Aloha,
I live in Hawaii and me and my boyfriend are visiting Italy for the first time and would like to get some tips where we should or must visit. We already booked our plane tickets. We are flying in Milan and flying out from Rome. I figured we can go down Italy seeing different places but the thing is we only have 8 nights. I would love to get some advises if there are places we must go. We are thinking of staying at Milan only for a night (is one night enough?) and then go to Venice. How many days should we stay at Venice? We just don't know where we should stay long and where to make it short. Should we go to Florence since it is on the way down to Rome?

If you had 8 days in Italy how would you plan your trip!?
Mahalo! (means thank you in Hawaiian)
Kalea

What are your interests? Do you like shopping? art museums? hiking? architecture? We need to know your interests to recommend the best stops for you. With 8 nights, I would recommend 2-3 locations, since you'll waste lots of time changing hotels more than that.

What do you want to accomplish from this trip?

Whether "so many nights are enough" depends on what you want to accomplish at each destination.

For example, if your objective to stay in as many cities as possible, then by all means stay in 8 cities. As wacky as this might sound, I have an acquaintance whose travels this way and is very happy about his trips. There is nothing wrong with this way of traveling when it satisfies his objectives. I would not travel this way, however.

For other folks, having only 8 nights requires trade-offs. But on what basis should the decision be made?

If you are not familiar with what each city offers, I recommend buying or checking out guidebooks from your library. For a first timer, you might look at Rick Steves Italy. For each city, he has a table listing what he thinks are the top attractions. Go through tables on Milan, Venice, Florence, Rome, etc, listing the attractions that look interesting to you. Order in the priority you choose and see how many of them can be fit into 8 nights. The number of attractions of interest per city will naturally point to the number of nights you want to spend in each city. If there is a city with only few interests, take it out and allocate nights to other cities.

Also note that Lake Como and Lake Maggiore are close to Milan. You might want to stay at these places instead of Milan or do a day trip from Milan to one of these lakes.

With only 8 nights I would pick one place between Milan and Rome and concentrate on that destination plus Rome. You could easily spend the entire time in Rome which is an amazing city.

Of course 8 days is not enough in this beautiful country but it's better than nothing. I would forget about any museums and just walk around each city taking in the culture.
This is what I would do:
2 nts. in Milan
2 nts. in Venice
2 nts. in Florence
2 nts. in Rome
Travel by train early in the morning so you'll at least have the evening and the next full day in each city. In Rome they have a hop on/hop bus that will let you see all the major sights. The pass is good for 24 hrs. and you can get off at any stop and get on the next bus that comes along.
Don't be discouraged about peoples comments on traveling this way - I did Helsinki, Stockholm and Oslo in 5 days and it was one of the best trips I've ever been on.

We flew into Rome and out of Milan for our honeymoon a few years ago. We had two weeks, but our route was: Rome, Cinque Terre, Florence, Venice, Torino, Milan. We absolutely loved each and every place, but the highlights were definitely Rome, Cinque Terre and Venice.

Our least favorite was probably Milan. We only had 1 full day/night there I think, but to me it was just like any other big city - great for shoppers of course.

We took early morning trains so that we could maximize our time in each place. You can visit as many cities as you want - just depends on what you want to do and how fast you like to travel.

Oh, and we found Rick Steves guide to be fantastic.

With only 8 nights, I suggest you keep it simple and see two of the greatest cities in the world- Venice and Rome.

If you arrive in Milan before noon, head straight to Venice. You can train there from Milan's central train station. To get to the train station you can take a direct bus from the airport. The bus takes 1 hour and the train 3 hours. Spend three nights in Venice.

If you arrive in Milan after noon, stay there for one night and then move on to Venice the next day. Spend two to three nights in Venice

Take a train from Venice to Rome and stay there for the remaining nights.

I think that 'keeping it simple' is a good way to go. With 8 days, two cities (Venice and Rome)is a good plan. As far as Milan for the first day or two, there is no reason that you can't get to Venice on your arrival day, so that choice is totally yours.

If you have any specific interests, hobbies, or 'just have to see's than tell us and we can advise.

Thank you very much to all of you! I am so happy to see so many replies!!!

We want to see some museums and visit some main historic spots. We don't want to spend the whole day doing the sightseeing stuff but just walk around the city and enjoy the culture. My highlights would be eating good food!

So far from reading all the replies... I think we might just do a night at Milan. We get in before noon but it is going to take us more than 27 hours from door to door and we will be too exhausted to go straight to Venice. We will get a bite of Milan on this trip. I think we are going to stay at Venice for 3 nights and then to Rome for 4 nights.
Milan- 1 night
Venice- 3 nights
Rome- 4 nights

Now I need to book the hotels! It is fun to plan, but it is a lot of time on the computer researching... especially when you are on a certain budget.

I really do want to go to Florence but my boyfriend wants to keep it simple so we can relax and enjoy Venice and Rome. I'll keep Florence for my next trip and visit Tuscany as well

Mahalo to all!
Kalea

Aloha, good food? My gosh forget to eat good in Venice, me and my bf living with me in italy ( i'm italian ) took a tour last mounth to Venice, travelling with his old aunt from Oregon e showing her the beautifull Venice, but was a surprise for me too THE FOOD. After many years was my second visit in venice and shame i find the town very desolate and going down regarding bar and restaurant. Is almost impossible find in the town a good real italian restaurant, everithing is made for tourist and the menu are poor and not made with passion. In the kitchen only indian, pakistany and chinese people, the waiters are almost rude and in the bar there is a price list for tourist and for citizen (very rare) Pay attention to the shopping too, most of the items selled are not made in italy but made in China. Also the town knew better time but is still the wonderfull amazing incredible Venice and the landscape is stunning. My suggestion for your trip are different and being italian make me talk in different way than a tourist, Milan apart the Duomo Area dont have so much to see but if u are interested in mode shopping this is the best place and most expensive. So dont stop in Milano but go directly to Venice and spend two night will be enough. From Venice move to Lucca where you can spend three night and have shortly excursion to Pisa and Cinque Terre and may be Carrara and his amazing white marble quarries. Everithing is about one hour and half by train. The rest of the trip spent in Rome, wherevere you go there in the "Caput mundi" will be wonderfull also there put attention where you stop to eat, i means avoid crowded tourist area. Trastevere is a good area where still u can find italian food. Hope you enjoy your trip and if u need assistance let me know by mail. Bye for now
Bernardo and Paul

We spent a few days in Rome (Trastevere) and then went on a 12 day cruise of Italy and Croatia last year. We absolutely loved Rome: the history, all the historical sites, such as the Colosseum; art as in the Sistine Chapel. Like slykbryl I was less excited about Venice. We loved Burano and Murano, but overall there were other ports we preferred. I would suggest flying into Rome if possible and depending on your interests, selecting one other town or area you can use as a base for day trips.

You have a pretty good plan. With the first leg to Milan being 27 hours, I think a sleep in Milan is a good idea. Milan hotels and restaurants are not cheap. If your budget gets too stressed, then look for accomodations in the suburbs or far suburbs.

Since you want to do some museums, you can prebook some museums from the US. Doing this eliminates some flexibility from your travel but eliminates some of the wait lines to get in (also eliminates some wait lines to purchase the admission tix).

You probaly know the main historic sights. If not then get guide books. Also, in Rome we took a half-day bus/walking that showed us alot of the sights in an easy guick method.

As mentioned above, the food scene in Venice is overwhelmed by uninspired food oriented towards the tourists. There should be good restaurants there and a little research ahead of time might go along way.

gotta see the roman ruins and the ponte vecchio in florence.

and you gotta get the pizza in rome - it's like sicilian in new york but sometimes better, get the sausage and artichoke....best I'ver ever had. And antipasto, oh boy, fugghetaboutit. pasta carbonara is over-rated.

Great tip about pizza,ryanabulger! Be sure to sample the gelato too, Kalea.

If you really want to see Florence you could stop there on your way to Rome. Take an early train from Venice to Florence, store your luggage in the train station and walk to the historic center (about a 10 minute walk). The historic center is quite compact and you can easily walk side-to-side in about 20-30 minutes. Spend the day in Florence and take a late train to Rome (travel time is about 90 minutes on the fast trains). Here are the luggage storage hours.
http://www.grandistazioni.it/cms/v/i...003f16f90aRCRD

Hi. My daughter and I were in Italy last summer. I wish I could go back this summer!

Since you're flying into Milan and flying out of Rome, I would recommend going to Venice from Milan. In my opinion I'd only spend 1 night in Milan and then go to Venice. I'd plan on spending 2 nights in Venice because there are islands (www.italylogue.com) (depending on how many you want to see) you can go to (Murano is a must - they do glass blowing and you can get some awesome jewelry) but Venice and Murano can be done in a day if you have to - we did it. (The other islands are Burano (lace) and Torcello (historical). We got there at 6:00 a.m. and left out on a sleep train at midnight. days should we stay at Venice? I checked RailEurope (Trenitalia) and you can get from Venice to Rome in 7 hours or right now there are specials on both Meridiana and AirOne and you can fly real cheap. I didn't check prices from Venice to Florence but I would imagine the cost wouldn't be that much either. (Personally, I would leave florence out and head for the Mediterranean - see below). Rome is an absolute must. The sights there are awesome! (We were there for 1-1/2 days). You can get an English speaking guide to take you through the Colliseum. He was great! From Rome, I would head 2 hours down the coast 2 Naples and then take a Hydrofoil across the sea to Sorrento (www.italy-sorrento.com). This place is heavenly! You can see the Amalfi Coast (amalfi.rome-in-italy.com) and Pompeii & Mt. Vesuvious (touritaly.org/pompeii/pompeii-main.htm). Then head back to Rome and fly home. Whatever you choose, I hope you guys have fun and stay safe. If you have any questions about anything I've mentioned, let me know and I'll be glad to help!

If you spend the first few days at a fast pace doing all of the sight seeing, you can spend a few days enjoying the crystal blue/green waters of the Mediterranean. Believe me, you'll love it! I've traveled Europe 4 times and it's by far my favorite place!

This is where I plan to go back to hopefully next year...maybe with my husband next time....who by the way leaves for Maui in 2 weeks for a diving trip - small world, huh!

G

I think trying to include the Amalfi coast on this trip would be ruinous.

Also, it's a shame not to enjoy a meal in Milano, since the traveler is so interested in good food -- which, as Italian resident slickbryl points out, is very hard to find these days in Venice.

Kalea,

For Milan, I recommend that you before you get on the train to Venice, pay a visit to Cracco Peck (you can Google for the address, near the Duomo) and get yourselves a great picnic to eat on the train. Were it me, I would try to stay in Milan long enough to see Da Vinci's Last Supper (you need to make a reservation) and Michaelangelo's Pieta Rondanini in the Sfoza castle.

I would definitely skip trying to squeeze in Florence while in transit.

You will certainly eat well in Rome.

PS: Do not stay in the suburbs of Milan. Use hotel booking websites to find the best deals. Try the Anderson.

Try using eurocheap and holiday city for booking hotels in Milan. They often have good deals.

TYPO:

It's "eurocheapo.com"