Visit italy!

With only 8-9 days, I doubt that you'll have time for all the cities on your list so you won't be realistically add more. It's important to keep in mind that each change of location will require about half a day each, when all is considered.

You might consider skipping Milan and limiting the trip to Venice, Florence & Rome (with a few day trips).

Agree with Ken's post, especially the last sentence.

Merlvin,

Ken is right, you don't have enough time to visit all the cities on your list. I'd also suggest visiting Venice, Florence & Rome.

It's a good idea to consider flying open-jaw, to avoid backtracking. So you'd fly into Venice & out of Rome.

Keep in mind that you may experience jet-lag upon arrival to your first destination, so you may not be as productive for the first couple of days.

If you can possibly add a few more days to your trip, you may have time for some day trips.

Have a wonderful trip!

My first European trip was to Spain because my son and my best friend's daughter were both studying there. We had ten glorious days, and we saw ALL of Spain. Not. Maybe we SAW it, from a window of a train, and a quick stop, but I learned to Never Do That Again! You need Three NIGHTS Minimum to see a city! Forget Milan and Pisa!

Agree with the "Open Jaw" flight. It will save you a full day. You can fly into Venice (Venice really can be seen in two days) and out of Rome. If because of prices you absolutely MUST fly into Milan, immediately get on a train and head for Venice.

If you have the luxury of business class, you won't be as fatigued upon arrival and your first day will be OK! If not, then you'll want to take a two hour nap (set alarm) get up and sight see. Stay up, eat a normal dinner, go to bed @ 10pm, and you'll be on Italy time immediately and it won't take two days.

Three days minimum in Florence -- there's so much to see, and four for Rome. No day trips. You haven't been to Italy if you don't have relaxation time sitting in a beautiful piazza with a glass of wine.

hey! thanks to all for your replies!

I likely be flying into Rome as a starting point and moving northwards! With your advice, i will be spending at least 10 days in Italy. Since I 'have to' head to milan for shopping, i will probably include that in the plan and allocate probably 2 days to that.

Can i know which other towns (if i am not mistaken) other than Cinque Terre is beautiful and worth visiting? Thank you everyone for response. Greatly appreciate it! :)

Merlvin

I'm partial to Assisi. It's not on the direct high-speed rail line from Rome to Florence, but is accessible as you travel between the two on slower, regional trains on a somewhat longer route. But skip Assisi (and come back on your next trip to Italy) unless you can spend at least one night there, preferably two or more. The real magic is in the evening after the day-trippers are gone, and in the early morning as the townspeople greet each other as they walk to work.

Photos here

The shopping in both Rome and Florence is incredible, incredible, incredible -- if designer goods are your need. But if you MUST go to Milano, then go to Milano.

Agreed with what others have said. The shopping in Florence and Rome is also fantastic--unless you are dying to shop in Milan, I would skip Milan and allocate some shopping time in the other two cities. Cinque Terre is FANTASTIC and I would highly recommend staying there. My husband & I were in Italy last fall and did two nights in Venice, three in Florence, two in Cinque Terre, and two in Rome. Sounds like you may have one night more than we did; I would add a third night to Rome because there is so much to see. Venice you can see in two days, three nights in Florence was nice because it allowed us a half day wine tour as well as some "down" time just relaxing in the city. Cinque Terre was definitely do-able in two nights, however we would have loved to have more time--it was our favorite stop. It is also a nice respite between the busy city sight-seeting schedules in Florence & Rome :). Rome we kind of did with a "get in, see the big sights, get out" mentality, as we wanted to have more time in some of our other stops and it was high on our priority list to get to Cinque Terre. So while we were in Rome, it was jam packed--but we got our leisurely time in Cinque Terre & Rome. If you go to Cinque Terre, we loved Hotel La Spiaggia in Monterosso--ask for one of the rooms with a terrace! You will have to decide if it's more important to you & your travel partner to limit your stops and have more time in each, or add in the extra stops in Cinque Terre and/or Milan so you can experience it while you're there. Either way, you'll have a great time!

Cinque Tere takes some time to get to. Many other beautiful towns, Assisi, Siena, Orvieto - pick one.

Lucky to be shopping in July, huge sales on almost everything (30-70% off) during the entire month. Milano will be great, but shopping in Roma and Firenze will be, too. Don't overlook Burano in Venezia, lots of glassmaking artisans have studios there.

If shopping is going to be a major activity for you, then consider flying into Rome (2-3 nights), then onto Florence (3 nights), Venice (2 nights) and fly back from Milan (2 nights).

Fly into Rome and out of Milan - why? Two reasons: 1) cheaper tickets when Rome and/or Milan are end points, 2) shopping = more luggage to lug. Tip: Price out the cost of a second suitcase as part of your flights price comparison.

Do not add another city than these four for sleeps - it would neither be time nor effort smart. Remember that for each FULL day of fun stuff to do, you need two nights to squeeze it all between! Packing and getting to the next city chews at least a half day for each move.

Book fast trains for Rome to Florence (1 hr 30 min), Florence to Venice (2 hrs), Venice to Milan (2 hrs 30 min). Depending on your ability to get going in the mornings, I find that trains that leave around 10ish (for morning) or 5ish (late afternoon) work well for me. Hotels can keep your bags for early arrivals or late departures.

I suggested 3 nights for Florence for two reasons: 1) Shopping in Florence is excellent - the best IMO! (For leather: just know your stuff... quality, price, Chinese knock-offs, etc.), 2) You can easily do a full-day excursion from Florence - just look at the day trips listed on Viator.com to get ideas (some of these you could even do on your own, using local transportation).
Have fun!

Before you book your flights, though, check out the availability of accommodations for Milan for the dates you're interested in. The Milan Expo, on this summer, may crimp your plans and stretch your budget! If you decide to skip Milan this trip, just add one more night to Rome. You may also include Perugia or Orvieto for one night, between Rome and Florence (very easy to get to by train and sufficient for a late afternoon and evening visit). You could also then flip the itinerary: Venice to Florence to Rome.

It is Burano for lace, in my experience, and Murano for glass.

Murano has major glass factories and tours, Burano has many artisan studios with more interesting glass choices, in my opinion. Not as much lace produced now as there used to be.

If you want to see all of these cities, based on your other posts on the forum, perhaps you might consider dropping the days you have set aside for Bosnia, Slovenia and Croatia for more time in Italy and France.

Dear all

Thank you so much for your help and this will greatly help me with my planning in Italy. After all the information, i have decided to extend my stay in Italy just to visit more places and immerse myself in the culture of the beautiful cities that you guy recommended!

Greatly appreciate your help!

Merlvin

Just to clarify, have you decided then not to go to France, Germany, Belgium, Bosnia, Croatia and all the other places you were inquiring about?

Heyy

I will be visiting all the places on a 2 months journey in europe

Look forward to hearing all about it.