Travel Agency

Fitting all of this in would be a real stretch, given relocation times one place to another. If you are flying in and out of a certain airport, what is it?

FCO - Rome.

Most of the people on this forum plan their trips themselves. You may have difficulty getting a suggestion for a travel agent within this group.

Barely enough time for Rome. If you must “see” Florence it can be a very busy day trip as long as you go by high speed train. For Rome, Florence, Amalfi coast you need at least 2-3 weeks on the ground. Assuming you arrive in Rome on July 3 and depart July 11 you really only have 6 1/2 days. Arrival day you’ll be brain dead and departure day you’ll be lucky to have breakfast. Buy the RS Rome book and start planning. Think usable days and you’ll see Rome easily fills that shortened week. Try for more and you’ll wear yourselves out and not enjoy it, especially that time of year when it can get blazing hot. BTW, are you talking 2019? If so, and you don’t have hotels booked, advanced admission tickets to popular sites you may find your choices quite limited.

That’s really too much for just 8 nights but I suppose since you are flying in/out of Rome you could do this:
To Florence on arrival 2 nights
Train to Salerno then to Amalfi by ferry 3 nights
Ferry back to Salerno then train to Rome 3 nights

All locations need more time than that
I’d probably drop Florence head right to Amailfi for 4 nights then back to Rome for 4 nights

Easy to plan this yourself with the help of a guide book get RS Italy if you don’t already have and spend some time reading this forum

SS - You can use the RS Italy guidebook and self plan your tour and save a bundle. However, if you insist in using an agency to plan a wonderful Italy trip then I suggest Perillo Tours. check the links below.

https://travel.trafalgar.com/trafalgar-tours-italy-trips/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIl9HKu_jX4gIVGK_ICh388QlIEAAYAyAAEgLVA_D_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

https://www.perillotours.com/brochure-request-form/?adsource=WEBGGLBRAND&utm_source=Google&utm_medium=Search&utm_campaign=Search_Brand&utm_content=Perillo_Italy&utm_keyword=perillo%2520tours%2520italy&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIiP6B3vbX4gIVglYNCh3z0Qi7EAAYASAAEgJ1hvD_BwE

https://www.perillotours.com/flipbooks/it2019/

Zicasso.com. You tell them what you want. They give you 2-3 local travel agencies to choose from. You will cover a lot more ground than you would on your own and the travel is seamless but you pay for the privilege.

I'll say the same thing: even with a travel agent's planning (and most of us here plan our own trips), it's too much moving around - in opposite directions - for 8 nights/7.5 days. Having to both fly in and out of Rome also throws a bit of a wrench in the machinery.

Another caveat: your dates are just a month away and all 3 of these locations are going to be VERY busy. Reservation slots for the most-visited attractions have been filling fast as have some of the more desirable hotels rooms so time is of the essence. If price is of little object, then you'll be able to work around some of this more easily. On a tight budget? You'll have more of a challenge.

Many of us use www.booking.com for searching/reserving hotels,
Deal with transport once you've decided where to go. Rome, Florence and Amalfi Coast, however, are not rental-car friendly so public transit, cabs and/or private transfers will be your best means of getting around.

I'd pick two: fly into Rome and take a train directly to Florence.
3 - Rome>Florence. This will be a jet-lagged partial day not good for anything but an outdoor walk to stay awake.
4 - Florence
5 - Florence
6 - Florence> Rome
7 - Rome
8 - Rome
9 - Rome
10 - Rome
11 - Fly home

Or fly into Rome and go directly to Sorrento/the Amalfi coast. Stay in one place (Sorrento, Positano, Amalfi, etc) and day-trip around the region. Choice of location will depend on mobility (Positano is steep and loaded with steps; Sorrento and Amalfi are more flat) and what you want to do (actively sightsee the region; mostly sit by the pool, etc. )
3 - A.C. (partial day)
4 - A,C
5 - A.C.
6 - A.C.
7 - A.C > Rome
8 - Rome
9 - Rome
10- Rome
11 - fly home

If still wanting an agent, it can be best to work with a local travel specialist so I'd ask around your area. There will be a price involved - or so has been my experience - if working with a good one.

thanks for the detailed response. do you all have any suggestions for hotels in the amalfi area? or vacation rentals?

That's a very short Itinerary for such a limited time frame, and it's going to be challenging to fit in the three locations you want to see. I'm not sure a travel agency would be the best choice in this case, as they're not as well versed in the "efficient" travel style that most of us on this forum use. One suggestion you might consider is to contact the RS travel consulting service and for a small fee they will help you to plan the trip.

Unfortunately there's not much time left to make plans as July is only a few weeks away. It would have been better to have more lead time to work on this. The group on this forum will be able to provide lots of advice and you may find that's all you need to get an Itinerary worked out.

My suggestion would be to focus on Rome and Florence and save the Amalfi Coast area for a future visit, or pick any two of the destinations you listed. At that time of year, it's going to be hot and crowded in Italy so hotels and transportation will be busy and I doubt you'll have time for all three. You could consider something like this.....

• D1 - Flight to Rome / FCO
• D2 / N1 - Arrive Rome, take train to Florence
• D3 / N2 - Florence, touring
• D4 / N3 - Florence, possible day trips to Siena, Lucca or other locations
• D5 / N4 - Florence, touring
• D6 / N5 - Train to Rome (late morning? Don't go too early or your next hotel room may not be ready)
• D7 / N6 - Rome, touring
• D8 / N7 - Rome, possible day trip to Orvieto or perhaps Sorrento, which would get you close to the Amalfi Coast but it would be a long day.
• D9 / N8 - Rome, touring
• D10 - Flight home

This is only an outline and doesn't include detailed information on transit or other things. Use the RS Italy guidebook to plan hotels (you should be able to find a copy at your local library). It's likely you'll have to pay more for hotels as most will be fully booked by now.

I'm assuming you've already bought your airline tickets? Have you also booked hotels? It would help to know if you've travelled in Italy before.

Good luck!

Are you a AAA auto member? They have travel agents. Otherwise choose a brick and mortar one near your work or home.

The town of Amalfi on the AC is a very good choice. The residence is comfortable and right across the street from the bus stop and the port. Any other hotels on booking.com [checking guest reviews on that site for hotels found anywhere else]. Vacation rentals here:

https://www.summerinitaly.com/

In and out of an airport it is standard procedure to head somewhere directly and stay in that city in that city last. Time spent in any city or town is derived from a serious study of what there is to see and do. Let's say 4 nights [3 full days] were deemed adequate for Rome; question if the remaining 5 should be spent in one place or two. If 3 were OK for Amalfi, two others might be Sorrento [day trips to Pompeii or Capri] first, or Naples last.

Arrival at FCO you would buy tickets Fiumicino Aeroporto to Naploi Centrale; 2 hours with a change downtown. Changing trains in Italy you locate the platform number for your connecting train by referring to the train number on the departure board or monitor. It would be expedient to have a quote from Sorrentocars or other company to drive you to Sorrento [about €80] or Amalfi [about €110]. Sorrento to Amalfi would be best by ferry; Amalfi to Naples or Rome by ferry to Salerno and a train.

Florence and Rome, there are direct trains from the airport to the Firenze SM Novella station at 11:08AM and 3:08; others you change downtown. Florence there are all kinds of easy day trips; Siena the bus, others by train. So lots to see and do, less complicated than going down south.

You're looking for hotel rooms about a month in the future at very popular destinations at a very busy time of year. It may not be beneficial at all to get hotel suggestions here. People's favorite hotels will mostly be ones they chose after careful research and booked many months ahead. The best-value hotels get booked up very early. You need to start from what's available now, not what you might have been able to book back in March. So I'd go to bookimg.com, look at ratings, read reviews, and come back here to ask for comments (if you have time) once you've narrowed down your options.

Be sure everything is air conditioned.

Rome and one other location. At this late date the 'other' location may be dictated by what lodging is available to fit your group needs and budget.

Trying to do all 3 will just make everything a blur.

We had a travel agent help us with our last trip to Italy. I hadn't been planning on a trip and the offer was too good to pass up. Unlike many of these posters, I hadn't done my homework and felt I needed the help with the itinerary, transportation, etc.

We used Gloriosa Italy( was recommended by a friend) and she was wonderful. We were a party of 4 and spent 2 weeks in Italy. We booked our own hotels but she could help with that also. I never met her---everything was done by phone calls and email. Her fee was extremely reasonable given my peace of mind that we were spending our time the best way possible.

You are a little late to be asking for help from a travel agent but maybe she can help. She does take tour groups to Italy and Sicily so not sure if she is even available. If you have any questions please feel free to message me. This was my 3rd trip to Italy but the first 2 were years ago(30+) which again was why I felt I needed help.

Have a great trip!

I'm not sure if the Guidelines for this Forum let me give you a referral to a business, but I'll go ahead and try. I used Teresa Costa at LaCosta Vacations, 1-855-835-0033 (toll free). I did the hotels myself, but she did all the planes, trains and ferries--for which I am grateful. She was very nice. (I haven't made the trip yet, so can't comment on whether everything worked smoothly, but I'm assuming it will.)

Edit update: Well, the travel agent thing didn't work out as well as I'd hoped. Lots of hidden charges--not huge amounts, but unexpected. And emailing back and forth is not the most efficient way to do things. So I am un-recommending the above agent and accepting the fact that I'm going to have to learn to do all this online...

I do agree with some of the previous posts: don't bite off too much. Remember that every day you travel is not a day when you are being anywhere. I'd do Rome or Florence, period. If you can't bear to limit yourself that much, do Rome and Florence, and leave the south for the next trip. Fly into one and out of the other to save travel time; take a train between.

I also agree with previous posters that you need to hurry. Get a RS book on Italy and start emailing hotels as soon as you have your transportation confirmed.

So I am un-recommending the above agent and accepting the fact that
I'm going to have to learn to do all this online...

Monty, don't panic. You'll get lots of help here learning how to do that!

I'll just echo what's already been posted - you are booking about three weeks out, during high season to extremely popular destinations. Its going to be very difficult to find available/desireable places to stay, never mind get tickets to attractions/places to visit. I also agree that you need to narrow down where you want to go - we were in Rome for the first time this past March and 6-nights wasn't really enough to see the city so I can't even imagine trying to visit AC, Florence and Rome in 8.

I wouldn't waste too much time looking for a TA - just get one. You needed to get started planning like months ago. Not trying to be mean, just realistic.

JMHO and YMMV

Thank you everyone. We just confirmed all our hotels and transfers via Tripmasters. They were fantastic and came highly recommended by a friend. Thanks again for all your suggestions.