Really Need help planning first trip to Italy with husband

it's still low season so you'll be mostly ok without too much planning. just note down the national holidays and make reservations on these dates you'll be fine.

Afraid I have to disagree with David. Seat-of-the-pants is probably not the best plan for a first time trip, especially. First, you need to read a good guidebook. Have you got Rick Steves' Italy book? You don't need a travel agent, except perhaps for booking flights. A travel agent will put you in hotels, and you can find better, more interesting, less expensive lodging on your own using a good guidebook and Trip Advisor. Second, it's way too many places for 2 weeks. You have listed 9 places. Some can be grouped (Naples/Sorrento/Pompeii/Capri/Positano/Amalfi Coast) into one base with daytrips, but even that is a 5 day schedule. If you spend 5 or 6 nights on the Amalfi Coast seeing these sites, you only have 8 or 9 nights for Venice, Florence, "Tuscany" (big place!) and Rome. Each is worthy of 4 or 5 nights. And While Florence is in Tuscany, Tuscany is not Florence. You have to decide what "Tuscany" experience you want to have. Do you plan to rent a car to see the hilltowns? Remember each time you change locations, you lose at least half a day for travel and transition. One or two night stays will have you on the move all the time and exhausted with little time to actually experience Italy. I'd suggest sticking with 3 basic locations: Rome, Florence with excursions into other parts of Tuscany, and Venice, OR Rome, Florence, and the Amalfi Coast. Once you decide your itinerary, you need to book places to stay. Some like to wing it, but as first time travelers to Italy, a lot of stress will be relieved if you know where you will lay your heads each night. And also you have to decide where you will fly into and out of.

I agree with Laurel that you will have a much better trip if you limit your destinations. My husband and I are taking two couples to Italy this fall for their first trip. Our schedule is for 4 nights in Rome followed by a week in a villa in Umbria so we can visit hill towns then 4 nights in Florence to give time to the great art there. We will fly into Rome and out of Florence. I hope to include Ostia Antica for a great Roman ruins experience since we find it so much easier to see in depth and closer to Rome than Pompeii. We will not add Venice because the schedule would get too crowded with no downtime to experience the joy of going slow and being mindful of those things that make Italy so magical.

I've been to Italy half dozen times or so......first time because a nephew got married there -- made many mistakes the first few times! Limit two weeks to only three destinations and enjoy!! My advice: Rome four days, see the Vatican, Sistene, Colliseum.......but space it and enjoy the Piazzas: especially Navona, Campo di Fiore.....and wander! (The day you get there doesn't really count, because you will be jet-lagged!) Sit, drink a little wine.........then 3 days in Florence -- see the magnificent art, again, sit, drink wine: enjoy the Piazzas.........then Venice.
Same advice. Save the rest for another trip!

As mentioned above, you describe 9 locations to visit in two weeks. That's really ambitious. Judging for the locations, you'll incur about 2 days of daylight train travel. This is almost a "blink and run" trip where you get to take a few pictures and then head for the train. You really don't get to see or do a lot. Hopefully, you are flying into one airport and out of another to reduce some of the train travel. I would suggest that you consider one of two alternatives. 1) Venice, Florence, Tuscany and Rome. Drop Naples, Sorrento, Amalfi Coast and Capri. 2) Rome, Naples, Sorrento, Capri, Amalfi Coast (8-9 days recommended) plus Tuscany and Florence (4-5 days recommended). Adding in Venice would depend on where you fly out of. Of course, these are just suggestions. The final choices are yours.

I completely agree with the 3-4 locations. Is that 14 days in Italy or 14 days with two days of flying. I would choose Rome and Florence for sure. then decide if you prefer the Northeast with Venice and Verona, North with Cinque terra and Lake region or south with the Amalfi coast. Also remember to fly open jaw in one city and out another.

Your starting point should be the RS Italy book, so you can pick the places that most closely match your interests. Happy travels. P.S. What is this "travel agent" of which you speak?

lots of things to think about do you plan to travel by train mostly or do you want to have a car for Tuscany? Can you fly open jaw from SD? (Fly into Venice and out or Rome...) I agree you are trying to fit too much into 2 weeks, you will lose a lot of time just moving from place to place, hotel to hotel... Venice-Florence-Rome is always a good place to start for a first time trip to Italy you could easily spend 2 weeks doing that itinerary and make day trips through Tuscany from Florence... you need to decide which areas are the most important to you. You don't need a travel agent, book your own flights, reserve your own hotels and you're good to go
the train system in Italy is fantastic and a great way to travel, a car is good for outside the cities (tuscan countryside) but it not totally necessary

Hi everyone, thank you all for your great imput! Yes, I agree that visiting all of those places will be too much to fit into a 2 week plan, so I believe we will definitely do Rome and Florence, and now need to decide whether to go explore Venice (and small trips to Tuscany) or go to the Amalfi coast. I noticed that a lot of people were quick to rule out Venice... why is that? Is there a reason its not a go to for everyone? Also, to answer your questions, I believe we will be mostly traveling via train- I don't want the headache of trying to drive in Europe. And, I will definitely take everyones advise of booking an "open jaw" flight to save travel time. So I guess I need more imput from you guys now: Venice (and small trip to Tuscany) or Amalfi coast?
(I will for sure be going to Rome and Florence) Your replies are MUCH appreciated!!! Thank you :)

We had the same decision on our first trip to Italy. We knew we wanted to go to Rome and Florence but couldn't decide if our third destination would be amalfi or vencie. We didn't want to do both in a two week time span. We picked Amalfi coast and didn't regret it. We stayed at a nice hotel in Priano called Hotel Margharetti (spelling sorry). In the Amalfi area we visted Positano, Capri, Amalfi and Ravello. I loved Ravello. We visited Pompeii on our way back to Rome. We our now making our second trip. We are going to Lake Como, Cinque Terre and than to Venice. I liked the way we spilt it up

Jenny:
Your "small trips to Tuscany" shoudl be done from Florence, not Venice. Florence is in Tuscany; Venice is not.

We are completely at the other end of the speedometer. Italy is the perfect place for slow travel (see www.slowtrav.com) Our first family trip to Italy was two years ago. We stayed put in one place for ten days (Veneto province, northeast of Venice). We did day trips all over the province, including Venice, Treviso, Padova and one overnight to Verona to see the opera in their Roman coliseum. We stayed in a penthouse apartment in the historic district of Portogruaro. It was fantastic to have a home base, for FREE through home exchange. For next summer, we've rented an 18th century mansion for two weeks with friends in Piedmont province. We'll be able to see Turin, Milan, the lakes, the best wine country in Italy (Barolo), the Alps - while coming home each night to a villa with a pool and tennis court, surrounded by a large private park. All this for less per person night than most average hotels. Eventually we'll make it to Rome and Tuscany...and we'll enjoy every minute without the rush. Just an alternative to throw into your planning mix.

one thing to think about is it will be april and may be cooler. amalfi is further south and the weather may be better. I too agree a good second trip is the north with venice, verona and the lakes

Jenny, very good advice from the posters. If you spend a few days in Florence, you can get to Siena or another hill town (San Gimignano, for example) by public transportation. I prefer cities to agriturismo accommodations, but I usually don't have a car in Italy. I would return another time for a more intensive Tuscany experience (and add Umbria). End of April/early May will have some cool to chilly days and nights (especially in the cities north of Rome), but you can manage with a sweater or wrap. It also may rain, and buying a cheap umbrella on the street is not the best idea (my experience is they last about a day), so you may want to pack a small one. Enjoy your first trip to Italy.

For a first time trip to Italy and for the end of April I would probably go with Venice- Florence-Rome. All easily done by train. I would do day trips from Florence, some popular choices are Siena, Pisa, Lucca..
I would save Amalfi coast for another trip that focused on more southern Italy

I noticed that a lot of people were quick to rule out Venice... why is that? Is there a reason its not a go to for everyone? I think Venice can be a horror or the best place on Earth depending on your preparation and how you make your visit. For my wife and me, Venice is wonderful, fantastic and we love it. I think for others they arrive when masses of other tourists arrive off tour buses or cruise ships, they get herded around on the same well worn routes and see nothing but crowded hot sweaty tourists, running off hysterically never to return. We walk, off the beaten train, go where the spirit moves us, go in the busier places before or after the crowds, avoid the tourist traps - and we love it. The crowds really never deviate. We can go 1 street or alley away and completely miss them. We use a restaurant guide written by a Venetian for Venetians (available in English), and we muck in. If you have the right attitude go for it. If you prefer to be a follower of the leader you may not enjoy it as much. Does that make any sense?

About Venice, no destination anywhere is a "go for everyone". I think that most people who don't like Venice probably just daytripped in, went only to the most crowded places (I'm looking at you, Rialto and St. Mark's), then left by around 5 pm. If, on the other hand, you get yourself away from those places and if you actually spend at least one night (preferrably several) staying on the island, you'll get to see a much more magical side of Venice, as you can see from a collection of photos I've pulled together from two of our three trips to Venice, from 2008 and 2011.