1st trip to Italy,
 

Hi, I am coming from Australia to stay in London a few weeks, then on to Italy where i have never been, i would really love to see Venice, Tuscany, Florence, Rome., I would prefer to stay in one place so i can leave our luggage and travel by train do you think this is possible? I only have about 5 days, I know its not a great deal but i will also be going to Calabria staying with friends for a week, If you could let me know your thoughts or any ideas it would be very much appreciated.
Also are there any outlets that are worth visiting? :)

mtsran,

You can't visit all of those Italian destinations in only 5 days. You could "see" them if you didn't get off the train...

So - it seems the main focus of your visit is London and Calabria, where you will spending all your time.

How are you planning to get to Italy? If you fly, you could fly into Venice, Florence or Rome. Take your pick depending on your interests. Then pick one other destination on your list - max. Travel efficiently - north to south since you are ending in Calabria.

If you choose Rome - you may want to spend your 5 days just there. There is much to see.

Better yet, I would shorten your London stay by a week and alot that time to Italy. Then you could see all of your destinations, each for a short visit.

Hope this helps!

Why is this labeled as a trip report?

If you only have 5 days, consider staying in Rome the whole time, or doing Florence + Venice.

hi mtsran,

just no way you can see Venice, Florence, Tuscany and Rome in 5 days, and there is nowhere that you could stay that would enable you to travel between them as you would spend all your time in the train.

as you are interested in florence, tuscany and shopping outlets, florence would be the obvious choice. 5 days isn't very long even to see Florence and Tuscany, but it will give you a "taste".

have a great trip!

You could easily spend 5 days in Rome and never be without something exciting to see or do. Same for Florence and Venice. If you MUST see more than one place I'd fly to Venice...then on to Rome and skip Florence...but that's just me.

They are all right, sorry to say. You could spend the rest of you life in Rome and not see everything. If you really feel it necessary to put so much in there, it is possible, but you'll be exhausted. My advice would be to go to Rome and make that your home station. Try to spend 3 days there. You can generally catch a pretty cheap flight to Venice on Ryanair or EasyJet or any other budget airline. Once in Venice (try to get there early!), I'd just spend the day wandering around. The Peggy Guggenheim Museum is a nice small museum. Of course you'll see St. Mark's and maybe even tour the church. But I'd leave that night for Florence and stay the night either in Florence, or book the slow train (much cheaper) and sleep on that. That isn't very comfortable, but it will do in a pinch. Florence you can spend a half a day in and be satisfied, just so long as you book all your museum tickets in advance (the Uffizi line alone can run 2-3 hours). Then head back to Rome. If you are looking for a place to store your luggage, you can leave it at the Termini train station (in the bottom level at the southern end). I'm not sure what the rates are, but that's the only suggestion I can think of for several days.

Have fun!

Thankyou all so much for your replies and advise ;) i have decided (well i think i have!!) to fly from London to venice, stay there a night or maybe two, from there to Tuscany for probably 3 or 4 nights then go to Rome stay two nights and get the train down to Calabria, hopefully this will work, I cannot leave london any earlier as i will be looking after my mother while I am there.
does anyone recommend any nice places to stay at any of these locations?
Thanks once again for all your help I am totally lost and I am the one that has to organize it!!

mtran,

So you have others traveling with you? Give us more details.

You now have a much better plan. Are you now able to take more than 5 days?

Fly to Venice
2 nts Venice
pick a town in Tuscany/Umbria - 2 nts
persoanlly I would rent a car, even if only for 1 day, to just drive around the countryside and enjoy!
train to Rome
3 nts
Calabria

My last trip was solo and I don't have a big budget. I stayed in Rome at Hotel Giardino Rome**. Great location for walking everywhere, wonderful owner, clean, cosy, typical breakfasts. Double paned windows keep rooms quiet.

Buon viaggio