My daughter and I spent six days (not including travel time) in Rome in March and found that it was much to short to see all the sights. We only went to two museums - the Vatican museum and the Villa Borghese - and the rest of the time was spent touring the Forum, the Colisseum, catacombs, churches, and so on. Is that what you have in mind?

I think you should concentrate your time in Rome with a shorter time in Florence. There are a lot of relatively inexpensive apartments available in Rome where you could stay for a week, then hop up to Florence for a few days, even renting a car there to see the countryside and, possibly, Pisa. You could also take day trips to Pompeii or Ostia Antica from Rome. Ten days is not a lot of time, so don't stretch yourself too thin trying to see too much. Save some sights for your next vacation.

thanks for all the suggestions. so the amalfi coast is a must then. even though rome sounds busy we have to visit the sites there. maybe we will skip milan and go to venice instead. so now here is what we have in mind
rome 2 nights
venice 2 nights
florence/amalfi coast/pisa 2 nights
rome 1 nights
now do we drive or train it? hmm...

Not in that order, presumably!

Need to look at a map... Florence and Pisa are close to each other, north of Rome. Amalfi coast is south of Rome, They're 4-5 hours distant.

Hi anhoangdo, you really need to do some research regarding your trip to Italy. And you need to get a map of Italy (do you have a Barnes & Nobles where you live?

You arrive in Rome July 17th. Half of your day will be shot getting off the plane, getting your luggage, going through immigration, customs, getting to your hotel etc. And you will have jet lag. So you are thinking of staying 2 nights in Rome. OK, the first night you will be ready for bed rather early. The next day you will have to "discover" Rome. And you will stay in Rome that night. And then you will travel to Venice. Well by the time you check out of your hotel in Rome and arrive in Venice that day will be pretty much shot.

I could go on and on. You say Florence/Amalfi Coast and Pisa. For a total of two nights. Etc. etc.

Please, do yourself a favor. Get a map of Italy. You have 10 nights in Italy. The first day is half lost as I described above.

Either do Rome/Amalfi Coast or Rome/Florence/Tuscany or Rome/Venice.

I don't mean to sound harsh but you are not prepared for this trip and may I gently suggest that you get prepared so that you have a wonderful time in Italy. Best wishes to you.

You need to decide where you are going before you know if the train or driving is your best option.

For instance, the Rome/Venice/Rome plan easily can be done by train. But if you go with Tuscany might want to go by car.

As others have kindly mentioned, do you have a map of Italy yet? Seriously, that would be a good place to start. Figure out the distances between the places you want to go, and their relationship to each other.

I think you need more help than we can provide in this method of communication. You need to do some research (with a map handy as others have mentioned) and decide what you (not us) want to see/do on your (not our) vacation. So far, you don't seem to have a clue.

As you don't like museums but do like famous sights, why not take this trip at a slower pace and enjoy the things you like in Italy.

Either

Rome 4 nights then train to Sorrento for 5 nights and back to Rome for your flight home.

or

Rome 3 nighs, train to Venice 2 nights and Lake Garda 4 nights.

You would then see some famous sights and lovely scenery without being exhausted.

Just a suggestion

I'm still confused by this scenery/city business.

Cities have buidlings. Scenery is in the mountian, sea shores, lakes etc. (This is like saying we love scenery and we're doing Boston, NY, Philly and DC - instead of Cape Cod, White Mountains, Adirondaks/Lake Placid etc - which is it?)

These are not the same places - they are completely different places.

So I think you need to decide what it is you really want to see.

Also - in 11 days you can't trek all up and down Italy unless you want to spend all of your time sitting on a train.

IMHO you need to do a lot more reading, mapping and looking (at tour brochures - not for the tours but to give you ideas of what you really must see and do).

In 11 days - and considering that you have to return to Rome to fly home I would do no more than 3 places. Which 3 is a complete mystery to me since I really don;t know what you want to see/do.