My daughter is studying in Florence this semester and my husband, 2 teenage daughters and I will be going for 11 days the last part of March to visit her, finishing on Easter Sunday. This is MY 3rd trip to Italy. Our plans so far are to start in Rome for 3 days, train to Florence for 4 days, day trips to Venice and Sienna and maybe Cinque Terre if weather permits. That leaves me with the 2nd weekend, Easter. We think we should avoid Rome because of the crowds. I have never seen the southern part of Italy, ie Pompeii, Sorrento, Positano, Amalfi Coast. I am looking for recommendations of how to fill that last weekend. Do we spend the time traveling that far south? Where do we stay? Do we need to rent a car? How much time do we need there? Is there somewhere else you would recommend seeing instead of the south? I don't think we will travel to Capri... Thanks!!
Italy in March and where to go
Recent Activity
View all Europe activity »
- 1 Emergency apartment/hotel - Frankfurt -Dornstetten-Hallwangen area
- 2 First Timer - Itinerary Help - Europe tour for 22 days
- 3 Solo Female First Time Traveler - Scared to Death
- 4 Sardinia and Berlin Itinerary
- 5 New & Improved 2 Week Honeymoon Itinerary Italy
- 6 Spain Pyrenees overnight stopover Help needed with route?
- 7 Villa or Hilltop Town?
- 8 Nuremberg VGN Tageskarten Plus
- 9 Easyjet has changed the rules re size of carry-on baggage
- 10 London at Xmas
- 11 Easyjet luggage/ baggage
- 12 When to exchange US dollars to Euros
- 13 best place to get euros for Ireland trip
- 14 ferry to Harwich
- 15 UK in the Fall: Trip Suggestions
- 16
A bit of Scotland, wing mirror casualty, 7 days in London, and a Fodors GTG
- 17 10 day honeymoon in Italy in Nov
- 18
UK Trip Report So Far....
- 19 Anyone used this rental agency called Short Time Rental in Paris,
- 20 just want to know
- 21 Planning my trip to Italy
- 22 Backpacking through Europe
- 23 Sardinia July Our final plan
- 24 France and Italy for wedding and honeymoon
- 25 Matlock Public Transport Challenge: Matlock to Red House Carriage Museum
Are you spending 4 full days in Florence, or do you start Day #1 with the train ride from Rome? And you're hoping to make 2-3 day trips in 4 days? I would think you'd want to spend more time in the city where your daughter is living, but perhaps you've all been to Florence before. If it were my trip, I'd want another day in Florence.
The earliest you could get to Venice on a day trip from Florence would be 10:35, and the last train back to Florence is likely at 7:30. Wouldn't you rather spend a night or two in Venice? If it were my trip, I wouldn't spend 4+ hours on trains to spend less than 8 hours seeing Venice.
As far as considering Naples and the Amalfi Coast in this trip, I guess you think 11 days is longer than I do and have more faith in the weather gods of March than I do. I don't think having a car would help much.
What airport are you flying home from? You'll want to be close to it the night before your flight.
Where in Italy have you visited before and for how long?
I don't think March is the best time to visit the Cinque Terre, the Amalfi Coast or any beach towns really. Cities such as Venice or Naples could easily be a week-long unto themslef and can be enjoyed to their fullest any time of year.
If you want to head south, consider a train from Florence to Naples (less than 3 hours on a Eurostar train) for 3 or 4 nights and enjoying all Naples has to offer year-round (including a possible day-trip to Pompeii).