Rubicund

If you want to go to Sorrento and the Amalfi Coast, it would make sense to fly into Naples if possible. This puts you an hour away from Sorrento by road or a bit more by train from Naples station.

Your route could then be Positano, Rome, Florence or Venice and then catch a plane to Paris. You can't "do" all of Italy in a short trip, so concentrate on the main sights. It could be argued that 3 in Italy was too much, because you should be aware that you'll lose at least half a day travelling between places. Train travel will be the best way to go in this case.

rosetravels

I think Goldenautumn's suggestions make a lot of sense. Remember that you're not required to see any 'main sights'. For instance, you don't have to go to Rome if it sounds like too much for you. Same with Florence.

You could have an amazing trip focused on Sorrento and Tuscany. In Tuscany I'd stay in the country or in a hill town with just a day trip to Florence. You can fly out of Florence or Pisa to Paris.

One tip: I just bought tickets from Italy to Paris and found the Air France website the easiest to navigate. I think your best flight options to Paris are Easyjet, Air France or Alitalia. Easyjet flies out of Pisa, Air France flies out of both. Ryanair goes to an airport that is a little too far from Paris so don't bother with them.

But if it were me, with 12 nights, I might do something like this:
5 nights Sorrento (I agree to go straight there), train to Rome
2 nights Rome (I love Rome, even 2 nights is fun), train to Chiusi or Orvieto, get a car
5 nights Tuscany. Stay somewhere near Montalcino, Montepulciano. Fly out of Florence or Pisa. You could stay in Florence your last night before flying to Paris.

Linbrown

You guys have provided some great advice. It would make the most sense to wait forl another trip to visit Southern Italy.
Thoughts on this itinerary:

2 nights in Rome (land at 7:30 a.m. and find somewhere to store luggage until check-in)
4 nights in Tuscany (any favorite towns ?)Siena?
3 nights Cinque Terre - (if time, a day trip to Portofino?)
3 nights in Florence (stop by Pisa en route to Florence)
Fly from Florence to Paris

Any specific wine tours or favorite places you have in Tuscany?

Reasonably priced hotel suggestions?

annhig

linbrown - your hotel will normally store your luggage until your room is ready.

i think that you are under-rating Rome.

hollywoodsc

Have to agree with annhig, Rome deserves more time.
Your first day, landing, getting thru the airport, to your hotel, get settled...maybe time for a walk and dinner before bed.
2nd day is usually jet-lag day.
I'd take a day from Cinque Terre and add it to Rome.

jeuli79

Hi. I was reading your post because my husband and I are also planning a two week trip to Italy in Sept/October. Did you guys go? How was it? What was your final itinerary?

olil

Hi! Thank you very much for the useful insights in this forum. My husband & I are currently working on our itinerary for our vacation this September. We were initially looking at Greece and Turkey but eventually decided to cancel it as we are not very comfortable with the present economic and political situations there.

We are instead looking at Italy (+ Paris perhaps?) for an 18-day vacation. This is not our first time in Italy and Paris. We've been to Rome, Florence, Sorrento, Positano, Naples, Pisa and Paris of course. We don't mind flying in to Rome from our country though, and start to explore from there. Would Verona, Venice, Parma, Bologna, Siena be worth it? Am I even in the right direction?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. We are in our 50's, not into museums and nature-trip pings and would enjoy a relaxing vacation (with great food ��). We can skip Paris and concentrate on Italy if this us more feasible.

Thank you very much.

rellie2

Hi Olil

My husband and I were in Italy last Sept for our first time and found planning for it quite overwhelming. Our final itinerary was:

- Flew into Rome for 5 nights

- Train to Cinque Terre for 2 nights - we stayed at Casa Lorenza in Riomaggiore and cannot recommend it enough. We were happy spending 1 full day jumping between the towns, but did say a 3rd night would have been good.

- Train to LaSpezia and picked up a hire car for 5 days and drove to Tuscany, via Pisa to see the Leaning Tower. We stayed here https://www.airbnb.com.au/rooms/1733831 (you will need a car, but it's only 15mins from Siena). It was ok accommodation but a little dated (but beautiful scenery and location).
We stuck to exploring the smaller towns/villages and wineries. We didn't even see Siena until we dropped the car off. There is a fabulous place to eat a few mins walk up the road called Osteria La Magrone.

- Dropped the car off in Siena and caught the train for 3 nights in Venice. Our room overlooked one of the canals and was gorgeous. We found Venice quite cruisy and didn't plan too much so we just walked around and relaxed (it did help that we saw the Clooney wedding go by on their boats while we were having a drink one night - totally unplanned)
http://www.palazzoguardivenice.com/
If we had more time I would have loved to go to Verona for a day.

- From there we flew to Lyon, France.

I hope you enjoy your trip.

jabez

While it's a short trip, it looks like you've got a good handle on it. We will likely be in Tuscany/Florence around the same time. I usually put together a get-together (GTG) with fellow Fodorites and Slow Talk travelers. We usually meet at a restaurant, and it's always fun. If interested, let me know. I don't usually start the planning until a month or two before hand.

annhig

with 18 days at your disposal, you might think of being a little more adventurous - Sicily perhaps or Puglia? There are lots of threads here about Sicily and several about Puglia/Basilcata.