Planning around Capri

Where are you going after Capri? I would take the train from Florence to Naples and spend a night there. We stayed at the Royal Continental which was on the waterfront. Naples can be a challenging city..people love it r hate it. We loved it and it would be an easy stop.

You can also stay in Sorrento and take a ferry to Capri from there.Or Naples. Same in reverse when leaving Capri. I strongly advise you to stay jtwo nights on Capri. You’ll be glad you did. We stayed three nights, wished we had stayed four.

Or you could just do it in one day. Trains from Florence to Naples take a little over 3 hours. Then taxi to the ferry terminal and a fast one hour ferry to Capri.

Thanks to all for your replies! Currently, the plan is to stay in Capri one night (with prices there, that's about all we can budget for) then we have one more night before flying home from Rome. We assumed we'd travel back to Rome and stay somewhere near the airport for the last night but I'm open to other suggestions! Flight out is at 10:30 am.
Currently itinerary is:
Arrive in Rome, stay 2 nights
Travel by train to Cinque Terre, stay 3 nights
Travel by train to Florence - hope to see Siena and maybe some more of the hill towns if possible. Questions are:
1) Do we keep Florence as a home base and do day trip to Siena, etc.
2) Do we rent a car or just use tour services
3) Do we stay in that region 2 nights, then head South for one night before Capri OR do we stay 3 nights in Florence/Siena area and travel directly from there to Capri?
This is my first time traveling to Italy and only my 2nd time to Europe. The last trip to Europe was 1998 so I'm feeling a bit anxious right now! :)

Month and year? It's really late to book these areas for 2024, especially Sorrento or Capri. You won't get your first three choices. Ferries don't run after sunset. And if you only have one night, arriving at your Capri hotel at 3PM is a bit of a disappointment.

It's a bigger topic than your OP, but I don't see Florence as a base for Tuscany. It's too far east, and has too many art-history attractions unrelated to Tuscany-the-tourist-destination. I consider a rental car essential for a real Tuscany visit, but I would prefer not to do it from sleeping in Florence. You need a primer on car rental annoyances in Italy, like insurance minimums, ZTL, speed cameras, required equipment, break-in risk, and parking difficulties in many places. But we were glad to have a car in Tuscany. We chose a remote, expensive resort partly because of easy in and out in the morning. (Sinalunga). It's possible to use tour services, but that would be very constraining. I don't even mind being on a tour-bus "schedule" that I don't set, I mean the number of possible stops, restaurant choices, available towns, and so on.

Too many posters here plan to do both CT and Sorrento/AC on the same trip to Italy, as if it is the only time they will be in Italy in their lives. It's true that the two places are not the same, but they are both "a journey" from the rest of the country. BTW, I rate Venice ahead of CT, and Venice has lots of air service. But that's an Opinion, not a "fact". Our first trip to Italy was Rome-Florence-Reggio Emilia (let's say, Bologna)-Venice. (I used to go to Reggio Emilia for business.) We didn't go to Tuscany or Milan or Sorrento until later trips. I hate to be so prescriptive, but I don't think you have the time in-country to waste a night at an airport hotel. (And an official taxi reserved by your Rome hotel for 6:30 AM is not unsafe. It's just "too early.") Can you reorganize your sequence of stops? Can you fly home from Naples or Venice? Would you consider dropping CT? I know it's no fun to change hotels, and wastes time, but can you split your Rome time into two two-night stays? A first visit to Rome really should be five nights for those that can afford it.

Especially with a low budget, please make sure you know in advance how your luggage gets to the Capri hotel. I have never slept there, but I've been there twice, and I know that it is highly pedestrianized. Not all hotels can be reached by public bus or taxi. The island has huge differences in elevation. But it is a lovely place. OTOH, Sorrento (where we stayed five nights, for daytripping convenience, and were happy) is a postwar, purpose-built resort town, mostly reinforced-concrete. It has only one public beach, in between two diesel-scented marinas. You can see it when you to to the ferry, if you go that way.

Have you been to the library to look at "Rick Steves Italy", (our host here?) It's really worthwhile to buy the latest edition. No, I don't work for him! The Search box for this newsboard can also be very helpful.

Thank you so much for your very thorough information! We do have the Rick Steves book and I'm chipping away at that. CT is definitely a must for the 4 of us on the trip. I think it makes sense to rethink the Capri piece. I know Rick always says to go to the country with the mindset that you WILL be back. I think that is really helpful and I hope it will also be true. Appreciate all the input above. Am a little embarrassed to say that I was "wishing" the forum had a search feature....I totally missed the bar at the top that says "search"!

I think you're not adequately accounting for how much time is lost as you move from place to place. With 2 nights in Florence you wouldn't have "a few days" in that area; you'd have about 1-1/2 days. Even 3 nights would make seeing Florence, Siena and some Tuscan villages a serious challenge.

With Rome as your first stop, you'll have only one full, mostly-not-jetlagged (we hope) day there. The arrival day may find you sleep-deprived as well as jetlagged unless you're flying business class.

This would be a lot of time for a little payoff. Save Capri for a future trip and stop somewhere before Rome. There are some gorgeous coastal places and even islands--Elba, Ponza--that would make much better use of your time.