How to plan a ten day trip to Italy
 

Hi
I am planning a 10 day trip to Italy in end of April ( I have time from the 23rd of April to 2nd of May). I am keen to see Rome, Venice, Florence and do a beach and very unsure about how many days to spend where.

I have the following in mind:
Fly into Rome from London and spend 4 days there. Take a train to venice and spend 2 days there. and then 3 days for sardinia.

This is my first trip to Italy and hence would be grateful for any insights!

Thanks

In 10 days, I'd pick no more than three places, and places that are closer together. Venice seems to be the odd one out on your list.

I haven't been to Sardinia at that time, but you might want to check weather records to see if it will be warm and dry enough for your liking.

Assuming that this is what you want to do regardless of any other advice for spending ten days in Italy, I think that landing in Venice and going from Rome to Sardinia would make more sense, although if flying to Sardinia, the difference in distance from Rome or Venice is probably insignificant. But it would make a difference if taking a ferry. Just look at a map.

If I had only ten days in Italy, I'd probably spend 2 days in Venice, 4 in Florence, and 4 in Rome. Not sure why Sardinia is a priority here.

Do those 10 days include travel time? If you're flying out April 23, arrive on the 24th and have to fly back on May 2, you only actually have 8 nights in Italy. That's not enough time for 4 places, even 3 is pushing it. If you only have 8 nights there, fly into Venice, stay there 3 nights, take an early train to Florence and just spend the day there seeing a few highlights, late train to Rome, 5 nights there and fly home from Rome.

On the other hand, just noticed you said flying from London. Do you start from there (not the US)? If so, that gives you an extra night in Italy, so you could do 3 Venice, 2 Florence, 4 Rome.

Be aware that April 25 and May 1 are public holidays in Italy. While April 25 causes relatively little disruption, museums and archeological sites are all closed on May 1.

Thanks for your replies.

If I have to spend 10 nights in Italy which cities would you recommend?
I am in the initial planning stage and am quite flexible about the cities in Italy.

Has any one travelled to the ALmafi coast?

Some assumptions on my part since you haven't given us all the info:

1. you are traveling from and returning to the UK through London.

2. Your first thoughts on your Italy trip are what YOU actually want to do and would be most enjoyable for you.

then if you have 10 nights:

Fly London to Venice spend at least 2 nights there. Remember Ryanair flies into Treviso which is about an hour bus ride from Venice. I think Easyjet still flies to Marco Polo in Venice.

Train to Rome, spend 3 or 4 nights there.

You can then take a ferry to Sardinia from Rome's port Citavecchia and see Sardinia. I believe the ferry takes about 7 hours and can be done as an overnight trip.

Ryanair is now flying between Alghero Sardinia and London Stanstead, so you can fly home from Sardinia.

April is a transitional month weatherwise, so it could be

lovely or a bit rainy and cool. It should however be much warmer than London.

There's a beach close to Venice, the Lido barrier-style island. Most of it is private (belongs to the hotels) but the 2 ends are available to the public. However, it will probably be a bit cool for sunbathing/swimming in April. There are vaporetti (water buses) from the Lido to Venice proper, which is where I would recommend staying.

When you first plan a trip, it's tempting to stick in more and more stops. The more you research, the more great places you find to visit. Plus all your friends and neighbors tell you you must visit this certain spot, it was the highlight of their trip. (Ignoring the fact that getting to and from their special spot would add 3 days to your trip.)

But, unless you want to spend all your time on buses, trains and planes, you need to limit your destinations. This is especially true in Italy, where participating in la dolce vita is part of the experience.

So decide what you really want to see and prune out all the extras. There's always next time.

Thank you so much for your advice....much appreciated!


However, I have one more question: there are two cities in Rome, one is the Ciampino Airport and the other is the Fuimicino....which one is recommended?

You name the two airports (not cities) of Rome. For many here, the airport would depend on the best/most direct flights available for the price without concern for which airport it was.

For me, coming from the U.S. I can get direct flights only to Fiumicino Airport (also called Leonardo daVinci Airport), so in my case Fiumicino is preferable to Ciampino Airport.

Fiumicino is connected to the center of Rome by both train and bus, about 30 minutes, as well as taxis and shuttles. I believe Ciampino is a bit closer to Rome, but it has no train connection, just bus, taxis, and shuttles.