J_arthur

Dates Location Morning Noon Night
7/23/2014 Rome
7/24/2014 Rome
7/25/2014 Rome
7/26/2014 Florence
7/27/2014 Florence
7/28/2014 Milan
7/29/2014 Milan
7/30/2014 Naples
7/31/2014 Naples
8/1/2014 Rome
8/2/2014 Rome


Above is an outline of where I will be, would love some inside tips on what to do

Lady1

That question is about as general as it gets. Tips on doing....what? Eating? Seeing? Tours? Museums? What do you WANT to do? And please don't say 'all of the above'.

sandralist

Are your dates in these locations fixed for reasons beyond your control? Because even if you absolutely must arrive to Rome, then I would spend your first day in either Milan or Florence (fly or train there), and then do the one didn't see second, and then go to Naples and after that spend all your remaining time in Rome.

For "inside" tips on where to go in each city you might take a look at the "Spotted by Locals" website. If it doesn't include Naples, take a look at the website Naples Unplugged.

sandralist

PS: "All over Italy! would include the 97 percent of Italy where you are not going, rather than its major cities and tourist destinations. With today's fast trains in Italy and no rural stays, this is a fairly compact itinerary.

annhig

i agree with sandralist, though i might put Naples first, on the basis that it's likely to be the hottest of your destinations and therefore a good idea to get it over first, but given you're going to be in Italy in the last week of July, it probably won't make a lot of difference.

another point, you have only 10 nights, and you're planning to see 4 different places, which is stretching yourself quite thin, by the time you've arrived in the new place, bus/train/taxi to the hotel, checked in, then oriented yourself; when you leave you have to do all this in reverse. As a rough rule of thumb, reckon to lose at least 1/2 a day every time you move. In a 10 day itinerary, that's 2 whole days or 1/5 of your trip.

What are you hoping to see in each place - ie put simply, why are you going there? losing one of your cities [milan for example] would make this trip less rushed and give you more time in the other cities, in none of which are you going to run out of things to do.

WWK

Rather than zigzagging all over the country, what about starting in Naples, Rome next, then Florence, and finally home from Milan?

Of course this only works if you can arrange an open-jaw ticket - into Rome ( then on to Naples by plane or train), and out of Milan.

If you're lucky, you may be able to fly nonstop to Naples from some U.S. Cities ( JFK and Boston in the summer).

Also, I would add a day to Naples so that you can day trip to Pompeii, the AC ( Amalfi Coast) and Capri.

sandralist

Actually, because of its position on the sea, Naples is likely to be breezier and much more pleasant in your time frame than Milan or Florence for sure. If you can, book directly on the sea front or up in Vomero.

Jean

If your itinerary stands as you've presented it, you may have trouble seeing everything in Florence that you want to see as several of the most popular sights are not open every Sunday. You should research open/closed hours and days for things on your list and then develop a plan for your not-quite 2 days. Make entry reservations where possible (Uffizi, Accademia, etc.) to avoid wasting time in lines.

Just a personal opinion, but this trip would be less moving around and more sightseeing if you dropped Milan. And unless you handle high temps well, you may find it difficult to do much in the middle/hottest part of the day.