Trip Itinerary

It's a fine balance of time, but I think you will find a day trip to Pompeii difficult. Read up on it in Rick Steves. On your own, it will be a 10-12 hour day, at least. There are guided tours that start in Rome. They are also long, but at least they take the logistics our of your hands so maybe less stressful and tiring.

Congrats on your upcoming trip to Italy, Katie, and big snaps for catching a great deal on Emirates! They are a great airline. Flying economy on Emirates is almost like flying business class on domestic airlines.

Your proposed itinerary sounds great! My one recommendation would be to consider overnighting in Milan prior to your departure flight. I traveled to Italy in late February/early March this year, and my travel logistics were a big challenge the whole way. Remember the snow that Rome and Florence got? Yep, I got caught up in those events. It made traveling between Rome and Florence a drawn-out affair. My point with the recommendation isn't that you'll get snow in Milan in October, but rather being mindful that anything can happen at any given time to cause delays. My return from Florence to Rome also had lengthy delays simply because of rain, not snow. I'm a big believer in being in my departure city the night before flying out, just in case.

Laurel makes a great suggestion to do a guided tour of Pompeii with a launch from Rome. Context Travel offers a Pompeii day trip tour. I have had many great tours with Context, and recommend them often. I'm confident the fellow forum members will have even more suggestions for Pompeii tours for your party.

Happy planning, and let us know if we can help further!

Pompeii--- If you do take the LONG day trip from Rome, I suggest doing it your last day in Rome. That way you can sleep in a bit the next day and take the train back to Florence at your leisure the following day

Milan-- "Probably" OK with what you plan, BUT, I would take a late train and spend the night there and not stress about 'what if"

I would spend the night before you leave in Milan. Trains get delayed, cancelled why stress with getting to the airport and possibly ruining an otherwise fantastic vacation. Also, you could look into a private guide/car to pick you and your aunt up at the Naples train station. He/she could drive to Pompeii, be your tour guide for Pompeii then drive you back to the Naples train station. To ride the train back to Rome. Just an alternative to the tour from Rome.

I’m going on 75 years old and I would not hesitate to make the journey to Pompei from Rome. Yes, the train journey is about 2 1/4 hours each way. You can get trains from either Termini or Tiburtina to Naples Centrale where you change to the Circumvesuviana to Pompei Scavi. It is a full day’s activity but I found the train ride relaxing. Another thing to consider is to take your luggage and check it for the day at Napoli Centrale station and then take the train back to Florence.

If I were staying with family in Italy, I would definitely want to spend as much time with them as possible. Unless strikes were imminent, I would not hesitate to take the train the morning of your departure. I have traveled extensively in Italy and have found the rail service to be reliable, prompt and economical.

Philip's suggestion to take your luggage and leave it at Naples Centrale while visiting Pompeii with a return directly to Florence is brilliant! That makes so much sense, and as Philip so rightly points out, gets you back to family in Florence for more time with them. Plus, it cuts down on the number of train trips. Definitely a good consideration for your planning.

I stand by the recommendation of staying in a departure city the night before flying out. It's encouraging to hear positive experiences of Italian train travel from fellow forum members. I've had positive experiences as well, but this year's train travel was like Groundhog Day where many factors beyond control resulted in repeated delays. I departed Rome for Florence the day it snowed in Rome. By the time I hit Roma Termini at 0645, that was the point where all the trains started stacking up with delays. All told, what is normally a 1.5 hour train ride turned into an 8 hour experience. Later that same week, Regionale trains canceled randomly. On my return from Florence to Rome, it was delayed arriving by an hour, then we sat on the tracks for 2 hours halfway to Rome. No weather that day other than rain.

I share this story to provide context, not to vent. The trip was very challenging with the multiple train hiccups, but it doesn't stop me in the least from already researching and planning my next trip to Italy. Ultimately, you'll make the right decision based on your needs and your comfort level.

Let us know if we can help with any additional questions!

Why not head to Rome right at the beginning and then back to Florence for 7N? Minimize transfers this way.

Check out Ostia Antica as an alternative to Pompeii. Equally good ruins, not overrun with tourists, much closer to Rome. We went and loved it.

Have been to Pompeii several times now but as daytrips from Sorrento but if coming from Rome I think Phillip's idea to store your luggage at Naples train station and then go directly back to Florence is great. We have stored luggage at Naples train station to go to the archeological museum. It is near track 5. Also as previous poster stated, Ostia Antica does make a great daytrip from Rome and we loved it too!

Re. your last night--in Florence vs. Milan. We always like to be in our city of departure the night before but seems that we always have morning departures. On our last flight out of Milan MXP our flight left at 9:30 a.m. so we wanted to be at the airport by 6:30 a.m. We arrived in Milan from Florence that morning, spent the day sightseeing and around 8 p.m. we took the express train to the airport where the shuttle for First Hotel, where we were staying, picked us up. The shuttle also took us to the airport the next morning. We had been to Milan before and by evening had our fill. But...... with that being said it would be enticing to take the train from Florence that morning but we, too, have experienced train delays during warm weather months. My vote would be to spend the last night in Milan. I can recommend Hotel Berna which is an easy walk from the train station. Great breakfast buffet too!