Well, I think I have officially decided that we will be taking our first Italy vacation in 2015. I know it is a long way away but I am trying to plan it as a surprise for hubby's graduation!!

Anyway, I am still in the beginning stages of planning and am a little overwhelmed at all the options and how little time we will have =( I wish we could take like 6 months and just live there hah

I think we will have 10 days, this includes air travel so maybe like 7-8 days actually in Italy? I was thinking we would fly in to Rome, spend 2 days there (we want to see the major sites but don't want to spend a lot of time there) the rest of the time I know we just want to enjoy the country side, the lifestyle and the wine and food. I really want to spend a few days in cinque terre.

we much prefer the quiet, low key, immerse in the culture (as much as possible in such short time) type vacation...we aren't big shoppers and we aren't night lifers

anyway, any input on where our days might best be spent?

thank you!

Well, you've mentioned Rome and Cinque Terre. Those two alone would be adequate for such a short trip. You really don't have time to be moving around much.

do you think it would be best to travel back down to rome from cinque terre or travel over to venice to fly home?

What's your originating city? You might want to fly into Genoa and out of Rome.

Cinque Terre to Venice will take the best part of an entire day. If you had a few weeks for your trip then it would be an option, but with such a short trip it's a waste. Can you fly out of Florence or Milan?

Perhaps you could fly into Milan, take the train to Cinque Terre, spend a few days, then catch the train to Rome and fly home from there?

The flight should be compatible with your ground portion. Many people thought they got a good fare, presuming without thinking that they could match well to the ground portion, only to find that they should have booked flights differently. Don't do any non-refundable booking until you have at least one way to integrate flights, ground transportation, accommodations, and open days of attractions. Traveling back is rarely desirable. You spend money and time (which you have little of) back tracking. Many first timers trying to save money on short trips do this counterproductive maneuver for some reason. You can easily compute the wasted time and money doing this.

Collect empirical data starting NOW. I am assuming you are looking at summer/fall 2015 trip? Then you will be doing the booking around this time a year from now? Then, by collecting data right now for a simulated itinerary in 2014, you have a much better idea of the price range, availabilities of ground connection, accommodations, when they start to get filled -- the knowledge you can apply towards your real bookings in 2015.

Sign up to get airfare alerts right now at places like kayak.com to ALL potential destinations for ALL potential dates. While fare alerts cannot do multi-city, the multi-city fares usually track round trip fares to the arriving and the departing airports. You can probe connections and timing via matrix.itasoftware.com, timebar view to realize which Italian airports require risky layovers, many segments, etc. I think many people just take the flight itineraries spitted out by the booking engines and end up with insanely short layovers at huge airports. You can usually tinker with the itinerary to create acceptable layovers at little or no additional cost. If they propose an undesirable layover like 4-6hrs, see if you can shorten it or extend to close to 24hrs if that airport is at a city you wanted to visit anyway. I don't want a layover such as 9pm arrival, 6am departure. All I incur would be a hotel bill without any chance to do anything in the city -- all cost, no benefit.

You are wise not to spread yourself too thinly. You don't want to spend all your time travelling from one place to another to cover lots of ground. It is best to concentrate on just a couple of places. Rome and Cinque Terre sounds good. Have you thought of the Amalfi Coast instead of Cinque Terre? From Amalfi you can do a day trip to Pompei and Mt. Vesuvius. In any case, the trains are really good in Italy.

Thank you for the suggestions!!

It is definitely possible to fly out of Florence or Milan. I like the idea of visiting rome last!

Greg, we will be taking our trip around early april 2015 is the plan, end of march is possible too.

I am definitely going to look in to Amalfi, thank you!

Rome to Cinque Terre is at least 5 hours of trains. Your plan is doable, if you just leave it at those two cities.

But Cinque Terre is kind of a pain to get to from any airport imo. With such short time, may want to spend your days in Rome and Florence? Florence is a beautiful and relaxed city.

If you are traveling the end of March, Amalfi would be a better choice than Cinque Terre. In that case, you might want to fly into Naples and out of Rome. If you do decide to visit CT, you could fly into Pisa or Milan and out of Rome.

Enjoy planning - it is part of the fun!

Cinque Terre in March probably means rain and mud. Amalfi Coast might be a better choice that time of year.