Hello, I am new to the forum, but would love some input about an upcoming 10 day trip that my husband and I are planning. We were married this past summer but are travellintg to Italy for our honeymoon and hope to visit Florence, Rome, and the Amalfi Coast sometime in either April or May. Ideally we would have flown into Florence travelled south through Tuscany into Rome for a few days, then to Naples and the Amalfi Coast. Unfortunately, we have to take Americal Airlines which only flies into Rome and Naples.

Would it be too much travel time for a 10 day trip? We would have to fly into Rome, go north to Florence and somehow travel from Florence to Naples. My husband and I would like to enjoy our trip wihout too much travelling or stress but would love to see the art and romance in Florence along with the History of Rome. We have also heard such wonderful things about the beauty of the Amalfi Coast. Any suggestions would be wonderful! Thanks

Does the 10 days include your travel days to and from Italy? I ask because your arrival day may be jet-lagged and your final day will be all about getting to the airport to fly home.

Have you actually booked your flights? It would be good to know so that we don't waste time offering ideas that won't work.

This trip can be done totally by public transportation (train), though to reach the Amalfi Coast you will need to switch to other transport in Naples. Check schedules and fares here:
http://www.fsitaliane.it/homepage_en.html

If your 10 days includes travel, this is how the days might fit. Only you can decide if it is too little time in too many places.

Day 1: leave U.S.
Day 2: arrive Rome
Day 3: Rome
Day 4: Rome
Day 5: train to Florence (train trip, plus checking in and out etc, 3-4 hours)
Day 6: Florence
Day 7 train to Naples/Amalfi Coast (train plus train/bus/taxi, plus checking in and out, 5-7 hours, depending on where you are staying)
Day 8: Amalfi Coast
Day 9: Amalfi Coast
Day 10: fly home from Naples

The order could be switched around depending on your interests and flights. If you have 10 days in Italy, and two more days for your travel, you can imagine how that would add quality time to your desired locations.

For the Amalfi Coast you should consider exactly when you want to go. In late May you should have reasonably warm weather, with hotel pools open and even the option to swim in the Med -if you want. If you are there in early April it will likely be too chilly, hotel pools won't be open and the ferries may still be running on a limited schedule.

My advice is always to do Rome and North OR Rome and South. Soo, do either Rome and Florence OR Rome and Amalfi.

You will be returning to Italy again, so see more of two than less of three.

We've been to the Amalfi Coast in early May, late May, and in June (mid-November too, come to think of it). While the weather can and does vary year to year, I think the advice given above likely rings true in that April may not provide you with the beachy, seaside trip of your dreams. We enjoyed generally pleasant weather, extended hours at sights, and high season ferry connections during our late May visit and our June visit. Our early May trip was chilly and rainy but we spent much of our time crawling through museums andchurches in Naples so it didn't matter much. Anyway, the weather is always a gamble, but if it were me and I was on my honeymoon and I wanted to get an overview of the highlights but not travel around too much, I'd probably look at a Rome-Florence-Venice itinerary for April. Whew, that was a run-on! Congratulations by the way! We also honeymooned in Italy in 2004.

Thanks everyone for all of the input. No, we haven't booked our flights and as of now it's 10 days total, but i am hoping to add at least another day to the trip. We're still in the planning stages and neither of us have been to europe so things should be interesting! Would it make more sense to go strait to the Amalfi coast from Florence, or would we have to stop in Naples anyway? Also texasaggie, where did you go for your honeymoon, and any suggestions on nice places to stay?

You don't HAVE to stop in Naples unless you want to. To reach the Amalfi Coast from Florence or Rome, you must take a train to Naples and switch there to another train that goes to Sorrento, then a bus to get to the actual coastal towns. Another option is to take the train past Naples to Salerno and switch to a bus/ferry from there to your coastal location.

In your short time---and for a honeymoon---Rome and the AC make a perfect combo---5 days each.

We had a little over 2 weeks and visited the following: Rome, Cinque Terre, Florence, and Venice. For our one year anniversary in 2005, we visited Rome, Naples/Sorrento, and the Amalfi Coast area on another 2+ week trip. I had been to Italy before but my husband had not, so our honeymoon was his "initiation" . Fortunately, he loved it. Our upcoming trip this summer with our 19-month old son will be our 5th trip since our marriage .
Bobthenavigator has a great suggestion, but I personally wouldn't head to the AC before mid-May at the very earliest. There is plenty to see in the Naples-Sorrento area such as Pompei, Herculaneum, and a myriad of great sights in Naples proper if you wanted to go there earlier. But for me, the A/C and Capri are best experienced with warm, beachy weather. Just my opinion though!

P.S. For a first trip to Europe, let alone Italy, I'd recommend perhaps opting for Rome and north of Rome. At the risk of being flamed by others, for me, Italy was a bit of culture shock the first time I went. And it intensifies the further south you go. I was a teenager on my first trip and scared to death of pickpockets, bargaining, and the like. I'm smiling just remembering how I was on that first trip. I think Naples might have been too much for me and I'm not sure how good of a time I would have had, worrying so much. After a couple trips to Italy though, I felt much more confident about my ability to travel in a savvy manner and I understood how things worked much better. Thus, by the time I headed to Naples, I was prepared to navigate it successfully and I absolutely fell in love with it. Anyway, all this to say that a honeymoon should be as stress-free as possible. So if you have any concerns or worries about how you will handle some of the cultural differences, you might consider staying in areas of Italy where the differences are not quite so stark. Then once you fall under Italy's spell and return again and again, you can eventually branch out and really embrace everything there is to see.

How much of a culture shock Italy will be depends in part on where you come from and live. Ifyou come from a large, urban multi-cultural environment I suspect it will be much less of a culture shock than it is for someone from a very sheltered environment.

Although I'm not sure downtown Naples is the first place anyone should go in Europe. But you can easily get to the Amalfi Coast without spending times in Naples (although the archeo museum is fascinating).

I just want to weigh in on one thing. The train from Rome to Florence is only 90 minutes. So, ellenem's estimate of 3-4 hours might be on the high side. But I suspect it depends on how much you've packed. And how far your hotels are from the train stations.

I love Florence and you will most certainly find art and romance there. And some of the best food in Italy.

Do not miss being in the Piazza Michelangelo 30 minutes before sunset. The view of Florence and the Arno river from that vantage point is unmatched, IMHO. Love it!

Buon viaggio!

We spent our entire 2 week honeymoon just in Amalfi, but we had both been to Italy before. Do you think this will be the only trip to Italy that you will take? If so, you might want to squeeze in as much as possible, but I really like Bob's idea. But I would spend less time in Rome and more in Amalfi. I didn't find the Amalfi area to be as stressful as Rome, but maybe that's because Amalfi was my 3rd trip to Italy and Rome was my first. So long as you don't drive in Amalfi, I think it is pretty stress-free

I estimated 3-4 hours precisely to provide for unforeseen delays and the unfamiliarlity of the travelers with the place they are visiting.

If the train trip itself is 90 minutes, I think it is not unusual to estimate that a traveler may spend 30-40 minutes finding their way from their hotel in Rome to Roma Termini, getting tickets if necessary, finding their way to their departing platform, and waiting for their train to depart. I would expect at least another 20-30 minutes at Firenze SMN for first-time travelers to get out of the station and get to their hotel. So for this adds a base of 50-70 minutes to the original 90 minutes, so about 2.5 hours as a best-case scenario, maybe slightly shorter if both hotels were near the stations.

The 4-hour top was indeed to cover those who like to arrive at stations extra early to find their way or purchase tickets, or those who might be staying at a greater distance from the train station. Depending on where one was staying in Rome, it could take 30-40 minutes just to travel to from one's hotel to Roma Termini.