javierfig

I need some guidance in preparing our family trip (daughters 15th birthday) to Italy and Greece in 12/14 days during July 2017 flying out of Miami and flexible in airports were to land. we have visited Rome Florence and venice so the part that is missing is the south of Italy and the greek islands i was told not to take a cruise instead to do island hopping using the ferry. can someone advise!

Jean

I guess you like heat.

I think you first need to figure out if you have 12 days (13 nights) or 14 days (15 nights). Then I suggest you try to identify exactly where you want to go, what you want to do, and be realistic about how fast you want to move around versus relax. I'm not a cruise person, but I wouldn't dismiss the idea of a Greek island cruise. It might be an efficient way to see a lot.

You seem to have identified the region you want to visit, but I just have to point out that there is so much more to see in northern Italy than Rome, Florence and Venice.

Jean

Just noticed this is a family of 6. I find moving large groups of people (even relatives of the most accommodating disposition) very time consuming. You just can't travel as fast as you thought you could. I really believe you need to build this factor into your sightseeing plans.

kja

I agree with Jean. Trying to see parts of southern Italy AND some Greek Islands (without a cruise) in the same 12 to 14 days would be difficult under any circumstance; doing some with a family of 6 during high season adds some enormous complications. You might do well to narrow your ambitions....

The good news is that you have an incredible range of wonderful options for EITHER Italy OR Greece. Consulting a few good guidebooks, perhaps at your local library, should prove extremely useful.

Good luck!

greg

Even though I would also be of an opinion that combining these two countries would result on colossal loss of time shuffling between the two especially the not-so-easily connected regions of each country, I would give you some tools so you can convince yourself and your family that visiting two countries in this time frame is a bad idea.

Connecting between Italy and Greece:
Probably the easiest way to grasp the air connection is https://en.aegeanair.com/discover/route-map/. Zoom a little in an little to see where in Italy is connected directly to Athens. While Aegean is not the only carrier flying between the two, this map gives you a quick grasp. Mind you that except for FCO-ATH, the other connections are infrequent.

Connection between Greek islands:
Besides the air connection via Aegean, you can look at http://www.openseas.gr/en/index.html and look at 2016 historical data. Why not 2017? They are not published yet. Grasp the frequencies and how long it takes to travel between islands.

Connection within Italy:
For train, www.trenitalia.com or www.bahn.com (Germany site, but MUCH easiter to use than the Trenitalia site).
For car, google map or www.viamichelin.com.

Over these, match your flights from home to see how they integrate into the ground portion.

If you spend just couple of hours, instead of just listing places without any consideration of what it takes to connect places, you will quickly grasp just how much of your time gets whittled away by moving around. On top of this, it adds complexities in having to line up one mode of transport after another for a group of six all the same time thinking about fall back plans if segments get fouled up - strike, bad weather, mechanical problem, etc.

kja

@ greg:

stanbr

People on this forum tend to be rather independent and love to do it ourselves.

Having said that a cruise departing Italy and doing the Greek islands isn't such a bad idea. While you only get an 8 hour taste of each island at least you get to visit. Our first trip to Greece in 1996 was on a cruise because it allowed us to experience a few islands and allowed us to determine if we wanted to come back and where we wanted to stay in the future.
With the complexities of a group of 6 transferring from Italy to Greece this isn't a bad option.

If you still want to DIY then I might respectfully suggest you choose either Italy or Greece and concentrate on planning a more in depth experience.

dwdvagamundo

Concur that a cruise with a group your size makes sense.

Our one and only cruise was of the Aegean Islands plus Crete and Istanbul, and we loved it! Makes logistics very simple--you sleep while the ship moves from island to island.

travelerjan

Such sensible counsel, Greg. When advising new travelers, I always suggest they use an actual "box" calendar with large squares for each day -- in which you must enter the flight or ferry or driving times & durations. it makes one confront the fact that an entire day can be consumed by going from one city to another... not to mention changing islands or countries!

StCirq

I think greg has nailed it. And I would just add that herding 6 people around a foreign land can be just maddening. Things that look good on paper can turn into mini-nightmares on the ground when someone's slow, someone's sick, someone's tired, someone's ornery, someone's thirsty....even just making your way down a European sidewalk with 6 people can be a daunting task.