4 or 5 nights in Rome? 4 or 5 nights on AC?
 

Hi,
I'm visiting Italy from mid-October through early November, 16 days total.

My current itinerary is 3 nights Venice, 3 nights Florence, 4 nights Sorrento, and 5 nights Rome.
We will be traveling from place to place by train and will not have a car. (No, I'm not renting a car.)

I'd originally planned not to venture to Sorrento and Amalfi Coast area at all but friends who visited there during the same time of year a few yrs ago, convinced me to visit.
I'd originally planned to stay in Orvieto for two nights on the way to Rome, from Florence.
I have a couple of minor dilemmas though -

1. I'd still like to visit Orvieto and planned for 4 full days in Rome so we could day-trip there by train from Rome.
2. However - I have a beautiful hotel booked in Sorrento, room with a terrace, lovely views, that I got for a great price; and Sorrento and the area look like a great place to just hang out and unwind a bit before going on to Rome.
So far, I have 4 nights and 3 full days in Sorrento.
I feel like I should add a day.
If I do, though, I probably will not make it to Orvieto, and have only 3 days in Rome. (The other option is to take a day from Florence, where I've visited before.)

Short version of this post - Should I skip Orvieto, or take a day from Florence, to spend one more day in Sorrento? In late October.

Thank you in advance for your insights.

how about one night in Orvieto, on the way to Sorrento?

Having been to Sorrento for a week in February I can see that it might be nice in October but OTOH it might be dreadful if the weather does not co-operate.

I would stick with the longer stay in Rome where it matters less if it rains. if you've been to Florence, I'd drop a day there in favour of seeing Orvieto; the cathedral front alone is worth the trip.

Agree with Annhig totally unless the OP has already BEEN to Rome and even then I'd probably continue to agree. I understand the "hanging out" bit but if the larger objective is to see as much which is new as possible I'd hang out at some other time.

Thanks. I booked my rooms through booking.com, and added a day to my Sorrento room, but currently keeping my original Rome reservation. I'll change the reservations as needed while I think about it.

I thought about seeing Orvieto on the way to Sorrento, but we were planning on taking the direct train from Florence.
Still... I do think it's possible to stay overnight in Orvieto, then take a slower train from Orvieto to Sorrento.
Hmm.

It obviously depends on what YOU want to see and experience, but if Sorrento is a must, you might want to consider skipping one of your other destinations. You are, IMO, cutting things close in Venice, Florence, Rome, AND the Amalfi Coast. JMO.

I would add a day to Venice
Sorrento is nice, but if the weather cools it will not be that interesting to be there. It will be too cold to swim. and some of those nice hotels will have their pool areas closed.
I enjoyed Rome, and you could do a day trip from Rome catching the train.
There are also many day tours from Rome that go to Orvieto.
I am not sure if Orvieto is going to be worth your effort for just one night.

We're not interested in swimming in Sorrento, or using the pools. We'd like to see Pompeii, and take our time seeing towns on the AC, as well as Sorrento. If we get bored, we can go to Naples (which seems pretty exciting, to say the least) or see another town/place. I'm not concerned so much about it being cool or even raining, I'll bring an umbrella and sturdy shoes.

My husband said he is fine taking a day away from Florence, since we stayed there for a week a few years ago. We really loved it though, and wanted to re-visit. But we've seen the major museums, churches... He thinks 2 nights there should be fine though, so considering that. And that's likely what we'll do.

We also looked at current train schedules between Rome and Orvieto and decided we will do Orvieto as a long day trip from Rome.

Husband wants to spend majority of time in Sorrento, then Rome.

I'd love to add another day to Venice but it would be at the expense of a day somewhere else. I think two full days is better than not going at all, so...

Unfortunately, until my husband retires from work, he does not want to take more than two weeks away. If I fall in love with any of these places, I'll try to return someday. There are other places in Italy I'd love to visit, but there's no time for that on this trip, imo. We will have to assume we'll return.

Your comments were all helpful, thank you.

Do your best to see everything you want to see! I'd suggest taking a day from Florence if you've already seen it instead you're completely enamored.

I'm sure you'll enjoy yourselves, whatever you decide -- and it sounds to me like you've given reasonable consideration to your options and preferences.

An update - We will need to postpone our trip due to my husband having surgery today. It's for a hernia, and all went smoothly, but his doctor says he may be pushing it traveling so soon after surgery (in 4 weeks) and we should postpone if we can.
Since these are award flight tickets, I'm going to have them changed until early April, if I can (I thought about February, but thought it might be too cold then?) and cancel my hotel reservations.
Since we still plan to go, just later in the year, the response and info I received from you all here will still be useful, so thank you again!

Best wishes to you both as your husband recovers.

If you have flexibility, go as late as possible in April, even very early May. Early April can still be a bit cold and rainy.

Sorry that your trip has had to be delayed, Bumble, and best wishes for your DH's recovery.

As for the time of your trip, April/May would be lovely. We went to Sorrento in February on a language course, and when the sun shone it was nice, but it rained a lot.

Thanks for the well wishes - he was able to come home today, actually, and has no pain!
And thanks for the advice about April/May. My daughter is coming home from her first year of college on May 8, so want to be home before then, as I think my time spent with her may be limited from here on out...
We also are thinking of going for three weeks now, instead of just two, and seeing a little more of the country... So, maybe the last 3 weeks in April... Thanks!

We also are thinking of going for three weeks now, instead of just two, and seeing a little more of the country... So, maybe the last 3 weeks in April... Thanks!>>

lovely - and so glad that your DH is out of hospital and pain free!

But can I urge you not to add any more destinations [apart from Orvieto]? As I understand it you are only adding 5 nights to your trip and you started your thread by sharing the dilemma you had in getting your itinerary sorted as you wanted more time in each place. Now you have the chance to do that, don't be tempted to spread yourselves more thinly; take it easy, do the odd day trip or two if time allows, and relax!

Yes, annhig, you can urge me to do that! :) And thank you for doing so.
Very good point, and we both actually prefer staying in one place long enough to have some time to linger and relax before moving on.

Yes, annhig, you can urge me to do that!>>

thanks for taking the advice in the spirit in which it was meant, Bumble.

Italy definitely rewards those who linger.

We just returned from our trip last week!
And I took annhig's advice and did not add any places, we just added days to what we'd already planned.
I'm glad we did, because in the interim between my husband having abdominal surgery in September and now, he's developed a painful heel spur and it'a affected his mobility. So it was good we were able to take our time more in each place, and it's also good that Advil was able to manage his pain adequately. Still, he walked a bit slower than usual...

We ended up staying 4 nights in Venice, three nights in Florence (with an afternoon/evening tour to the Chianti area and a winery) one week in Sorrento (visiting AC towns and Pompeii and just hanging out in Sorrento, being lazy); then 5 nights in Rome.
Italy was beautiful, the weather was sunny and clear except for a couple of days, one in Venice, and one afternoon in Sorrento. I even got sunburned a little.
Everything went smoothly, except for my husband's heel bothering him on occasion.
In hindsight, I might've spent a full week in Rome, and five nights in Sorrento - maybe - but it also gave us a chance to rest and explore some lesser-known sights in Sorrento that were interesting in themselves. We also saw the Good Friday processione here.)
I'll try to write a full trip report very soon.

Thanks, again, to those with advice and tips. Especially to slow down, :). I really believe that made the trip more enjoyable.

Bumble - I'm so glad that the trip went well and that the advice proved helpful; what a responsibility! So sorry about the heel spur - I hope it didn't interfere too much with what you wanted to do.

it would be great to read a full TR but for now - welcome home.

Glad you went on your trip. Looking forward to your trip report!