3-week itinerary - Austria, Slovakia, Italy, Croatia - too ambitious?
 

Hello all,

My wife and I are planning a three-week Europe trip from August 18 - September 6. Our flight from the States lands in Vienna, and our flight back to the States leaves from Rome. I was thinking the following itinerary sounds fun (each day listed represents a night's stay), but would like some idea about whether it's too ambitious and what I could/should add or remove:

Aug. 18/19/20 - Vienna
Aug. 21 - Bratislava
Aug. 22/23/24 - Cinque Terre
Aug. 25/26/27 - Florence
Aug. 28/29 - Venice
Aug. 30/31-Sep. 1 - Bari/Dubrovnik (using overnight ferries)
Sep. 2/3/4/5 - Rome
Sep. 6 - long layover (appx. 20 hours) in Dublin en route back to NYC

I appreciate any and all tips.

Thanks,
Justin

Bump. Here's our final itinerary (decided to cut out Croatia and focus on Italy for 2 of our 3 weeks):

Aug. 18/19/20/21 - Vienna
Aug. 22 - Bratislava
Aug. 23/24 - Milan
Aug. 25/26/27 - Venice
Aug. 28/29/30/31 - Florence
Sept. 1/2/3/4 - Rome
Sept. 5 - long layover in Dublin

Have we allocated an appropriate number of days for each spot? I wanted four in Florence to leave time for day trips to Chianti and maybe Pisa/Cinque Terre. Also, has anyone successfully done a day trip from Rome to Capri and/or Positano, and would you recommend that or should I plan to use all four nights in Rome?

Thanks experts!
J

As to your question about Rome and Capri/Positano, I would strongly advise you NOT to try to day trip from Rome to Capri or Positano: one because it will eat up so much travel time (at leas 6 hrs of roundtrip transportation, plus add time for traffic/congestion during August), but two because the best aspects of the Amalfi Coast warrant more time to discover and savor. In the height of the tourist season, I think you'd be frustrated with the lengthy logistics and massive crowds, and wouldn't get a real feel for either Capri or the coast.

I had split about 5 nights in Rome and 5 nights in Positano in May 2013 with my boyfriend. While Rome is not one of my favorite cities, there were ample activities and sights to fill our time there, and indeed we did not see or experience everything we wanted to in 5 nights.

For more easily managed daytrips from Rome (if you've seen everything you want), look at Ostia Antica, Orvieto, Tivoli + Hadrian's Villa.

Yeah, yuck. Too far away. Will save it for a return trip ;-)

Thanks so much!

You can consider doing Bratislava as a day trip from Vienna as opposed to staying overnight.

Because it is only an hour away (from Vienna) and most of Bratislava's attractions are centralized, it really can serve as a day trip.

Glad the city is getting some love! I found it to be utterly charming.

Bratislava looks awesome, and I'm glad to hear you liked it. Only reason we're staying overnight is because we have a cheap Ryanair on the 23rd from Bratislava to Milan. Doesn't hurt that you can stay in really opulent hotels for dirt cheap there.

Can't wait to see Bratislava castle.

Are you going by train and public transports or driving - seems trains would be best as you are covering large swaths of land, which is fine - for a good fix on European trains and boats check these informative sites: www.budgeteuropetravel.com; www.ricksteves.com and www.seat61.com.

I did Bratislava as a day trip from Vienna and was happy with it - one less packing up and unpacking, etc - just an hour from Vienna and if going to Italy you have to come back thru Vienna anyway - there is an overnight train from Vienna to Italy to help you with that long day Bratislava to Cinque Terre.

As you will be in Vienna on 21 August, you may want to experience the Neustift am Walde Kirtag (wine festival) up in the vineyard area and very accessible on public. It's a very different experience from the usual tourist activities.

http://www.neustift-am-walde.at/aktiv.htm

Oops - did not see reason you are staying in Bratislava - makes sense of course.

Very very cool idea fourfortravel -- thank you so much for the heads up!