Budget
 

Want to be in Italy for 10-14 days. Want to travel the whole country. Seeing Naples, Rome, Florence, Venice. Need advice on where to spend money and where to save. Thinking of traveling by train the whole time.

This may help you out, and the planning section of this website is good as well: http://www.slowtrav.com/italy/planning/budget.htm

First of all, you cannot begin to see all of Italy in 10 or even 4 days. You will have just a taste.

If you have 4 days you can (briefly) see Rome Florence, Venice and Naples/Amalfi Coast. If you have just 10 ays there is no way I would attempt to do more than 3 places. And that's assuming you have a full 14 or 10 days on the ground - and you aren't counting the days of arrival and departure - which would give you 12 or 8 days respectively.

As for budget - what exactly do you mean by that? Are you staying in hostels and eating picnic meals on a bench? Are you staying in modest pensions with shared baths and picking up meals in casuale pizzerias? A budget in dollars or euros would help.

<<Want to be in Italy for 10-14 days. Want to travel the whole country.>>

Well, stop right there because that's impossible.

You might be able to get a taste of two or three places in that amount of time.

Where to spend your money? Well, how much do you have and what are your priorities? Same with where not to spend your money.

After 17 trips to Italy we have not seen it all. You will do well to pick 3 destinations--maybe 4--and enjoy yourself.

budget - I have to agree. you can 't see the whole of Italy in 10-14 days or even 10-14 weeks.

you could see 2-3 places in that time, or one place and some day trips, which is probably what I'd favour.

you could [just about] do the classic venice, Florence, Rome, but you'd be spreading yourselves very thin, and every time you move, you incur more costs.

much cheaper to pick one place [I'd go for Rome], rent an apartment, and as well as seeing the city, use it as a base.

Where to spend:
-location of your lodging. Being able to easily return to your hotel/apartment for a mid afternoon rest & refresh: priceless
-occasional taxi when your feet are tired.
-consider a guided tour where you are really interested in a place
-nice dinner every couple of nights
-entrance fees to top sights. If you want to see the Sistine chapel don't skip it just because of the museum fee.

Where to save
- breakfast & lunch eat on the cheap.
- Don't pay for a hotel breakfast buffet - find a local store and get some yogurt, fruit, cereal, etc for breakfast, and pack a picnic lunch to eat on the go can save you $.
- amenities of the lodging. Staying at a clean, comfortable but spartan hotel without a restaurant, concierge, or other amenities can save you a bunch.
- consider renting an apartment.
- don't go on guided tours where a guidebook or just your own senses will do.
- don't bother with hop on hop off buses
- train travel by 2nd class. Gets there the same time as 1st class and is perfectly comfortable for the routes you list. Ignore those who tell you to trust them, they've taken 100's of trips and you must go by 1st class with a rail pass.

Thanks