Start or end in Rome for Italy trip?

Not all Rick Steves tours end in Rome. The Heart of Italy starts in Rome and ends in Florence. I would put Rome at the beginning because of the chaos! Your transportation arrangements to your departure airport may be easier from Florence than from CT.

One argument for putting Rome at the end is that at the start you will be combatting jet-lag and culture shock. A more low key, less hectic place, like Sorrento, might be a better launch for your trip. It's also true that if you end at Rome and it's your departure city, you'll be there. No wasting a day getting to the airport city. Note that you usually can book open-jaw tickets at or close to the same price as rt.

enox,

Leaving the Cinque Terre to the end of the trip is certainly one option as it's a great place to unwind after stressful touring in other areas. However, keep in mind that weather could be an issue towards the end of October. The devastating floods that affected Monterosso and Vernazza occurred on 25 October a few years ago. There's not much to do in the C.T. in the rain, as there aren't many "indoor activities" to choose from. Also, some tourist businesses will be starting to wind down for the season at about that time. One other point is that the boats may discontinue service towards the end of October, and they don't operate during stormy weather. It's a bit of a gamble either way - the weather could also be perfect at that time of year, but it's prudent to be prepared for rain at any time. Another point to consider is that the Cinque Terre is also a great place to recover from jet lag, so could start there.

Given the fact that the weather will get colder (and perhaps wetter) as October progresses, I'd probably want to start in the north and work south. With the places you mentioned, you might consider a flight into either Milan or Florence and travel Florence > Cinque Terre > Rome > Sorrento / Amalfi, with a return flight out of Naples or Rome. Florence is a smaller airport and does have some good flight connections from other European airports (for example from Frankfurt). If you wanted to start in the Cinque Terre, fly inbound MXP and travel Cinque Terre > Florence > Rome > Sorrento / Amalfi, again with outbound flight from Naples or Rome.

Have you decided on which of the five Cinque Terre towns you want to stay in?

You may find it helpful to pack along a copy of the RS Italy 2016 guidebook, as there's an enormous amount of good information there that will help your trip to go smoothly (hotels, restaurants, transportation, sightseeing, etc.).

As this is your first trip to Italy, there are a few potentially expensive "caveats" to be aware of when using public transit there. If you need more information, post another note.

Good luck with your planning!

I agree, the stress of the flight, etc., will be easily reduced if you start small (Cinque Terre). I would go Cinque Terre, Firenze, Sorrento, and Roma. You will pick up Italian travel skills as you go toward Roma.

Rosalyn's given you good advice. Rome is the last place I'd start a first visit to Italy. It is a big city, easy to get lost, lots to absorb. Have you looked into flying into Naples? If that's possible, then you could start in Sorrento. Have you considered flying into Venice and starting there? Maybe instead of either the CT or Sorrento?

Why are you considering Milan? If you choose Milan, you'll probably have to spend your last night there. I don't know if any of the CT have a direct train to a "gateway" city, so that is not your best choice for the end of your trip, since you'll have to spend your last night much nearer the airport, even if you have an evening departure.

How many nights in Italy do you have? You have 4 destinations, 2 of which require a long journey and a train change, using up a lot of time. Here's a likely 18-day itinerary:

Day 1 fly to Rome
Day 2 land in Rome, train to Florence.
Days 3-5 Florence sightseeing
Day 6 train to CT (1/2 day sightseeing)
Days 7-8 hiking/relaxing in CT
Day 9 trains to Sorrento (this will take the entire day)
Days 10-12 sightseeing
Day 13 train to Rome (1/2 day sightseeing)
Days 14-17 Rome sightseeing
Day 18 fly home

That gives you 3 days in Florence, 2 in the CT, 3 in Sorrento and 4 in Rome.

Wonderful advice, thanks everybody. I'm starting to see the appeal of ending south for weather and sanity reasons :). You've definitely given me a lot to consider that I hadn't processed yet, I appreciate it truly!

As for the questions/comments, Venice had been part of the trip but got chopped when I started to feel we were overfilling our agenda (it could come back - right now I change my mind every other day...). As for Milan, it's only noted since it has much shorter flights home than Pisa or Florence (I actually don't care if I see Milan so I'm still peeking around on the best plan there since I agree I don't want to hang out in a city I don't care about). Naples airport is definitely a choice if I can find reasonable travel times but that's still in flux too. As for RS Italy guidebook, I have it and have started really digging in just in the last week. I've watched almost every RS video I could find and have read ten zillion of these helpful travel forum threads (not to mention info from other blogs, etc). So much info to ingest - phew! :)

Poor Milan almost always gets short shift on this forum and I'm not sure why. We spent the better part of a day there when we had a flight home from Malpensa, and enjoyed a walkabout of the city and stop into some of the churches (the duomo is wonderful) very much.

So I'll throw this out:
What about flying into Malpensa and spending your first night in Milan. Drop the luggage; have a nice walkabout; hit the rack early and then head to the CT the next morning?

Milan> CT> Florence> Rome> Sorrento/Amalfi.

You could either head back to Rome for your last night or explore flights from Naples. We did that once but our arrangements involved a connection in Rome. The only problem with morning flights from Naples is that local transport didn't start running early enough from Sorrento to get there in time so we had to book a 4:00 AM private shuttle.

We did enjoy our day in Milano as well - the duomo (and the walk about the roof) was breathtaking, and the shopping center nearby(galleria Vittorio...) would be a good place to kill a few hours. Otherwise, I wasn't overly impressed with Milano either (compared with all the other beautiful places in Italy) - maybe I need to go more indepth if we ever return.

As for doing Rome as your first stop - well, nothing will dump you into Italy like that. Our very first 'big' trip anywhere (other than Toronto or Boston) was Rome. We flew to London, connected to Rome and spent 5 crazy nights there before moving on to CT. It certainly gave us a crash course to Europe! Personally, I would probably do it the same way again - just wandering the streets and seeing so much history was amazing. It was quite exhilarating! I did do research beforehand (aka - watching Rick Steves and internet info and guidebooks), so had a bit of a clue as to what to expect regarding traffic (ie - crossing the road!) and the subways and the sights...

Venice has been my favourite place on the face of the earth. Absolutely adore it. Visited 4 times and want to go back again and again. Visited Amalfi coast in 2014 - make sure you see Ravello - a very beautiful spot. Amalfi town itself didn't do a lot for me (we stayed just a few minutes walk away in Atrani and spent most of the mornings/evenings in Amalfi) and we didn't see much of Positano, but Ravello...sigh...

Purely from a weather standpoint, you should start north and end south. It will get colder the farther into October you get. Not a huge change, but certainly perceptible.

Assuming 17 nights: fly into Milan, train to CT (3 nights), train to Florence (5 nights), train to Amalfi Coast (4 nights), train to Rome (5 nights). Well paced, time to assimilate a little in each venue. You should have no change of trains Milan/CT (depending on where on CT), same CT/Florence. Florence/Naples is a straight shot on the right train, then you'll have to take the Circumvesuviana to Sorrento, and double back the same way to Rome.

Enjoy your planning!

I have a different opinion than many of the current replies and I usually recommend starting in Rome for most people. I find people are usually very excited about going and have a lot of energy those first few days that gets them through the jet lag. Rome is a big city with lots to do to keep you moving. I think most people expect the culture shock so finding it when you are fresh is easier. I think ending your trip in Rome with some much to see is an exhausting way to end a vacation. That being said there are some people that do want to work into the crazy of Rome and for those few I think ending there makes more sense.

For logistical and weather reasons, I still believe it would be better to start in the north and work south. Whether to visit Rome or Sorrento first will depend on where your outbound flight is from.

I completely agree with saving the relaxing part of the trip for last. I find it difficult to jump back into a bustling city after relaxing in a slower-paced area.

My family and I (Husband and 2 kids) went to Italy for the first time in 2015. We started in Rome and it was a perfect way to start - it was exciting and easy to navigate and fun and everyone was helpful. Having said that, we loved everywhere in Italy, so I think priority should be given to possible weather. As other posters have said Cinque Terre would perhaps be best early in your itinerary, so perhaps north to south for that time period would be the better option.

You really don't have a lot of days. If you fly into Venice and out of Naples, that would be great. Venice is the perfect place to start an Italian experience. Relax and absorb the atmosphere while you get over jetlag and catch up on sleep. Then Florence and Rome, finally Sorrento. And yes, I did leave out the CT deliberately. If you are set on the CT, then between Florence and Rome and fly home from Rome. I think Sorrento (as a base) has a lot more to offer than the CT and you can enjoy it even if the weather isn't great.

18 nights is ample time to include Venice and still do justice to each destination ...
Venice - 3 nights
Cinque Terre - 3 nights
Florence - 4 nights
Amalfi Coast - 4 nights
Rome - 4 nights

I would agree with Chani in that if possible, if the logistics work for you, you should fly home out of Naples Capodochino airport rather than Rome Fiumicino.

Since you will probably booking air first, with Austin as your destination I'm assuming you'll have a minimum of two connections anyway, so an extra stop isn't that big a deal. On our first trip to Italy in 2010, we flew out of Fiumicino to Chicago O'Hare nonstop. The airport was/is a real cluster, whether you're coming or going. We avoided it this last March, returning to Chicago out of Naples, with a connection in Munich. Worked great--Naples is not noted for its organization, but their airport is much smaller and appears to be run well.

And by flying out of Naples, you will not be backtracking at all should you do north-to-south path. Train times are (approximately) 2 hours Milan/CT, 2 hours CT/Florence, 1.5 hours Florence/Rome, 2 hours Rome/Sorrento. Might want to hire a car on the day of departure to drive you from Sorrento to Naples, just to be on the safe side. If you can plan a late afternoon flight outbound, you should be fine.

I'd like to break up the big cities of Florence and Rome, and start in the Cinque Terre first and relax the jet lag away and get outdoors.

Fly into Milan. There is a direct train around Noon to Monterosso in the CT. Spend some days there
Train to Florence afterwards
Train down to Sorrento/Amalfi
Then train back up to Rome and fly home from Rome when done visiting

My husband and I took our first trip to Italy back in 2012 and Rome was the last stop of a 3 week trip. By the time we got to Rome, we were tired and cranky and our feet had completely quit on us. In Rome, you do a lot of walking between sites and when your feet are sore and full of blisters, it's absolutely miserable. In fact, we had to skip the Borghese Gallery because my husband simply could not bear to walk another step. (At the time he was only 41!)

As others have mentioned, Rome is chaotic and busy, so if you aren't physically or mentally fresh, you might end up not enjoying it. We actually have a video of us sitting at the Trevi Fountain refusing to throw in a coin because we swore we'd never come back to Rome.

Despite our promise to never go back, we are giving Rome another shot and are planning to go back this Spring. This time we are making it our first stop! :-)

Stephanie,
Congratulations on your 20th anniversary! We just returned from a trip to Tuscany to celebrate the 50th anniversary of our first kiss, which happened in Florence!

I agree with others about starting north and working south, although we had great weather in December. I understand your reasoning about trying to end on a relaxing note, but remember you'll still need to travel from CT to wherever you choose as your departure point. That may partially negate relaxing. Also, there's something to be said for being tired for the long flight back so you are more likely to catch a nap.

We spent our last day in Rome. We took a Walks of Italy evening walking tour and had a great time. I recommend the tour the first night in Rome to get your bearings.

If you choose to fly out of Rome, I also suggest you spend the last evening at the Rome Airport Hilton. They offer a free shuttle to all the terminals, including Terminal 5, from which many US bound flights depart. Our flight was at noon and this eliminated trying to get to the airport from downtown, which is 45 minutes away.

Finally, I suggest alternating busy days and down days. We arrived in Rome on Sunday and drove to Tuscany that day. The next day was relaxing by doing a wine and food tasting. We then did a full day in Florence, followed by knocking around the countryside near our home base of Greve. We continued to alternate busy and easy days the rest of the trip. It was the easy days where we felt closest to our Italian friends. We even successfully negotiated a local grocery store not once, but twice!

HI Stephanie, usually people add too many locations for their days. In your case, I think you could add an additional location or even two. If you would like to consider extra locations, you could add Venice (nice for your anniversary!) It's very nice & relaxing when you're a few blocks away from the Rialto-to-San Marco path. You could fly into or out of Venice as another option.