I am just in the initial stages of planning my 1st trip to Italy in July 2018. This is a 1st draft of my itinerary and I may expand it a day or two. Any suggestions or thoughts would be appreciated.
Itinerary: DAYS
Rome 2
Positano 2
Florence 2
Cinque Terr 2
Tuscany Hill towns? 7
Lake Como 2
Venice 2
Total 19
In my opinion you're trying to cram too many destinations into too few days. Without knowing your particular interests, it's hard to advise beyond that, but generally there's a lot more to see in the major cities so if you only stay there for a couple of nights you will come away with memories of wrangling your luggage, checking in & out of hotel, finding your way around -- and not much else.
If you're the kind of traveler who dislikes cities and wants to get off the beaten track, then choose two or three rural/small town locations and spend, say, 4-5 nights in each of them. Skip the cities in that case -- for example, go straight to Positano and don't try to see Rome.
If you're more of a typical traveler with interest in the famous city sights, then you need at least 4-5 days in Rome, 3-4 in Florence and 3 in Venice. Cut down on your non-urban choices to allow for that.
Not loving it Mike. Need to cut down on some locations to make this work or reduce the Tuscany time.
I converted to nights instead of days as it is more common and understood.
Too few nights in Rome. Getting to Positano takes time and much to see once in that region you would want more than 2 nights once you get there, it is also then far to get from there to Florence.
Florence, 3 nights would be better
Cinque Terre I recommend 3 nights.
Lake Como I would recommend 3 nights
Venice I would recommend 3 nights
2 night stays really only give 1 full day to see an area, especially if said area takes time to get to and from the other places before and after,
Ideally 3 or 4 Rome, 4 or 5 Positano, 3 Florence, 3 Cinque Terre, 7 Tuscany, 3 Lake Como, 3 Venice
That is 27 nights!!!
Drop for example Positano and Lake Como and you can make this work in the 19 nights you have allocated.
Or cut Tuscany in half and drop one of: Positano, Cinque Terre, Lake Como
Hi Mike!
You've got a great trip in the works! Just a few things to consider as you continue to plan: You'll lose a day as you fly. 2 full days in each place will give you a nice overview, but won't get you too in depth with your experience. If you really want to get a feel for your cities/towns, you might consider fewer places for longer stretches of time. Another consideration: when planning a trip like this, count your NIGHTS not your DAYS. 2 nights= 1 full day, 3 nights= 2 full days. Next is your biggest consideration of all: transportation. Most of those places will require half a day or better to get from place to place (no matter what mode of transportation you choose). Will that half a day (or more) be taken away from the 2 days you've allocated in each place? If that's the case, you're really only giving yourself a day to a day and a half in each location. That also means you'll spend almost as much time travelling between cities/towns as you'll spend in them. It can be done, you'll just have to decide if you want the Italy Fast and Furious Tour or the Italy Relaxed Tour.
Whatever you decide, you'll love Italy. Have a great time! (Planning is half the fun!)
Lisa
How many nights total for your trip? I like to plan by nights in order to determine how many full days I have in a place. For example 2 nights equals one day, etc. Every time you change location you lose at least half of a day, if not more. For 19 days (nights?) I think you have too many places. I would prioritize by desire and geography. If you have 2 nights in Rome, you actually only have 1 day.
I start my planning with a calendar and post it stickers for each place I want to go. I play around with it and end up adjusting and subtracting until I have a workable itinerary. I've been to Italy twice for 3 weeks each time and have had to cut out the Amalfi Coast both times. One of these days I may get there. If you only want to check places off on a list you can to to many many destinations. If you really want to see each place you will have to eliminate some.
Will you have a car in Tuscany? It is the best way to see the hill towns. If yes, you can spend 7 nights in Tuscany and do a day trip or 2 to Florence. If you won't have a car I would stay in Florence or Siena for a week. Including Florence in your Tuscany time frees up a couple of days. I would also eliminate Positano and being too far out of the way and adding to travel time.
If you have 19 nights I would do something like this -
Arrive Rome (3 nights)
Train to Orvieto and pick up car or train to Florence
Tuscany/Florence (7 nights)
Drop car off if you have one
Cinque Terre (3 nights)
Lake Como (3 nights)
Venice (3 nights)
Fly home from Venice
If you have less nights I would drop the Cinque Terre or Lake Como.
Happy planning!
Drop Lake Como.
Fly into Venice out of Naples.
3 N Venice.
Train to Florence.
Florence 3 N
Pick up rental as your leaving.
Tuscany 4 N.
Drive to La Spezia. Drop car.
Train to village of choice.
CT 2 N.
Train to Rome.
Rome 3 N.
Train to Naples or Salerno. Circumvesuvian to Sorrento.
Bus or ferry to Positano?
Sorrento/Positano 4 N.
This allows you to visit, not just see Italy.
Thanks for all of the great advice. As a novice at planning a trip like this I really appreciate your input and experience. It seems to be a consensus that I am trying to cover too much in too short of time. Planning the number of nights instead of days does make a lot more sense. As much as I would like to see the Amalfi coast I think I may cut that out and save it for another trip. I will be traveling by train except for Tuscany where I will rent a car to see the countryside and hill towns. Th only other part I wasn't sure about was whether I would need a car in the Lake Como area.
Agree with others there is too much packing and moving around....you might consider camping out in 4-5 locations (Milan, Rome, Florence, Venice) and doing day trips to places like Como, Cinque Terr etc. To do the Tuscany hill towns you might consider renting a car and traveling town to town. I would also think you need to add days to the Rome visit as there are many things to see there
If you save Amalfi Coast for another trip, you have less traveling since you never go south of Rome which is a big help.
Doing that and then combining Florence and Tuscany over a total of 7 nights and you are down to 19 nights quite easily without any other cuts and with an amazing trip ahead!
I only have been to Lake Como area for a short stay but felt a car would be useless there, as the ferry is the main transport once you are at the lake.
The roads are curvy and on cliff edges around the lake and ferrying to towns saved hours compared to driving to them.
I recall taking a bus from Como to Bellagio and the drive didn't look like it would have been very enjoyable.
Como has a train station as does Varenna. Both of those towns also have ferries that reach other towns like Bellagio.
Where to take the train to depends on where your lodging is.
Her's my 2nd draft. Took everyones advice and added a day both in Rome and Venice.
Itinerary: Nights
Rome 3
Florence 2
Cinque Terr 2
Tuscany (Montepulciano?) 7
Lake Como 2
Venice 3
Total 19
When allocating your time, take into consideration that if you're flying in from the US or Canada, you may well be severely sleep-deprived and jetlagged on your arrival day. That first day on the ground is not only a bit short, it is often very fuzzy-brained. You can't count on accomplishing a lot of rigorous sightseeing that day, more just wandering around and trying to stay awake.
Be very cautious about planning to end your trip in Venice. The flights from Venice that connect to transatlantic departures often leave very, very early, leading to wake-up calls in the wee hours of the morning and expensive private transportation to the airport.
Her's my 2nd draft. Took everyones advice and added a day both in Rome and Venice.
Itinerary: Nights
Rome 3
Florence 2
Cinque Terr 2
Tuscany (Montepulciano?) 7
Lake Como 2
Venice 3
Total 19
Better. You need to study the travel time from one location to another and how much time you'll lose.
Also, look into staying a little further north in Tuscany, say in the Siena area. That way you could make easy day trips to Volterra, San Gimignano and even as far north as Pisa and Lucca.
Of course, if you stayed in Montepulciano, you could make day trips to Montelcino, Cortona and Assisi.
Do you have to go in July? It will be hot and very crowded in Rome and Florence. If at all possible, go in the shoulder months.
Acraven, thought about what you said about the early departure from Venice. I could turn it around and do something like this:
Itinerary: Nights
Venice 3
Lake Como 2
Cinque Terr 2
Florence 2
Tuscany (Montepulciano?) 7
Rome 3
Total 19
Dougmac, I know what you are saying about the crowds and heat but my wife teaches and the only window we have is July through the 1st half of August.
It is definitely better.
The 2 night stays can either work or be more trouble than they are worth all depending on your choice of lodging and how light you pack.
This is one example to give you an idea, I think a Lake Como 2 night stay would have a similar feeling.
I remember making the long trip from Pienza to Manarola in the Cinque Terre with too much luggage a toddler and a tired wife.
I lost one wheel on our heaviest bag going up.
By the time I got all of the luggage up what felt like 5000 steps to our amazing view room in Manarola I would have not been a happy camper if we stayed any less than the 3 nights we did.
Post checkout before we left town I lost another wheel, leaving two ; diagonally across from each other for the rest of our trip.
Now if we had packed much lighter (easier without the toddler) and stayed within less vertical steps from the train station all could have felt much different.
Either way though we would have missed a few towns of the 5 if we got there in the late afternoon as we did, had only 1 full day to explore and then had to check out the very next morning.
I felt we definitely needed the 2 full days on the ground to see all 5 towns.
OK, here's my latest version. I incorporated a lot of the good ideas from all of you. Looks a lot more relaxed and doable than my original plan. Thanks again and I do welcome any other tips you might have about any part of this trip.
Itinerary: Nights
Venice 3
Lake Como 3
Cinque Terr 3
Tuscany/Florence 8
Rome 3
Total 20
I think it sounds like an amazing trip
If on location you by chance find yourself feeling like you are in a spot for one too many days (which I don't think you will) day trip opportunities abound
From Venice ; Verona is an easy day trip by train; as in Padua
From Lake Como ; Milan can be seen as a day trip
From Cinque Terre in the summer a ferry goes to Portofino and back as a day trip
Best thing about all 3 is you can arrange for it last minute based on how you feel instead of having rushed plans you have a relaxed plan with the ability to rush around if you prefer
Rome I would not look at anything outside of town with the hot weather and crowds though knowing you don't have to rush about as much will be a welcome relief
Looking at your latest itinerary I suggest you choose either Lk Como OR Cinque Terra and add that time to Rome.
There is so much in Rome, 3 days is just too little.
Another thought is do either CT or Lake Como for 4 days and add the other 2 to Rome, but 6 is not "too many" for Rome
Dougmac, I know what you are saying about the crowds and heat but my wife teaches and the only window we have is July through the 1st half of August.
I sympathize. My wife is a college professor and for a long time we have had little flexibility. We met on a high school trip way back in 1966 and were in Rome in August. Back then there was no A/C anywhere and the highs were in the 90s. That was unusually warm. Maybe you'll catch a break and temperatures will be more seasonable.
We were in Rome in December 2015 and we talked about tourists and the time of year with our Walks of Italy guide. She suggested that in the high season you hit the big sites early in the morning or late in the day before and after the cruise ship crowds get there. You can use the middle of the day to explore lesser known but still worthwhile sites.
Even with the heat and the crowds, I'm sure you'll have a wonderful trip!
Mike,
I think your final itinerary looks terrific!
I respectfully disagree with the person advising you to cut out the Cinque Terre or Lake Como for more time in Rome.
It is exciting to visit a variety of places, especially if it is your first trip to Italy!
Enjoy and don't worry about the heat or crowds- that's what gelato and quiet churches are for! ;)
I am a teacher and I worried a lot about the heat before traveling to Spain last August, and you know what? It was a wonderful trip.
Have fun guys!
I would suggest taking one night from Tuscany and adding it to Roma. Your three nights in Roma is only two full days, since your departure day will probably be an early one if you have a morning flight and need to be at the airport 2-3 hours in advance.
I personally would wait to decide my starting and ending point depending on airfare and flight times.
I know it is often recommended to fly out of Rome instead of Venice but if you can get a flight at 9 AM or later out and the cost of a private water taxi is not out of your budget, then I actually think it is quite easy to fly out of Venice and actually an enjoyable morning compared to flying out of Rome. Definitely much less lines and chaos.
The day you land you may be able to also get in early which if Rome may help since your time there is short otherwise.
There is definitely more to see / area to cover in Rome than Venice.
Though, you will be jet lagged and should not hit the ground running too hard, it still can help to walk around and see a couple low key sites in Rome on this day,
Just a couple of thoughts to consider that are tough to advise without knowing exact times and schedules.
A 6 AM flight out of Venice would be tough for example and Venice flights do often leave early.
Also, if you don't want to pay for a private water taxi to the airport that makes the Venice airport departure far less nice.
mreynolds, I definitely agree with you that my final direction of travel will depend on the flight times from both possible departure airports.
Thanks to everyone for the positive input. With my itinerary now pretty much set I can concentrate on the details of each stop such as hotels, restaurants, and must see points of interest. Any suggestions for those things would also be appreciated.
Since you are just in the beginning stages, create a calendar, noting the location where you would like to sleep during your 19-20 days available. Add in the things you want to do each day or think you can do each day. How many hours will that Sistine Chapel tour take ? Then go to the trenitalia page and see the times for traveling and arrival into your next location. What time would you have to leave so you do not arrive into your next location in the dark, for example ?
As you plot all of this information into the calendar, you will realize that the train or the tour or the walk you planned does not fit into the timeframe and you need to add a night in a certain town. Or, you find that you have too many days in one spot.
Then, you are ready to begin the search for lodging as you have determined your correct number of days in one area.
The latest version seems very nice, still relaxed but covering a lot! If you are okay in a big city, and will see the Vatican, I suggest one more night/day in Rome. The Vatican needs at least a half day visit..and it can be exhausting in many ways...plus there is just a ton to see in Rome, and you may want to relax and stroll instead of cramming it all in! Other than that, it looks like a great trip! Enjoy!
