kalenam

My bf and I fly into rome March 6 and fly back home March 31 from Athens. We are at travel agency right now and not very helpful. We booked a 48 hour hop on hop off pass for when we first get to rome, March 7-9 and plan to venture italy for about 8 or so more days before we head to Croatia and somehow get to greece to end off our trip. We want to buy our rail passes today and want to know if our best bet to get around would be the 4 country 5 day or 8 day pass

Sassafrass

Fact is, depending on where you are going, you may not want any rail pass.

Italy is often best to just buy point to point tickets as distances are not great and trains are cheap.

You might want to fly from Italy to Croatia and/or Greece.

In Greece, you might want a car on the mainland and use short flights or ferries to get to any of the islands.

Croatia, not sure about. Depends on where you want to go. Could be bus or ferry even.

Wait, don't buy anything else until more people here respond.

Even that HOHO bus pass in Rome, may not be a good buy, especially a 48 hour one. Much of Rome is walkable, depends also on location of your hotel, which should be near city center.

bobthenavigator

You need to do some homework on connecting transport--it will not be easy from Croatia to Greece--depends where in Croatia.

kja

I agree with bobthenavigator. And you might also want to do a bit more research about these locations -- while it depends on what YOU want to see and experience, you are trying to see a LOT in what is really not that much time. I recommend that you get some good guidebooks (or spend some time with a few in your local library), identify the things you most want to see in each location, note their opening/closing times, and mark them on a calendar. Then pencil in your transportation, add some time on either side (for getting to/from the train/bus station or whatever, checking in/out, packing/unpacking, getting oriented, etc.). And then see how things fit together.

nytraveler

HoHo buses are not great in Rome since there are areas that are pedestrian only - in which there are many sights - so you can't se them from a bus. You really ned to plan on walking most places (and have a central hotel) or use cabs (which are cheap) for a rare longer trip.

dreamon

Flights in/out of Croatia using budget airlines are, in my experience, largely only available during the peak summer months. The ferry to Croatia from southern Italy, I think, runs over night. You could check the ferry from Venice to Rovinj or Pula. Very few easy options between Greece and Croatia.

I also think you are trying to pack too much in with three countries.

Much better information here than most travel agents - just ask away!

neckervd

Are you particularly interested in some Croatian towns or in the History of Croatia?
I suppose you know that March may be rather rainy in this area.

You could of course stay all 3 weeks in Italy, there would be enough to see. As you have already booked your flight back from Athens, I suggest to spend this time half in Italy and half in Greece.

kalenam

This is vaguely what we have planned

25 DAYS
1:15pm Friday, March 6ROME - 2 nights
Coliseum
Alter of the fatherland (piazza venezia)
Spanish steps
Trevi fountain
Vatican - peter square

NAPLES to Pompeii to Amalfi Coast - 2-3 nights
Walk from Sorrento, to Positano and along coastline
Try to make it to Capri island

TUSCANY to FLORENCE - 2 nights
Art galleries
Go to Pisa to see Tower of Pisa
Vineyards

VENICE - 1 night
Canal Ride

Ferry to croatia

CROATIA - 3 nights

Ferry back to Italy and then ferry to greece

14 days left (not considering travel) GREECE

Santorini

Paros

Ethos

Mykonos

Athens

12:40 Tuesday, March 31 leave
ATHENS

bobthenavigator

You need to understand what you mean with the one line you have that says" ferry back to Italy and then ferry to Greece".
That could be 3 days of travel time, especially in March.

Mimar

Are you sure the ferry from Venice to Croatia will be running when you want to go? Usually it starts later in the season.

Since you already have tickets home from Athens, I'd skip Croatia this trip. (And I love Croatia.)

As it is, it's also early for Greece, especially the islands.

You really need to do more research on your own. I doubt you can rely on the travel agent to be knowledgeable about Ethos. (Where is that?)

Heimdall

<i>"Santorini > Paros > ETHOS > Mykonos > Athens"</i>

Where in the heck is Ethos? That is a Greek word meaning "character", but not a place name, as far as I know. Did you mean Ios? Furthermore, there are no direct ferries in March to Mykonos from either Santorini or Paros.

You are trying to do a summer itinerary in winter. The Greek Islands will be cold, cloudy, and possibly rainy. Most tourist infrastructure will be closed until May. If you are committed to Greece, recommend spending most of your time in Athens and nearby parts of the mainland.

I agree with bobthenavigator's comments about ferries to/from Croatia, Italy, and Greece. That would be a massive waste of time considering flights between those countries take only about 2 hours.

Sorry to say this, but to avoid a disastrous holiday you need to do more research and come up with a better plan.

dreamon

This is a jam packed itinerary. I suggest you put it into a spreadsheet and include all travel times, which you haven't really factored in at all it seems. For example, Positano to Florence will take the best part of the day. Remember also that two nights gives you one full day and that mostly you need to check out of your hotel in the morning and can't check into the next one until the afternoon - each time you move, it typically takes at least half a day, even if the next stop is only a couple of hours down the track. If the ferry from Venice is running at that time of year, it only runs once a day. Like the others have said, I'd skip Croatia.

An itinerary with shared time between Greece and Italy could be really wonderful. You just need to reduce the number of stops and factor in travel time. You can't see it all so relax a bit and enjoy the places you do visit.

dreamon

Don't let all these comments put you off planning your own holiday. There is lots of advice available and the more specific your questions, the better will be your information.

Transport timetables and routes are generally available online. For transport try:
Italian trains - www.trenitalia.com
Greek buses - ktel
Buses on Amalfi coast - SITA
Flights - www.amadeus.net or skyscanner
Greek trains - OTE
Venice to Rovinj ferry - venezia lines (from memory)
Greek ferries - all online, someone will no doubt have a recommendation

To get from Positano to Florence, you have to take either bus to Sorrento and then train to Naples OR ferry to Salerno and then train to Naples. From Naples, train to Rome and then train to Florence. I know this because I looked it up recently for my own planning. It's a really long day.

For hotels, try booking.com or venere.com for a start.

Good luck and do let us know what you decide to do.

mytravelove

Seems like quite a difficult planning. You might need to use very different kinds of transport between those places. Check out www.rome2rio.com - it's a very helpful tool to plan out point-to-point travel, we use it often for our clients (and personally too, of course). At least it'll help you to get an idea on the distances and rough costs.

Good luck with the planning! Not that much time, so better hurry

Sassafrass

Heimdall said, "You are trying to do a summer itinerary in winter." That is absolutely correct.

You may have some jet lag, so allow at least 3 nights for Rome.
With travel time to get there, it would be much better to have 2 nights for Venice.
One day in Florence gives you one day, not enough time for museums in Florence, trip to Pisa and vineyards. You need three nights (2 days) to do that. Then you could add a Tuscan hill town to your trip to Pisa.
IMHO, you might want to allow more time for Italy and skip Croatia this trip.

Fly from Venice to Athens.

Is there any way your TA could change your tickets to fly into Venice?
If so, you could do
Venice 2 nts
Florence 3 nts
Rome 3 nts
Amalfi Coast 3 nts
Naples 1 nt
Fly Naples to Athens

If you could not get a flight from Naples to Athens, skip the nt in Naples and put all time at the end in Rome.

If you can't change tickets, fly from Venice to Athens.

You can plan a great trip, but you have some work to do.
Pick up a couple of good guide books. A few dollars spent now can make a much better trip.
Get a good map. Look carefully at travel times and allow time to get from hotel to train, and wait times at airports.
Get the itinerary and reasonable, logical travel in place. Everything else like hotels will be easy.

neckervd

As said above, in March it's absolutely impossible to realize the trip you planned. Some remarks:
Rome: as you obviously don't want to see the places that legitimate a visit of Rome, 1 1/2 days may be sufficient.
Sorrento - Florence: May be you leave Sorrento after breakfast at 9.07 by train to Naples 10.13/11.00 - Forence ar 13.51, have lunch and check in at your hotel and the day is more or less over.
There remains just one full day. When do you want to go to Pisa?
Venice: coming from Florence, you will arrive towards noon. You will not have even 1 full day there.

Venice - Croatia: as you planned to take the "ferry" (it's a catamaran, BTW), you logically want to begin your Croatia visit with Istria. As the catamaran doesn't run in March, you will have to take the bus Venice dp 13.45 - Pula ar 19.05.

Croatia: so you will spend your first night in Croatia at Pula, and then go to Split (about 11 hrs by bus)

Croatia - Greece: As the only Croatia - Italy ferry running in March will leave Split on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday only, you will arrive at Ancona on Wednesday March 18th at 7am, go on by train at 10.21 up to Brindisi ar 16.23, leave Brindisi by ferry at 20.00 arrive at Patras Thursday at 13.00, take a Athens bound bus and arrive there around 18.00.

You will then have 11 (and not 14) days for Greece.

clausar

A correction regarding Greece

Greek Railways OSE : http://www.trainose.gr
( and not OTE, which is a Telecommunications company)

KTEL is a privately owner bus company, which does not have one central website, but one for each prefecture/island of Greece.

Sassafrass

Kalenam,

If you come back and say what you are looking for in this trip (quick taste of many things with no in-depth sight seeing, or want to get real sense of the culture, some relaxing, cafe sitting, etc.), what your interests are (scenery, history, art, architecture, archeology sites like Pompeii, food, etc.), you will get some good advice about how to put together a trip that best fits you, personally.

As you can see, logistics may be more difficult in March and fitting Croatia into the mix by ferry doesn't work well. Seriously consider cheap flights between countries.