Time Spent in Italy

It will take an extra hour on the Circumvesuviana train to get there, but many travelers prefer staying in Sorrento to Naples. (I'm assuming you're going from Florence to Naples by train). I've never stayed in Naples but have visited and its a bit gritty.

Also since Circumvesuviana goes right by the Pompeii stop and according to http://tinyurl.com/ukmok there is free baggage storage at the entrance to the Pompeii ruins.

However you should also check to see if the ruins are open since that day is New Years Eve.

Your itinerary sounds OK. But a lot depends on your personal taste. No one can tell you how much time to spend in each town. Even you wont know until you get there.

I always use my itinerary as a guide and change it as I go. Consider it merely a guide and dont try to stick to it literally. Stay loose.

I have always come home and found I had added a stop and deleted a couple of stops when I found it advisable.

After making 20 major international trips I dont remember or regret a single change I made. You wont either.

I would hit Naples(assuming that it's a quick stop on the way to a southern site) after Rome and then head north- less backtracking. Why Milan? Unless you have a specific reason (Last Supper), it lacks the charm of all the other destinations.

Thanks for the advice. At this point I'm thinking of skipping Venice as I've heard it's not nice this time of year. I might stay longer in the Florence area and make Naples/Pompeii a day trip. Any ideas? I'm just thinking it's too much checking in and out of hotels and train rides.

Thanks

My husband and I enjoyed Milan. It has beautiful churches, a fabulous opera house, the Duomo, a great fort, lovely open produce markets, great food, interesting side streets and SHOPPING. We also enjoyed the Da Vinci museum which has all of his inventions along with a whole lot of other stuff. It was really interesting.

Our favorite was a little bridge in a park near this huge fort. There were locks all over it, padlocks, combination locks, little locks. We asked a group of students what it meant and were told it was for lovers. They put a lock on here to signify it is forever. I thought it was the sweetest thing and some day we will go back and put a lock on this bridge.

Go and discover Milan. This is Europe through the Back Door as I understand it.

I'm with Jo....Milan gets an underserved bad rap...it's a great city and a wonderful stop for a couple of days....we stayed in the Star hotel the last time there...close to La Scala, the Duomo, (and of course the Galleria...the very first Mall). The Last Supper is a must see (at least for those of us who care about this sort of thing). Finally, I have to say that we ate as well or better in Milan than anywhere else in Italy...

One other thing -- if you haven't purchased the tix yet, consider rearranging your itinerary so that you fly into Milan and start your trip there, then head south and end up with a flight out of Rome. Even if it costs you a bit more for the flights it would save on some backtracking and might even come out as a wash when you add in those transport costs and lost time.

I just got back from 2 full days (4 nights, but the end days were travel days) in Sorrento. I wish we had more time there. Sorrento is decorated fro Christmas now. I'm sure you're taking the train... maybe that will be quicker travel than a car. I guess i would just add one more day in the south and cut out one day in rome.

Yep, change it to "open jaws" so fly into Rome/Milan/Naples and fly out of one of the others. If you've never been to Naples, don't stay there. Stay in Sorrento. Naples is worth seeing but not worth staying in. Spoken from experience.

Consider doing this order: Rome - Sorrento - Florence - Milan

I'm pretty sure our flight is set to go. So no changes there I think I've decided on

Rome the 20th-25th

Milan the 26th and 27th

then Florence the 28th-30th,

back to Rome on the 31st.

We are flying back on the morning of the 3rd so I thought between then and the 31st we could take a couple day trips if we want.

Joshua, maybe look into an easy day trip to Siena by fast and cheap bus from Florence.

BTW- Me(Joshua) class of '83 Grady High.