JessHoerter

We will have 12 days in Italy September of next year. I've been to Italy before but my husband has not. I want to go to Rome, Tuscany and Amalfi Coast. Thought spending 4 days in each place or 3 in Rome and add one more somewhere else. I've never been to Tuscany or AC before. I want to end in AC because I want the end of the trip to be relaxing. I was thinking of renting a car once we leave Rome to go to Tuscany then drive to AC then turn in car there and take train back to Rome.

Do you think this is doable? I really want our 5 year anniversary away from our kids for the first time to be amazing and memorable. Not stressful. Relaxing but my husband and I really love history so I really want to make sure we spend some time in Rome.

I would love suggestions as where to stay as well. Looking for somewhere not overly expensive. I want to stay at an agriturismo in Tuscany. I'd love to stay at a working vineyard to see things happening.

Thank you in advance!
Jess

Sassafrass

Are your 12 days total including travel or will you have 12 days on the ground?

The places you are going need as much time as you can give them, so do not add anything.

You must account for travel time when you figure the number of days you will have in each place. For a start, getting from Tuscany to the AC will eat up most of a day.

I would give a minimum of four days to the AC. Pompeii certainly gives you some history there.

I would for sure not give Rome less than 3 whole days. Four would be better.

If you are flying out of Rome, put all of your days in Rome at the end, so you do not have to get into Rome and check into and out of hotels twice. Also you likely need to be there the night before to fly home as it is a real trek to return from the AC the day of your flight. I know you said you want the AC at the end, but flying from Rome, the AC at the end does not work well logistically.

Arrive Rome
Train directly to Florence
Rent car & Tour Tuscany
Train to base on the AC
Train to Rome
Home from Rome.

Other slim possibilities: fly into Florence or Pisa, fly home from Naples.
Fly into Rome, fly home from Naples.

Before deciding on a car and pick up places, you probably need to nail down your itinerary.

Where in Tuscany do you want to go? Will you go to Florence? Where you pick up a car depends on where you want to go. If you are going to Florence, take the train from Rome and pick the car up there for country areas. Others can give better advice about picking it up if your first travel will be countryside.

Where you drop it off depends on where you want to stay on the AC. If you like to drive, and use Sorrento as a base for a day or two, you could turn the car in there.
Otherwise, drop the car after Tuscany, and take the train to the AC. You can get by easily without a car there.

Your husband is in for a real treat to be in Italy.

greg

First, understand all key constraints. Look at flights, accommodations, and ground transportation and see how they integrate.

With your current Rome-Tuscany-AC-Rome routing, if your Rome return is early, you will have to do an unproductive, not so relaxing one nighter at the end in Rome. You can quickly do a simple math to realize that Rome at beginning and also at the end consumes unproductive time and money away from 12 not so many days you have in Italy.

Even if your Rome return is in the afternoon, you will have to start the return day morning early with a risk of transportation foul ups. It is not a good idea to be so far away to catch your return flight home.

There are several way to deal depending on your flight situation. That is why you have to look at flight angle at the same time, not after or before, while you are looking at ground details.

If you have a decent flight home from Napoli airport, you can stay in AC and return home from Napoli.

If you only have decent connection to FCO, upon landing in FCO, go straight to Tuscany or Amalfi Coast, depending on your arrival options. This puts Rome at end. I have landed in FCO at noon, and made it to Sorrento before 5pm using all public transits. If you plane lands earlier, 7-8am at FCO, you can easily go further to Position on arrival day. By putting Rome at end, you have eliminated risk in catching the return flight as well as saved time and money doing one full check-in/out cycle in Rome without having to trade off anything.

Many people come here thinking they HAVE to stay over in the arrival city thinking they would be tired from the jet lag. But think about it. For example, if you arrive at 7am, you will be at Rome hotel by 9am. Where do you think you can rest at that time? Do you think you can check-in that early with certainty?

Sassafrass

Greg is giving you great advice and he is right about already being tired and not accomplishing much the first jet lagged day. Might as well use it for travel that you have to do anyway at some point. If you take the train, it is very relaxing and you will probably get a nap and be fresher than staying in Rome and trying to make the first day count.

It does not matter if you do Tuscany first or the AC first, but the problem is, once you get to one place, you will not want to leave. The first time DH and I went to the AC, after 2 days, we cancelled the rest of our trip and stayed all 10 days.

sandralist

I'm surprised people are already trying to put you under pressure for your relaxing vacation! Many people go to Italy for 12 days and having relaxed visits to Tuscany, the Amalfi and Rome and to not "need every minute" and anxiety planning to make this happen.

Your trip as you describe is absolutely doable and is done all the time, but it helps if you can tweak the plane flights to avoid backtracking. Check out the possibility of flying into Florence, Pisa or Bologna, and check out the possibility of flying out of Naples. If in the end the only affordable or best routing is in or out of Rome, then it is a good idea to go to Tuscany or the Amalfi first and put Rome last.

Pompeii is not the Amalfi coast and is difficult to reach from the Amalfi coast. If you want your stay in the Amalfi coast to be relaxing, I would not try to squeeze in Pompei. I would not have any trouble relaxing on the Amalfi coast for 2 or 3 nights. I wouldn't need 4 to unwind. Unless you are a frantic shopper or marathon hiker, there is nothing to do on the Amalfi coast except relax and enjoy the scenery. Get a nice place to stay with a terrace.

Tuscany is a large region of Italy with history and wine and relaxation everywhere within it. If you've not any interest in going to Florence, skip it. If you want to stay on an agriturismo or wine estate, there are lots of choices with beautiful views and good service. It may come down to what you want to spend, but maybe this would work for you:

http://www.tenutailpoggione.it/index.asp

southeuropetravel1

Either fly into the north, (Milano, Florence, Pisa, etc), and start your trip heading down from Tuscany, to Rome, then to AC. Or reverse it, and fly into Naples first, do AC, Rome, then Tuscany. You will loose 1-2 days worth of traveling with the back tracking, depending on train delays, weather issues, strikes, etc.

You will need a rental car in Tuscany and AC - NOT in Rome. Spend as many days as you want in Rome, depending on your likes. If you love museums and archaeology, then give is as many days as you can.

sandralist

It occurred to me that the winery/agriturismo for which I provided a link doesn't have a restaurant, and it is nice to stay in a place that serves food, so you don't need to drive home after dinner. This one might work out for you

http://www.piombaia.com/Programma/ge...&Pagina=20.htm

or check out La Romita near Montisi. But that is just one area of Tuscany (you might prefer to see the Chianti wine country), and there are ones with prices that are lower and many with luxury restaurants and accommodations if you prefer.

kybourbon

Have you been to Rome before? Does your 3 days in Rome mean you have 4 hotel nights there (or did you mean 3 hotel nights which only gives you 2 days in Rome)?

If you only have 12 days which includes your travel days from the states, then I would cut either Amalfi or Tuscany (especially since you want a relaxing stay). That would give you 5 days Rome and 5 days Tuscany or Amalfi.

>>>Looking for somewhere not overly expensive.<<<

What is your budget?

JessHoerter

Wow! I cannot believe I got some many responses already. Thank you so much.

Travel time we will have a total of 2 weeks plus a day if we travel over Labor Day weekend but that would probably cause everything to be more expensive. Our anniversary is September 10 so I would like to be in Tuscany or Amalfi coast at that time

Per the budget I was hoping that we could find places that are $100 a night or less I'm not even sure if that's doable or not

In regards to Tuscany I'm not sure what region would be best to stay in I want to stay somewhere that has the most beautiful view from things I've read on the Internet it seems like the Chianti region is the best for being the most picturesque. What are your thoughts?

I've been to Rome before but my husband has not and I think he would really enjoy it so if I need to spend four days there that would be fine. My husband really enjoys history but he has not traveled as much as I have and he has a tendency to get flustered quite easily when there's a lot of chaos and commotion which is why I think I want to do wrong but I want to spend the majority of her time relaxing as much as possible because I think that's what he would enjoy the most as well as the history of Rome

So I'm open to any suggestions.

Thank you again for all your help

PalenQ

If you must chose between Amalfi and Tuscany both can be relaxing places but Amalfi has the sea - always more relaxing to me than in rural Tuscany but the Amalfi is swimming in tourists - a farm stay in Tuscany will be much more peaceful if that is what you're looking at and with a car lots of neat short day trips - driving on the Amalfi Coast can be tedious due to sinuous roads that are often packed with buses, trucks, RVs, etc.

You may not even want a car on the Amalfi - take buses and boats between the towns. From Naples easy to get to via the CircumVesuviana commuter trains:

http://www.eavsrl.it/web/en

It goes to Sorrento then you can go by water or bus or private driver to your Amalfi base.

sandralist

I don't think you have to choose between Tuscany and the Amalfi. I think you can do both. While Labor day might affect the price of your air tickets, it will have no bearing on prices in Italy.

You have more than a year to thread this needle, so start relaxing now and take all the responses you get under advisement. One thing you can count on in Italy is that if you only "plan" to do one or two things a day, Italy will provide you with a full day's worth of fascination spontaneously, you will stumble across so many things that you didn't "plan" on, but are delighted to discover. So you can truly go with the idea of "let's keep this relaxing" -- put lots of air into your daily agenda -- and then Italy will fill in the blanks.

Your budget for accommodations is tight, and the Amalfi coast in particular will be where it will be hardest to get accommodations for $100 per night. For a 3 night stay there, you still might be able to find a short-term rental on AirBnb or with Summer-in-Italy (an agency), but you will probably need to lock that up early.

The Amalfi coast is only swimming in tourists at the nodes where all the tourists congregate to catch buses, ferries and shop, shop, shop. If you are fit and if you want to escape the madding and maddening crowds, book accommodations at the top of hills or in Ravello. Go for hikes even further up in the hills, and go for swims a twillight, before dinner, when the day trippers have left.

Or consider going to Ishcia or Procida instead. Or park in one of the Amalfi towns further down the coast, like Maori or Cetera, for fabulous food and swimming. On your last day, take a bus up to Amalfi town, but then meet up with a driver to take you along the spectacular coast for the views. Or take a ferry to admire the towns from the sea.

There are LOADS of quiet corners in Rome where you can stay and enjoy the quieter side of Rome. In fact, you might enjou reading this book:

http://www.amazon.com/Quiet-Corners-.../dp/1892145928

But if you think your husband might prefer not to be in the hubub of a large city period, then minimize the time there rather than extend. You don't "need" to spend more time in Rome. You and your husband need a vacation!

There is a big argument as to whose got the most picturesque scenery in Tuscany. Fans of the val d'Orcia would be outraged to hear that the Chianti is the best. My personal favorite is an area known as le Crete Senesi. If you want to see the picturesque, look at lots of pictures and take note of where the photos were shot when you see ones you like.

Sassafrass

You can easily get around on the AC without a car. For some, driving the curvy roads of the AC is a joy, but for others, it is stressful. Just know it is not necessary.

ElendilPickle

For lodging, try looking at Airbnb. We spent $86/night for a studio apartment with a loft bedroom near the Colosseum in Rome, and less than that in Milan and Florence.

For Tuscany, we took the train to Orvieto (which is a lovely town), rented a car, and drove to Siena. After spending a couple of nights there, we spent a night at an agriturismo near San Gimignano, which we really enjoyed. http://fattoriapoggioalloro.com/?lang=en

Lee Ann