Rome, Florence, Naples Timing

From Rome’s Fiumicino Airport (FCO) there’s a train departing at 3:38p that requires a transfer at Rome’s Termini station to get to Naples central station. Buy your train ticket at the airport to Naples. When you arrive in Naples go to the basement and hop on the Circumvesuviana commuter train to Sorrento which is the end of line. Sleep in Sorrento for three nights to explore Naples and the Amalfi Coast.
From Naples central station take a direct train to Firenze SM Novella station (3h 15m) and sleep in Florence for three nights.
From the Firenze SM Novella station take a direct train to Rome’s Termini station and sleep in Rome for four nights. Rome needs a minimum of three nights and if you add a day at Vatican City make it four.

You are traveling in June so hot for me, sites need to be done in the morning and relax in the afternoon. Train rides/moving is wasted time especially for such a short trip. Random things to say I know but vacation time is worth gold. With ten nights in/out of Rome. I would go north from the airport FCO to Orvieto for 3 nights, then south to Sorrento for 4 nights (swim in the ocean relax be chill see Naples and Pompeii) and back to Rome for the last 3 nights. J

Definitely enough time, especially given your flight times. I normally wouldn’t recommend long onward travel after a flight because of delays and unpredictable immigration wait times, but arriving at 2pm gives you a huge cushion to get to either Florence or Naples/Amalfi by end of day. You could book discounted tickets for a train sufficiently later in the day that you’re fairly confident you’ll make or just plan to buy the walk up fare for the next train. The difference between the cheapest advance discounts and the walk up fare is only around €30/person from FCO to Florence for some days I randomly checked.

Likewise, a 7pm departure means you have a nearly full day to spend in Rome before departure.

I’d suggest Florence-Naples/Amalfi-Rome as the itinerary just because if you do want to go to the Amalfi coast it is a longer travel day vs Florence. If you really want to maximize time, on the travel days sightsee in the morning and travel in the later afternoon/evening. You avoid the peak heat and can rest and relax on the train rides.

For this rushed schedule, you should stay in Sorrento, rather than one of the Amalfi Coast towns. It's a long schlep just to Sorrento. Note that Sorrento is built on a cliff, and is not a "beach town". If you book the much faster Frecciarossa trains Rome-Naples, the most discounted fares are sold like air tickets, no changes or refunds, one specific train only. They may not yet be released for 2025.

I might be able to add an extra day as well if I really can't do this trip without it.

Could we do both Almafi and Naples? Something like one of these options?

Rome (3), Amalfi (3), Naples (1), Florence (3), back to Rome for the flight home. Doing it that way pretty much kills the last day while doing Florence (3), Almafi (3), Naples (1), Rome (3) allows us to spend that last day touring Rome. That Florence to Almafi trip is long though and we have to coordinate getting off the flight right onto a train to Florence which sounds a bit tricky.

I might be able to add an extra day as well if I really can't do this
trip without it.

Definitely do this if at all possible. Add the night to Rome at the end.

we have to coordinate getting off the flight right onto a train to
Florence which sounds a bit tricky.

Not tricky at all. Simply purchase your train ticket once you land sing the app or go to a window or kick at airport station and purchase it there. You will take The Leonardo Express to Termini then the next tfast train to Florence. Multiple trains every hour. I would not purchase train tix in advance just for a bit of savings. If you miss it, you lose and have ot pay walk up/day of Base rate anyway.

I would head to Florence on arrival as it's a shorter trip than to Amalfi
Florence 3 nights
Train to Sorrento via Naples (fast train to Naples then Circumvesuviana or Campania Express)
Sorrento 4 nights (if you add day here- I would because you'll lose a good bit of day 1 getting here)
Ferry to Naples
Naples 1 night
Train to Rome
Rome 3 nights
Be at airport by 4 pm on your departure day so you've got some sightseeing time on last day

Station names:
Roma Termini
Firenze SM Novella
Napoli Centrale

Thank you so much for station names! That's one of the most confusing parts of booking European train travel.

If I can't add the extra night, Florence (3), Sorrento/Amalfi (3), Naples(1), Rome (3)? Or do I just forget about Naples entirely or is there some way to get to Naples in the am either on the way to or from Sorrento and leave the luggage somewhere, explore Naples by foot, train in the evening to next destination?

Why ferry from Sorrento back to Naples and not train?

And not sure I'm ready to get into this, but Sorrento vs Amalfi vs Positano? Will be much easier travel and cheaper lodgeing in Sorrento, but might we enjoy being in Positano more?

Thank you so much for station names! That's one of the most confusing
parts of booking European train travel.

You are welcome, You just have to know the Italian names.

You could stop off in Naples on your way to Rome. I wouldn't stop on Florence to Sorrento day as that day is already a long travel day.
Or you could do Florence 3- Sorrento-4- Rome 3 and day trip from Sorrento to Naples. Gets rid of that 1 night stay- each location change eats up half a day!

Ferry for something different and to avoid the Circumvesuviana (Hot, crowded, a pain with luggage)

Getting to one of the AC towns from Florence will just take more time. I'd want 4 nights there for that reason.
If you must- I'd stay in Amalfi- that's the transportation hub. Positano is pretty but mostly high end shopping. Overcrowded.
Take fast train from Florence to Salerno then transfer to ferry or bus to Amalfi if you choose to stay IN Amalfi.

Another option is Salerno. Stay there- less expensive, not touristy at all. Direct trains from Florence and to Rome. Visit Paestum by train, AC towns by ferry, Naples by train, (Pompeii by train- did you wan toes Pompeii?)

Or stay in Naples! Just depends on what you want to see/do in the region.

I'd just want to cut down on travel time as much as possible, you don't have much time - get to your locations as quickly as you can.

We like "touristy" but don't particularly like overpriced.

I love the idea of 4 nights in Sorrento with a day trip to Naples, that solves a lot of problems. We can decide to do Naples or not at that point as well.

What do you mean by "If you must- I'd stay in Amalfi?" If technically want to stay on Amalfi coast instead of Sorrento? I don't think I "must" do that necessarily, do I? Positano is likely going to be out of the budget. I see accomodations in Sorrento that would fit the budget and if we do 4 nights there, we could do day trips to some combination of Capri, Positano, Naples, Pompei, right? Getting from Sorrento to Amalfi seems like it's going to be a bit tricky and I'm not sure what benefit I get if Sorrento town is nice. We don't necessarily need to sit on a beach all day, but we like the beach town vibe.

So, land Thursday Rome 2pm, train to Florence immediately, Thursday/Friday/Saturday nights in Florence, Sunday long train trip to Sorrento, Sunday/Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday nights in Sorrento, train to Rome, Thursday/Friday/Saturday nights in Rome, fly home. Depending on when I schedule the trains, I can give ourslves more/less time in locations.

What do you mean by "If you must- I'd stay in Amalfi?"

I meant if you must stay ON the AC.

but we like the beach town vibe

None of the AC towns or Sorrento should be considered "beach towns".
Sorrento hardly has a beach and the AC beaches are teeny tiny with pebbles- not sand.
Salerno does have a sandy stretch of beach.

From Sorrento you can day trip to
Naples by ferry or train
Capri by ferry
Pompeii by train
AC towns by ferry or bus

With 4 nights you could do 3 of the above

Take a look at Mondo Guides shared tours- they are quite good and very affordable.
www.sharedtours.com

I didn't really mean beach towns. Meant more like towns on the water.
I think I like this plan.
Thursday Rome 2pm, train to Florence immediately, Thursday/Friday/Saturday nights in Florence, Sunday long train trip to Sorrento, Sunday/Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday nights in Sorrento, train to Rome, Thursday/Friday/Saturday nights in Rome, fly home.

If I could add a night, where would I add it to this?

Add to either Rome or Florence
Depends on what you want to do/see as far as sights
With above plan your time in Florence is the shortest -you only have 2 full days
Adding to Florence gives you option of a day trip to Siena (for example)

i think we are able to add a night and arrive in Rome Wednesday at 2pm.
This is the current working plan.
Thursday Rome 2pm, train to Florence immediately, Thursday/Friday/Saturday nights in Florence, Sunday long train trip to Sorrento, Sunday/Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday nights in Sorrento, train to Rome, Thursday/Friday/Saturday nights in Rome, fly home.
From Sorrento we could do some combination of day trips to Pompeii, Capri, Naples, Positano

Where's the extra night go? I see the suggestion above to add to Florence and do a day trip to Siena, but I want to make sure we have enough time in Rome too. If I added the night to Florence, we would probably leave Florence for Sorrento as early AM as we can and get us more time in Sorrento and then we could leave Sorrento early to get us more time in Rome Not sure it seems right to have Florence (4), Sorrento (4) and Rome (3) though. If we left Sorrento early on Thursday, we have most of Thursday, all of Friday, all of Saturday and much of a day Sunday in Rome though. Or we could leave Florence at 3 nights and leave later in the day and add a night to Rome.

Make your list for Florence
See what you can fit in 2 full days

Your arrival evening allows time for apertivo and dinner only

I'm nearly a year out, I can book flexible accomodations now but I likely have months to change things around before things start getting sold out. I would figure I've got some time to book the trains to get best price as well. The only thing really set in stone is arriving 6/4 in Rome and leaving Rome 6/15.

Right now, here's what I'm thinking:
Wednesday land 2pm Rome, head to Florence, arrive 7pm
Thursday Florence
Friday Florence
Saturday train to Sorrento (could be evening if need more time in Florence)
Sunday Sorrento - day trip to capri
Monday Sorrento - day trip to naples or half day trip to pompeii
Tuesday Sorrento - day trip to AC
Wednesday train to Rome (could go early and dump luggage and spend Wednesday in Naples)
Thursday Rome
Friday Rome
Saturday Rome
Sunday flight home 7pm

Your latest iteration looks good.

Given that the trip is next June, flight times could change, so give yourself some 'fudge factor' for the arrival and departure days.

I'm starting to book accommodations, so I've got to try to nail down how many nights in each city. I know I can't necessarily see the train schedules now so train times are estimated.

How's this itinerary seem? I can adjust times in each city a bit based on train times, but do you think I need to adjust number of nights anywhere? We already added an extra night based on what I originally had planned, so we can't add additional nights.

Wednesday - Florence 7pm
Thursday - Florence
Friday - Florence
Saturday- 8am Florence to Sorrento
* Florence Dinner, 2 Full Days, 3 nights
Saturday - 1pm Sorrento
Sunday - Sorrento
Monday - Sorrento
Tuesday - Sorrento
Wednesday - 3pm Sorrento to Rome
* Sorrento 3 days, 2 half days, 4 nights
Wednesday - 7pm Rome
Thursday - Rome
Friday - Rome
Saturday - Rome
Sunday - 3pm head to airport
* Rome Dinner, 3 Full Days, 1 half day, 4 nights

Any other comments on the near final itinerary? I'd like to get the accomodations booked so i need to lock in the number of nights at each location.

@miuccia that is a great post! Will save this thread and will not do Capri on Sunday. Will see if there's a way we can squeeze in Naples. Sounds like a couple of options that don't need to be decided upon ahead of time.

We avoid both of those holidays.

I did spend a good amount of time this morning trying to figure out if Rome-Florence-Sorrento-Rome is the best path and I really couldn't come up with anything better. I couldn't risk Sorrento to Rome on flight day and most scenarios I lose half a day somewhere. Landing at 2:30pm in Rome and going right to Florence costs us really very little. We'll be at dinner in Florence at 7 instead of Rome at 4. We'll be exhausted either way and it'll just be dinner and then bed so may as well get that travel over at that point. We have a direct flight to Rome so that leg of the travel isn't particularly bad so I think we could still withstand some more traveling that day.

As far as Rome airport to Florence, that train ticket is going to be tricky. If I wait and book a last minute train, that could easily be 350 for the 4 of us. If I book ahead and the flight is late, we can lose our money, if the flight is early, we are sitting around a bit more than we need. It does look like the train from the airport to Roma termini is a fixed price (not cheaper booked ahead). Is that actually true? If so, I can book that upon arrival in Rome. For the Roma Termini to Florence leg, it looks like that trip can be as low as 20pp, but last minute could be 80pp or more. I'm thinking it's worth booking that leg for maybe 5pm and hoping we make it. If we don't make it, I lose 80 euro and then have to buy a full fare ticket that I would have had to buy anyhow. Seems like it's worth the risk to maybe save a good amonut of money. Does that plan make any sense? I don't need a single ticket from airport to florence or anything like that, right? If I'm willing to take the risk we miss the train, the plan could work?

Recently completed a similar trip in June. Flew from JFK to Rome, spent 3 days then train to Venice for 2 nights, train to Florence for 3 nights, then train to Naples for 4 days, then flew back to JFK from Naples -it was only a few $ more and I couldn’t get a direct train to take us back to Rome. Out of Naples, we did Pompeii, the Catacombs, Underground Naples, then had 2 day trips—one to Capri (took the high speed ferry and spent an entire day) and another all day tour (Joe bananas) to Sorrento, Positano & Ravello with a drive through Amalfi—all were SO crowded (and Capri was $$$) so I was glad all were just for the day. Our entire trip was really 12 days but just putting it out there to offer you some other ideas.

If you're still trying to do Rome -> Amalfi, do yourself a favor and hire a private driver from Naples. Though there is a train naples -> sorrento, this felt like the L train in Chicago, if you've ever ridden. No AC (though I think I read they have since added) and moves slowly. I know you can then ferry sorrento -> amalfi, but you're going to be maneuvering your luggage quite a bit for that transfer. Save yourself some sweat, and probably a large marital spat, and pay what I'd guess is about $175 for the private driver if you can. We paid about $150 from Positano -> Naples about 2 years ago, for reference.

@jpi2 noted.

Does it make it any better that the trip down from Florence will be on a Saturday morning?

It's a round trip so that does get a bit expensive, but I know that leg is going to be tricky.

What about the Campania Express? How much better is that than Circumvesuviana? If the timing works, is that a more reasonable option?

And if I'm going to spend $175 to get from Sorrento back to Rome, should I then consider a car service from Sorrento to Rome? If the difference isn't much more than the train tickets, is that better?