I am planning a fifth year surprise anniversary trip to Italy and I need some advice. I would like to travel to Venice, Florence, Rome, Naples, and the Amalfi Coast as well as Tuscany. Is all of this possible in thirteen days? If so, can you recommend some possible hotels for me and how many days are needed in each city as well as the best place to fly into and out of back to the US. Also, do you suggest we drive up the coast or take the rail?

Thanks!

It can be done - - I suspect that if you consider this as "six destinations", then clearly at least one will get cut to just one night.

But think of it as FOUR destinatios, and suddenly, it seems a little more reasonable. Florence is IN Tuscany. You can have one night in the city itself, and two (days or nights or both) in nearby, "smaller-town" Tuscany.

Likewise, Naples and the Amalfi coast are both in Campania. Naples is far less ofen included in the itineraries of "novice" traveler to Italy, but if you have a specific reason to want to spend some time there, it (or the Amalfi coast) could be one (day or night or both) out of three (or more) in some "base" location in that area.

I cannot advise spending less than three full nights in Rome.

Thus, Venice can be used to "balance your allocation" - - no less than 36 hours, and easily up to 4-5 days/nights.

There is no particularly appealing coastal route - - either west (Tyrrhenian) or east (Adriatic) connecting these four major destination areas.

Train will likely be your mainstay of intra-Italy transport, though there is a good argument for car rental in Tuscany, in Campania, or both.

No single best city to fly into/out of, though I think that you will likely want to put Venice or Rome at the end. I have certainly enjoyed having Venice as the "dessert" of an Italy trip. And you are right thinking that it makes the most sense to fly into one city and back home out of another.

Best wishes,

Rex

Hi,
everyone is different and I feel that packing all those wonderful places into 13 days might be a bit much.
You will need to be a bit more specific.
Are you doing this trip with a car?
Which city in the US will you fly out from?
You may want to fly into
Venice: 2 nights
then train to
Florence: 4 nights and see a bit of tuscany with a hire car
train to
Rome: 2 nights
train to
Naples: 1 night
and car/train/private transfer to the
Amalfi coast: 3 nights visiting Sorrento, Capri, Positano
and then train to
Rome and fly home.
Do a search of hotels recommended on this site for each area.
or do the trip in reverse, flying into Rome/out of Venice.

Hi nicol,

Kimerley has a good suggestion.

You can fly out of Naples instead of taking the train to Rome.

For transport between Naples and the AC see
Helpful Information: Italy http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34443340

Another way is with a private limo. We used Renato Cuomo and were very pleased with the service.

Renato Cuomo - Via Caprile 2 - 80069 Vico Equense (NA), Italy.
Tel.(+39)339 16 12 081 or (+39)081 802 30 37 -
www.cuomonet.it [email protected]

I'll throw in my opinion without reading everyone else's!
I think 13 days is enough.
3 nights Venice (I only had 2 and could have used another)
2 nights FLorence unless you are a big art lover. Rent car.
2 nights S Tuscany
Turn in Car. 3 nights Rome
2 nights Amalfi
(I wouldn't include Naples unless necessary).

Rex,

Thank you for the wealth of information, you are wonderful! I think between your advice and the Fodor's book on Italy which I have used in the past for all of my travels for hotels/food, etc. I am in good shape. My only concern now is finding somewhat reasonable flights and deciding on which city to fly into as I am thinking I will end the trip as you suggested in a more relaxed/romantic atmosphere and fly back to Atlanta, GA from Venice.

Thank you for all of your help!

Nicole

You're very welcome, Nicole.