2 Weeks in Italy...Need help!
 

Hello!

My soon to be Wife and I are starting to plan our Honeymoon which will be 2 weeks in Italy this June(early- to middle of the month). Perhaps we are ambitious, but would like to spend time in Venice, Rome, Naples, Amalfi Coast, Pisa, Cinque Terre, Capri, Pompeii, and possibly Tuscany and/ or Florence.

Neither of us have been so any and all suggestions are greatly appreciated (most DOs, what to maybe skip, best way to travel, etc...) Biggest questions, where should we fly in and out of?? Maybe fly into Venice and start north to make our way south where we could end the trip in Rome and fly out of there or vise versa??

Thank you everyone, we are first timers!!!

Happy Holidays!

I think you need to narrow it down a little...or a lot. You have 9 locations (maybe more?), 14 days? That's not even 2 nights in each place.

I've been doing a "fast" trip (for me) this time. And that's 3 nights minimum in each spot. I have 4 nights in Venice finally and that's a relief. 1 day to get oriented and see my "musts", one day to see everything I missed the the first day, and 1 day to see whatever new things I discovered the first 2 days.

And train travel, packing, unpacking, eats up a lot of time. It sounds like a very stressful trip to me- and a nightmare of a honeymoon, to be honest.

More details might be useful as well. What are your interests? Where are you coming from? (It took me three days to just get over jet lag.) have been to Europe before? What kind of trips have you taken together before? That kind of thing...

This trip is impossible - a typical first-timer wishlist rather than a feasible itinerary. The key here is when you say "would like to spend time in..."

If that's all you want to do, then go ahead with this plan - you will have bragging rights for having set foot in each of these places, too briefly, and moved on the same or the next day. But when it comes to what you'll have been able to see and do in each for your bragging rights - that's the problem - almost nothing.

Just as you can't approach a Smorgasboard with the intent of eating some of everything and not getting sick to the stomach, you can't make a list of all the worthwhile targets in Italy and give it two weeks total.

Regroup and do this: Decide for each of the above destinations why you want to go there. What is it that draws you there? How long will it comfortably take to arrive, find your lodgings, take your meals, visit your targets, before you can say that you did the place justice and got your money's worth?

And what proportion of your two weeks do you like spending on trains and buses and planes and rushing to and from stations and airports, versus what proportion should be spent enjoying sights, lingering over meals while taking in the surroundings, appreciating beauty and history?

Do you really have two weeks, not counting the days of landing and of flying out? Take stock and then look at the map. It might be that you fly into Venice and fly home from Rome. That could allow for a few nights in Venice, a few in Florence with a day-trip to Pisa, a few in Rome with a day-trip to Pompeii - and flying home from Rome.

Or something equally manageable. But first you have to do the homework about each of the places you listed. We can't do that for you.

Perhaps we are ambitious, but would like to spend time in Venice, Rome, Naples, Amalfi Coast, Pisa, Cinque Terre, Capri, Pompeii, and possibly Tuscany and/ or Florence.>

two weeks could be done:

Fly into Naples

2-Naples

3- Capri (better from Naples than Amalfi)

3-Pompeii en route to Amalfi

4-Amalfi

5-Rome

6- Rome

7- Rome

8- Florence

9- Florence

10 - Day trip to Siena, quintessential Tuscan hill town

11- Pisa stop en route to C Terre

12- Cinque Terre

13- Milan

14- fly out of Milan

This involves no car rental - all by trains or buses.

You could pick up a car out of Rome, like at Orvieto -spend a few days driving thru Tuscany to Siena- turn in car and go to Florence. Skip Cinque Terre -overcrowded even in June and Amalfi is lot the same (but better than mobbed CT to many)

For train info check www.trenitalia.com for schedules and fares and book early for long-distance trains can save lots of money with limited in number discounted tickets; www.seat61.com; www.budgeteuropetravel.com and www.ricksteves.com (latter good info on Cinque Terre he and his books help popularize so much, they say.)

Well one scenario anyway.





5-

What's your home airport?

I don't see anywhere in Sicily on your list of destinations. Amazing food and history. Ruins from Greece, Rome, Carthage, Byzantium, and more. You should find a way to get some Sicily done.

With two weeks I'd pick about 4 bases. Keep distances and time between locations in mind. Also how much time you can spend in locations versus how long it takes to get there. For instance, getting to the CT takes quite a bit of time...consider...perhaps 3 nights Venice, 3 nights Cinque Terre, 4 nights Florence, 4 nights Rome. That's 14 total and I'd still prefer another night in Rome myself. Lots of good day trips from Florence and Rome. Check out Ostia Antica day trip from Rome as an alternative to Pompeii. Congratulations and happy planning!

I would eliminate one of your far flung destinations, and for me it would be the Cinque Terre. Two scenic seaside destinations at opposite ends of the country don't seem optimal to me.

I would fly into Rome (or Naples if that's possible) and start your journey in the south as it gets more crowded as the summer goes on. Early June to mid June would be great.

The idea of traveling to Capri from Naples is a very good one. If the Cinque Terre is on your list for hiking, I can assure you that hiking on Capri is every bit as spectacular and a lot less crowded.

I guess I would go to the Amalfi Coast from Capri (but really, that could be a little redundant, but a night or two in a nice place in Positano is honeymoon perfect).

From there you could go to Pompeii, then head north.

I would need to hear your interests before we go on to the big three (Rome, Florence, Venice). But maybe pick two.

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...-travelers.cfm
Read the above post.

First, so smart to stick with Italy for two weeks. Get itinerary mostly firmed up before booking flights. Book multi-city or multi-destination (not two one-way), into one city, out of another.

Arriving in Venice is nice, an easy and beautiful place to recover from jet-lag. Also, you land at the airport and it is a short distance to get to a hotel and settle in. Allow at least 3 nights, 2 full days plus arrival day. There are many wonderful places near Venice, so you could stay longer. The islands of Burano, Torcello, etc., Padua, Vicenza all are lovely and interesting.

If you can fly out of Naples, great.
Venice, Florence (and surrounding area), Rome and Naples/AC.

If you must fly out of Rome, then
Venice, Florence, Naples/AC, Rome

Use trains to get around in Italy unless you wish to rent a car for a day or two in Tuscany.

Both coastal areas require a lot of travel time, so probably best to choose just one, AC or CT. That is up to your personal interests, but there is not enough time for both unless you skip something else. I can't speak for the CT. Every time I planned to go, weather turned bad. The AC is gorgeous with lots to to do and it is a large area.

Itineraries that try to squeeze it all in may not be allowing enough travel time. For example, The Amalfi Coast to Rome will take at least 1/2 day, so it can not count as a day of sightseeing anyplace. Most times, changing cities takes more time than you think. Forget suggestions of other major places requiring lots of time, just plain silly unless you decide against Italy.

Have fine planning.

I'm sorry - but to do justice to your itinerary you need to allow about a month in Italy.

You have not allowed any time to travel from one place to another (it will take at least a 1/2 days each time) or to rush madly through 2 or 3 top sights in each place, fall into bed and get on the train again at 7 am the next am.

You haven't said what your interests are - and you need to think about that to decide which places to drop, assuming you are stuck with 14 days, including the day you depart the US and the day you depart Italy.

If it were me on a honeymoon I would do 3 locations, so you have time to actually learn a little about Italy, have some time to relax and sit in a cafe with a campari or limoncello and enjoy la dolce vita.

If you prefer a mad rush across Italy with little sleep and a lot of time and money wasted galloping from one place to another - then go ahead with your list.

Less can indeed be more!

Cut either CT or Amalfi or add more days into your trip.

I would hop on the next plane home if my new husband planned this trip for me.

Cut out half the places or spend an entire month in Italy.

Haha thanks everyone. Figured it was of course far to much but wanted to hear from the community first... To trim it down a bit, we think we would like to focus on Rome, Venice, Amalfi, and Florence with a day stop for Pompeii/ Naples and maybe Pisa if everyone thinks its a must????

As for our interests, we of course want to hit sites such as the colosseum, Vatican, etc, however spending our entire day in an art museum isn't our cup of tea. We are more about enjoying the people, dinner, little towns, and being ingrained in the culture. With that in mind we don't "think" we want to spend a ton of time in Rome and we definitely want to spend a good amount of time in Amalfi.

With trimming it down a bit and some further detail, I would greatly appreciate some further responses. Especially if those think its a good idea to fly into Rome and start south to then end our trip in Venice and fly out from there?? PS- coming from the east coast of USA

PSS-- I obviously have 3 books from the library I am reading through, but love hearing from you all!