stay. However, at the time that i booked the flight, I had no idea where I wanted to stay. Even with that, it is still cheaper for me to fly into/out of Milan and take a train/plane elsewhere than to fly into Rome and out of Milan. The next thing I am trying to figure out is if it makes more sense to fly to Rome or to take the train. On one hand, flying will obviously be faster. On the other, the train might have some pretty scenery. It seems to me that the prices for both are almost on par.

Flying is not always faster. You still need to get to the airport 2 hours prior to the flight. After the flight you still need to get into Rome, which takes about half an hour. Overall, you might save a half an hour but remember that most low cost carriers severely restrict the amount of luggage you can take with you. You'll pay hefty fees for overage.

Donna

So I guess we have decided to leave from Milan and take a train to Rome and stay there for 4 days. Then head up to Florence for 4 days then back to Milan for 2 days.

You are doing the itinerary backwards. Can you fly into Rome, then Florence and Venice and train to Milan to fly home? Or better yet, fly into Venice for 2 nights, 4 nites each in Florence and Rome and fly home from Rome. Milan is nothing compared to VFR! My wife and I trained to Venice from Milan in in first class with reservations in 2012 and were hassled (meaning thugs going through every car on the train screaming in peoples faces, slamming doors, passing out fascist literature and trying to unzip passengers bags when they got off the train at their stops) by about 30 North Africans for an hour and a half all the way to Verona. All the train personnel locked themselves in their personal coach w/o helping anyone - even when we got to Verona, where the thugs got off to catch the next train back to Milan, the train people wouldn't leave their locked coach or call ahead to have police waiting, etc. Milan is pretty much of a hellhole, it looks like Detroit with tons of abandoned suburbs and graffiti , the train station was built by Mussolini and looks like something out of a Steven King movie. I love Italy, I literally adore Italians but I will never go within a hundred miles of Milan on future trips.
Some Italian friends of ours later told us the Milan to Verona trains are notorious for this. They even chloroform seniors and steal their wallets and purses. By the way Italian police are hard to find and are of very little help in getting your stuff back. Being two women you will definitely be on most radar screens but I would check Rick's "scam" forums for Italy to learn how to negate the Jerks. Avoiding Milan altogether is a huge positive step.

Fly into Milano, take the train to Venice. Two nights in Venice, three if you want to daytrip to Padova or Verona. Then go to Florence for a couple of days; shopping is great there. too. Then Rome for as many nights as you have available, daytrips to Orvieto or Frascati would be possible, then Milano for two nights. You can see some of Milano's great sights and still daytrip to Bologna for a day, or even just for a meal.

Well we have no choice about flying into and out of Milan. Thats just the way it is. My mom really wants to spend a couple of days in Milan so thats what we are doing. Someone suggested that we travel to the farthest destination first and that seems like it makes sense so we are doing Rome then Florence then Milan. Unfortunately we are going to have to skip Venice this time. I made reservations to stay at a place called Orto de' Medici in Florence for 4 nights. Looking for a B&B in Rome that actually serves breakfast. Then Milan for 2 days. Definitely want to make some little day trips, would love to go to a vineyard in the country.

many hotels in Rome serve breakfast, as well as B&Bs. Sometimes the hotel buffet breakfast is more extensive than the B&B. Check reviews and photos on booking sites for ideas of what to expect; if it's a good breakfast, there will be photos.

What do you mean bt "actually"? looking to order from a menu? Unlikely.

The reason I said "actually" was because a lot of places that I looked at were called B&Bs but did not serve any food or it was not included in the price. I would be fine with a hotel that had a breakfast buffet as well. Basically any place that we can eat breakfast of any kind and not have to pay extra.

Ok, a few last suggestions if you must go to Milan: Malpensa airport is a long way from the Train station and major sites (by the way, there's not one Rick Steves 3-star sight in Milan). Since you're pinching pennies maybe take a bus if you arrive early in the day. There's a good RS rec'ed hotel near the train station (Hotel Florida) but you must serve yourself breakfast in the dining room. From the train station (directly in front of the station) you can take the Metro to the Duomo/Galleria/La Scala/Pinocoteca Ambrosiana. There are scammers galore all over the Piazza del Duomo and if you hit a transit strike like we did, get in the long lines ASAP at the corners of the Piazza for a taxi to get you back to your hotel so you can blow town. For a few laughs walk up and down the street in front of the Hotel and look at all the late model cars with bashed-in front and back bumpers and scraped and broken side mirrors. Watching the Milanese park cars on the street is probably the most interesting thing to do in Milan!
I'm really sorry you don't want to see Venice on your first trip to Italy. The rule of thumb on first trips is usually Venice, Florence and Rome. Venice looks exactly as it did 600 years ago. The water taxi ride from the train station to St. Marco's is a vacation in itself that you'll remember the rest of your life. Good luck. Ciao.

I really do want to go to Venice but my mom wants to go shopping in Milan (which i do not really care about) and we just would not have time for it.

We stayed in the Orto de Medici when it was called the Splendor. This is a GREAT location -- slightly off the beaten path but an easy stroll to Academia, Uffizi, Duomo etc. Just around the corner is the charming Musee San Marco an old Monastery run by Savanarola before he was burned at the stake. Fra Angelico painted devotional frescos in the cells -- a must see and so close by. Be sure you have reservations for the Uffizi and Academia or get the Firenze Card (it is overpriced but worth it to skip lines at these two VERY line intensive museums. Also get over to the Brancacci Chapel where the Renaissance began with Masaccio's painting. The Orto has a lovely terrace for breakfast and taking an afternoon break.

When in Milan and visiting the Cathedral be sure to go to the roof; it is really something.

There's not really any free breakfast. When prices are quoted with breakfast, you can usually get a discount if you don't want breakfast, which is a benefit to some travelers. breakfast is traditionally pretty minimal in Italy, but hotels that put more effort into their selection may have a photo of it online.