My husband and I have one week off at the end of May and are deciding between Italy and Argentina, both places we've always wanted to visit. Clearly 8 days isn't enough for Italy, but if we wanted to do either 1) Rome, Naples, Pompeii, Amalfi Coast, and Capri or 2) Rome, Florence, and Venince, what would you recommend?

We love traveling and our most recent Europe trip was to Spain. We're not really into beaches but we do want to take in the sights of the coast.

Please help us pick one of the two options for Italy and any advice you have regarding either option would be great too!

(PS. If you have advice on Italy vs. Argentina, that would be fab too! Thanks in advance!)

Can't advise you on Argentina. For option 1 you could fly into Naples (or Rome), transfer to Sorrento, and use it as a base for as much as you can fit in. From Sorrento it's easy to go to Capri, Pompeii, and the AC. Each of these locations would take most of a day. Then train to Rome and finish your trip there.

For option 2, fly into Venice, stay 3 nights, take the train to Florence, store your luggage at the train station, and spend a day exploring Florence, then take the train on to Rome for 5 days. And fly out of Rome. This assumes you're not great fans of Renaissance art and architecture. If you are, spend less time in Venice, more time in Florence.

You don't have enough time for option 1 - 5 places in 8 days is way too much, especially with a major city like Rome where you could easily spend the entire 8 days.

Rome and Venice is what I would do. Fly into one and home from the other. Train between the 2 cities.

I haven't been to Argentina but Italy is my favorite European country (so far).

Thanks for the replies!

So for Option 1, based on Mimar's response, sounds like we could do Naples, Pompeii, and the Amalfi Coast in 3-4 days, and then we could finish off with Rome in the remaining 4 days. Would Capri be an additional day? Adrienne, if I could omit one place from Option 1 to make the trip doable within our time frame, would that then work?

Adrienne, I think I may share your opinion of Italy once we visit.

Thanks for helping me wrap my head around trying to see as much of this beautiful country as possible.

Well, if you really have 8 days, that's 9 nights not including any flight days. So 4 nights in Sorrento, with one day each for Pompeii, the Amalfi Coast, and Capri. Then go to Naples for a day and a night. That leaves 4 nights, 3 days for Rome, actually 2.5 when you subtract the time to train from Naples. Not enough time for Rome in my opinion. You could squeeze a little more time, say by going to Naples at the end of your Capri day, spending a day in Naples, then taking an evening train into Rome. But that's still only 3 days in Rome.

Personally if I were to omit any one place in this itinerary, it would be Naples. But I don't have your priorities.

Actually I prefer what Adrienne suggested, fly into Venice, train to Rome, fly out of Rome. With at least 3 nights in Venice.

So your trip, your decisions.

Argentina: We did an 8 day trip and combined Buenos Aires and Mendoza, 4 days in each. It is an easy trip to do and 4 days in each is appropriate.

We spent the first 2 days in buenos aires getting to know the city. The best shops and restaurants are in the palermo district, if you are interested in that. We basically scouted stores at the start of the trip, then went to mendoza for 4 days to do wine tasting, then back to buenos aires to wrap up shopping and eating.

The food in Argentina, as in Italy, is fantastic. The wines are CHEAP because they don't mark them up in restaurants. And the steaks are fabulous. They have a knack for meat.

In Mendoza, we spent 2 days in the city at a Sheraton using Starwood points and 2 days at a country boutique inn that was adorable: http://www.laresdechacras.com/

We hired a drive in Mendoza to take us to wineries for three days. Hiring a drive there is also very cheap. We paid maybe $50 a day? and had him about 8 hours each day. Highly advised! And if you do decide to go that route, I am sure I can track down his information for you.

The wineries themselves are beautiful with the backdrop of the Andes mountains. We had multiple and very different winery experiences and the restaurants in house at many of them are fabulous.

In Buenos Aires, we stayed at the Home Hotel which was really lovely as well: http://www.homebuenosaires.com/ There are lots of boutique hotels there though, at extremely reasonable prices, so you can shop around.

Let me know if you have any questions. I am going back to Italy this september, through Rome then down to Puglia, the heel of the boot. I lived in Rome for a few months and have done a lot of Italy. It is a fantastic place to visit, but your dollar will definitely get you further in Argentina, if that is of concern for you.

Lauren

Italy and Argentina are only comparable in soccer... for tourism Italy is the best deal hands down. Don't get me worng, Buenos Aires is a very nice town but it does not offer the options offered by Rome or Florence. Also, Argentina is a very large country and traveling from one point to the other can consume a big portion of your time.
Now, your plans to Italy need to be reviewed. You can fit only two major cities in 8 days

I'm with Jax9000 on this. Argentina is interesting and dirt cheap, with lovely wine, but it's nowhere near as terrific as Italy. Remember too that you are heading into Argentina's cold season. Weather in Italy is likely to be delightful.

But I'm going to disagree with all this advice that you only have time for X destinations, etc. You simply have to select how you are going to spend your time. It is pointless to go to X place for X days if you only want to see 3 things in it or if you want to see 13. Go for as long as it takes you to see what you want to see. If you end up spending all your time in Rome, you won't be sorry.

If you're not "into beaches" you can see the Amalfi coast and Capri in a day. Get on a ferry in Naples, go to Capri, take a ferry back to Amalfi, get on a bus to Sorrento, go back to Naples. Pompeii is a vast site, so you will need the better part of a day for that (preferably the morning, when its cool). I suggest you fly into Rome and out of Naples, or vice versa. I would base in Rome and Naples, but Naples scares the holy heck out of some tourists, and Sorrento is there for them.

Have visited both Italy (7 times) and Argentina (once). I would definitely go to Italy. I think, considering the time of year, you are likely to have nicer weather in Italy. Unless you are a big beef fan, you are sure to have better food in Italy (although Argentina has a lot of Italian food). The cultural opportunities in Italy are more accessible, IMHO.

For 8 days, limit your trip to 2 main stops. I would choose Florence and Rome but Venice and Rome would be nice also.

Going to Naples from Sorrento also works as a day trip, if you limit yourself to the Centro Storico to just get a flavor for the place (along with some pizza). Depending on your pace, you can also squeeze in a visit to Herculaneum on the way back (a smaller, 'upscale' version of Pompeii just south of Naples on the Circumvesuviana train line to Sorrento).

As squeezing things together goes, from Sorrento you can even take the morning bus to Positano, catch a hydrofoil from there to Capri, and take another hydrofoil back to Sorrento direct from Capri.

I have also been to Italy 7 times and Argentina once. Liked Argentina but it is a large country and it is harder in my opinion to explore than Italy. Weather could also be an issue depending on where you wanted to visit in Argentina. Salta, BA and Iguazu would be fine but it would be be getting cold down south.
I would also limit myself to two places in Italy. Recommend Venice and Rome. Would not do the one day stop in Florence. Tried that with my family about 10 years ago with the earliest train out of Venice and the latest train out of Florence with a tour guide meeting us at the train station. No one could remember anything about Florence after a year. We later returned to Florence for a week stay to further explore Tuscany.

Thank you so much to everyone for the tips and suggestions on both Italy and Argentina! We've got to make a decision soon and once we do, I'm sure I'll be back for more advice!

Thanks again everyone!