I'm currently planning a trip to Italy for September 2007 for fifteen days.

I'm female and travelling with a female friend. We're both in our late twenties. It's going to be our first times there.

I'm looking for a vacation filled with culture, nice scenery, good food and some nightlife (I appreciate that we're not going to find the nightlife in every city/town).

For starters, I was thinking of something along the following:

Rome - 4 nights
Florence - 3 nights
Venice - 3 nights

That would leave us with five more nights which I was thinking of spending in either Milan and/or Cinque Terre and/or the Amalfi Coast.

My questions are the following:

a) Are we planning on spending too much/little time in Rome, Florence, and Venice? I appreciate that we're never going to be able to fully exhaust all the places that we could see in a huge city like Rome but will we get the good highlites without feeling like we're on the amazing race..?

b. What would you recommend:
- Milan and CT
- Milan and Amalfi Coast
- EITHER Amalfi Coast or CT (No Milan)
- ONLY Milan
And how much time do you think is 'enough'.

I'd greatly appreciate any insight. Thank you so much in advance

I lived in Florence for a semester in college. I personally am not a fan of Venice, but a lot of people are, and it is something worth seeing. As for Milan, there's really nothing there. Not as charming and old feeling as the rest of Italy because lots of destruction due to WW II. Unless you wanted to go to La Scala, the famous opera house, or see Leonardo's "Last Supper" which btw, you must book tickets months in advanced, and get lucky to see... there's not much in Milan, and it is more expensive as well. Basically, the further north you go, the more expensive things are. You might want to go to Naples (maybe one day)- not the cleanest or safest place- but there is only one Pompeii, and also home of pizza. Cinque Terre is supposed to be amazing, as well as Amalfi, i've seen tons of pictures of it all, though never been. Everyone loves those places. You're lucky, you're picking a great time to go, not too touristy. One of my favorite places is Bologna, which is an hour train ride from Florence, and good day trip. Really beautiful city, and great food. Oh, and Florence and Rome are absolutely incredible. Just because florence is small, doesn't mean there isn't tons to do! Enjoy Italy! There are countless incredible things to do!

Hi there!

Come to discover my city, Bologna, the capital of Italian food!
We've also the highest towers in Italy (90 mteres) and yuo may climbing up.
More, we've Giotto, Raphael, Michelangelo, etc. etc. etc.

We're 80 Km from Florence.

Hi Anid,

I would take your 5 days for the Amalfi Coast. You can easily spend 5 days there. My last trip:

Day 1 getting there from FCO
Day 2 - Ravello and Positano
Day 3 - Paestum
Day 4 - Capri
Day 5 - Capri
Day 6 - Pompeii & Naples, Archeological Museum

OR - the Cinque Terra would be very nice too. I would take one night from Florence and stay in the Tuscan countryside somewhere for 2 or 3 nights. You would not need to get a car, depending on which town you choose. Then go on the CT for 2 or 3.

This would be a wonderful first trip either way and give you a mix of cities and countryside.

Buon viaggio!

hi, anid,

conventional wisdom, and Ira, [who is always right] suggest that flying into Venice and out of Rome is the best way round - something to do with the very early times of flights to the US out of venice. and you have the advanttage of ariving in venice from the airport in a water taxi - very beautiful in almost any weather.

you should then allow yourselves an extra night in venice because of jet-lag - therefore 4 nights.

you then have to choose - is it gonig to be all cities - florence then Rome, in which case trains wil be ideal - or do you want to explore, when hiring a car and driving would be better.

whatever you choose, allow 5 nights in Rome - it is a wonderful place and in 5 nights, you'll only scrape the surface.

regards, ann

As mentioned, it's better to fly into Venice than out of there. So fly into Venice, spend 3 nights there (4 would be better, but there's so much to see in Rome...), 3 nights Florence, 5 nights Rome, 4 nights Amalfi Coast and fly out of Naples.

If it turns out that flying out of Naples is a lot more expensive than flying out of Rome, go to Amalfi after Florence and end in Rome.

A lot will depend on your air itinerary. Have you purchased tickets yet? Definitely get an open-jaw ticket, to avoid backtracking to your arrival city.

Last May, I spent 15 nights in Italy with my daughter. We stayed 3 nights in each city: Rome, Florence, Venice, Santa Margherita Ligure (to hike at Cinque Terre one day, see Portofino the next), and then Nice, France (also a day-trip to Antibes which was beautiful).

It was a great mix of cities, not too much travel. I personally don't like to move any more often than 3 nights. I think it wastes too much time getting moved and re-settled.

I agree about skipping Milan. Search this forum for trip reports and other details. It's a great resource. And ask specific questions as you develop your plan.

You will have a blast.
>-

I guess the thing I'd add is to be aware of the geography of Itay and plan accordingly, otherwise you'll spend a lot of hours commuting to the next location. e.g. Milan followed by the Amalfi coast would be almost 500 miles - a long drive or train ride.

Starting in Venice, south to Florence, south to Rome, south Naples/Soreento makes sense. OR starting in Milan, then south to Florence, Rome and Naples.

I guess what I'm saying is be careful not to hop scotch around or you'll spend too much time traveling. Then again, you almost can't have a bad time in Italy, no matter what you're doing!

I think I would do less time in Rome & Venice maybe 2/3 nights. Florence is Ok. Milan is just another city and only takes 1/2 a day. I would say Amalfi Coast for 5 days. You can something like this:
tour of Amalfi Coast
Relax on beach
Tour of Capri
Pompeii, Sorrento & Herc.
More relax
Positano is a great place to stay and has nice night life.

Sometimes less is more. Good luck and Ciao.

Wow, you are lucky, you will have a great trip I am sure of that, it is also a great time of year to be in Italy.
I would strongly recommend the Amalfi Coast, so beautiful. You have Positano, Amalfi, a day trip to Capri,
Ravello (which is a must) and there is a great mix, with nightlife and quiet time. My friends and I hired a private driver for part of our time spent on the coast and he was just great, one night he even took us to a club, (he was also very very good looking and charming) it really made our trip fun and we all came away with great memories.
I did spend a day in Naples and that is a most if for only PIZZA, you will never have pizza like this anywhere else in the world. The Archaelogical Museum is very interesting and good to visit before time spent at Pompeii or Herculaneum (my preference). Enjoy!

Anid-first of all, I think you've got the days in the big 3 just about right, but do not believe it when people say Milan is just "another big city" and there's nothing there-I think those people haven't really spent any time there, other than a night by the train station on their way to somewhere else. There IS a lot to see and do in Milan, it's a fun, sophisticated city, with great cocktail bars, (many of them owned by the top fashion designers) beautiful churches with stunning frescoes, the Duomo of course, Santa Maria della Grazie, a castle, and great shopping of course. You could combine Milan and Lake Como for a couple of days for a great itinerary, or day trip to Lake Como, and catch a ferry to Bellagio to spend the day. You could do Rome-Florence-Venice-Milan-Lake Como-and then fly out of Milan.

However, I favor SusanP's itinerary as well, and think that you would really enjoy basing yourself in Sorrento, from which you could do day trips to Naples, Pompeii, jump on the ferry boat for a beautiful trip to Capri, Positano and Amalfi-then fly out of Naples. Basing yourself in Sorrento allows you to go everywhere, and do it by boat, which is fabulous for those stunning cliffside views in Sorrento-I think this is what I might do with your last 4-5 days.