Southern Italy (And Spain) Itinerary Help!

Be careful with...

1. Exactly how you're counting your "days" ...is that 16 days from the time you lock your front door at home until you get back and walk in? Or 16 days on the ground in Europe, not counting the day you arrive nor the day you fly home? Makes a difference.

2. You are loading up the Italy portion with a lot of locations -- and those are scattered from the far south to the far north. It's easy to rattle off "a night here, a night there" but that can set you up for an unrealistic itinerary. Every time you pick up and move from one place to another, you burn from half a day (at best) to almost the whole day. Be sure to set realistic expectations.

Thank you, David for your response. That would be 16 days on the ground in Spain/Italy, not including the arrival date or the departure date back home.

From what basic research I've begun doing, some of these spots can be 'day trips' only and therefore we could possibly bake a few of these stops 'home bases' and venture out to Pompeii, Capri for example just for a portion of the day (not having to lug our luggage around everywhere).

Do you have a suggested itinerary for Southern Italy with nights/location?

Please advise.

Why are you flying into Rome? Did you plan on seeing Rome? if not fly from Barcelona to Naples and head straight to Sorrento. From there you can do day trips to Pompeii, Capri, Positano and Amalfi. Then head back to Naples for 1 night and fly out of Naples. If you intend to visit Rome fly into Rome spend 3 nights then train to Naples on to Sorrento etc. Fly home from Naples. Spend at least 3 nights in each Madrid and Barcelona.

If you spend all your time in Spain, that will allow you to see the key sights in Barcelona, Madrid, and the key Madrid day-trip destinations of Toledo and Segovia. It will not be long enough to "see it all" even in that limited list of cities.

How much time you need in each place depends on what you want to see. If you don't care for art museums you might be OK with 1-1/2 days in Madrid, plus however many days you want for side-trips. If you don't plan side-trips out of Madrid and don't care for art, I'd skip the city entirely because it is just not as interesting as a number of other options in that country.

I like Barcelona a lot, but it's a difficult destination because so many of the most popular sights required advance purchase of (usually) timed tickets in order to avoid extremely long ticket lines and possible sell-outs. That makes planning a short visit quite challenging. I think four full days (5 nights) in the city is pretty much the minimum, and I'm quite certain it will leave you wanting more unless you have a hard time dealing with crowds. (I spent 9 days there.) And 5 nights will not allow time for any side-trips.

The necessary flight from Spain to Italy is going to chew up a good chunk of the day you make the transfer. It will be a much more relaxing trip if you limit yourself to one of the two countries.

Your approach to travel seems to be 100% different to mine. May I ask what motivates you? Bucket list, architectural surveys, photo collections?

Thanks everyone for the responses thus far.

I should edit to add that we're not 100% sure of adding Spain into the mix as of yet - as I'm finding there won't be "enough" to do and see that we are interested in.

We were planning to fly into Rome to sightsee for a night or two. Last time we were in Italy, the Trevi Fountain was under construction and I vowed the next time we came back, we would see it...without all of the glass barricades.

We like to see and do as much as we can while abroad. I usually create an itinerary with all of the sites we're interested in seeing and tackle them in the time frame we are in each city/town. What motivates me, Mike, is a mix of things! Bucket list items, yes, photo ops, yes, and seeing different types of architectures/buildings/ruins/churches, etc... yes, yes, yes! :)

Thank you for any additional help and advice!

We have a 14 night trip planned that is similar to your possible Italy portion.

Flying to Rome- 3 nights- Trevi was closed when we were last there as well
Naples 1 night
Sorrento 3 nights- day trip Pompeii, maybe Capri
Amalfi 3 nights- day trips Ravello, Positano
Salerno 2 nights- I assume you want to see Paestum?
Train to Venice- 6 hours- last 2 nights in Venice.

You’ll never “see it all”

Sounds like you like a faster pace?

Rome 2
Naples 1
Sorrento 2
Amalfi 2
Salerno 1
Venice 2

That leaves 6 nights for Spain.
Have you been to Madrid or Barcelona before?

I know we’ll never “see it all”, but I’m hoping to see everything we’re interested while in those areas. We definitely are fast paced travelers for sure!

This itinerary sounds wonderful. :) Thank you!!

We have not been tonSpain and it’s a “maybe” at this point. We may try to squeeze in another country instead...still in research mode.

Thanks again!

I've only been to Barcelona. My daughter lived there for a year. 2008. Loved it.
We are planning 2020 trip to Spain and Portugal and think we probably need 24+ days. And might not even include Barcelona just because there is so much else in Spain/Portugal.

I think 3 Madrid, 3 Barcelona is probably just fine as a starter. You'll know if you want to go back.

If where you begin your trip doesn't matter- see where you can fly in/out of europe for the best price, easiest travel. We prefer non stop especially going to europe.

What time of year is this trip?

Barcelona is a wonderful place for architecture, Madrid not so much. Madrid is mostly about European painting. Unless you want to spend hours in the top-notch are museums, skip it. Fly to Barcelona for 4 nights (3 full days) and take a couple walking tours that concentrate on architecture and book some of the major architectural sights. Then fly to either Venice or Naples. Venice is usually the least convenient airport to fly out of, since getting to the airport can be very time consuming, and either very difficult or very expensive if you have an early morning flight departure. Then fly home from either Rome or Naples.

Before you make decisions about what you want to see in southern Italy, you need to understand travel times. You can get fast trains from Venice and Rome to Naples and Salerno but not to any of your other places. For the rest, you need the local Circumvesuviana or the Campania Express train (a ground-level metro train), buses and ferries. If you go in high season, they will be crowded, chances are you won't get a seat with a view and you may have to wait in line for a long time. Flying between Naples and Venice may save you an hour or two over taking the train.

I was in Sorrento in late winter and found it charming (there were hardly any tourists) but without any sights. It's well-positioned for day-tripping to Pompeii and Herculaneum by local train, Capri by ferry, and the Amalfi Coast (Positano, Amalfi, . . . . ) by bus or (in season) by ferry. OTOH, I was in Salerno in late winter (different trip) and thought it was an interesting place to visit with several sights, a large sandy beach, and a well-preserved medieval center, as well as a good selection of restaurants. Salerno has better train connections than Sorrento and is somewhat better for day-tripping to the AC by bus or ferry.