Travel Italy next year and need advise on everything!

I forget to mention that the budget is a constraint and am looking for the best prices. Thank you!

Heavy on CT, light on Rome. Switch a day.

Plot out what you want to see in Florence and see if it will really take three days. If it doesn't, give that day to Rome as well.

Great ED! Now I have this:

Arrive to Rome from USA
Rome - 5 days
Pompeii - 1 day
Florence - 2 days
Pisa - 1 day
CT - 3 days
Venice - 2 days
Leave from Venice to USA

It's a work in progress!!

Agree with Ed on less CT and more Rome. Also, carefully note the departure time of your flight out of Venice Marco Polo. Many flights depart before 7:00am and travelers don't notice this when they book their hotel. Some really nice places to stay are not near key vaporetto stops that can get you to the Piazzale Roma in time for the early buses to the airport. First buses depart at 04:40 and 05:00. That means that you might be on a night vaporetto that stops at San Marco about 3:50 and arrives at the Piazzale Roma at 4:30am. The Alilaguna Blu Line stops at San Marco at 3:40 and arrives at the airport at 5:00am. In the end, some travelers are left with the water taxi option which is a private taxi that will pick you up at your hotel. 90E-110E for the ride to the airport.

It sounds like you have a good outline and plenty of time to fill in the details. There's lots of free info at http://www.ricksteves.com/europe/italy that gives you the flavor of Italy, but I hope you'll plan your details using Rick Steves' Italy guidebook. It should have everything you need. You can usually buy plane tickets starting 11 months in advance of your travel dates.

And maybe look at what you want to get out of CT that is worth four days (that is different from what you could do closer to home hiking along a US seacoast.)

Do you have a copy (library copy works well) of the RS Italy book ? Lots of hotel suggestions there.
Are you intending Pompeii to be an overnight stop or a day-trip from Rome ? For overnight many people suggest Sorrento, about an hour away by train-- hotel and restaurant selection in Pompeii is limited.
Similarly, Pisa can be seen on a trip from Florence and then continue to CT.

For Pompeii you'll probably want to stay in Sorrento. If you are staying in Sorrento, you'll probably want to see the Amalfi coast and possibly Paestum and Capri as well. And if you are are going to do all that, you'll need 3-5 nights there.

And if you do all that, I would remove Cinque Terre from this trip, as it would be doubling up on lovely coastlines.

This is what I would do:
5 nights Rome
4 nights Sorrento
4 nights Florence (with Pisa and Siena as a day trips)
3 nights Venice

OR 2 nights Venice and 1 night Milan, fly out of Milan because it is often much cheaper than Venice.

This trip might be even better in reverse, as the northern areas of Italy are easier on a first timer, and Venice is such a wonderful place to get over jet lag.

Your guys are amazing! I have now new ideas, but will continue creating the best plan for us, but this is GREAT! I still need timetables for trains and hotel stays in each cities...any suggestion is pretty appreciate.

Don't try to do it all with the internet. That's like trying to take a sip from a firehose. Instead, get the RS guidebook for Italy. It will save you tons of money and time. He answers questions you don't even know you should be asking. It will be the smartest money you spend on your vacation.

Rick Steves' Italy book covers only the main visitor places. I'd start at your library and pick up as many guides as they have. After reading them you will have a better idea what you want to see. I then buy updated books that give me more information on the places I decided to visit. We traveled with both the Rick Steves book (because I like the amount of info and style of presentation on places he covers) and a Michelin Green Guide (because Rick leaves too many holes in his coverage of Italy).

One thing I think you should consider carefully is nights (rather than days). To have a full day somewhere, you need to plan a night on either side, so two nights equals one day, three nights equals two days, etc.

Between those stays will be travel days. I like to plan for no more than four hours travel time on a travel day because that day includes packing, checking out, getting food, getting to your train, making connections, getting food, getting off at the right stop, getting to your lodging, getting settled, getting food - and maybe some time for a look around. Invariably a travel day is a very full day. Out of necessity you may have to plan a longer travel leg, but realize it will be a really long day.

Other times, you may not need a full day. Pisa for example can be seen easily in four hours. Other than the Field of Miracles (where the tower and cathedral are located), there isn't much to see. If you can book an early train, give yourself time for a visit in Pisa, then continue on to CT, you can add that time back into your itinerary.

We chose to skip Pompeii and see Ostia Antica, just outside of Rome, instead - primarily to add the extra travel time back into our itinerary. I still plan to see Pompeii, but will include it with a route south of Rome (during winter months).

To get train schedules, go to trenitalia.com.

For hotels I typically use booking.com, although there are many others out there. I like booking.com because they have a fairly good rating system, and you can look for rooms based on your price range.

I agree that you need to get Rick Steve's Italy book. It gives really good advice about each place, hours and prices for museums, advice for skipping the lines at museums, lists of hotels and restaurants in several price ranges, info on transportation options, and much more. Other travel guides may be pretty and have more pictures, but this has the most useful info of any I've used.

Just to emphasize two points that you have already gotten:

1. You'll probably be happier if you start in Venice and end in Rome, just because of the flight situation. Getting to Venice airport for an early flight is a pain and/or expensive; getting to Rome airport for an early flight is easier and cheaper.

2. Be sure to start by buying and reading Rick Steves Italy. Yes, it doesn't cover every place in the country, but the places it does cover (including all the ones on your list) are given great detail. This includes all the logistics you will need to get around each place and between places. You should certainly supplement RS with other books, particularly in this early planning stage, to get different opinions.

As for train schedules: again, no need to worry about this yet. But as a preview, the trains between all of your destinations are very frequent every day, so there's no need to worry. However, it is true that some towns are only accessible by bus. Buses on some routes are infrequent, and frequency is reduced or nonexistent on Sundays. (The buses on the Amalfi coast are frequent; I was specifically thinking of some buses in Tuscany).

Brad writes: "Rick Steves' Italy book covers only the main visitor places. "

Brad, you say that like it's a bad thing. :-) To me, that's the strength of Rick's books - he found a niche. His books are esp. designed with the first time traveler in mind (esp. American) who doesn't need a comprehensive guidebook that includes something about every city and hamlet in this country of 60 million people. Pretty much every other guidebook out there does that. The OP listed six "main visitor places" and Rick's books do an outstanding job covering them.

That said, I have found that I'm not crazy about Rick's taste in restaurants, so I do my own research to find those. But there's no need at all to look at every single Italy guidebook in the local library. That's just another version of a firehose. And anyone who does that will quickly discover that all those guidebooks are EXTREMELY duplicative of each other.

Jariz,

I might suggest flying into Venice and out of Naples? My friends and I used the suggestion of this blogger;
http://www.italylogue.com/planning-a-trip/italy-itinerary-the-perfect-two-weeks.html.

Venice 2 nights
CT 2 nights
Florence 4 nights (day trip to Siena)
Rome 3 nights (we felt this was enough for "us" but most people would want to stay longer in Rome)
Amalfi coast 4 nights (you might stay in Sorrento)

We used most of the suggestions from the Perfect 2 Week Itinerary but added time on the Amalfi coast. Our flight was early on the morning we departed so we booked a private cab (from Sorrento) to get us to the airport in the morning. In my opinion 2 nights is plenty for the CT especially if you're going to spend time south on the Amalfi. 2 nights is also plenty in Venice. Pompeii is an easy day trip from Sorrento.

I also recommend to make VCE your arrival airport and change the direction of your itinerary from North to South with end in Rome.
VCE airport is a pain to get to (over 1 hr away, because of boats) and your flight is likely very early in the AM. Rome airport is just 30 min taxi ride from the city center.

Flying out of Naples (even further south) is an option, however consider that few major airlines fly out of Naples (basically coming from North America you'd be limited to Lufthansa via FRA or MUC, or maybe Air France via CDG). Also you would need to spend the last night in Naples because going to the airport from Sorrento or the Amalfi Coast is expensive (and long).

If I were you I'd do the following in the order below:
Arrive to Venice (VCE) from USA
Venice 2 nights
Florence 3 nights
CT 2 nights
Sorrento/Pompei 3 nights
Rome 3 or 4 nights
Leave from Rome (FCO) to USA

I don't know if I counted the nights in accordance to the time available. If you have more available add them to wherever you prefer.

Pisa is a day trip from Florence, you don't need to block an entire day. If you get up early, catch a train around 8AM, you can be back to Florence by 2, and still have time to do something else in Florence. I certainly wouldn't change hotels....OR, since you are going on to the CT, check out of hotel in Florence, store your luggage at Pisa train station, see Pisa, and continue on to the CT by mid afternoon. It's a train switch in Genoa, if you go that way...and it's a "milk run" down the coast to Monterosso...if you decide to stay in the first "official" CT town..

IMO, 4 nights in the CT is way too long....unless you just plan to chill and not do much. (2 nights would be enough) The towns are tiny, and it's really just worth the hike between towns (if you can find a trail that is open) You might consider a stop in Lucca as you continue on your journey. The train station is just across from the old walled town, and it's delightful there....again, you can do this in 1/2 a day....and then continue on with your travels.

I don't know which airline you're using or which city your trip is originating in but Delta has changed their flights to depart Venice @ 1:15pm. Much better than the last time I departed from Venice and was up and in a private water taxi @5am!

I would agree to start in Venice because of flight schedules but also because it is the best place to enjoy while getting over the jetlag and red-eye flights. Venice can be enjoyed without much effort, just relax and soak up the atmosphere. Rome is intense, a big city that's not so easy to navigate with many diverse sights. In Venice you can just wander along the canals or ride the vaporetto up and down the Grand Canal and love every minute.

"I still need timetables for trains and hotel stays in each cities..."

If you provide travel dates, more information on the trains, schedules and fares can be provided.

I think that Cristiano Bonino of Food.Stories.Travel (http://www.foodstoriestravel.com) could help you in organizing your trip. He is northern italian and now he organizes travels eating and learning, connecting with local food producers who care about the environment, support the local community and believe in sustainable practices. He also organizes wine and bike tours. I traveled with him once and I had an unforgettable experience.
Luella