Visiting Italy for the First Time

zpc,

As this is your first trip to Europe, my first suggestion is to read Europe Through The Back Door, as that provides a lot of good information on "how" to travel well in Europe. After that use the country or city-specific RS guidebooks to plan sightseeing, hotels, transportation, etc.

There are many ways your trip could be arranged, but one route you could consider is Paris > Venice (use budget flight from Paris) > Amalfi Coast area (use high speed train from Venice) > Rome. Forget night trains.

Positano and the town of Amalfi are not as well connected in terms of transportation so may not be the best choice for a "home base". Many posters here prefer to stay in Sorrento (although transportation there has some minor challenges also).

I prefer to stay on the Amalfi Coast, particularly in Praiano. Bus transportation among the town's is frequent. But, if you plan to visit Pompeii, Sorrento would be a more convenient base, or any of the seaside towns long the Circumvesuviana commuter train route. As an alternative, you could visit Pompeii foam a half-day on your way from the Amalfi Coast to Roma (there is baggage storage at Pompeii).

The suggestion to fly from Paris to Venezia, then train (or fly from Venezia to Napoli), and end in Roma is good, no major backtracking. You could land in Napoli, check your bags at the station, visit the Archeological Museum, get on the commuter train to continue to Sorrento or the Amalfi Coast (switch to a bus at Sorrento), or arrange for private transfer from Napoli.

You don't say how many nights you'll be in Italy but with visiting three different areas you should plan at least 10-12 days there. I would fly from Paris to Venice and take the train from Venice to Rome and then on down to Naples. From there hire a private transfer to get you to the Amalfi coast.

Donna

Since you are in Miami, you can fly non-stop into Paris, and non-stop out of Rome. That would be a good reason to end your trip in Rome.

We just did 16 nights in late February/early March of this year, flying Chicago-->Paris (4 nights), train to Lucerne, Switzerland (2 nights), train across the Alps to Florence (5 nights), then finally train to southern Italy, staying in Salerno 5 nights. Using Salerno as a base we visited Amalfi & Pompeii. Then we flew Naples (a 45 minute drive from Salerno)-->Munich-->Chicago.

April should be better than early March weather-wise for you--in fact our next trip (whenever that is) will take place in April. It's before the tourist hordes, and to me that can make or break a trip. Not having to wait in long lines at attractions or having to deal with beastly heat is worth dealing with chilly, sometimes inclement weather. Paris late February was cold, no question. It seemed that 35 F there was worse than 15 F in Chicago. But you deal with it. If you are thinking train France to Italy, a day or two stop in Switzerland on the way would be very cool. Lucerne was beautiful, but so are a lot of Swiss towns along the rail line. And they are hardy--dining al fresco under a late winter sun, 40 F drinking fantastic lager beer with the Alps in the background, wow!

Speaking of, the train through the Alps--and we just took the normal, fastest route, not the famed Bernina Express, which takes 4 more hours--was absolutely phenomenal, giving us some of the most beautiful scenery of the trip. Trains are fast, comfortable, and when booked early (90-120 days in advance) quite reasonable price-wise. And in April they should not be crowded at all. A totally pleasurable way to travel. Our rule of thumb was to book our train travel leaving late morning, arriving late afternoon, which worked very well. None of our trips lasted more than four hours.

Me? I'd do Florence rather than Venice, but that's personal preference. Time-wise if you have 14 nights, I'd be thinking 3 nights Paris, 'maybe' overnight or 2 days somewhere in Switzerland to break up the trip, 2 days Venice or Florence, 3 days Rome, then relax for 4 days somewhere on the Amalfi Coast (Amalfi & Positano are an hour apart by bus) before flying out of Naples or Rome. If flying out of Rome, you'd probably want to do Amalfi before Rome so you'll be there the night before your flight home. Either way, you'll probably be connecting before flying back to the States so I'd prefer Naples as Rome Fiumicino airport can be a real cluster, and that was even before the recent fire in Terminal 3.

Have fun planning!

First of all it depends how long you want to stay in Paris. You will have one day to recover from your flight plus a travel day home leaves you 14 days. I would fly into Rome and out of Paris and train the whole trip. However, it will take at least 6-8 days to see the major sights of Paris and Rome. That leaves you with 6-8 days in between. 2 days in Venice is a good trip plus your travel day. (5 hour train from Rome to Venice) The Amalfi Coast is pretty, but in my opinion, I would rather see more of Italy and France. I would train from Venice to Paris along the Italian and French Riviera and the countryside of France (perhaps Provence). This gives you more experiences in some smaller cities and villages to really enjoy the heart of Europe. Plus, after Rome and Venice you'll be ready for a break from major cities. These are short train rides and you can stay along the way. Keep in mind the distance from Venice to Paris is like driving from Miami to Nashville (13 hours). So, each train trip is really short. Whatever, you choose, read, read, read, plan, plan, plan. Enjoy your trip.

You can squeeze all this in if you are very organized and just want to see the highlights. It would be very romantic.
Paris (4 nts)
Venice (2)
Florence (2)
Amalfi Coast (3)
Rome(3)

Thanks so much for your input. Zoe, I looked at Praiano and I think that will be our destination in the Amalfi Coast!

I now started searching for flights, I can't seem to find any nonstops from Miami nor Ft Lauderdale and I have to transfer planes. In some flights the transfer from Miami is either Atlanta, Detroit or JFK (which do you suggest if taking that route?) I will not have luggage, hubby suggests carry-ons.

I also read that many suggest purchasing economy premium, it's approx $400 per ticket more. The flights I saw last night in this class were $ 1700 per ticket. Can you tell me about how much I am looking at for flights, hotels (nothing special I just want our own bathroom), and food/drinks? I'm currently clueless, 15 days total. We decided on Paris, Venice, Praiano, and Rome & possibly florence.

Feel free to ask me questions. I will be purchasing some of the guide books as suggested.

Thanks.

First, you certainly can find a non-stop Miami--.Paris. I see it as part of a roundtrip, though. If you are going to 'open jaw' it (into Paris CDG, out of Rome), not sure how that would work out cost-wise for you. But you certainly have time to work it. In March, we paid $2250 total for two people Chicago-->Paris; Naples-->Munich-->Chicago, and booked it about 3 months in advance.

All I can tell you about paying more is that we really envied what we saw in business class or premier. Incredible comfort at equally incredible prices. Extra comfort might be worth a couple hundred apiece, but not $700. I will say, however, that United from Chicago to Paris was horrendous for 8 hours, while Lufthansa from Munich to Chicago was longer at 10 hours, but much more room and plenty of movies, etc., which made it a lot easier to handle.

Hotel costs? Feels like Paris & Rome will be slightly more than Florence or Praiano, but if you don't want to skimp--it being your first trip--you'll probably be averaging nearly $200 per night, even with a favorable Euro & off-season. However, again you have time to work some online magic. There are deals out there, and depending how long you stay in one place, you may want to consider an apartment or B&B, which could cut your costs in half. We did it for Florence and it was wonderful.

Per diem food budget is up to you. In all these places, you can eat cheap or splurge. We kept food costs under control by having one really nice restaurant meal a day, and snacking the rest of the way. Oh, hotels with a breakfast included works very well too.

Jay

It's a tough call to drop Florence, but a very attractive proposition for an extra night in both Venice and the Amalfi Coast. Perhaps a decision for the toss of a coin. Cheers.
I researched hotels recently for a budget minded friend. Some suggestions ...
Paris http://www.hoteldesgrandshommes.com/en/
Venice http://www.hotelalcodega.com/
Florence http://www.hoteldeimacchiaioli.com/
Rome http://www.hotelsantamariatrastevere.it/

Your cheapest way to Europe would be Norwegian Air Shuttle out of Ft. Lauderdale flying into London-Gatwick airport. From Gatwick, you can fly all over Europe cheap on EasyJet.com--including Italy. Just pack light.

We flew Gatwick to Pisa last year, and took a 1 hr. train ride into Florence. My first trip to Italy would be visiting Venice, Florence and Rome--giving each location sufficient days to see all the best travel sites. There are tourist sites outside Florence and Rome that are pretty incredible, too.

We're flying Orlando-Copenhagen and Bergen, Norway-Orlando leaving in 5 weeks for $775 round trip. And they're flying new Boeing 787's from Florida.

I just flew Air France from Miami to Paris, non-stop, in May. It can be done :)

Hotel recommendation in Praiano is La Maurella, free onsite parking, only five rooms, on the coast. Near bus stop and several restaurants nearby.

Thanks for all your input, wonderful info! I will continue planning and checking on flights and hotels. I'm sure that I will have more questions.