My husband and I will be spending 16 days in Italy and am trying to fit in as much as possible. We've been to bits of Italy before (Rome, Venice, Cinque Terre, Florence, Pisa) so will just be doing day trips to those locations. We are arriving in Milan and departing from Rome. We are having trouble scheduling the later part of our trip and hoping that someone can give us some advise. Our schedule so far is looking like this:

Day 1 Sat: Arrive in Milan at 6am, check in hotel, spend the day in Milan
Day 2 Sun: Day trip to Lake Como
Day 3 Mon: Train to Venice, spend the day in Venice
Day 4 Tue: Explore Murano and Burano, take the night train to Florence
Day 5 Wed: Take the train to Cinque Terre for a day of hiking, return to Florence in the evening
Day 6 Thu: Explore Florence
Day 7 Fri: Rent a car, drive to Tuscany countryside
Day 8 Sat: Explore Tuscany countryside
Day 9 Sun: Explore Tuscany countryside

The next few days is where I am having trouble scheduling. We would like to spend 3 days in Puglia and 3 days in Naples and the Amalfi Coast.

Our initial plan was:
Day 9 Sun: Drive to Puglia in the evening
Day 10 Mon: Explore Puglia (Alberobello, Matera, Bari, Lecce)
Day 11 Tue: Explore Puglia (Alberobello, Matera, Bari, Lecce), drive to Salerno in the evening to return car
Day 12 Wed: Explore Amalfi Coast and Sorrento
Day 13 Thu: Explore Pompei and Naples
Day 14 Fri: Train to Rome
Day 15 Sat: Spend day in Rome
Day 16 Sun: Fly out from Rome airport

The problem with this schedule is, most of the suggested itineraries i see on the internet suggests to first go to Naples, then take explore the Amalfi Coast area by the communter train and the SITA bus. But according to our schedule, we would be doing this backwards. Would this be possible? Also, I get car sick very easily, so the SITA bus journeys are very worrying for me.

Would it make more sense to go from Tuscany to Naples and Amalfi Coast, before travelling to Puglia? But the day we leave Tuscany is a Sunday and it seems that most car rental shops are closed so I won't be able to return the car.

Thanks in advance!!

>>>But according to our schedule, we would be doing this backwards. Would this be possible? <<<

Yes. If you return your car in Salerno (you could also return in Sorrento) you would take a ferry or Sita bus from Salerno to Amalfi. It's either ferry or Sita bus. The coast road doesn't bother me, but I don't get car sick. The bus is pretty slow in summer because of all the traffic. Buses run more often than ferries.

If you return the car in Sorrento, you could drive the coast from Salerno to Sorrento coming from Puglia. Parking is an issue if you want to stop anywhere along the coast road though.

Are you staying the night in Sorrento? If you are, you can catch the local train to Pompeii (they have luggage storage at the entrance) and then on to Naples. I don't like moving around and changing hotels as much as you are planning. That's quite a few locations in such a short time. I would want at least a couple of three nighters somewhere.

It would be a bad idea to schedule a day trip hiking after a night in a train, but fortunately there are no night trains between Venice and Florence, as the route is too short for filling a night.

(Or better: Euronight 235 will stop at 3.11am at Mestre en route from Vienna. They will not allow you to board a couchette or a cabin, and won't even allow you to reserve, but maybe you can get a seat and be in Florence at 6.07am.)

Without having any idea of your actual travel dates, it is very hard to know if you will be stuck in an endless traffic jam someplace, or be wilting in the heat on the slopes of le Cinque Terre in the midday sun, or what.

However, you can return the car at the Naples airport on a Sunday, and take a bus to Sorrento and use ferries from there. That it is what I would probably do to avoid the very long drive from Tuscany to Puglia. Rent another car in Sorrento when you want to go to Puglia. After seeing Puglia, drop off that car in Bari and take the train back to Rome.

Regarding getting to Florence: seeing the lagoon islands should not take you all day, so you can catch an evening train out of Venice to Florence, not a night train. Or flip the days around in Venice, and go to the islands after you've checked into your Venetian hotel.

Hi Kybourbon - Yes, I'm planning to stay the night in Sorrento. If I return the car in Salerno and take the ferry to Amalfi, are there any trains from Amalfi to Sorrento? I've read many blogs where they say driving in Amalfi is horrendous so I'm pretty worried about driving to Sorrento.

Hi asps - We are considering leaving Venice around 4pm and hopefully get into Florence in the evening and stay in a hotel there. Does that sound more sane?

your problem:

<<We are having trouble scheduling the later part of our trip and hoping that someone can give us some advice.>>

the reason:

<<My husband and I will be spending 16 days in Italy and am trying to fit in as much as possible>>

compounded by:

<<We've been to bits of Italy before (Rome, Venice, Cinque Terre, Florence, Pisa) so will just be doing day trips to those locations.>>

if you want to see Puglia and the Amalfi, go to Puglia and the Amalfi. What are you hoping to see in Rome, Venice, Pisa etc. in a day, that you haven't already seen?

Assuming that your flights into Milan and out of Rome are already booked [that WAS a good idea] I would cut out at least some of the places that you have been to, in favour of those that you haven't. So you could do something like this:

Day 1 Sat: Arrive in Milan at 6am, check in hotel, spend the day in Milan
Day 2 Sun: Day trip to Lake Como
Day 3 Mon: train to Florence.
Day 4:Tues:Take the train to Cinque Terre for a day of hiking, return to Florence in the evening
Day 5 Wed: Rent a car, drive to Tuscany countryside
Day 6 Thu: Explore Tuscany countryside
Day 7 Fri:Explore Tuscany countryside
Day 8 Satrive to Puglia in the evening
Day 9 Sun:Explore Puglia (Alberobello, Matera, Bari, Lecce)
Day 10 Mon:Explore Puglia (Alberobello, Matera, Bari, Lecce), drive to Sorrento in the evening to return car [as this is now a Monday there should be no problem, or you could return it in the morning]
Day 11 Tue:Explore Amalfi Coast and Sorrento
Day 12 Wed:Explore Pompei and Naples
Day 13 Thu:last day Amalfi - relax!
Day 14 Fri: Train to Rome
Day 15 Sat: Spend day in Rome
Day 16 Sun: Fly out from Rome airport

I love Venice. But by cutting it out, you gain the time you need to do the rest of your itinerary justice. you don't say what time of the year your trip is - if it's the middle of the summer, you might want to swap the CT hiking for Venice or even more time on Lake Como, but IMO you can't do it all.

Hi! We will be arrive on 23rd May and departing on 6th June.

In your opinions, for the trips from Tuscany to Puglia and from Puglia to Amalfi, is it better to take the train for both journeys than driving given it's quite long drives?

Hi again kan925,

We were posting at the same time. See my post to you above.

However, if you are persuaded by annhg's re-working of your trip, it would be better if you want from Lago di Como to le Cinque Terre and spent the night, and then picked up a car in La Spezia and drove to Tuscany.

I would still not drive from Tuscany to Puglia.

You would need to look at where you could pick trains that will be convenient - go to seat.61.com and see what they have to say, or look at the trenitalia.it website.

another idea would be to get the train to Sorrento and the amalfi, do that first, then drive to Puglia, and get the train/fly back from Puglia to Rome.

or fly from Florence to Bari and work your way back from there. one problem is that you are wanting to see both ends of Italy in just over 2 weeks - it can be done but not easily.

In fact, if you've already been to the Cinque Terre, why don't you do some hiking around Lake Como, instead of taking that detour to the Cinque Terre for a day trip of hiking?

>>>If I return the car in Salerno and take the ferry to Amalfi, are there any trains from Amalfi to Sorrento?<<<

There are no trains on the Amalfi coast (Sorrento is not on the Amalfi coast).

I don't see your itinerary working. You will be spending too much time traveling between places and have underestimated the amount of time all that travel will take. You are practically on the road every day and checking in and out of hotels almost as often. Simply too much travel over too long of distance.

Matera is not in Puglia. Depending upon where you start it's about 2-3 drive.

Only a committed road warrior would enjoy this trip, but this is the only way I would consider doing it:

Day 1 Sat: Arrive in Milan at 6am, check in hotel, spend the day in Milan
Day 2 Sun: Day trip to Lake Como
Day 3 Mon: Train to Venice, drop bags at hotel, boat to lagoon islands
Day 4 Tue: Morning and lunch in Venice, take late afternoon train to Florence
Day 5 Wed: Morning and lunch in Florence, take late afternoon train to le Cinque Terre
Day 6 Thu: Morning hike in le Cinque Terre, rent car in La Spezia,, drive to Tuscan countryside
Day 7 Fri: Tuscany countywide
Day 8 Sat: Tuscany countryside
Day 9 Sun: Drive car to Naples airport, drop it off, take bus to Sorrento
Day 10 Mon: Explore Amalfi coast by ferry
Day 11 Tues: Visit Pompei
Day 12 Weds: Rent car in Sorrento, drive to Matera for lunch and to spend night
Day 13: Morning in Matera, drive to Lecce after lunch
Day 14: Morning tour of Lecce, drive to Alberobello, drop off car in Bari, take 6pm train to Rome
Day 15, Rome
Depart

I second the suggestion to take the ferry from Salerno up along the Amalfi coast. Beautiful ride, you avoid the crowds on the road, and the ferry stops at several places on the coast. Do some village hopping, stay the night in Sorrento, then ferry back across the bay to Naples to avoid the somewhat-grungy Circumvesuviana. BTW, good hiking from the Amalfi coast villages up the Littari mountains--check the web for info, maps, and guide pamphlets.

thanks everyone, this is very useful!

One more question, if I were to visit a lavendar field in Tuscany, is there any you would recommend? Or is End of May too early for lavendars?

As far as I know, lavendar isn't an Italian product to the extent that it is in France, and most lavendar that is grown in Italy is grown in Liguria, not Tuscany. (Closer to le Cinque Terre, but on very small farms, not fields of it). You can try some googling for lavendar in Tuscany, though. I could be wrong.

The fields of flowers most famous in Tuscany are red poppy fields and (much later in summer) sunflower fields. You might be right in time for poppies, and if you are, you will see them pretty much everywhere (maybe somebody here can be more specific, or again you can try google).

Lavender fields are in Provence (France), not Tuscany.