Is this too much? 10 days in Italy

Old Aug 27th, 2015, 03:51 PM
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Is this too much? 10 days in Italy

Getting into Venice early - 2 nights
Train to Florence - stay for 2 nights
Train to Rome - stay for 2 nights
Train to Naples - private driver to Positano for 3 nights
Drive back to Naples and go home
10 days total. Just wondering if this is doable or too much!
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Old Aug 27th, 2015, 03:54 PM
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Do you have a plan about what you want to see and do in each place?
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Old Aug 27th, 2015, 03:54 PM
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I wouldn't want to move around so quickly myself, but everyone's different. No reason you couldn't do that plan if that's what you really want to do. I just don't think you can truly SEE a city in only 2 days, but surely you can get a glimpse of a few highlights.
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Old Aug 27th, 2015, 03:55 PM
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This would be too many destinations for me. You lose at least half a day each time you change cities.
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Old Aug 27th, 2015, 04:04 PM
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Thanks all! @vincenzo, I'm not really a planner. Do you have recommendations, must-sees or must-dos?

I've heard mixed opinions about this itinerary...we're pretty active and I just want to see it all. Not sure when I'll get back over there.

Open to suggestions!!
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Old Aug 27th, 2015, 04:14 PM
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Everyone has different taste. Get a guide book or two, google cities and pick out what interest YOU.
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Old Aug 27th, 2015, 04:23 PM
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To get any good advice you need to share more about your likes and dislikes. Are you considering the cities you plan to visit because they are famous or because there are things you want to do and see?

I am spending 9 nights on the Amalfi Coast in a few weeks....Positano for 6 nights and Conca dei Marini for 3 and one last night in Rome before we fly out. This is a relaxing vacation and we want to enjoy the scenery. We may kayak one day. We might hike one day and we will visit a winery one day. We spent 9 nights in Rome a few years ago and didn't come close to seeing it all. Hard to pick a favorite but probably Villa d'Este in Tivoli just outside Rome.

I think it's great be open and not plan everything but you will want have a few ideas so you don't miss seeing or doing things you would really enjoy. Maybe plan the AM and use the afternoon to wander around or relax.
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Old Aug 27th, 2015, 04:26 PM
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I don't know how much other people sleep, but I don't lose half a day when I go to Rome from Florence. It's a 90 minute train ride. Yes, I take a taxi to the train station, and another to my hotel, but if I leave in the morning, I'm there well before lunch. Usually, though I travel in the afternoon, and if I leave at 4pm, I still have time for a nice walk before dinner. Most people don't eater dinner in Italy until 8.30 pm.

If you are young and early riser, you can go from breakfast until dinnertime. Museums and other sights in Italy stay open mostly until 7.30pm. And of course many sights are outdoors.

It is time consuming to go from Rome to Poitano -- but the scenery is some of the most famous in the world.

You are going to hear plenty of mixed opinions about this itinerary because everybody has their own reasons for wanting to go to Italy and what they enjoy, and nobody but you can decide what's important to see and not see when you are in each of these places. And nobody but you is going to take the time to figure out train and bus schedules to find out how to make this work.

But nobody -- certainly not me -- knows what you mean when you say you "want to see it all." You are going to 5 percent of Italy, and the 5 percent you are going to is impossible to fully see or understand in 10 days, except possibly Positano, which doesnt take more than an hour to see everything of interest -- and you are spending more time there than anyplace else.

Which is fine. You might find it easier to understand the joys of Italy being in Positano than spending more time in Rome (a lot of people can't stand the town, or can't stand Florence and I'm rather negative about Venice -- although I have no desire to return to Postiano ever in my life, and I've been to all the other places more than once).

If you don't plan, you can't still have a great time because Italy is a huge amount of fun. But if you really want to see anything -- let alone see it all -- you are going to need to plan this kind of an itinerary fairly tightly, or else you will miss the train, the bus or whatever you are going to Florence or Rome to see, because some of the most famous sights require booking ahead or else you face hours waiting in lines.
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Old Aug 27th, 2015, 04:29 PM
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Sorry for my typo -- I meant to write that "If you don't plan, you CAN still have a great time because Italy is a huge amount of fun."
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Old Aug 27th, 2015, 04:53 PM
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This is totally doable if you want to see the highlights in each city. I've managed to do something similar even quicker (but I wouldn't recommend that). You should have time to see the main sights and explore the cities. What you might miss out on is lounging in cafes for an afternoon or sleeping in, but if that's ok with you, go for it!

Train travel between these places is quick.

For Venice, you can easily see a glass factory, Doges Palace, Rialto Bridge and St Mark's Square in 2 days.

Florence is very walkable so you can visit the different piazzas, the Duomo, the Academia Gallery and the Uffizzi (unless you're the type that would take an entire day in each art gallery).

Rome would be the most hectic, but you could definitely see the Colosseum, Forum, Palatine Hill, Trevi Fountain and Pantheon one day, then do Vatican City and the Spanish Steps, and whatever else you want to explore the next.

Can't comment on Positano, as I have never been.
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Old Aug 27th, 2015, 05:15 PM
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Well, this is doable, but certainly rushed and you will only get a glimpse. Would you consider deleting Naples and Positano this trip and just do 3 nights in Rome, Venice & Florence? Even that will get you a cursory look. Or Rome, Naples and Positano? You would see more and travel less.
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Old Aug 27th, 2015, 05:29 PM
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Two nights in a city is not 2 days of sightseeing - it is one full day and possibly some part of a second - depending on what time train you take.

Sounds like you have not been to any of these places before. So if I were you I would make a list of what you want to see in each place and have a look at the Michelin green guide - which tells you how long it takes to see each sight. If you are satisfied with a drive by - or perhaps a 30 minute quick view - of major sights - then perhaps this will work for you.

But we have found the more is often really less. And I would never do less then 3 full days (4 nights) for a first trip to Rome - unless you want to ignore the Vatican - or ignore ancient Rome or ???

In 9 nights (8 full days on the ground) I would do 2 cities max, with possibly a day trip from one.

IMHO you will have spent a lot of time and money and will return with a blur of images and probably not remember much of what you saw.
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Old Aug 27th, 2015, 06:17 PM
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"we're pretty active and I just want to see it all." This itinerary guarantees you will see very little. 2 nights is just one full day.

I agree with nytraveller - choose two cities. You'll see more, do more, experience more than if you are spending half a day every other day in transit.
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Old Aug 27th, 2015, 06:45 PM
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Two nights can be more than 1 day. For example, we arrived in Florence at 2 PM, were done grocery shopping by 4:30, walked along the Arno, had a nice dinner outside the Palazzo Vecchio, had a leisurely visit to the Accademia 8-9:30 PM (Sat.), and that was just the first day. Second day started at the Uffizi for 3 hours, then lunch and a rest, then walked thru the Duomo and up the campanile, then a nice long dinner. Then the morning of the third day we climbed the inside dome of the Duomo. This was July and lines for Duomo stuff were long. Left Florence about 1:30 PM very satisfied even though only 2 nights, however it was all planned out in advance.
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Old Aug 27th, 2015, 09:50 PM
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I think it's a fine plan - I had a friend from Australia come and visit me a few years ago and we did a similar trip only added on Barcelona and Paris ... in 14 days. It was a mad rush but loads of fun.
If you have the energy and plan accordingly you can do it. I agree with Sandralist. You don't lose half a day changing locations especially if you are on a train at 6am.
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Old Aug 27th, 2015, 09:58 PM
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"Just wondering if this is doable or too much!"

For my tastes, WAY way WAY too much! As Kathie said, "This itinerary guarantees you will see very little." But it depends on what you want to see and experience.

I recommend that you get some good guidebooks (always a worthy investment, IME, 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 your lodging, checking in/out, packing/unpacking, getting oriented, etc.). Then see how things fit together.

Good luck!
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Old Aug 28th, 2015, 08:21 AM
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As far as the "see it all" goal, just depends on how you look at it.

There are only so many hours in a day, so to me seeing a smidge of Venice, Florence, and Rome isn't any "better" than taking that same amount of time and spending it all in only one of the cities and seeing more of what's there.
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Old Aug 28th, 2015, 09:39 AM
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If one wants their vacation to be a "mad whirl" and is willing to be up at 6 am every day to catch early trains and maximize sightseeing time - go for it. If you want to sleep any later, see more sights and spend any time just sitting in a cafe relaxing and absorbing the atmosphere - then you will need either more days or fewer places.
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Old Aug 28th, 2015, 10:39 AM
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IMHO, you have crammed way too much into a very short period of time. With the days you've allotted, I would consider two locations and enjoy being there instead of getting to all of those locations.

The Italians have a saying, "dolce far' niente." The sweetness of doing nothing..slow down and enjoy where you are.

Buon viaggio,
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Old Aug 28th, 2015, 12:03 PM
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I totally get that some people like a faster pace and it's certainly a luxury to presume you'll be coming back soon, but I'd be inclined to pick three out of the four or just to pass through Florence. But as you can tell from the responses this is a very subjective matter.
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